Oct 11 2021

Art to Eat By: Cookbooks as Record and Expression

Posted on October 11, 2021 by Elizabeth Riordan

The following Top 10 List is written by graduate student worker Diane Ray, with introduction by Curator Eric Ensley. Images, unless otherwise noted, are also from Diane. Eric and Diane co-curated the exhibit “Art to Eat By: Cookbooks as Record and Expression” which is on display in the Special Collections & Archives reading room September 2021.

If one takes art to mean a creative application of human skill, food and dining have long been canvases for the expression of art. Ancient frescoes and mosaics from Greece and Rome allow glimpses of tables laden with decorative plates and glasses alongside dishes that are celebrated for their beauty. Though the details and dishes may have changed, food and dining have continued to be a space for artistic output. From medieval coronation banquets with elaborate sugar sculptures known as subtleties to the technicolor party food of the 1960s, food as art has long been tied to the enjoyable and meaningful experience of dining.

Food and its ties to art are not, however, without tensions. This exhibit focuses on one of the central tensions of displays of food in cookbooks and adjacent publications: the sometimes-blurry lines between public and private space and experience. Through materials taken primarily from the Szathmary Culinary Collection donated by Chef Louis Szathmary, we show that books about food have often attempted to navigate the personal, familial, and domestic spaces of dining while displaying a public-facing image of those experiences. At question in these images is who or what should be on public display. A repeated focus of the items on display is how visible women should be and how their role should be presented in public-facing images of food and dining. Further, alongside issues of gender, these items trace the contours of the art of food and its political, artistic, and communal impact.

It was hard to choose, but here are 10 favorite things from this exhibit, in no particular order! There are many more to see if you visit us on the Third Floor of the Man Library.

Woodblock image of medieval dressed people — Woodblock image at the start of the book

1. Le Quadragesimal Spirituel (BX2170.L4 Q33 1521)

Printed in Paris around 1521, this book is unusual and fascinating on many levels. The description from the seller sums this book up as “an illustrated work of cookery, mnemonics and mysticism for women.” It goes over different food, along with that food’s spiritual meaning to guide meditation during lent. It also discusses expectations for pilgrims, with instructions about buying different religious print from street venders.

The woodblock prints are also quite unusual, including the one included here, showing the Devil offering meat to seated nobles. One could imagine the blank scrolls as speech bubbles. But probably most intriguing about this book is that it was printed by a woman under her own name. A printers widow, Jeanne Trepperel was only active under her own name for nine months– 29 September 1520 to early June 1521. While female printers were not unheard of, they were rarely named on the text.

Two Alice B. Toklas Cookbooks — 1954 and 1960 copies of Alice B. Toklas Cookbooks

2. Alice Toklas Cook Book (TX719 .T6 1960 , TX719 .T6 1954)

We have two copies of this cook book by Alice B. Toklas (writer, artist, partner to Gertrude Stein). This book as both a recipe book and a sort of autobiography, as it tells of her time in France during World War I, such as the hardships getting certain foods, or the different cooks and housekeepers that worked for them. The most well known aspect of this book is the famous (or infamous, depending on who you ask) ‘Haschich Fudge’ recipe. The archives has two copies of this item- the recipe is only included in the 1960 UK version.

Images of Betty Crocker through time — Accordion-style artists’ book featuring Betty Crocker

3. Crocked, or, will the real Betty Crocker please stand up? Written by Maryann Riker (N7433.4.R556 C76 2011)

The image of the perfectly put-together, white-middle class woman, effortlessly providing for her family was presented in many cookbooks for sale back in the day, a stereotype that many artists push against now. Some, like Crocked, or, Will the real Betty Crocker please stand up? focus directly on deconstructing the personalities promoted by brands. Crocked folds up to form a house structure, and includes commentary on the history of the Betty Crocker charter, along with images of her many depictions over the years.

