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Zoom Backgrounds Make You Look Like You’re in the Library
Missing the library? Save an image of the library for your next Zoom meeting background and at least picture yourself there. To save: right click on any image, and choose Save Image As to save to your computer. Load them into your Zoom profile and then look as if you are in the library. The smell of books not included.
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Mark Twain and Huck Finn in Cincinnati
By Kevin Grace, University Archivist and Head of the Archives and Rare Books Library When the University of Cincinnati Libraries held its inaugural Adopt-A-Book Evening, “Hidden Treasures,” a year ago, one of the books exhibited for the event’s attendees was a first edition of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn housed in the Archives & Rare Books Library. Published in America in 1885 (and that date is part of this story), the book was intended to demonstrate “collection building” in UC Libraries fundraising rather than supporting the expenses of physical preservation, which was another designated category used for additional books on exhibit. While the Archives & Rare Books Library…
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William A. Procter and the Gift of Libraries
By Kevin Grace, Head of the Archives and Rare Books Library As the University of Cincinnati heads into the final months of celebrating its bicentennial in 2019, there are a few significant aspects of this 200th birthday that are hereby decided. For example, the 1819 founding of the Cincinnati College versus the 1870 establishment of UC is officially settled: “The University of Cincinnati, est. 1819” is carved on our intellectual cornerstone. Bicentennial publications say so, decades of Bearcat administrators claiming it back it up, and that early date looked great on birthday cupcakes. Another affirmation of the university’s 200-year heritage is that we learn both by new endeavors and by…
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The Irish Fairy Book by Alfred Perceval Graves
By: Savannah Gulick, Archives and Rare Books Library Student Assistant As library student assistant in the Archives and Rare Books Library, Savannah Gulick’s responsibilities include staffing the reference desk, helping with reference requests, assisting with processing archival collections, and digitizing photographs and other archival material at the request of researchers. Below is an article she wrote about an item from the rare books collection. _____________________________ Celtic lore has always been fascinating to me and to readers worldwide, but oftentimes it is overlooked by Greek and Roman mythology so I thought I would highlight a few of the tales that exemplify Irish mythology and that are part of our holdings in…
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UC in Print: Books Documenting 200 Years of the University of Cincinnati
In 2019, the University of Cincinnati celebrates its bicentennial anniversary with a year of events and programs. UC Libraries is marking the occasion with an exhibit “UC in Print: Books Documenting 200 Years of the University of Cincinnati.” Available for viewing on the fourth floor lobby of the Walter C. Langsam Library, the exhibit includes books from throughout the libraries and covers the history, notables, sports and culture of the university. Songs of the university, the architecture, football and basketball, even a children’s book starring the UC Bearcat can be found in the exhibit alongside writings from former UC presidents Raymond Walters, Walter Langsam and Joseph Steger. Histories and commemorations…
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James Landy and Shakespeare’s “Seven Ages of Man”
By Kevin Grace, University Archivist and Head of the Archives and Rare Books Library It is one of the most famous lines in literature: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” Shakespeare’s words from As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII, are spoken by his character, Jacques, a morose and melancholy man. The line, as part of Jacque’s speech, is so often invoked about life in the theater, about everyday life and about everyone’s cosmic role in an earthly existence that one almost expects to see it carved on public buildings and graffitied on alley walls. Beyond that opening line, however, is a…
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So What is an “Extra-Illustrated Edition?”
By Kevin Grace, University Archivist and Head of the Archives and Rare Books Library When Cincinnati businessman Enoch Carson began collecting the works of William Shakespeare in the years before the Civil War, he was part of a bibliophile craze that stretched across the Atlantic Ocean. During the 1800s in Europe and America, book lovers scavenged publishers’ catalogues, auctions and bookshops to amass their private libraries built on their specific interests. They corresponded with each other at length, trading prints and imprints and finagling to acquire their most desired items. For Carson, the quests were for Masonic books and for Shakespeare. His collection of books on Masons numbered in the…
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Managing University Archives in a Digital World
By Eira Tansey, Digital Archivist/Records Manager, Archives and Rare Books Library “What College-Conservatory of Music musicals were staged in 1986?” “When did the university begin offering a dental insurance plan?” “What dorms have served as polling places?” These are just a handful of the university-history related questions I’ve encountered since starting work at the Archives and Rare Books (ARB) Library nearly five years ago. The questions we receive concern events at all times in campus history – from the earliest days of UC’s predecessor colleges to events that took place just a couple years ago. ARB is the official home for University Archives, making us the obvious place to go…
