Monday, August 5th, the new and improved Business Library home page launches.  With a simpler display and more visuals, users should quickly be able to find the resources they need.  Coupled with upgrades to Smart Search, the new page will be a great help to students, staff, and the public.

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Friday, August 2, 2013
Submitted by Lindsay Shettler

The theatre photographs from the Frederick W. Kent Collection of Photographs are currently being stabilized, digitized, and rehoused for Special Collections. The theater photographs are organized by year and production. The first batch of photographs are pre-1936, many of these prints have unknown dates ranging from the late 1800′s up to 1936. The different photographic technologies and techniques used during the turn of the century help us determine this specific era.

Old photo from Kent Theater Collection

The two large photo albums that I worked on were with the pre-1936 collection; each album held about 300 prints. These needed to be stabilized and rehoused before scanning. The stabilization included removing the screw posts and casing, cleaning and mending the prints, and interleaving every single page with unbuffered tissue. Custom 4-flap enclosures were created to house the prints in the original order.

The prints from 1936 and after are mounted to board with tape rather than in album form. The prints are removed from the board and cleaned. The adhesive does not completely come off the resin-coated prints and need to be removed with ethyl alcohol and cotton tipped applicators. Once the tape is fully removed the prints are ready to be scanned. After digitization the photos will return to the Conservation Lab for rehousing and then finally returned to their home in Special Collections.

Kent Theater Collection Photos in a 4-Flap Enclosure

Kent Theater Company Old Album Cover

The Hardin Library will be open shorter hours through August 25.

Head Quarters, Co. “A” 129th Regt. Ills. Vol. Infty.
Gallatin, Tenn., Aug. 2nd 1863

My Dear Wife

I am disappointed in not hearing from you to-day & earnestly hope the state of your health has not prevented your writing. I hope that I may be more successful to-morrow.

I received my petition for leave of Absence to-day returned rejected. I have still another in the hands of Dr. Heermans, who went to the front on Friday Evening. I have but little hopes of success, however, & will not base any expectations upon it. My last petition has been three weeks getting through. I shall in all probability try again, the first opportunity that offers, but you must not allow any prospect of my success enter into your arrangements. If possible I shall be with you before your return home, unless I am assured that there will be necessity for my waiting until Winter. Your letters intimate such a contingency & perhaps you may soon be able fully to determine.¹

I wrote to you on Thursday Evening & a long letter to Sarah on Friday. I rec’d. a letter from Sister Hannah stating that Father was slowly declining & they fear he will not live much longer, & also Stating that she had written to you to visit them, & as I feared Mother’s name [Mrs. Murphy’s] was not mentioned.² My last letter had not been received. I am exceedingly sorry as Mother will undoubtedly feel slighted & not feel at liberty to go. I hope she will not feel so, & you can explain fully how it has happened. I am confident it will be rectified if you acknowledge the receipt of Hannah’s letter, so that she may know hers has been received.

If I had been successful [in obtaining a leave] & could have been with you, all would have been well. As it is, I shall hope for the best.

You intimate in your last letter that you are almost done visting in New York. When do you expect to leave it? I have no clue to your intentions, but you could not determine your course, I presume, until you heard from Carlisle.

I shall wait anxiously to hear from you & especially to learn the state of your health. I do not know that I can add any suggestions to my former letter except that cheerfullness is a great aid to health. Bilious diseases almost always produce a morbid state of mind which requires great effort at times to throw off. I have been so often afflicted that I am conversant with its effects. Do not allow anything to give you trouble. If even your surmises as to your condition are correct, there is no reason for depression. I shall feel thankful to God for all blessings, & though I know you may have some severe trials, which I would be most happy to alleviate if in my power by my presence; yet I cannot deny that I should look with pleasure for the event, if my dear Wife only enjoys good health.

I hope much from the weaning of Frankie in the regaining [of] your health. I am inclined to believe that you have suffered much more than your letter intimates & have felt considerable uneasiness. If your health should prevent your writing, be sure & get some friend to write & give me your true condition. Do not hesitate to tell me the worst, I shall certainly expect it & rely upon your letters.

Nothing of interest has transpired since I last wrote. Capt. Reed has returned from Pontiac but brings but little news, save that all are well. I do not understand why Sister Maggie [Utley] has not kept her promise to write to me. I have heard nothing of Bro. Johnie yet, nor from Thomas or Sammy.³ I presume they are all busy. Russell has not written yet & had not arrived when Capt. Reed left. I presume he is having a happy time.

I learn through Reed that the reports in circulation in Pontiac [of Russell’s romantic interests] have lost nothing, but are becoming more serious. I apprehend but little evil from them, however, while they will furnish food for the minds of many, who always knew that it would be so. I shall trust still in God. Pray for me.

