In honor of the upcoming anniversary of the birth of children’s author and illustrator Beatrix Potter (b. July 28, 1866), we’re featuring the Libraries’ digital flip-book version of our first-edition copy of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. (Be sure to turn on your speaker for page-flipping sound.)
To view more digitized books, please visit Iowa Digital Library and Iowa Research Online.
“With a fantastic and unknown power, the tape recording commanded my imagination to fly and run. That’s why the Peter Nazareth Collection brought back to my life — with all its intensity — one of the most remarkable experiences I’ve ever lived.”
– Venezuelan poet Mariela Arvelo, featured in the Peter Nazareth Collection of digitized audio recordings
The storied history of the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program is now available for the world to hear. “The Peter Nazareth Collection,” which consists of 30 years of audio interviews with IWP participants and guests, is digitally archived at http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/vwu.
Since 1967, more than 1,000 creative writers from 120 countries have visited the university to attend the IWP. In his interviews with writers connected to the program, Peter Nazareth, a UI faculty member and an advisor to the International Writing Program since 1974, captures the essence of what it means to be a writer at “The Writing University.”…
“Peter and his wife, Mary Nazareth, are the institutional memory of this program,” IWP Director Christopher Merrill said. “His memory is incredible and he has amazing stories to tell.
“His recordings not only are really intelligent and quite moving, but they get at the nitty-gritty of what it means to be a writer. What he does in these interviews is dive into what the writer is all about. Peter really makes an effort to connect with the writer. He tries to understand what motivates a writer to do what they do. That’s at the heart of what writing at Iowa is all about.”
Read the full press release here.
The University of Iowa Libraries has reached five million volumes! To celebrate this milestone, we helped give some special treatment to the lucky five-millionth title, The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa, edited by David Hudson, Marvin Bergman and Loren Horton and recently published by the University of Iowa Press to spotlight prominent Iowans throughout history. The impressive team of scholars and writers who contributed to the book includes The UI Libraries’ own Kären Mason, Curator of Iowa Women’s Archives, and David McCartney, University Archivist.
We in Digital Library Services, along with our colleagues in the Applications & Web Services department, created an online version of The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa. It is now fully searchable and freely available to readers and researchers around the world, along with the fifty other titles in the University of Iowa Press Digital Editions. Both the print and online versions will be featured at the Iowa City Book Festival this Saturday, July 19.
–Joanna Lee
Digital Projects Librarian, Digital Library Services
This week, DLS bids farewell to Digital Projects Librarian Anne Shelley, who has accepted the position of assistant librarian with the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota. Anne started her tenure just last June amid the rising waters of the Iowa River flood. Listing all of her accomplishments would cause the blog server to crash, so just a couple of highlights…
She led the Ignaz Pleyel digital collection to fruition, a one-of-a-kind collection of over 200 early editions of Pleyel music scores. The project required a great deal of coordination and planning, which Anne carried out successfully.
Anne also recorded several tutorials on using the Iowa Digital Library, helping users to navigate the sometimes-tricky interface of IDL.
Good luck Anne! We’ll miss you.
–Mark F. Anderson
Digital Initiatives Librarian
In honor of Independence Day, please enjoy these patriotic artifacts, which are among the 250,000 digital objects viewable in the Iowa Digital Library.
“Doodle Dandy of the U.S.A.” promotional brochure, 1920s
Vincent Paints July 4th Fireworks Over Manhattan by Greg Constantine, 1982
“Don’t burn your fingers…” postcard, 1908
“Six Miniatures: Fireworks” performed by Catherine Rowe, 1973