Bright yellow cover with a drawing of a man riding a pic — Izaak Walton League Cookbook cover

4. Izaak Walton League Cook Book, Des Moines Iowa (TX715.2.M53 I93 1970)

Community cookbooks are always a joy to look through because there is such a creative variety to the local collections of recipes. This character that appears throughout a cook book from Des Moines caught my eye in particular. The Izaak Walton League, sometimes shortened to “Ike”, is a conservation organization that “takes a common-sense approach toward protecting our country’s natural heritage and improving outdoor recreation opportunities for all Americans”, according to their website. This includes responsible hunting and fishing, (similar to Ducks Unlimited) and providing recipes to that end. (desmoines-ikes.com)

Inside culinary manuscript with cursive handwriting — Inside look of East Hartford recipe book

5. Handwritten cookbook, East Hartford (Msc 0533 US 80)

Louis Szathmary collected several hundred handwritten or personal cookbooks that are included in the Szathmary Culinary Collection at Special Collections & Archives. Most of what is on exhibit comes from this collection, and this particular item from 1818 is one of my favorites. Not only does it show how recipe books can also be outlets for creative expression, it is also unfinished (notice that some titles are only outlined, and some capitals are missing, while others are fully filled in and beautifully embellished) which is a very relatable trait.

Manuscript with text "Mrs. Samuel Leeds" written on page — Inside cover to the manuscript

6. Mrs. Samuel Leeds Cookbook & Travel Journal (Msc 0533 US 33)

This book includes both recipes and a short travel journal, in which Mrs. Samuel Leeds took a ship to England from Brooklyn in 1856, and was quite unimpressed for much of the trip. Highly recommended for fans of reading zero star Yelp reviews. (images from the Iowa Digital Library)

Spicy Corn and image of corn with flame — Broadside featuring Spicy corn

7. Funeral Food, written by Sandra Trugillo (unprocessed)

This collection of broadsides includes colorful images and text on one side, with the accompanying stories on the other. Each one talks about some aspect of food or funeral culture, in the US or Mexico. The artist describes it as “a marriage between traditional cookbooks and artists’ portfolios about material culture.”

Decorative page from cookbook in black and white for salads — Decorative page for salad recipes

8. Llyewelyn’s Pub, by Pat and Jack Brangle (Msc 0533, US 83)

This item is one of a collection of 7 cookbooks that were handwritten and illustrated by Pat Brangle who, along with her husband Jack, owned Llyewelyn’s Pub in St. Louis. The illustrations are very distinctive, with wonderful detail and colors.

Recipe for Strawberry ice — Broadside featuring woodcut and recipe for Strawberry Ice

9. Thirty Recipes Suitable for Framing, compiled by Alice Louise Waters, with illustrations by David L. Goines (FOLIO TX715 .W3315 1970)

Containing 30 different sized broadsides, each item features a beautiful colored illustration in a classic European woodblock style and a written recipe. Recipes range from orange chicken, to watercress salad, to even yogurt. But each one is tied together by the same style of illustration and calligraphy font.

Bright orange and black box with a chocolate manual inside — Candy Manual from Iridor Business

10. The Iridor Complete Candy Making Course, written by Iris F. Leonard and Dorit K. Weigert. (TX791 .L38)

This collection of 6 books in a matching box from 1931 offers instructions and tips for making and selling candies. It is geared towards women looking for a job outside of being a homemaker. As the introduction says “Welcome into the nation-wide group of ambitious women who are following the Iridor Plan to win financial independence and happiness.”

Jul 23 2021

Spirit Duplicators: Early 20th Century Copier Art, Fanzines, and the Mimeograph Revolution

Posted on July 23, 2021 by Elizabeth Riordan

The following was written by Olson Graduate Assistant Rich Dana, and curator of the Spirit Duplicators exhibit in Special Collections & Archives reading room

During my three and a half years at Special Collections, I have worked with an amazing range of materials, but my major projects have focused on first, the James L. “Rusty” Hevelin Collection of Science Fiction, and more recently The Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry. As I became more familiar with these and other collections of documents from the realms of both science fiction fandom and the 20th Century Avant-Garde, I began to notice remarkable similarities in the publications of both cultural movements.

I began thinking about a potential exhibit of these zines and chapbooks, and when I sheepishly mentioned this notion to Marvin Sackner in a telephone conversation, he became very excited. “If you could prove a direct connection between fanzines and visual poetry, you would really have something!” He told me that he considered the final pages of Alfred Bester’s 1956 science fiction classic The Stars My Destination to be one of his first experiences with visual poetry.

I set about the task of combing the Sackner Archive and Hevelin Collection for connections. My search expanded to the other areas of the department such as rare books, ATCA Periodicals and Zines Collection, Fluxus West Collection, M. Horvat Science Fiction Fanzines Collection, and many more. A story began to emerge.

