Author: mlemmenes

Mar 03 2021

Sitting Around the Library Table with Laura Michelson

Posted on by Meaghan Lemmenes

Join us as we sit down and discuss around the library table. We will light a fire in the fireplace and share stories from our favorite collection. Grab your favorite piece of classic literature or bring a new story you are writing as we share with you all the life of an English Romantic and his collector.

Exhibit poster designed by Zoe Webb

This is what former Olson Graduate Research Assistant, and current Project Curator for Grinnell College, Laura Michelson captures in her exhibit, Around the Library Table, featured now in the Special Collections Reading Room.

“Luther Brewer featured his collection with friends in December 1920 and he was about 100 years away from the important years in Leigh Hunt’s life,” Michelson said. “It is important that 100 years from that we are focusing on their lives again and the impact they have had.”

Special Collections is home to the Luther Brewer-Leigh Hunt collection, which documents Romantic-era Hunt’s writings and life, his literary friends, and Brewer’s collecting of these material. This collection is challenging to search  because it resides in multiple locations and has had many different organization systems placed upon it over the years. These challenges, however, is what opened Michelson’s curiosity into the collection.

Before she became Olson Graduate Research Assistant, Michelson worked as a graduate student employee with Special Collections. One of her projects was to update the manuscript inventory of the Brewer-Hunt collection, and this got her immersed into the collection and its history.

“Lindsay Moen gave me that project, and this project is what impacted my work and my interests now,” Michelson said.

When Michelson became the Olson Graduate Research Assistant, her research didn’t stop with her graduate student position. She continued to research and make sense of the Brewer-Hunt collection she was growing to love, and she wanted to share that love with rest of the library through an exhibit.

“I wanted more people to be excited about the collection, too,” Michelson shared. “It [the collection] is exceptional for what is has and because the framing of it is around a lesser-known name, a lot of people don’t know we have this English-Romantics collection at Iowa.”

Piece of Leigh Hunt’s fireplace featured in Laura Michelson’s exhibit.

A piece in the exhibit Michelson is particularly excited about is a piece of Hunt’s fireplace. The piece comes from one of Hunt’s houses and his London last address. Michelson states that Hunt wrote about his fireplace, mentioning that in the sunlight he could see the flecks of gold in the fireplace that he has never seen before. Now, you can see the flecks of gold in the same fireplace Hunt stood in front of.

“The piece of the fireplace is interesting to have because it grounds Leigh Hunt as a relatable person, and it is touching to have that piece in our reading room,” Michelson stated.

One day, Michelson would love to see the fireplace reconstructed and as a focal point in the reading room so we all can sit around the fireplace with Hunt again.

Besides the fireplace, Michelson loves the handwritten works from the authors like John Keats. These items add a different level to reading the published-typed versions because viewers can see the corrections and thought process behind these works, Michelson commented.

However, one of her favorite items didn’t come from the stacks. It came from her colleague, peer, and more importantly, her friend. Zoe Webb, former graduate student worker at Special Collections, designed the poster for the exhibit. Webb has listened to Michelson talk for many hours about Hunt and his friends, and she was able to bring these people to life as characters on the poster. The interpretation in the poster helps illustrate the exhibit’s story of the relationship between Leigh Hunt and Luther Brewer.

The exhibit is in the reading room through April 2021. If you are not able to view it in person, there will be an online exhibit coming this spring. Eager to look at the exhibit and can’t make it to campus? Listen to Michelson’s Bibliophiles lecture on her research into the Leigh Hunt collection and Luther Brewer.

 

Feb 01 2019

An Exhibit for the Senses

Posted on by Meaghan Lemmenes

The great thing about artists books is that it shows us the various shapes, sizes, and textures that books can come in. Publishing companies, who also vary in shapes and sizes, help get these books out into the world for everyone to enjoy.

