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Cincinnati and Shakespeare: The Bard Abides
By Kevin Grace. Enoch Carson was enthralled with William Shakespeare. While the 19th century Cincinnati entrepreneur and civil servant made his fortune in the lamp and gas business, he considered his real wealth to be the hundreds of Shakespeare volumes that he accumulated. For the most part Carson was a self-educated man, attributing his intellectual development to his years spent reading the plays. So, he devoted his life to building a library of as many editions of the bard as he could afford. At one point Carson took his volumes of the prominent Charles Knight 1839 London edition of the plays and disbound them so he could insert the huge…
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New Website Documents Jacobite Collection in the Archives and Rare Books Library
Want to go beyond the hit TV show Outlander and learn more about the Jacobite Movement from 1688-1788? A new website from the Archives and Rare Books Library highlights the recent donation of more than 500 books on the Jacobites from Cincinnatian Virginius C. Hall and provides a compelling and informative resource for scholars, researchers, or anyone hoping to learn more about this violent and important time in Scotland’s history. Hall became fascinated by the Jacobites and “Bonnie Prince Charlie” when he was 15 at boarding school and began his book collection. He continued to book hunt as an undergraduate at Princeton University and later as an Army private stationed…
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A New Look at Digital Collections
Imagine a place where through a computer, tablet or mobile device one could go to view such diverse collections as the House of Refuge Records, the creation of the Triceracopter sculpture, Albert B. Sabin’s archives about his quest to create the oral polio vaccine, as well as images of Great Houses of Cincinnati from environmental artist Alice Weston. This central, online place would also have exhibits about the 25th General Hospital: Courage and Skill in World War II, Promotion through Playing Cards, and Sublime and Beautiful Mountain Scenery among other captivating subjects. Such place does exist with the recently launched redesign of the Digital Collections & Repositories department website. Available…
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Displaying the Armstrong Collection
Thanks to support from the University of Cincinnati President’s office, we are pleased to announce a new permanent public exhibit recognizing Neil A. Armstrong and his time as a professor at the University of Cincinnati, 1971-1979. Located at the entrance of the College of Engineering and Applied Science Library, this exhibit brings together many objects and documents donated by the Armstrong family that are part of the University Archives housed in the Archives and Rare Books Library. The display represents many aspects of Mr. Armstrong’s life and accomplishments. Highlights are a flight mask and gear from his work as a test pilot (ca. 1960s), an encapsulated heat shield from the…
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African-American History Month and the Archives and Rare Books Library
It is February again, a month notable for honoring presidents and for looking forward to spring. February is also a time when we reflect on the heritage of African Americans in the United States and take time to acknowledge that part of our nation’s history. Depending on the media, we also term February as Black History Month, and it had its beginnings in 1926 when “Negro History Week” was created by historian Carter G. Woodson. Woodson’s intent was to celebrate it in February because both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass had their birthdays in this month, and as he stated, “If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile…
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Celebrating William Shakespeare
Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it. Of all the many lines about death that William Shakespeare wrote for his plays, perhaps his words from Macbeth best describe his own departure. Shakespeare was certainly successful during his lifetime for his comedies and dramas, but he left London and the Globe Theatre for Stratford well before he died. His reputation became somewhat obscure after that, though with the publication of the First Folio in 1623 just a few years after his death in a single volume that gathered his known plays, interest in his work revived to the point that there shall never be any abatement in studies…
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Looking East Book Signing Scheduled for June 24
Join the University of Cincinnati Libraries for a public book signing for Looking East: William Howard Taft and the 1905 U.S. Diplomatic Mission to Asia. The Photographs of Harry Fowler Woods. The event, scheduled for June 24, 7pm, at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Rookwood Pavilion, will include readings by authors Margo Taft Stever and Hong Shen. In 1900, Cincinnatian William Howard Taft successfully completed his tenure as Dean of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Law and began an appointment under President William McKinley as Governor-General of the Philippines. As a federal administrator and diplomat, Taft negotiated amicable trade and cultural interactions between East and West, and in 1905 President Theodore…
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A Note from the Dean: A Busy Year in Review
The 2014-15 academic year has been one of exploration, innovation and collaboration for UC Libraries. The launch of the Strategic Plan has contributed greatly to our success with its ten initiatives along with a wide range of events and activities created and sponsored by library faculty and staff throughout our libraries. The initiatives are all focused on the same goal, to make UC libraries the globally connected intellectual hub of the university. Below is a small sampling of those successes. More information on the ten strategic initiatives is available online. ____________________________ Scholar@UC One of the ten strategic initiatives was to create the next generation digital repository. Named scholar@uc, it successfully…