Allen Ginsberg’s poem Howl, published by City Lights Books in 1956, brought “Beat Poetry” to the attention of the world and helped to spark a new literary movement. But before Lawrence Ferlinghetti published the now-famous Pocket Poets book, there was another edition of Howl printed: a 25 copy run off on a “ditto” machine by Marthe Rexroth in an office at San Francisco State College.

Pre-digital office copiers like the ditto machine (spirit duplicator), mimeograph, hectograph, and tabletop offset press freed 1960’s radical artists and writers from the constraints of the publishing industry and brought the power of the printing press to The People. These writers/publishers of the period, like Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka), Diane DiPrima, d.a. levy, and Ed Sanders were not the first to use cheap copying technology to produce “democratic multiples,” however.

Blue-collar teenage fans of far-fetched adventure stories had been creating an international network of amateur “fanzines” since well before World War II. From where did the young fans of the fledgling genre of “scientifiction” draw their influences? Undoubtedly, they were imitating the cheaply printed monthly “pulp” magazines with titles like Amazing Stories and Weird Tales. Also, in the zeitgeist of the new industrial age were the seeds of political, cultural, and artistic revolt. Marcel Duchamp arrived in New York along with a wave of immigrants fleeing WWI and the Russian Revolution, which soon also carried the two-year-old Isaac Asimov to Ellis Island. Like a sine wave on a mad scientist’s oscilloscope, the aesthetics of “highbrow” artists and writers and “lowbrow” outsider zine publishers resonated and reflected each other through the 20th Century.

Self-published chapbooks, underground comics, flyers, and fanzines served as proving grounds for many of the 20th century’s most influential creators. However, the “Mimeograph Revolution” remains a little-examined artistic movement, considered by many to be the realm of “lowbrow” or “outsider” amateurs unworthy of serious research. Yet a closer look at the work of many copier artists reveals a high level of technical sophistication and profound social commentary. The works featured in this exhibit introduce viewers to the vibrant American amateur press scene of the early and mid-20th century, and the media that influenced it.

Much like the internet today, duplicators played an essential role in the development of pop culture genres like science fiction, comic books, and rock and roll, as well as avant-garde art movements like Fluxus, pop art, and concrete poetry.

Click here for a video tour of the exhibit through our Summer Seminar Series

Exhibit Highlights

*The sources of Uburoi* by Charles Chasse under the mask of Alfred Jarry (?), 1921 and *The Childhood of Futurism; that is, The Futurism of Childhood* by Marga, 1914

French symbolist Alfred Jarry was the first to influence both the development of science fiction (SF) and the avant- garde. He wrote time-travel stories alongside his friend H.G. Wells and set the stage for Dada with the production of his revolutionary play, Ubu Roi. The turn of the century marked a new obsession with technological development. The newly-built Eifel Tower stood as a monument to the modernist ideal, while Thomas Edison introduced the first mimeograph at the World’s Fair. The Futurist art movement rejected the past in favor of techno-utopianism. Early SF fans like Myrtle Douglas (Morojo) embraced these radical ideas, as reflected in the design of her Esperanto fanzine Guteto (Droplet.) WWII and the rise of technocracy brought much of this idealism to an end.

*Plastic Saxophone in an Egyptian Tomb* by d.a. levy, 1966.

The avant-garde primarily used duplicators like the hectograph and the mimeograph as a cheap alternative to “better” printing methods like lithography. The true innovators in the use of copiers were an unlikely cohort; science fiction(SF) fandom. Young fans were creating amateur magazines (“fanzines”) imitating the cheaply printed “pulp” magazines like “Amazing Stories” and “Weird Tales.” The fanzines also featured cover art influenced by the graphic style of the avant-garde. For most fans, litho and letterpress printing were out of reach. For them, copiers like home made hecto gelatin pads were the only option. Hectograph and later “ditto” machines produced the distinctive purple copies using aniline dye inks.

*The Martian Newsletter* v4 n4 with cover by Telis Streiff and John Cockroft, 1945 and *Wichita Vortex Sutra* by Allen Ginsberg, 1966

The cross-over between SF fandom, artist books and poetry took place after WWII. Many SF fans returned from the war and attended college, thanks to the G.I. Bill. The university culture of Wichita, Kansas made it a key stop on the cross-country drives of beats like Allen Ginsberg, who titled a poem after a legend he picked up from the Wichita beatniks. The legend of Vortex originated with local beatnik poet (and SF fan) Lee Streiff in the pages of his Mar- tian Newsletter. Unlike other Wichita beat poets and artists, Lee Streiff never escaped the Wichita Vortex, where he taught English and continued to participate in fandom.