Curated by University of Iowa Professor Jennifer Buckley, Seeing Seeking Feeling Reading: Granary Books is an exhibit highlighting the book’s flexibility as a concept and as an intellectual and sensory experience by exploring the works published by just one company, Granary Books.

Granary Books is an independent publishing company in the United States and one of the proprietors is a University of Iowa graduate, Steven Clay. Clay graduated with a Bachelor’s in English and Religion in 1978. He describes Granary’s mission as “exploring the relationships between seeing and reading, reading and seeking,” which is where the name of the exhibit comes from.

The exhibit will feature Granary editions all organized into three categories: limited edition artists’ books, writer/artist collaborations, and books about books.

“These Granary Books live on the third floor in Special Collections, but many library patrons don’t know that they exist, or where to access them,” Buckley said. “The Main Library Gallery is a wonderful publicly accessible and beautiful site in which to share the riches of Special Collections.”

Buckley was able to work with Clay and library staff, including Exhibition Designer Kalmia Strong and Head Conservator Giselle Simón, in order to make this exhibit happen.

Seeing Seeking Feeling Reading: Granary Books will be open to the public on February 1 until March 15 on the first floor of the Main Library.

In addition to the exhibit, Cecilia Vicuña, a multidisciplinary artist-activist who makes poems, paintings, installations, books, performances, and films, is coming for a lecture on February 14 at 7:30 p.m. in 240 ABW and she will be doing a poetry reading on February 15 at 4:30 p.m. at the Dey House. 

Steven Clay is also coming to give a lecture about the publication and materials in the Main Library on February 15 from 3 p.m.-4 p.m. 

“I want viewers to leave the exhibit reminded that books come in many forms and formats, and that viewing is not all we do to or with them,” Buckley said. “Readers can interact with books in multiple ways while using multiple senses. Exhibitors should come back to Special Collections to see, hold and feel Granary Books for themselves.”

“It’s your Special Collections, too!”

Jan 14 2019

Top 10 Things Found from Student Shelver

Posted on by Meaghan Lemmenes

I was hired at Special Collections to shelve things. Books, boxes and everything in-between. As time went on, I began putting away newly acquired books as well as gathering the material for classroom use.

There are so many books and material passing through my hands each shift I complete, and each book or item is unique. Some test the true definition of what a book should be, or what our image of a book is. So, in no particular order, here are my ten favorite books I have found in the stacks:

 

 

 

Winnie ille Pu by A.A. Milne (xPZ5.M65 W512) 

This is a Latin version of A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh. This silly old bear is still a favorite of mine, and I love that it is so popular that it even comes in a dead language. The cover also depicts Pooh and Piglet wearing Roman battle gear.

The inside of Paper Samples.

Paper Samples 1966 by Glen Dawson (Smith TS1220.D27 1966)

This is one of our many miniature books, but it is one of my favorites because it is a mini-book with little paper samples in it. That’s it.

The Perfect Martini by Emily Martin (Szathmary N7433.4.M364 P47 1998)

I really enjoy this artist book because it makes you consider what a book to be. This is literally a martini glass with an olive in the bottom. The only words are on the box it is encased in, saying: “Place ice in a shaker, fill as needed with gin. Observe a moment of silence for the vermouth. Strain into a martini glass. Add olives and serve. Instructions may be repeated.”

Complete Works by William Shakespeare

Complete Works by William Shakespeare (Smith PR2754.E5 1904 v 1-40) 

 Shakespeare is one of my favorite authors to study, so it’s only fitting to put him in my list. This book I listed is actually all of his plays, but they’re mini!!! And they come with their own rotating bookshelf! I love everything about this set, including the floral end-paper.

Global Perspectives by Christian Science Publishing Society  (Maps G3201.A67 1968 .C5) 

This one is from our Maps Collection. We have so many different maps, but this one stuck out to me because it’s the United States seen from the perspective of Canada.

