ARB’s "50 Minutes" Talk for September

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By:  Kevin Grace

Headstone The Archives & Rare Books monthly talk returns on Wednesday, September 24, at 12:00 noon with a special presentation on UC’s first female graduate.  Like nearly every other institution of its kind, documenting the “firsts” and the significant moments of our history lends context to our heritage, and, reveals some very interesting stories.  And for this 50 Minutes talk, we welcome back Greg Hand to campus and to Blegen Library.  Greg made some very interesting 50 Minutes talks in the past few years on Cincinnati’s Federal Writer’s project guide to the city; artist, poet, and mystic William Blake; and pioneering cartoonist Winsor McCay.  Now he comes with another…     Continue reading →

UCBA Fun Facts: Audiobooks?

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Question: Do you listen to audiobooks?

HeatherHeather Maloney, Library Director: Nope but keep meaning to get some. I’m usually listening to music, NPR, or my 4 year old in the car.

 

Michelle Michelle McKinney, Reference/Web Services Librarian: Yes! I love audiobooks. I started listening to them when I had an one-way, hour-long commute years ago and have been hooked ever since. Jim Dale (Harry Potter) is one of my favorite readers.

 

KellieKellie Tilton, Instructional Technologies Librarian: Sometimes. I’m pretty bad about paying attention to them, so that can be problematic.

 

LaurenLauren Wahman, Instruction Librarian: Only on road trips.

 

 

RachelRachel Lewis, Technical Services Manager: No.

 

 

ChrisChris Marshall, Public Services Assistant: Yes, but have not in awhile.  Use to listen to them more when my kids were younger.  Helped travel time go faster.

 

Exhibit Honors Theodore M. Berry – Pioneer. Activist. Leader.

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tedberryIMAGES-01In observance of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act, UC Libraries have created a display on the 4th floor of Blegen Library celebrating the papers of Theodore M. Berry, noted Civil Rights pioneer, community activist, and elected official from Cincinnati. Ted Berry’s papers represent one of the notable collections in the Archives & Rare Books Library’s Urban Studies Collection.

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Cincinnati’s Bathtub Hoax and a Missing Giant Tub

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By:  Kevin Grace

Mencken

H.L. Mencken

In 1917, the noted journalist and philologist H.L. Mencken published an article in the New York Evening Mail concerning the history of the bathtub in the United States.  According to the Baltimore writer, known as much for his satire and acerbic wit as he was for his political reporting, Cincinnati was home to this tub.  Mencken asserted that America’s first bathtub was introduced on December 20, 1842 by Adam Thompson who lived, in all places, Cincinnati, Ohio.    Made of mahogany and lined with lead, the vessel was introduced by Thompson to his guests at a Christmas party, described how it worked, and invited the partygoers to take a dip.  Four of them took him up on his offer, and the next day the invention was widely reported in the press. Continue reading →

The Twitchell Hydrometer : Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 28, September/October 2014

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A brass hydrometer jar with handle and thermometer and two metal hydrometers probably designed to monitor the fermentation of beer

A brass hydrometer jar with handle and thermometer and two metal hydrometers probably designed to monitor the fermentation of beer.

The 28th issue of Museum Notes highlights yet another scientific instrument produced by the 19th-century Cincinnati inventor Henry Twitchell (1816-1875).

Click here for all other issues of Notes from The Oesper Collections and to explore the Jensen-Thomas Apparatus Collection.

UCBA Fun Facts: Favorite book turned movie?

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Question: What is your favorite movie based on a book?

HeatherHeather Maloney, Library Director: For fun? Clueless — as if. Action? Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. On the more dramatic side, Empire of the Sun…I saw it when I was a teenager, and I’ve been a Christian Bale fan ever since.

 

Michelle Michelle McKinney, Reference/Web Services Librarian: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

 

 

KellieKellie Tilton, Instructional Technologies Librarian: I hate to be repetitive and all too recent, but Catching Fire keeps coming to mind. There quite a few more, though… 

 

LaurenLauren Wahman, Instruction Librarian: To name a few…Shutter Island and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

 

 

RachelRachel Lewis, Technical Services Manager: The Hobbit

 

 

 

ChrisChris Marshall, Public Services Assistant: The Notebook, love that movie, and love that book!