By Nimisha Bhat, Assistant Librarian for History, Anthropology, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
With the start of summer and Pride month, it’s a great time to check out some highlights from UC’s library & consortium collections to celebrate trans history, queer culture and LGBTQIA liberation! Here are a few titles to learn from and enjoy: Continue reading
Tag Archives: collections
Langsam Library exhibit in honor of National Poetry Month features the poets of Poetry Stacked
In celebration of National Poetry Month, an exhibit installed on the 4th floor lobby of the Walter C. Langsam Library features work by the 2022/23 Poetry Stacked poets. Included in the exhibit are poems from 13 of the University of Cincinnati student, faculty and community member poets that read at the series. Included in the exhibit are UC faculty poets: Aditi Machado, Rebecca Lindenberg, Felicia Zamora and Simone Savannah.
Rebecca Lindenberg
Bottle Brush Bees
The red-blossomed bush
furred out in the corner
of the narrow yard sizzles
with bees, bristled
cylindrical flowers tipped
with yellow pollen lure
their fuzzy thieves. Once
or maybe twice a month
barefoot she or her sister
might find one, lightning
in the grass; they
devised a whole lexicon
for sting – bee-branded,
bumble-shocked, bee-
needled, honey-rung –
despite all their words
what she’ll remember is
not how it feels to be stung,
but their constant song.
Rae Hoffman Jager, Manuel Iris, Yalie Saweda Kamara, Caroline Plasket and Kari Gunter-Seymour represent poets from the community.
Manuel Iris
Witness
Your daughter is dancing, says my wife
touching her belly.For the past five months
I have been a witness
to what happens there,
under her hands.My wife is a house inside my house
and I am outside of my own heart.I am sure she is happy, she says
and I would give up poetry
in exchange for having, inside me, my daughter.
For feeling that dance that bonds them
to all beginnings.But that option does not exist
and I do what I can:
cooking, fulfilling cravings,
writing a poem in which I say what I can see
from this side of the skin
in which mystery embodies itself.And I testify, with loving envy,
that an everyday miracle
is a miracleand nothing less.
A highlight of Poetry Stacked are the UC students who read at each session. Students featured in the exhibit are: Dior Stephens, Romie Hernández Morgan, Hussain Ahmed and Casey Harloe.
Casey Harloe
for me, from me
I am here in
this world
to roam the
unknown
but stay stuck
in one home
fields remain
endless to
explore, yet
here I stand
at the door,
staring
at the ceiling
to mourn
the boredom
I carry &
the adventure
I crave
the journey
doesn’t begin
until you move
so I decided
to walk away
from what I
already knew
The exhibit was curated and designed by Melissa Cox Norris, director of library communications. A bibliography of the poets’ works is available at the exhibit and online.
Launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996, National Poetry Month is a special occasion that celebrates poets’ integral role in our culture and that poetry matters.
_______________________________
And don’t miss the next Poetry Stacked event, scheduled for Wednesday, April 12 at 4pm, featuring Kari Gunter-Seymour, Poet Laureate of Ohio, and celebrating poetry by graduating University of Cincinnati doctoral students: Nick Molbert, Marianne Chan, Connor Yeck and Taylor Byas. Following the poetry readings, attendees are invited to a reception in the Elliston Poetry Room as we mark the successful conclusion of the 2022/23 Poetry Stacked series.
UC Libraries resources in celebration of Black History Month
UC Libraries presents resources and collections in celebration of Black History Month.
Louise Shropshire: An Online Exhibition
An online exhibit featuring Louise Shropshire a Cincinnati Civil Rights pioneer and composer.
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.
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
UC Libraries closed Monday, Jan. 16 for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Martin Luther King, Jr. from LIFE Magazine
UC Libraries will be closed Monday, Jan. 16 in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.The Libraries will resume normal hours on Tuesday, Jan. 17.
Want to read up on Martin Luther King, Jr., his impact and legacy, and how you can make a difference? Check out these library resources and the Racial Justice Resources for Activists, Advocates and Allies Research Guide.
‘Indigenous Dispossession.’ UC Libraries exhibit highlights laws, treaties and policies that resulted in mass Indian Removal
In honor of Native American Heritage Month, the University of Cincinnati Libraries’ RESPECT (Racial Equity Support Programming to Educate the Community Team), presents the exhibit “Indigenous Dispossession: U.S. laws & policies promoting European settlement and Western Expansion resulting in Indian Removal from tribal, ancestral lands.”
Rant Che Wai Me. From the McKenney and Hall digital collection.
On display on the 4th floor lobby of the Walter C. Langsam Library, the exhibit begins by listing the justification for European Settlement on Native American lands through the Doctrine of Discovery and Manifest Destiny, the ideas that the United States is destined to expand its dominion and to spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent. The exhibit then goes on to list laws and acts such as the Northwest Ordinance, Indian Removal Act and the General Allotment Act that all contributed to the removal of Native American peoples from their tribal homes. It also includes information on the Indian Civilization Act, which aimed to “civilize” and “Christianize” Native children. What resulted was a loss of their culture and identity and a system of abuse.
Ne Sou A Quoit – A Fox Chief. From McKenney and Hall digital collection.
The second part of the exhibit, on display on the 5th floor lobby, outlines steps to rectify the early treatment of Native Americans by granting citizenship and ending allotment of tribal lands with such policies as the Indian Citizenship Act, the Indian Reorganization Act and the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. It is noted, however, that while legislation around self-determination and self-governance offers a certain degree of independence and protection under the law, the legacy of displacement, oppression and neglect in American public policy affects Native communities and families to this day.