Box for God Created the Sea and Painted it Blue so We’d Feel Good on it

God Created the Sea and Painted it Blue So We’d Feel Good on it by Michelle Ray (xN7433.4.R39 G63 2013)

This was one of the first books I came across while working here, and it has stuck with me during my two years here. It isn’t the book that is the wow factor, but the box that holds the book. It is simply beautiful. The detail included on it and the way you can feel the water moving makes it a special piece.

The edge of Summer

Autumn; or: The Causes, Appearances, and Effects of the Seasonal Decay and Decomposition of Nature by Robert Mudie (QH81.M93 1837), Spring, or: The Causes, Appearances, and Effects of the Seasonal Renovations of Nature in All Climates by Robert Mudie (QH81.M933 1837), Summer, or: The Causes, Appearances, and Effects of the Grand Nuptials of Nature in All Its Departments by Robert Murdie (QH81.M934 1837) and Winter, or: The Causes, Appearances, and Effects of the Great Seasonal Repost of Nature by Robert Murdie (QH81.M935 1837) 

I had to group all four of these together because it is just too hard to pick one. If you do pick one, then you pick your favorite season. I don’t like these books for the words or the cover, but for the image that is hidden on the spine.  When you fold the pages of the book a certain way, an image is presented to you. That image is a season; four books for four seasons. 

El Taco de Ojo = Easy on the Eye

El Taco De Ojo = Easy on the Eye by Edward H. Hutchins (Szathmary N7433.4.H88 T33 2000)

I couldn’t tell you exactly why I like this book so much, or why it made it to the list instead of other books. I mean, it’s literally a book in the shape of a taco. And who doesn’t love tacos?

Plotted: a Literary Atlas by Andrew DeGraff (Maps PN56.M265 D44 2015)

Now, this is an interesting piece because it also comes from our Maps Collection, but it isn’t a map of a place you can visit physically. This book contains different maps of famous literary tales, including the short story “The Lottery” and The Odyssey.

Curtis’s Botanical Magazine by John Sims (xQK1.C9 any volume)

Inside Curtis’s Botanical Magazine volume 5-6.

These are simply beautiful. They have illustrations of different flowers in it and its gorgeous. It makes me wish I had the talent to do something like that. And all of the volumes are created that way. 

 

Oct 25 2018

Hand Papermaking is on exhibit in the Reading Room

Posted on by Meaghan Lemmenes

This week we said goodbye to our Herky exhibit and said hello to the beauty of papermaking.

Giselle Simón, Head Conservator at University of Iowa, was invited to curate an exhibit called Hand Papermaking Portfolios: Selections from 1994-2017 in honor of the Dard Hunter and the American Printing History Association joint conference, which will be held here, in Iowa City, starting Thursday, October 25th. 

The pieces on display in the Special Collections Reading Room all come from the Hand Papermaking Portfolios held within Special Collections. There are twelve different categories, including calligraphy, watermarks, pop-up and more. Simón was able to include something from each portfolio for the display, a task that has not been done before now. 

This series is a growing collection, with the first modern hand papermaking produced in 1994 by Hand Papermaking Magazine (a publication founded by Michael Durgin and Amanda Degener in 1986). The goal of the magazine itself was to provide an educational resource for those who did hand papermaking. The portfolios allow paper artists to come together and share skills and information about their work, and they contain the works of several individuals, making this project a true community effort.

“I want people to see the different varieties in hand papermaking,”Simón said. “I want them to see hand papermaking as another medium of making art.”

By looking at the display, viewers can certainly tell it is a form of art. The watermarks display case is an example of that.

When looking at this particular display case, the selections are interesting, but seem to be missing something. Some just look like pieces of paper with a simple image on it. However, it isn’t until the visitor turns on the lights placed underneath the paper that the watermarks are revealed and the images are completed.  

“I enjoyed working with Bill Voss, the exhibit preparator, to create mounts that would illuminate the watermarks,”Simón said.