Mrs. Smith is slowly improving but is very far from being able to travel. She can sit up in bed for half an hour at a time but that is all. She will regain strength but slowly until she is able to move about. My health is quite good.

Your papers have not yet arrived. We have no exciting war news. The Rebels have left Kentucky, & our troops hold undisputed possession.⁴ Dr. Johnson & Lt. Edgington have returned from Louisville & their wives gone home. It was late when they got into the city, & Doc’s [Johnson’s] children had gone to bed. In the morning the youngest wakened earl[y] & not knowing his father, alarmed his mother by his cries saying there was a man in bed. You know Doc’s disposition, & Jo[?] enjoys the joke very much.

I shall try & write to-morrow evening if I hear from you. To-day, one year ago, I was sworn into the service. Who knows what the coming year may bring forth? I hope we may see the inauguration of a permanent Peace. The Rebels are as determined as ever & will not yield except as they are overcome.⁵

May God in mercy bless you, my dear Wife, & keep us ever from evil. Kiss Frankie & Mother for me & Give my love to all our Kind Friends. Write to me as often as you can. With a kiss & much love to you, I remain, as ever,

Yours till Death,
J. F. Culver

1. J.F.C. is alluding to the possibility that his wife might be pregnant.
2. Hannah Culver in her letter of July 27 had written, “Father’s health is not improving any. He infrequently suffers with pain in his stomach, besides his rheumatism in his back and limbs and of course is growing weaker.” She also reported that she had written Mary Culver, inviting her to “spend the remainder of the summer with us.” Hannah Culver to J.F.C, July 27, 1863, Culver Collection.
3. Johnny, Thomas, and Sammy Murphy were J.F.C.’s brothers-in-law.
4. Colonel Scott, in retreating from Kentucky, had divided his brigade. Col. G. W. McKenzie with his regiment withdrew through Fulkerson’s Gap, while Scott with the main column retired by way of Big Hill, Lancaster, and Stanford, and recrossed the Cumberland River at Smith Shoals on August 1. When Scott reassembled his brigade at Concord, Tenn., he found that his raid into East Kentucky had cost 350 casualties. O.R., Ser. I, Vol. XXIII, pt. I, pp. 840-843.
5. Northern euphoria caused by Lee’s repulse at Gettysburg, the surrenders of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, and the withdrawal of Bragg’s army from Middle Tennessee had evaporated. In the days immediately following Lee’s retreat from Gettysburg and news that Vicksburg had fallen, most Northern leaders, as well as the people, believed that the war was about over. President Jefferson Davis and his generals, however, rallied their soldiers and civilians and the war continued another 22 months.

Camp near Shelbyville, Tenn.
1st August 1863.

Dear Brother Frank:

Yours of date 29 Ult is at hand. Your letter containing $20 arrived duly, and its receipt was acknowledged the same day of its arrival.

I am glad to hear from our folks. I hope Mollie will soon entirely recover her indisposition I have not heard from home directly since 13th May. The mails or something els are very irregular. Untill very recently, I reported to headquarters at home about twice a week. But I’m not writing letters now “so much as I was.” It don’t pay.

My health is not so good since our stay here, as it usually is. I always feel better when we are on the move. For the benefit of my health I am trying to get a transfer to the cavalry arm of the service.

No news here.

Affectionately your Brother
W J Murphy
Battery “M” 1st Ill. Arty.
Shelbyville Tenn.

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 watching something grow.  The jar of green onions growing on the windowsill of my basement apartment window does not seem to refresh my spirits in quite the same way as Bacon intended. He says that only a 30 acre garden will do—clearly, Bacon never had to live in a basement apartment. So while the corn continues to grow to as high as an elephant’s eye and squash vines consume other people’s backyards, I have decided to scour Special Collections for gardening books in order to vicariously experience “the purest of human pleasures.”

During my search, I chanced upon Claire Lawson-Hall’s diary of a single year of gardening.  She has separated her story by season: A Spring Garden (1999), A Summer Garden (1999), An Autumn Garden (2000), and A Winter Garden (2001), illustrated by Muriel Mallows and printed at The Alembic Press, Marcham, UK. The design of each miniature evokes the season Lawson-Hall chronicles.  In A Spring Garden she describes the progress of her garden February through May.  The blackbirds, starlings, and robins have all returned and set up various camps. The bulb flowers are blooming and ladybirds(bugs) have made an early appearance. Like every other gardener Lawson-Hall must battle snails and weeds, although I have to disagree with her  unfavorable opinion of dandelions—dandelion wine and salads are delightful! The pages of this book are folded like a cootie catcher and they spring open much like the flowers in her garden. When the book covers are tied together there are beautiful floral designs on either underside.