Every social justice movement of the 20th century relied on cheap copying technology, coupled with bold (and often crude) graphics to spread their message. Spirit duplicators, often called ditto machines, used a paper master sheet similar to carbon paper to print up to 40 purple or green copies before the master was depleted. The mimeograph, or stencil duplicator, also used a paper master sheet, but allowed the user to make more copies in a wide range of colors. The offset press, used to produce larger runs, is an offshoot of lithography and uses a flexible printing plate. This process is still used on a large scale for newspaper.

Portrait of Marvin Sackner in the Gallery

Oct 29 2020

A Special Collections Graduate Assistant Remembers Marvin Sackner

Posted on October 29, 2020October 29, 2020 by Elizabeth Riordan

The following blog is written by Rich Dana, Olson Graduate Assistant in Special Collections.

Dr. Marvin Sackner passed away on September 29th. A national leader in the field of pulmonology and an inventor of innovative medical devices, Marvin Sackner was also an internationally recognized authority in the field of word-art, known as concrete or visual poetry. Along with his late wife, Ruth, Dr. Sackner collected the world’s most extensive collection of word-based art, which arrived at the University of Iowa in 2019.

Detail from *The Fall of the Tower of Babel* by John Furnival, 1995 (Currently on display in the Sackner Archive Exhibit)

In an October 5th memorial, International Dada Curator Timothy Shipe wrote that “For those of us at Iowa, Dr. Sackner will be forever remembered for selecting the University Libraries as the permanent home of his world-renowned collection of concrete and visual poetry; but as his obituary shows, his memory will be treasured for his countless contributions in many areas—by his numerous patients, by members of the medical profession, by artists, art historians, and literary scholars around the world, and most of all by his beloved family.”

Timothy Shipe later shared with me some personal thoughts about his interactions with Marvin Sackner, recalling that his 2018 New York meetings with Dr. Sackner and Head of Special Collections Margaret Gamm were not just business negotiations. Rather, he remembers working with Marvin as “enjoyable days full of enlightening conversation.”

Dr. Sackner was scheduled to visit Iowa City in April to attend the opening of an exhibition of works from the Sackner Archive at the UI Main Library gallery. Unfortunately, Dr. Sackner’s visit did not come to pass. In March, the world was thrown into the chaos of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The University of Iowa, like most campuses across the United States, quickly closed the campus and moved to virtual classes. The Sackner exhibit was put on hold, and Dr. Sackner’s visit was postponed.

Later in the spring, I had the good fortune to talk at length with Marvin Sackner in a series of phone calls in which I interviewed him for a pair of blog posts. Our discussions were far-ranging, covering everything from the origins of the Sackner Archive to current events, historical medical treatises to science fiction.

Pages from The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, 1957 Signet paperback edition.

When he inquired about my own scholarly interests, I mentioned that I was working on a paper exploring the links between early science fiction fandom and the literary and artistic uses of the mimeograph by the avant-garde. He became quite excited, telling me that “Oh, yes, you are on to something there!” Quickly pivoting from fine art to pulp paperbacks, he went on to share with me his own early interest in science fiction. In hindsight, he thought that the first time he saw an example of concrete poetry was not in a rare book shop or gallery, but rather in the paperback edition of Alfred Bester’s novel The Stars My Destination. “You will find several copies in the collection,” he told me.

At age 88, his memory for detail was impressive and his enthusiasm infectious, even over the phone. His comment about Bester’s book was spot-on, providing me with one of the first critical lynchpins in my thesis. We continued to correspond through occasional emails, and I held out hope that I might one day get to meet him in person after the pandemic had passed.

In late August, the exhibition of highlights from the Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry finally opened in the Main Library Gallery. Sadly, one month later, we received the news of Dr. Sackner’s passing. A portrait of Dr. Sackner was added to the exhibit, next to the portrait of his wife Ruth.

I regret that I won’t be able to talk to Dr. Sackner again, but I will always appreciate how generously he shared his time with me. I also regret that the UI students and faculty will never have a chance to meet him, to experience his infectious enthusiasm, and thank him in person for the gift he has given us. However, we will continue to celebrate his passion and gain inspiration from the fantastic artwork and legacy that he has left in our care.

