Tag Archives: Cincinnati History

UC Libraries resources in celebration of Black History Month

Posted on by

Throughout February, we shared UC Libraries resources and collections in celebration of Black History Month. Below is a list of those highlights, as well as others, so you may continue exploring and learning Black history throughout the year.

Theodore M. Berry Papers Project
An exhibit highlighting the 2010 project to completely process the papers of Theodore Moody Berry, Cincinnati’s first African mayor.

Louise Shropshire: An Online Exhibition
An online exhibit featuring Louise Shropshire a Cincinnati Civil Rights pioneer and composer.

Marian Spencer: Fighting for Equality in Cincinnati
An alumna of the University of Cincinnati (Class of 1942), Marian Spencer fought for Civil Rights in Cincinnati for nearly seventy years. This exhibit examines her career and her papers at the Archives and Rare Books Library.

The Colored Citizen
Published in Cincinnati sporadically from the height of the Civil War in 1863 until approximately 1869, The Colored Citizen was edited by a group of African American citizens from Midwestern cities, including Cincinnati. It was a paper with general news, but with a focus on the political, economic, and cultural affairs that had an impact on African Americans of the age. The Archives and Rare Books Library hold one issue of this paper.

Phillis Wheatley
In 1773, at the age of 20, Wheatley published Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, making her the first published African-American poet.

Lucy Oxley
Source article highlighting Lucy Oxley, MD, the first person of color ever to receive a medical degree from the College of Medicine. Continue reading →

Standing in solidarity against systemic racism

Posted on by

The University of Cincinnati Libraries supports our colleagues from the American Library Association and the Association of Research Libraries in their statements and actions against racism and violence perpetrated against black men and women and all people of color. We agree with President Neville Pinto’s message “that the time to act is now.” As libraries, we provide access to resources and information professionals so that citizens can educate themselves on how to contribute to meaningful change and combat systemic racism.

stamped from the beginningBelow is a short list of UC Libraries resources. While some do require UC affiliation, there are others that are open access. It contains a mix of current and historical perspectives as this is not a new issue our country is confronting, but the time to listen and to learn is now. This list is not meant to be comprehensive, but a starting point for education and conversation.  

Videos

Current exhibit on display in the Walter C. Langsam Library

women of the movement graphic

The Urban Studies Collection of the Archives and Rare Books Library holds information on two of the women featured in the exhibit, Louise Shropshire, originator of the Civil Rights anthem “We Shall Overcome,” and Marian Spencer, local Civil Rights icon, as well as Theodore “Ted” Berry, the first African American mayor of Cincinnati.

The University of Cincinnati Press

  • Issues in Race and Society, biannual journal distinguishes itself as an interdisciplinary, comprehensive, and global examination of the increasingly racial and racialized world that connects us all.

Working for a Living. New online exhibit features Labor Collections in the Archives and Rare Books Library.

Posted on by

Labor history concerns the lives of workers and their various and diverse struggles for workplace democracy, improved working conditions, collective bargaining, and their relationship to changing forms of work and economic production. A new online exhibit features the University of Cincinnati’s Archives and Rare Books Library labor collections. Part of the Urban Studies Collection, the labor collections include records from Cincinnati’s AFL-CIO Labor Council, the Regional Joint Board of the Amalgamated Clothing & Textile Workers, the Barbers’ Union Local 49, International Brotherhood of Painters & Allied Trades Local 308, and others.

The Working for a Living exhibit was curated by Eira Tansey, digital archivist and records manager in the Archives and Rare Books Library. It was designed by Emily Young, library communication design co-op student, and Melissa Cox Norris, director of library communication.

Read Source, the online newsletter, to learn more about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries.

Posted on by

source headerRead Source, the online newsletter, to learn more about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries.

In this issue of Source, Dean Xuemao Wang writes about how a digital core is part of a 21st-century liberal education.

Two exhibits that highlight women who fought for equality are featured in this issue along with an article by Kevin Grace, university archivist and head of the Archives and Rare Books Library, who writes of Mark Twain’s relationship with Cincinnati, including that quote attributed to Twain about where he hopes to be when the world ends.

This issue announces the exciting comeback of the former popular Authors, Editors & Composers exhibit that will combine with the current Life of the Mind lecture to form one event that will celebrate the achievements of UC’s artists, authors, editors & composers. We announce the 5th University of Cincinnati Libraries Annual Progress Report – A Year of Reflection.

Lastly, we announce two upcoming events – the second Hidden Treasures: An Adopt-A-Book Evening on March 12 and the upcoming annual Cecil Striker Lecture to focus on Dr. Christian R. Holmes and scheduled for May 7.

Read these articles, as well as past issues, on the web at http://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/source/ and via e-mail. To receive Source via e-mail, contact melissa.norris@uc.edu to be added to the mailing list.

