Category Archives: Library Exhibits

Mergers, Dreams, and Demolitions: The UArts Campus Real and Imagined

 

On your way into Anderson Hall, take a moment to view the exhibit Mergers, Dreams, and Demolitions: The UArts Campus, Real and Imagined created by Phoebe Kowalewski, Cataloger and Processing Archivist at UArts Libraries, with installation assistance from archives volunteer Damien McCaffery. On public display for the first time, these materials are from the University Archives.

The exhibit will be on display until December 18, 2015.

Blind Date with a Book…or Disc!

You spot them from across the room. Strong, enigmatic, and oh so enticing. You can’t wait to get underneath their covers…

IMG_0513 copy

This Valentine’s Day indulge your sense of mystery and go on a blind date with a book from the Greenfield Library. Who knows? You could meet your literary soulmate.

Need some help breaking the ice? Visit the Music Library and pick a mystery CD. Trust us, it makes for a great conversation starter.

All books and CDs are available for immediate check out at the circulation desk, just bring your chosen mystery date and your UArts ID.

IMG_0052

 

ID Student Projects Displayed in Greenfield

The Greenfield Library is delighted to display projects from Jason Lempieri’s History of Industrial Design and Architectonics classes. Works on the main level of the library were created for the assignment Hidden History: Know Your ID. Location and information booklets are available at the Greenfield circulation desk.

History of Radio by Marlena Sciambi
Did You Know? Marvin Glass Edition by Maria Gaston
I Want Legos and Dolls by Lena Feliciano Hansen
Ambassador of Good Design by Tito Williams
Where Did Flo Go? By Andrea Maddalo
Materials Effect On Shape Wear History by Jessica Hild

 

 

Inspired to create a communal space on campus, Architectonics students have designed and built Living Room. This model is on display in the lower level of the library.

On Display: Volumes (of vulnerability)

Volumes (of vulnerability) is a collection of 23 artists’ books, curated by Katharine Meynell and Susan Johanknecht to commemorate the new millennium. Johanknecht is the founder of Gefn Press, which released Volumes (of vulnerability), and has collaborated with Meynell on various projects over the years.

Greenfield Display

The books contained within the unadorned, battered tin cover a multitude of subjects, dealing most generally with ideas such as vulnerability, impermanence, innocence, language and how the concept of a book can convey these and many other abstractions. Many of the books contain references or are responses to the fear and uncertainty that composed many people’s emotions around the turn of the millennium.

The Pool – Lily Markiewicz

The works included in Volumes (of vulnerability) include books by Sophie Artemis, Caroline Bergvall, Penny Bernard & Stephen Williams, Stephen Burry, Helen Douglas, Cate Elwes, Joanna Hoffmann, Susan Johanknecht, Lilian Lijn, Lily Markiewicz, Katarine Meynell, Jim Mooney, AMES, Hayley Newman & Casey Orr, Colin Sackett, Gary Stevens, Ulrike Stoltz, David Thorne, Claire Van Vliet and Elaine Worth.

Volumes (of vulnerability) Extinction – Claire Van Vliet

Houseworks – Penny Bernard & Stephen Williams

The Library – Ulrike Stoltz

Gefn Press
Katharine Meynell

Volumes (of vulnerability)
Visual Resources & Special Collections
BA V889v CB2

On Display: An Ode to Spring

“Give me the splendid, silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling.” –  Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass


Stop by the Greenfield Library display case to see some items that made us think of this much-anticipated season. We’ve pulled from the Floricultural Cabinet and Florists MagazineNatural Histories: Extraordinary Rare Book Selections from the American Museum of Natural History Library, Wilderness; A Journal of Quiet Adventure in Alaska, and The Naturalist’s Library: Entomology from the Visual Resources and Special Collections to create a display gives a nod to rebirth and renewal. To me, there is nothing better than sitting in the grass reading Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass so come by, take a look at the display and check out a book to read in the park! Happy Spring, everyone!


Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass and other writings are available in several formats and multiple copies. Check here to view the titles and call numbers.

 

Floricultural Cabinet, and Florists Magazine – Greenfield Special Collections a 635.9 F663f

Natural Histories: Extraordinary Rare Book Selections from the American Museum of Natural History Library – Greenfield Special Collections 016.508 N219b

Wilderness; A Journal of Quiet Adventure in Alaska – Greenfield Special Collections 979.8 K41w

The Naturalist’s Library: Entomology – Greenfield Special Collections a 595.7 J284n

 

 

This display was selected and arranged by Circulation Assistant Casey Murphy.