May through August summer returns and swallows take center stage in her narrative. Lawson-Hall describes their nest making and the birth of the first set of chicks and their departure. Her orchard is in bloom and volunteer poppies have sprung up on the edges of the garden.  In August she worries about drought, like most of us now, and hints at the first signs of autumn.  To me the design of this book conjures the image of wandering around her garden as the text winds from vertical columns to horizontal and back again. I love the final image where we can see Lawson-Hall doing battle with the valerian.

In autumn the last of the swallows leave and September through November Lawson-Hall focuses on preserving her harvest and making jams.  Hedgehogs mosey about the property and mowing the lawn and raking leaves are given constants in this season. This book design might be my favorite. It works like a Jacob’s ladder and the pages tumble down and become disarranged when I try to figure out the best way to read her diary. I think this is her cleverest representation of a season; the descending pages perfectly represent the falling leaves. Where the other illustrations are colored by watercolors, this book features real fall leaves stamped onto the squares of cardboard.

Lawson-Hall admits that winter is her least favorite season, perhaps this distaste accounts for her own tardiness when planting her broad beans and garlic. The unassuming design of this miniature also suggests that she was less inspired by the season, but I think it mimics winter quite well. The book is bound as a codex (curiously 2 gatherings have been bound out of order in our copy) which creates a more static feeling rather than the active unfolding, turning, or picking up motions involved with reading the other three works.  This more passive reading conveys to me a sense that the reader and author have moved indoors and that we are no longer rambling through the garden. The illustrations this time bear heavy plate marks which give the impression of looking through a window pane at the flora and fauna outside.

If Bacon read these little books, I am sure he would change his view that pleasure from a garden can only be derived if experienced by wandering through 30 acres or more of land.  These 3x3in. books take the reader on a memorable and tactile journey. Now I am inspired to expand my windowsill garden from just green onions in a jar to maybe some kitchen herbs too—then I will have an excuse to create my own cute garden books.

Head Quarters, Co. “A” 129th Regt. Ills. Vol. Infty.
Gallatin, Tenn. July 30th 1863

My Dear Wife

Yours of the 28th inst. came to hand this evening. I felt somewhat surprised before opening your letter to find it Post Marked Clinton, a name not at all familiar,¹ & I feared you had removed where my letters would not reach you. I was very agreeably disappointed upon opening it, however, & finding you still among warm friends. I have felt great anxiety about your health & hope you will not hesitate to make use of any means to restore you to your accustomed good health.

I wrote to you two days ago but as the trains were employed in transporting troops, the mails were necessarily detained. Wean Frankie by all means. I apprehend no serious results in his case, while it may prove very serious in yours to delay longer, especially if the surmises of Dr. Griswold are correct.² I did not encourage it here [weaning Frankie] because I thought you entirely mistaken in your conjectures, & I hope you will run no risks in the matter. If it should still prove a mistake, no harm will result, and if not, much good to yourself.

I was not aware that Frankie was so heathenish as to debar him from the privilege of attending church. I hope, however, he may improve in manners, as he grows in years.³

Do not let your expenses debar your pleasure in any way. I want you to enjoy yourself & get well as soon as possible, & you have the greater need of it if the early part of the winter should find you (winning your dress). May God bless you & speedily restore your health.

I am very thankful to Mr. Scott for his kindness, & hope some day to have the pleasure of taking a ride myself on the S. D. Caldwell.⁴

Thomas [Murphy] has not written, neither have I heard from Johnie lately. I have a perfect understanding of how matters stand with Sis & also Miss Turner, as I saw Miss Turner’s letter on the subject. (Mum).

You will Remember me kindly to Mrs. Williams & all the family. I dare not think of the pleasure it would give me to accept her kind wishes & assist to make your Visit a happy one. Perhaps when my duty is done here I may be permitted to see them all.

I am under obligations to Miss Sarah for a very kind & interesting letter which I will try and answer. I am sorry that my letter never reached her as I wrote quite a lengthy one as you can testify. Remember me also to Miss Aggie Davidson. Perhaps she will recollect my Visit at Utica; though short, it was very pleasant. I am exceedingly sorry to hear of the death of Miss Reed. My recollection is that she played the Organ when I was there. Am I correct?

It has been raining hard for the past 24 hours, leaving everything very wet & damp. We have scarcely got well dried since you left, almost continual rains. Pegram with 2000 men went into Kentucky on Monday to help Morgan not having heard that he was Captured.⁵ He is rapidly retreating with some 6 or 7,000 troops on his flank & rear.

I have had no news from home since I last wrote. I expect to hear from Russell very soon.

It was one year ago on Wednesday [the 28th] since I left you on the little porch to attend the meeting in which I signed my name as a recruit. Do you recollect it? I shall never forget your look when I returned & told you what I had done. How easily I read your thoughts, & oh, how I thanked God for so noble [&] self sacrificing a heart, as he had given me in my wife. When all the anticipated pleasures of a life were placed in the balance, with a dark prospective future and on the other hand duty, she had no remonstrance but cheerfully yielded all to the cause of right & Country. Few men have greater incentives to deeds of bravery than I have. May God abundantly reward you.