The watermarks are not the only thing coming to life in the display. There is a display case devoted to pop-up papermaking and it is truly sprouting life. Every piece on exhibit shows how papermaking is a work of art. 

Hand Papermaking Portfolios: Selections from 1994-2017 is now open and will be until early January. 
Art in papermaking
Nature inspired papermaking
Watermark before lights
Watermark after lights
Pop-Up Portfolio
Oct 17 2018

From University Archivist David McCartney: Top 10 historical things at the UI

Posted on by Meaghan Lemmenes
In honor of Homecoming week here at the University of Iowa, we asked our University Archivist David McCartney to pick the top ten favorite historical things here at the University. The items are in no particular order. 
 

10. The Birthplace of Prime-time TV.

W9XK signal reached into several states during the 1930s.
 Sure, Westinghouse, General Electric, AT&T and other labs were testing television in the 1930s, but from 1933 to 1938, the State University of Iowa was broadcasting regularly-scheduled TV programs, the first in the nation to do so. Experimental station W9XK featured lectures, instruction, and musical and dramatic performances two or three evenings each week. Viewers from as far as Oklahoma and Indiana reported receiving the signal.
 
9. Nile Kinnick.
By all accounts, an outstanding athlete, gentleman, and scholar. The 1939 Heisman Trophy recipient. A consensus All-American. Phi Beta Kappa. Humanitarian. Kinnick died during a flight training mission while serving as an aviator in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
 
8. Master of Fine Arts Degrees Were Conferred Here First.

The UI was the first university in the nation to accept creative works in lieu of theses as requirements for advanced degrees in the arts, beginning in the 1920s. In 1940, it was the first in the nation to confer the MFA. Recipients of the newly-minted degree that year were Elizabeth Catlett, Jewel Peterson, and

Van Allen Hall machine shop for satellite program, 1970.

Harry Edward Stinson. Catlett, a sculptor, was also the first African-American woman to receive the MFA.

 
7. A Space Exploration Hub.
James Van Allen advanced U.S. space research using satellites beginning in 1958, but did you know that Donald Gurnett of the Department of Physics and Astronomy is likely the only person on the planet to oversee space missions exploring the extremes of our solar system? Helios 1 and 2, which launched in 1976, explored the sun’s characteristics up close, while Voyager 1, which launched in1977, reached interstellar spaced in 2012- the first human-made object to do so.
 

6. Gay Liberation Front.

First UI gay pride float, in 1970 Homecoming parade (image from 1971 Hawkeye annual).
In 1970, the university recognized Gay Liberation Front (today, Spectrum) as an official student organization, the first in the nation. A generation later, in 1993, the UI extended spousal benefits to same-sex partners. It was another first among U.S. public universities. 
 
5. The UI Stanley Museum of Art.
To paraphrase UI President Willard “Sandy” Boyd sometime in the 1970s, “Our football team is struggling but we have the best art museum in the Big Ten.” It’s still true today: Over 14,000 objects reflect broad and deep collections from diverse cultures and time periods. Jackson Pollock’s Mural will return to its permanent home for display after the new museum opens on campus adjacent to the Main Library.
 
4. The Afro-American Cultural Center, Leading the Way for Other Centers.
This year the Afro House celebrates 50 years as a space for African-American students to socialize, mutually support, and grow. Other centers on campus have followed, including those serving Latinx, Native American, Asian, LGBTQ, and other communities.
 
3. Those Rolaids Guys.
They invented not only Rolaids, but also Bufferin. William D. “Shorty” Paul, M.D., and Joseph Routh, Ph.D., were UI faculty members whose collaboration resulted in the two remedies found in many homes and workplaces today. Dr. Paul was the Hawkeyes’ team physician for over 30 years, beginning in 1939, and tried finding ways to provide safe, immediate relief to injured players. Working with Routh, they devised a formula to “buffer” the effect of aspirin without taking away its strength. Voila!
 