On Display: Chinese Colour Woodcuts

Chinese Colour Woodcuts, currently on display at the Greenfield Library, is a 1952 reproduction of a beautiful and painstakingly gathered collection of Chinese woodblock prints first printed in 1644.  The four books included in the collection cover a wide variety of themes, from scenes of nature and animals to portraits of domestic life to images of vases and pottery. The 277 wood cuts are printed in subdued pastels and each print is given its own page, providing them with space to be closely admired and studied.

Equally beautiful are the books that the wood cuts are printed in themselves. The four volumes are printed on delicate rice paper and bound in earth colored paper sprinkled with gold ink. The case that contains the four books is made from satin and embroidered with a floral pattern.

Please come in and take a closer look at the display yourself. Or if you happen to miss it, the books are housed in the Greenfield Library Special Collections, located on the mezzanine of Anderson Hall.

Chinese Colour Woodcuts, preserved by the Shi Chu Studio; compiled by Hu Ye-Tsung. Peking : Jung-pao-tsai Hsin Chi ; 1952. Greenfield Special Collection A 769.951 H86

Display created by Bill Rooney, Circulation Assistant

Making a Custom Book Cradle: My First Conservation Workshop

On May 16th I had the pleasure of attending my very first conservation workshop entitled Book Cradles for Reading Rooms and Exhibitions by the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) hosted at the Ewell Sale Library and Archives at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.  Renee Wolcott, Book Conservator and Mellon Fellow at CCAHA, led the demonstration with assistance from CCAHA’s Education Program Manager, Stephenie Schwartz Bailey.  There were 15 participants, including myself, from the tri-state area.

Ms. Wolcott began our morning with a slideshow explaining vulnerable book mechanics and a brief history of the book from medieval times to the present day. She explained how binding has changed throughout the centuries and how that has affected the aging of books. We then moved on to a discussion of the importance of book cradles, where to purchase them, which materials are best for rare books, and, lastly, how to construct them yourself.

Book cradles are an essential part of a library’s arsenal to maintain our precious collections. Rare books have a number of sensitivities that must be taken into consideration to assure the item is being handled and exhibited as safely as possible. Wolcott explained that a book is “happiest” when closed. They’re built closed, whether sewn or glued, and the opening and closing of them puts stress, even with the slightest use, on the spine. Over time, the spine can begin to break down. This is especially common in older volumes but is still prevalent in newer items. Sometimes, a book may have very stiff pages that require the use of a book strap to keep it flat. A book strap is a thin piece of plastic, generally made out of polyurethane or polyethylene, which can be wrapped around the text block to hold it open for viewing. Some books have glued spines, some have weak paper that can pull out from the spine, and some have weak joints. Book cradles assure that the right amount of support is given to the book to prevent further damage.

There are many commercial book cradles available for purchase. Unfortunately, not all of them are made from things that are good for your books. For approximately $500, you can purchase a beautiful mahogany book cradle from an Internet supplier. Even though it is visually appealing, it is not only high in price but wood can “off-gas”, meaning it will release chemicals and, in turn, potentially damage the item it’s supporting.  Do your research before purchasing book cradles! You’ll want to look for something that supports the entire book including the spine and is made of a material that will not break down over time or release harmful chemicals. Polyethylene and acrylic are great alternatives.

On a budget? You can make your own! How to construct your own is exactly what the workshop was about. With an inexpensive rag-based mat board, you can make custom book cradles for just about anything in your collection. Ms. Wolcott provided each participant with a piece of board, an x-acto knife, a ruler, triangle, scissors, archival double-sided tape, and a pencil. Each person was given a copy of the “Hardy Boys”, to work with.  You begin by finding the position in which the book can open without fighting back, its comfortable resting point. Then, draw the template based on how the book will be open. (See images below.) The entire process takes about 15 minutes between the measuring, cutting, and folding.  Just about anyone can build a cradle as long as you can hold a ruler and an x-acto knife! The process is primarily based on scoring the board and folding into either a mountain (up) or a valley (down) based on the shapes of your item and they way its spine needs to be supported.

Above diagrams from a handout provided by the CCAHA.

