50 Minutes-One Book

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The Archives & Rare Books Library announces a new monthly lunch-time series that will focus on one item from the collections to talk about its history and importance.  Relaxed and informal, these presentations are set for one Thursday each month through the academic year, and will be held in the Schott Seminar Room, 814 Blegen Library at 12:00 noon.

The first talk is on Thursday, January 27, and will feature ARB’s anthropodermic binding (that is, human skin!).  Find out how these bindings became curiosities of the book world, particularly in the 18th century; why most major research libraries have at least one example of the morbid things and how UC obtained its copy; and, the process involved in determining its authenticity. Continue reading →

T. M. Berry Project: Remembrances

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Theodore Berry as a child

By Laura Laugle

I have lately been going through a variety of files marked “T. M. Berry Biography.” A few are from the Theodore M. Berry collection and one came here to Archives and Rare Books rather serendipitously when Public Information was cleaning out alumni biography files. As a result, I have learned a great deal about Berry’s life as a whole, what he did before and after his public life, who he was as person and how that influenced his political career. One of my first finds in these files, and possibly my favorite of the entire collection thus far, was an envelope stuffed with old photographs. I can now say, with absolute certainty, two things which would never have occurred to me previously: Ted Berry made an adorable little cowboy and fedoras and spats are definite style “dos.” Continue reading →

Dinosaur Sculpture Looms Large in Langsam Library

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Langsam Library is the new home for Triceracopter – an impressive half triceratops, half helicopter 30-foot sculpture.

Created in 1977 by artist Patricia A. Renick to commemorate the U.S. Bicentennial, Triceracopter: The Hope for the Obsolescence of War combines the form of a triceratops dinosaur with an Army OH6A Cayuse combat helicopter flown in Vietnam. Although a triceratops and a helicopter are unlikely candidates for a single sculpture, the artist has combined them to invite wonder and nudge reflective thinking.

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T.M. Berry Project: Trouble in Anti-Poverty Paradise

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By Laura Laugle

Thus far in the archival project of Theodore Berry’s papers I have found almost no controversy surrounding him or his career. This surprises me not only because he was a politician, a member of a group of people who seem completely unable to keep themselves out of trouble for any length of time, but also because he was an African-American holding high office in an already controversial federal agency, the Community Action Program, during the mid-late 1960s. That is, I’d found no controversy until I came across this article.

"Shriver Wasn't Told of War On Poverty Memo" Continue reading →

University of Cincinnati Health History Center Receives $100,000 Grant from the John Hauck Foundation

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The University of Cincinnati’s Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions has received a $100,000 grant from the John Hauck Foundation. The grant puts the University of Cincinnati Libraries beyond its total fundraising goal for the completion of the construction project critical to the preservation of Cincinnati’s rare and fragile medical collections.
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T.M. Berry Project: Mod In The Mountains

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By Laura Laugle

Much of my time lately has been spent buried deep in the remnants of the everyday business of the Office of Economic Opportunity, where official government policies and memoranda abound. Though all of it is informative, to say that I find every item I come across riveting would be untrue. Luckily, a few striking photographs caught my attention and cried out for a closer look.

A young family pictured in their new home in Berea, KY. I’m especially fond of the kitchen. Those robin’s egg blue appliances would probably sell for thousands in an upscale vintage shop. Très mod-chic!

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T.M. Berry Project: HMM. . .

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Unidentified Object from Berry CollectionBy Laura Laugle

My work on the Berry Project for much of this week can be best summed up by one word: “wonder.” Many factors have contributed to this conclusion. Unfortunately one of them is “I wonder what on Earth that is!” (Please feel free to tell me if you have any idea what the metal object pictured could be, because I haven’t the foggiest.) For the most part though, I’m referring to the almost constant sense that I’m reading a great epic novel, except that its chapters are all out of order. For instance, I’ve come across items linking Theodore Berry with arguably three of the most influential public figures of the 1960s: John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Henry Kissinger. Continue reading →

New German-Americana at ARB: The Robert E. Cazden Collection

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Der Weg zum Glueck Roman aus dem Leben - pamphlet coverCurrently in process at the Archives and Rare Books Library are the papers of Robert E. Cazden, Professor Emeritus of the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Kentucky.  Cazden was a scholar of printing, publishing, and the German-American book trade, and his papers focus largely on the research he conducted for his books including  German Exile Literature in America 1933-1950: A History of the Free German Press and Book Trade (1970) and Social History of the German Book Trade in America to the Civil War (1984). Continue reading →