Very many times have all these circumstances recurred to my mind, & I have always felt that I should ever strive to be worthy [of] the confidence reposed in me, & give you no reason to regret your resolution. Pray for me.

Christ Yetter promised to write to you but has not done so yet. He came off duty this morning wet to the skin & has not been feeling very well to-day. Mrs. Smith is much better & expects to be able to travel home in ten days. Capt. Reed will return from Pontiac by Monday, & we will get the news.

Charlie Paige is in Pontiac & report says he has been appointed Brig. Genrl. of [a] negro Brigade. I doubt it very much. I hope he may be useful for once.

Alf Huetson has been experimenting in vaccination on himself & has a very sore arm; I think the bins [?] he used must have been impure. He has several large boils which are quite painful.

Phil Plattenburg [Regimental Adjutant] has been sick for several days, & I have been assisting him some. I made out the Consolidated Monthlies for him today & find the total sick in the Regt. only 48; a very small list, indeed, which tells well for the health of the Regiment.

Dr. Johnson & Bob Edgington are in Louisville to see their wives, who are there but could not get through the lines. I do not know whether they intend to bring them here or not.

Nelson has put up a tent, & his wife expects to stay in camp.⁶ We received a dispatch from Genrl. Rosecrans, inquiring if Nelson was dangerously ill. It seems his wife telegraphed for a pass, stating that he was; but she got through & it did not become necessary to answer it. He has not been sick at all. I intended to answer Sarah’s letter to-night, but it is getting very late & I think I shall defer it until to-morrow evening.

I have written a much longer letter to you than I expected & laughed at myself for selecting so large a sheet. My health is quite good. We have apples plenty. Peaches and plums are ripening, but are not plenty [iful] yet.

If I could step into Mrs. Williams’ Parlor to-morrow morning, I would give you one of the sweetest kisses you ever had. Please accept it, at any rate; & perhaps I shall be able to make it good someday. I want you to be well enough to come & see me this fall if I cannot get home & we remain here.

Read at your leisure the 25th and 35th chaps. of Isaiah. Give my love to Mother, Frankie & all our dear friends. I shall look anxiously for another letter soon. The paper you sent has not yet come to hand. “Do not be discouraged” but persevere. I must say Good-night, praying that God will be with & bless you all.

Your Affect. Husband
J. F. Culver

1. Mary Culver’s letter of July 25 is missing from the Culver Collection. Clinton, another Oneida County town, is about five miles west of New Hartford.
2. Dr. Walter R. Griswold was a 44-year-old New Hartford, New York, physician. Eighth Census, Oneida County, State of New York, NA.
3. Apparently Frankie had acted ill-manneredly in church.
4. Captain Scott was master of the screw steamer S.D. Caldwell of 757 tons. Mary Culver had booked passage on the S.D. Caldwell from Detroit to Buffalo. Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States, 1807-1868. “The Lytle List” (Mystic, 1952), p. 167.
5. Morgan with the remnant of his command had been captured on July 26, 1863 near New Lisbon, Ohio. Col. John S. Scott, not Brig. Gen. John Pegram, had crossed from East Tennessee into Kentucky through Big Creek Gap on Saturday, July 25. Advancing rapidly by way of Williamsburg, London, and Big Hill, Scott’s brigade engaged the Federals at Rogersville on the 28th and occupied Richmond. There Colonel Scott learned of Morgan’s capture. On the 29th Scott’s troopers pushed on to Winchester, and, on learning of the approach of strong Union columns, abandoned their toehold in the Bluegrass region and started back to East Tennessee. O. R.. Ser. I, Vol. XXIII, pt. I, pp. 839-840.
6. Erastus J. Nelson, a 27-year-old painter, was mustered into service on Sept. 8, 1862, as a corporal in Company A, 129th Illinois. Nelson was reduced to private on Jan. 12, 1863, and was wounded in the chest at Peachtree Creek, Georgia, on July 20, 1864, and hospitalized at Nashville until Oct. 8, when he was given a medical discharge. Compiled Service Records of Union Soldiers, NA.

Bastian Schaefer is the Cabin and Cargo Innovation Manager at Airbus Operations — and leads a group of far-thinking engineers who are building out a concept plane. Previously at Airbus, he worked on the development of A380 stairs and components for in-flight entertainment. Between 2006 and 2011 Bastian worked at Bertrand Ingenieurbüro GmbH working on projects with C&D Zodiac Development A350XWB Lavatories, AT Kearney and EADS Technology Watch Consulting. He considers himself a mechanical engineer and has a special interest in cars.

http://www.ted.com/talks/bastian_schaefer_a_3d_printed_jumbo_jet.html