This past spring was a good season for acquisitions in Special Collections, Leigh Hunt material not least among them. Not only did we pick up Percy Shelley’s personal copy of Hunt’s Feast of the Poets—a spectacular association copy, as Hunt and Shelley were remarkably close friends—but we acquired four Leigh Hunt manuscripts. Two of theseContinue reading “New Leigh Hunt Manuscripts”
Category Archives: Collection Connection
Identifying our 4mm Miniature Book
The University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives is home to the Charlotte Smith Collection of miniature books with more than 4,000 tiny tomes. Most perplexing has been this microscopic Bible that remained unidentified, likely because we lacked the tools to adequately magnify the page with the publisher’s information. Highlighting this tiny book yesterday on our social media pages brought itContinue reading “Identifying our 4mm Miniature Book”
Strolling through a Miniature Garden
In Of Gardens, Francis Bacon praises gardening as “the purest of human pleasures; it is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man […].” Having just moved here from Bozeman, MT, and left my garden behind to start the Library and Information Science master’s program, I have been sorely missing the simple pleasure of watchingContinue reading “Strolling through a Miniature Garden”
What the Hectograph?!?!
This past weekend, the Zine Librarian (un)Conference happened here in Iowa City! Amongst the lively discussions and seminars was a Historical Zine Making Technologies Workshop demonstrating and using obsolescent printing techniques including hectography, spirit duplication, and mimeography. You may be asking yourself, at this point, what the heck a hectograph is…and we’re here to showContinue reading “What the Hectograph?!?!”
Manuscript Mystery Solved
It’s kind of like History’s Mysteries meets Antiques Roadshow. There’s an item that’s been lying in your collection for years, possibly decades, patiently awaiting investigation. What exactly is this thing? Then one day—maybe on a quiet Friday afternoon—you suddenly have the urge to dig into it. That’s what happened here in Special Collections. A medievalContinue reading “Manuscript Mystery Solved”
Rusty, Rustebar, Rust E. Barron
The James L. “Rusty” Hevelin Collection of Pulps, Fanzines, and Science Fiction Books in the Special Collections of the University of Iowa Library is a manifestation of fandom, a subculture of shared interest, networking, and activity that grows up around almost any subject. Fandom demands more of its participants than merely liking something; they mustContinue reading “Rusty, Rustebar, Rust E. Barron”
Iowa City Meteor in 1875
Last night a meteorite slammed into the Russian countryside, as captured in many videos and photographs. 138 years ago in 1875, nearly to the day, a very similar event occurred in Iowa, when a meteorite disintegrated almost directly above Iowa City. It was documented by C.W. Irish, a local surveyor and astronomer. These images areContinue reading “Iowa City Meteor in 1875”
Kelmscott Proof Among Our Recent Acquisitions
Ask three different people why we remember William Morris, and you just might get three different answers. The social activist might mention his work in leftist politics. The designer might recall—with varying degrees of affection—his vivid wallpapers. The literature professor might quote a few lines of verse from the man who, upon the death ofContinue reading “Kelmscott Proof Among Our Recent Acquisitions”
Leigh Hunt’s Fireplace
Last week we opened, for the first time, a wooden shipping crate that had been stored in the department for many years. It had been sent to the Libraries in 1986 by Desmond Leigh-Hunt, the great-great-grandson of the Romantic poet and editor Leigh Hunt. Desmond Leigh-Hunt described it in correspondence as the fireplace surround fromContinue reading “Leigh Hunt’s Fireplace”
Round the World with Nellie Bly
By Denise Anderson Round the World with Nellie Bly is a Victorian-era board game housed in Special Collections & University Archives. McLoughlin Bros., New York, published the game in 1890 in celebration of her circumnavigation of the globe in record time, made from November 14, 1889 to January 25, 1890, exactly 123 years agoContinue reading “Round the World with Nellie Bly”