Women of the Movement: Leaders for Civil Rights and Voting Rights

Posted on by

women of the movement graphic
The exhibit, Women of the Movement: Leaders for Civil Rights and Voting Rights, currently on display on the 4th floor lobby of the Walter C. Langsam Library, profiles female leaders of the fight for civil and voting rights. Beginning with Sojourner Truth, former slave and abolitionist, and including contemporaries Diane Nash, a key player in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Cincinnati’s Marian Spencer, a champion for Civil Rights both locally and nationally, the exhibit spans history into current times.

Included in the exhibit are women instrumental to the Suffrage fight – Sojourner Truth who worked closely with Susan B. Anthony; Mary Church Terrell, founder of the National Association of Colored Women in 1896 as part of the Suffrage Movement after black women were excluded from the Women’s Suffrage Movement; and Mary McLeod Bethune who led voter registration drives following passing of the 19th Amendment.

Civil Rights activists on display include Fannie Lou Hamer, who famously said, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired;” Daisy Bates, an integrated schools advocate; and Ida B. Wells, a journalist, educator and one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The exhibit’s design is inspired by a recently created ArtWorks mural in Cincinnati’s Avondale neighborhood honoring Louise Shropshire, composer of the hymn, “If My Jesus Wills,” that became the well-known mantra “We Shall Overcome” during the Civil Rights Movement. Louise Shropshire’s papers are located in the Archives and Rare Books Library.

Women of the Movement: Leaders for Civil Rights and Voting Rights was curated by June Taylor-Slaughter, public services supervisor in the Geology-Mathematics-Physics Library, and was designed by Michelle Matevia, UC Libraries communication design co-op student. A handout is available at the exhibit with more information on the women featured in the exhibit.

Bibliography:

  • Alexander, Shawn Leigh. An Army of Lions : The Civil Rights Struggle Before the NAACP. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012. Print. LANGSAM; CLERMONT E185.61 .A437 2012
  • Bracey, Earnest N. Fannie Lou Hamer: The Life of a Civil Rights Icon. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2011. Print. LANGSAM E 185.97.H35 B73 2011
  • Brooks, Maegan Parker. A Voice That Could Stir an Army: Fannie Lou Hamer and the Rhetoric of the Black Freedom
    Movement. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2014. Print. LANGSAM E 185.97.H35 B76 2014
  • Harwell, Debbie Z. Wednesdays in Mississippi: Proper Ladies Working for Radical Change, Freedom Summer 1964. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2014. Print. LANGSAM E185.93.M6 H37 2014
  • Christenson, Dorothy H, Keep on fighting: the life and civil rights legacy of Marian A. Spencer. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2015. LANGSAM  F499.C553 S643 2015
  • Frontline feminism 1975-1995 : essays from Sojourner’s first 20 years / edited by Karen Kahn ; foreword by Robin Morgan. San Francisco : Aunt Lute Books, c1995. LANGSAM. HQ1402 .F76 1995

Announcing the 5th Annual University of Cincinnati Libraries 2018/19 Annual Progress Report – A Year of Reflection.

Posted on by

annual progress report coverThis past year the University of Cincinnati marked its Bicentennial led by the tenants: To Honor the past. Elevate the present. Bend the future. While
celebrating the Libraries’ vital role in the past 200 years of the university, we also took this opportunity to reflect on our goals, objectives, accomplishments and gaps as the next phase of our strategic direction.

Our year of reflection has resulted in the need for the creation of an emerging, and even bolder, Strategic Framework – one built upon the knowledge of our strengths and challenges, coupled with the needs and perspectives of our users, and that will propel us forward as we strive to become the globally engaged intellectual commons of the university – now and well into the future.

The University of Cincinnati Libraries Annual Progress Report, 2018/2019, available online at https://issuu.com/uclibraries/docs/uclannualreport18_19, makes note of the accomplishments and happenings of the previous year, as well as celebrates the people and donors integral to us fulfilling the work of our mission to empower discovery, stimulate learning and inspire the creation of knowledge by connecting students, faculty, researchers and scholars to dynamic data, information and resources.

Questions? Request a print copy? E-mail melissa.norris@uc.edu.

Happy Reading!

The Benjamin Gettler Papers Processing Project Now Complete

Posted on by

By:  Alex Temple, Benjamin Gettler Papers Project Archivist

The Benjamin Gettler papers processing project has come to a close, but I wanted to write one more entry about efforts to ensure the lasting usability of the collection.  As I’ve explored and processed the collection, I found a broad range of material making up the scope and content.  Each item in the collection is important, but some items can actually harm others, and storage methods that work for one item will not necessarily work for another.  Therefore, each item has been assessed for it’s individual preservation needs, including how to store it so it would not affect the safety of the rest of the collection.

Jellybeans from President Reagan's desk in the Gettler collectionRegarding the paper documents, some are emails printed from an inkjet or laser printer as recently as 2013, while other documents are stock certificates dating back to the 1890s.  Regardless of their age, generally all paper-based objects need to be housed in a stable and protective environment, such as acid-free folders, and stored in a room with a relative humidity of 30-50% and temperature between 35-65°F, all of which the University of Cincinnati Archives & Rare Books Library provides.