2. The Iowa Writers’ Workshop and UNESCO City of Literature.

Margaret Walker in 1966, an alumna of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
Wilber Schramm established Iowa’s creative writing program in 1936, with Paul Engle to follow as its director from 1941 to 1965. Under their tenure, the Workshop became internationally recognized as a locus of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. To date, Workshop faculty and graduates have won 29 Pulitzer Prizes.*
 
And finally,
 
1. The Wave.
It’s been in practice for only a year, but ESPN and other sports sources already call it the best tradition in college football today: The Wave. At Iowa home football games, the crowd- visitors as well as Hawkeye fans- turn east to the UIHC Stead Family Children’s Hospital across the street and wave en masse at the young patients looking on. Need we say more?
 
Runners up include: Dance Marathon, Soapbox Soundoff in the IMU during the 1960s, Grant Wood, and the power plant whistle. 
 
**Images all from F.W. Kent Collection (RG 30.0001.001), University Archives
 
Sep 21 2018

New Exhibit Tells Stories Worth Telling

Posted on by Meaghan Lemmenes

Throughout the history of journalism, there have been different mediums in which writers tell their stories. Print, TV and radio have all dominated the journalistic world at one point in time, and while there are many forms to share information, Special Collections explores Tom Brokaw’s stories from the greatest generation through an exhibit, Stories Worth Telling: Marking 20 Years of “The Greatest Generation.”

Stories Worth Telling: Marking 20 Years of “The Greatest Generation” uses pages, photographs and artifacts from the book, The Greatest Generation, which documents the experiences leading to World War II and those who fought in the war. It also uses materials from the African American Museum of Iowa, Iowa Women’s Archives, and the State Historical Society of Iowa. 

Brokaw’s book, The Greatest Generation, hit the book shelves 20 years ago and became a quick bestseller. The book stirred something within the memory of American citizens, and soon letters from readers poured into Brokaw’s office, sharing their thoughts and own stories about their time on the battlefield or on the home front. 

These letters were kept and eventually made their way to the University of Iowa Libraries when Brokaw donated his papers to Special Collections in 2016. Elizabeth Riordan grew up watching Brokaw, and being a history fanatic herself, she wanted to know more about the collection. So, in 2017 Riordan was hired as the Graduate Research Assistant for the Papers of Tom Brokaw: A Life & Career.

“It’s a fascinating collection,” Riordan said. “You get the biggest events from the last 50 years from the point of view of a reporter, as well as the people he interviewed. It’s also interesting just to look at the history and evolution of journalism.”

While processing the material, Riordan found a lot of interesting objects, including rocks from the Great Wall of China and poems about the moon landing. However, her favorite part of the collection are the letters from readers that came in after The Greatest Generation was written.

Photo taken by Meaghan Lemmenes

And it’s these letters that are the focal point of the exhibit in the Main Gallery. 

“So many people shared their personal stories of triumph and tragedy through manuscripts and letters,” Riordan said. “It opens a different window into a moment of time not always seen in our history books.”

Surrounding the avalanche of letters in the gallery, the “Greatest Generation” unfolds along the walls through quotes from the book, with more stories of people with Iowa connections added along the back wall. Material from Special Collections, Iowa Women’s Archives, African American Museum of Iowa, and the State Historical Society of Iowa all add a part to the WWII narrative.  

“I wanted the exhibit to speak for itself,” Riordan said. “There are so many individual voices telling the story of our past, that I feel it makes it unique. I encourage people to read the stories in the avalanche art piece; don’t just stand and look at it from afar.”

“The letters share where we were as a country and where we can still go,” Riordan continued. “Brokaw called them the “Greatest Generation.” My hope is that this exhibit makes you think about what that term means.”

The exhibit is open to the public from Sept. 7th – Jan. 4, 2019 and visitors can see it Monday- Friday from 9 a.m.-6 p.m., with Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. The exhibit is in the Main Gallery on the first floor of the Main Library.