UC Libraries Awarded a LSTA Grant to Digitize Cincinnati Birth and Death Records

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One of the many filing cabinets filled with birth and death records.

One of the many filing cabinets filled with birth and death records.

Genealogists, social historians, epidemiologists, and public health historians will soon have a new extensive, online resource to assist them in learning about birth and deaths in the City of Cincinnati. The University of Cincinnati Libraries have been awarded a $140,437 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant from the State Library of Ohio to digitize 340,000 birth and death records of the City of Cincinnati prior 1908.  The records will be available on OhioLINK’s Digital Resource Commons beginning in August of 2010. Continue reading →

Freedom without Walls! Exhibits to Commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

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bannerNovember 9, 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. In commemoration of this important world event, the University of Cincinnati Libraries have created two exhibits on display through fall quarter in the Walter C. Langsam Library.

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Portraits in Civil War Medicine

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Brutal images of Civil War battle aftermath illustrate what soldiers on both sides of the conflict faced. However, the role of the healthcare professional on the battlefield is often overlooked. Those who tended to the wounded, sick, and dead made use of the tools and techniques available in a heroic effort to save as many men as possible and aid the Union or Confederate causes. A new exhibit on display in the Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions hopes to give a voice to the overlooked healthcare professionals of the Civil War. Continue reading →

Book of Mormon Conservation Completed

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mormon_bookThe Archives & Rare Books Library’s first edition copy of The Book of Mormon recently underwent conservation treatment to clean and repair its binding and text block.  The work was undertaken as part of the University of Cincinnati Libraries’ larger preservation efforts for special materials.

ARB holdings include many sacred texts, from Qur’ans and Bibles to Buddhist leaf books.  Its copy of The Book of Mormon receives a great deal of use, so it is important that it be preserved for future students and scholars.  This first edition of the book was published in 1830 in Palmyra, New York by Joseph Smith, and is considered one of the primary books of faith by the Latter Day Saints.

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Searching for Archival Collections?

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Archives and Rare Books Library Stacks

Archives and Rare Books Library Stacks

Are you thinking about doing some archival research this fall?  If so, both the Archives and Rare Books Library and the Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions have a new way for you to find archival collections at the University of Cincinnati and across Ohio: Encoded Archival Description, or EAD.  The OhioLINK Finding Aid Repository available at http://ead.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ead/, allows you to search archival collections across the State of Ohio, including those at the University of Cincinnati.

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A Glimpse at a German-American Family: The Helmecke Family Collections at the Archives and Rare Books Library

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Carl Helmecke with his wife Mildred and daughter Roberta in Philadelphia in 1919.

The German-Americana Collection at the University of Cincinnati Archives and Rare Books Library holds a wealth of materials on German immigration to the United States and the experiences of these immigrants once they were here. Two collections that document the experiences of one of these families are of the Helmecke family.  These collections span from the father’s immigration to Cincinnati in 1902 to the beginning of his son’s academic career in Colorado in the 1930s.

In 1902, Stephen Helmecke of Braunschweig, Germany came to the United States to work for the Globe Wernicke Company, a library furniture company located in Cincinnati. Stephen’s wife, Marie (Engel), and his two children, Carl Albert and Marie Gertrud, followed him to the United States in 1903. The family lived in Cincinnati for five years before moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan where both Carl and Gertrud attended the University of Michigan. Carl eventually received his Ph.D in German and taught at Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado. Gertrud became an osteopathic physician, and was the first woman elected president of the Ohio Osteopathic Association.

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Major Urban Reference Collection Now Available in the Archives & Rare Books Library

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In 2004, after 90 years, the City of Cincinnati’s Municipal Reference Library was about to come to an ignominious end, consigned to the dumpster. With the active involvement of city planner Skip Forwood and UC history professor Judith Spraul-Schmidt, the bulk of this valuable collection of urban resource materials was rescued and given a home in the Archives & Rare Books Library’s Urban Studies Collection. Now, it is catalogued and available once more for research.

Photo: “The Flying Squad, Co. No. 4” from the 1913 Annual Report of the Cincinnati Fire Department, one of the many resources of the Muncipal Reference Library

The Municipal Reference Library was created in 1913 under the Municipal Code of Cincinnati, which detailed the purpose of the library, and the Administrative Code, which stated that it would be maintained by the city’s planning department. Consisting primarily of city records, periodicals, reports, ordinances, news clippings, and studies, the MRL historically had been open to the public, but primarily used by city employees. Continue reading →

Tribute to a Champion

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hogue_04_thumb_000Paul Hogue, one of the greatest athletes in the University of Cincinnati’s history, and a member of the school’s NCAA championship teams in 1961 and 1962, passed away in Cincinnati on August 17, 2009 at the age of 69.

As a tribute to Paul, the Archives and Rare Books Library has created an online exhibit sharing images of him from his remarkable Bearcat career. 

From the exhibit: “Paul Hogue was UC’s first truly effective big man who was variously measured at 6’ 9” or 6’ 10 inches tall, a veritable oak on the court as he set picks and cleared the lane for his teammates.  Running into a Hogue pick was a memorable experience for opposing players.  His offense, coupled with a nice soft shooting touch, made him a collegiate star.”

See more online.

DAAP Library Featured in Cincy Chic

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The services provided in the Robert A. Deshon and Karl J. Schlachter Library for Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, along with its new librarian, Jennifer Pollock, are featured in an article on Cincy Chic.

Among other accolades, the article states “…the DAAP library provides several subscriptions to periodicals, including Bazaar and W and international magazines like L’Officiel (French) and Sportswear International (British) so that library visitors can be up on the latest trends happening around the world.”

Read more online.