Of course, not everything was as straightforward as placing into a new, preservation-quality folder.  I have written previously about items Gettler had taken from his visit with President Reagan at the White House, largely about some jellybeans.  Miraculously, these jellybeans had survived for nearly 40 years.  To make their longevity less of a miracle and more of a science, we deferred to The Preservation Lab, a joint lab of the University of Cincinnati Libraries and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.  They vacuum-sealed the jellybeans, and brilliantly constructed a box for them that allowed them to be displayed alongside a note from Ben’s wife Dee.  The candy is now protected from being squashed, chewed on, or getting wet.  And just as importantly, the rest of collection is less likely to be adversely affected by the composition of the jellybeans, such as sugars and dyes. Continue reading →

New Library Exhibit Showcases Artful Books

Posted on by

“Artful Books,” on display now through the end of fall semester on the 4th and 5th floor lobbies of the Walter C. Langsam Library, features books created by members of the Cincinnati Book Arts Society (CBAS) inspired by and in celebration of UC and UC Libraries.

Earlier this year, CBAS members visited the Archives and Rare Books Library where they researched and reviewed various collections for inspiration – the results of which are now on display in two cases with over 15 artists’ books covering a wide range of subjects, forms and mediums. Select highlights of the exhibit include:

shooting star artist book

Jan Thomas, “Shooting Star”

Jan Thomas, “Shooting Star.” In 1952, Marian Spencer, along with her sons, was not permitted at segregated Coney Island, Ohio, Amusement Park. This singular event became the catalyst for a life of public service as a civil rights advocate, community leader and champion.

Marguerite and Doug Katchen, "Bearcats and the Past,"

Marguerite and Doug Katchen, “Bearcats and the Past”

Marguerite and Doug Katchen, “Bearcats and the Past.” Bearcats have been symbols of UC at least since the early 20th century. Wooden plagues of the map of Ohio were used as pages on which was described a brief history of the University of Cincinnati and on which were displayed Bearcat and Ohio patches.

queen's icons artist book

Beth Belknap Brann, “Queen’s Icons”

Beth Belknap Brann, “Queen’s Icons.” This hand-drawn book is a celebration of Cincinnati’s architectural gems of the late 19th century. It was inspired by the historic photo archives in UC’s Archives and Rare Books Library.

New Library Exhibit Showcases Artful Books

Smruti Deoghare, “200 Years of Red, Black (and White)

Smruti Deoghare, “200 Years of Red, Black (and White),” the University of Cincinnati colors are more than just college colors. This bold palette of tricolor represents unity in diversity. Over the last 200 years, the University has provided education to people from all walks of life and colors – red, black, white, and all shades in between. The artist feels Tangeman University Center is the ideal architectural symbol of inclusivity on campus.

A brochure describing all of the books on display is available at the exhibit and online.

“Artful Books” was curated by Jessica Ebert, conservation technician in the Preservation Lab and CBAS member, and was designed by Michelle Matevia, communication design co-op student.

The Cincinnati Books Arts Society began in 1998 and is a non-profit organization comprised of professional and amateur book artists, paper artists and creators. Their membership includes bookbinders, print makers, paper marblers, book artists, archivists, conservation professionals and book enthusiasts interested in learning more about books and how they are created. Interested in learning more about CBAS? Check out their website and follow them on Facebook (Cincinnati Book Arts Society).

Read Source to learn more about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries.

Posted on by

sourceRead Source, the online newsletter, to learn more about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries.

In this issue of Source, Dean Xuemao Wang writes about his new role as vice provost for digital scholarship, which ties in with the article Introducing the Research @ Data Services Team.

The Libraries special collections are featured prominently in this issue with news of an exciting, surprise gift to the Neil Armstrong Commemorative Archives, promotion of a lecture series celebrating the digitization of the Albert B. Sabin Research Notebooks, and an announcement of a new UC exhibit featuring the Special Collections of four UC Libraries.

This fall brings new faces and new publications from the University of Cincinnati Press, along with the conclusion of the university’s Bicentennial celebration, which university archivist and head of the Archives and Rare Books Library Kevin Grace uses as the occasion to recount a gift from William A. Procter that was instrumental to the libraries.

Lastly, we announce that the Cecil Striker Society Annual Lecture is now our first fully endowed annual lecture.

Read these articles, as well as past issues, on the web at http://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/source/ and via e-mail. To receive Source via e-mail, contact melissa.norris@uc.edu to be added to the mailing list.

Cecil Striker Society Annual Lecture Scheduled for May 15 to Celebrate Two Pioneers in Medical Education

Posted on by

cecil striker invite

The Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions and the Cecil Striker Society for the History of Medicine will host the 10th Cecil Striker Society Annual Lecture from 5:00-7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 15, in the Kresge Auditorium, Medical Sciences Building, 231 Albert Sabin Way.

This year’s lecture, titled Daniel Drake’s Connection to Sir William Osler: Celebrating Two Medical Education Reformers, will focus on the immense impact both physicians had on medical education. Philip M. Diller, M.D., Ph.D., and Robert E. Rakel, M.D., will serve as co-lecturers for the event. Continue reading →