 

Ms. Wolcott and her assistant were very helpful, friendly, and open to all questions. The workshop was highly informative and a very pleasant experience. Please visit the CCAHA website for more information on workshops and seminars.

My template:

Template for my cradle.
This is the template I drew up based on the book they gave me. I was given the title page to display which is why the left side is so much higher than the right. The left page is not important to the viewer.

My cradle without book:

Finished cradle.
Side view of finished cradle.

My cradle with book:

Finished cradle displaying book.

The book pictured above is Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, Greenfield Open Stacks 813 H463o 1997.

 

Interested in book conservation or restoration? Please take a look at the following titles in the Greenfield Library:

1. Basic Book Repair with Jane Greenfield [videorecording] written and directed by Mark Schaeffer; produced by Visual Education for the H.W. Wilson Company.

Greenfield Videotapes GV17

2. Bookbinding & Conservation by Hand: A Working Guide by Laura S. Young.

Greenfield Open Stacks 686.302 Y85b

3. Books, Their Care and Repair by Jane Greenfield

Greenfield Open Stacks 025.7 G837b

4. Simple Repair and Preservation Techniques for Collection Curators, Librarians and Archivists

Greenfield Open Stacks 025.84 G956sr 1981

 

A Chapter in the History of Visual Music (a Music Library mini-exhibit)

Wassily Kandinsky, "Impression III (Concert)", 1911. Inspired by Schönberg's "First and Second String Quartets, opp. 7 and 10".

It is now a century since the term “visual music” was coined, by the artist and critic Roger Fry, to describe paintings by Wassily Kandinsky that seemed to incorporate a temporal dimension, a sense of embedded timelines, in which viewers followed spiraling sequences to their cadential ends. Long before electronic composition and cinematography, artists of many stripes pursued the emancipation of noise—luminous as well as acoustic—in settings that downplayed linear narration.

 

Excerpts from the vocal score for "Erwartung", piano reduction by Eduard Steuermann, former faculty member of the School of Music (Philadelphia Musical Academy) Music Library Open Stacks M1503 .S365E7

Many paths radiated from here—the anti-music of Futurism, the sound poems of Dada, sound-color projection, gestural abstraction—but the Music Library is pausing to commemorate an early Expressionistic work when none of those paths was yet foreseen. Upon hearing the experimental scores of Arnold Schoenberg, Kandinsky initiated what turned out to be a lasting friendship with the composer, who in turn contributed articles to Kandinsky’s publication Der blaue Reiter, as well as participated, with paintings of his own, in exhibitions of works by members of Kandinsky’s circle. Our focus is Schoenberg’s monodrama Erwartung (Expectation), an exercise, as Schoenberg acknowledged, in visual music-making.

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Excerpts of Erwartung performed by the De Nederlandse Opera in 2005.

On Display: Dombey and Son

Dombey and Son
Written by Charles Dickens, Illustrations by Hablot Knight Browne
823.8 D555dom v. 1 and 2 Greenfield Special Collections


Dombey and Son (also known by its full title Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son, Wholesale, Retail and for Exportation) marked the seventh novel for Charles Dickens, and was serialized between 1846 and 1848. The novel follows the proud and arrogant London merchant Paul Dombey as he strives to bequeath his inheritance to a male heir,
all while neglecting his daughter, Florence. The story also chronicles the rise of the railway age, as London is transformed into a growing industrial center, and older forms of commerce are made obsolete.

The edition of the book on display in Greenfield Library, published by Charles Scribner’s Sons in 1897, is based on an edition corrected by Dickens in 1867 and 1868, and features the original illustrations of the novel by Hablot Knight Browne. Browne was a longtime friend and collaborator with Dickens, and illustrated nine of his major novels, including Martin ChuzzlewitNicolas NicklebyDavid Copperfield, and A Tale of Two Cities. Browne often worked under the pen name of ‘Phiz,’ to coincide with Dickens’s own pen name ‘Boz.’

The illustrations presented here bring to life the characters and world of Dombey and Son, filled with a detail and an expressiveness that any
illustrator today should admire. While the pages of this book have deteriorated, the illustrations have retained their life and sharpness for
us to enjoy today.

Information gathered from The Dickens Index,
edited by Nicolas Bentley, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. Pages 35 and 78.
823 D555z10, Greenfield Reference.

Recommended by Mike Sgier
Recommended by Mike Sgier
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