The exhibit highlights the collections of UC Libraries by featuring prominently illustrations from George Catlin who traveled the North American continent from 1830-1838 to chronicle the people, customs and traditions of Native American tribes and from Thomas Loraine McKenney and James Hall’s “History of the Indian Tribes of North America.”
From George Catlin’s “The Printed Works.”
To learn more, a bibliography of works from the collections of UC Libraries is available in print at the exhibit and online as a PDF.
The exhibit helps the RESPECT group in their mission to draw awareness of Systemic Racism, defined as “policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organization, and that result in and support a continued, unfair advantage to some people and unfair or harmful treatment of others based on race.”
Announcing the poets for the Nov. 30 Poetry Stacked
The University of Cincinnati Libraries and the Elliston Poetry Room announce the next set of poets for Poetry Stacked, a semi-regular poetry reading series held in the 6th floor east stacks of the Walter C. Langsam Library.
At the next event, scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 4:30pm, three poets will read original works.
- Rebecca Lindenberg is the author of Love, an Index (McSweeney’s) and The Logan Notebooks (Mountain West Poetry Series), winner of the 2015 Utah Book Award. She’s the recipient of an Amy Lowell Traveling Poetry Fellowship, an NEA Literature Grant, and a seven-month fellowship from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, among other awards and honors. Her work appears in Poetry, American Poetry Review, Tin House, The Believer, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, The Missouri Review, Best American Poetry 2019 and elsewhere. She’s a member of the poetry faculty at the University of Cincinnati, where she also serves as poetry editor of the Cincinnati Review.
- Manuel Iris. Poet Laureate Emeritus of the City of Cincinnati, Ohio (2018-2020). He received the “Merida” National award of poetry (Mexico, 2009) for his book Notebook of Dreams, and the Rodulfo Figueroa Regional award of poetry for his book The Disguises of Fire (Mexico, 2014). In 2016 two different anthologies of his poetic work were published: The Naked Light, in Venezuela; and Before the Mystery, in El Salvador. His first bilingual anthology of poems, Traducir el silencio/Translating Silence, was published in New York in 2018. This book won two different awards in the International Latino Book Awards in Los Angeles, California, in that same year. In 2021, he became a member of the prestigious System of Art Creators of Mexico (Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte). His latest book The Parting Present/Lo que se ira received the Reader’s choice award from the Ohioana Library Association, and was also recognized at the 2022 International Latino Book Awards.
- Rome Hernández Morgan is a second-year doctoral student in English, Creative Writing at the University of Cincinnati where she is a Provost Fellow. She received her MFA from the University of Arkansas. She translates from Spanish and Portuguese and her poetry has appeared in Blackbird, The Journal and New Ohio Review.
Read Source for the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries
Read Source, the online newsletter, to learn about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries.
In this issue of Source, we document the record number of students visiting and studying in the Walter C. Langsam Library this fall and feature the services and resources available in the Albino Gorno Memorial (CCM) Library. We spotlight Hannah Harper, a student worker in the Science and Engineering Libraries and the generous support of retired University of Cincinnati professors Laura and Richard Kretschmer.
Fall semester is a busy time for events in the Libraries. The Robert A. Deshon and Karl J. Schlachter Library for Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) are displaying selections from the library’s collection about hair. Our upcoming Poetry Stacked series, scheduled for Oct. 19, will raise awareness of the collections of both UC Libraries and the Elliston Poetry Room by engaging students and others in attendance with UC and community poets, including a student poet. On Thursday, Oct. 20 the College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services (CECH) Library is hosting a talk by Dr. Debbie Reese, noted children’s literature scholar, former classroom teacher, and founder/co-editor of the American Indians in Children’s Literature blog.
Read these articles, as well as past issues, on the website. To receive Source via e-mail, contact melissa.norris@uc.edu to be added to the mailing list.
UC Libraries & The Elliston Poetry room present Poetry Stacked
The University of Cincinnati Libraries and the Elliston Poetry Room announce Poetry Stacked, a semi-regular poetry reading series held in the 6th floor East stacks of the Walter C. Langsam Library.
Scheduled for Wednesdays, Oct. 19 and Nov. 30 at 4:30pm, each event will feature three poets reading their original poetry. Each session will include a UC faculty or staff member, a student and a local or national community member. Following each reading, attendees will be invited to tour the Elliston Poetry Room.
The mission of Poetry Stacked is to celebrate poetry and raise awareness of the collections of both UC Libraries and the Elliston Poetry Room. Each reading will engage audiences via exposure to contemporary poetry and increase appreciation for both the talents of UC and community poets, as well as for poetry itself. Poetry Stacked is free and open to all to attend.
Announcement of the Oct. 19 poets is coming soon. Stay tuned…
Library resources in celebration of National Arab American Heritage Month
April is National Arab American Heritage Month. Below is a list of library resources for further exploration of Arab cultural and history.
Online
UC librarians Olga Hart and Sally Moffitt created two research guides with links to information related to the Arab world. The Arabic Languages and Cultures guide provides an overview of Arabic language, literature and culture resources at the University of Cincinnati. The Middle Eastern Studies guide offers suggestions for conducting cross-disciplinary research into the history, politics, culture and social structures in the modern Middle East. The guide focuses on the Middle East after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the First World War. With the exception of Egypt, North Africa is included only when that region is part of a more comprehensive survey of the Muslim Mediterranean world. Continue reading
The Present Crisis in Ukraine Research Guide available
Looking for resources about the present crisis in Ukraine? The University of Cincinnati Libraries can help. Librarians have created a Research Guide that includes library resources, including books, journal articles, news reports and more.
The Present Crisis in Ukraine Research Guide includes both public and UC-only resources focusing on the historical background, geopolitical information, politics and international affairs, newspapers and more.