To see a sample of works from the Sackner Archive, please take the time to visit the Main Library Gallery website. To see more, schedule a private or socially-distanced small group visit by contacting the gallery staff.

Oct 05 2020

In Memory of Dr. Marvin Sackner

Posted on October 5, 2020October 6, 2020 by Elizabeth Riordan

The following was written by International Dada Curator Timothy Shipe

It is with profound sorrow that we note the passing of Dr. Marvin Sackner on Tuesday, September 29 at age 88, just a few weeks after the opening of this exhibition. For those of us at Iowa, Dr. Sackner will be forever remembered for selecting the University Libraries as the permanent home of his world-renowned collection of concrete and visual poetry; but as his obituary shows, his memory will be treasured for his countless contributions in many areas—by his numerous patients, by members of the medical profession, by artists, art historians, and literary scholars around the world, and most of all by his beloved family.

We had originally planned to open this exhibition in May 2020 with a gala event featuring a guest lecture by Dr. Sackner accompanied by his entire family. Given Dr. Sackner’s stature as a world-famous pulmonologist, there is a sad irony in the fact that his visit to Iowa was thwarted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those of us who had the privilege of getting to know Marvin—and to hear his engaging manner of telling the story of his collection and the artists represented in it—know what an opportunity the public has missed now that there will be no chance to welcome him back to campus. But we can take comfort in knowing that current and future generations of Iowans and visitors from around the world will be able to engage with the Sackners through their legacy—the magnificent collection they amassed and curated over four decades, which now resides in the UI Libraries Special Collections.

We now rededicate this exhibition to the memory of Ruth and Marvin Sackner, extraordinary art collectors, generous individuals, and above all, kind and loving human beings.

——

For more about the exhibit and archive, please check out the Sackner Archive LibGuide.

Jan 13 2020

Lanterns in their Hands: a look at a new exhibit and its curator

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Elizabeth Riordan

In the darkness of these Midwest winter months, a new exhibit comes to our reading room to shed light on nine nearly forgotten Iowa women writers.

Lanterns in Their Hands: Nine Nearly Forgotten Iowa Women Writers was curated by Processing Coordinator, Jacque Roethler. The exhibit examines nine women writers whose names may have faded with time, but whose work continues to resonate with readers today. While a majority of the exhibit features the books written by these women, there are also manuscripts, photographs, end paper design, periodical appearances, and a few other ephemera pieces that accompany a brief biography written by Roethler.

Retiring this February, this exhibit is Roethler’s encore to showcase some of her favorite material found in Special Collections.

Jacque Roethler pointing out items in her exhibit — Roethler points to interesting items about activist writer Meridel LeSueur

“What got me to the idea of doing an exhibit on nearly-forgotten Iowa women writers,” explained Roethler, ” was the book, The Plough on the Hills by Merriam Gearhart. I came across it in the Iowa Authors section one day. Here was a woman who lived in Iowa all her life and she created these poems, not sublime, but beautiful in their own right. And I, who had lived most of my life in Iowa, and majored in English here, had never heard of her. And I thought, ‘How sad that she’s sliding into oblivion.’ I remembered seeing books by Grace Hebard and Mary Winchell, and I hadn’t heard of them, either. I started looking and there were others like her. Women like Amy Clampitt, who worked in New York all her life, most of it in the publishing industry when suddenly, when she was 63, people began to take notice of her. She became popular – she had many poems in the New Yorker, which is the top of the heap. Then she was gone, and I hadn’t heard of her either. In fact, the only Iowa woman writer I knew about before coming to work in Special Collections was Ruth Suckow.”

As Roethler mentioned above, she was an English major here at the University of Iowa, which might explain why she has consistently been drawn to the papers of authors and poets while working here in Special Collections. Before getting to Special Collections, however, she worked at the University of Iowa’s hospital cafeteria, served as a the secretary for the African American studies department for ten years, and after getting her master’s in Library and Information Science in 1995, started working for the UI Libraries in the serials department and math library before finally coming to Special Collections. While Roethler has worked diligently on large collections like the Gallup Organization’s records and the Ken Friedman papers, some of her favorite collections to process have been those of authors like Lewis Turco, who wrote The Book of Forms, or John Gawsworth whose Georgian poetry, according to Roethler, wasn’t appreciated in his time. Working on these collections and completing their finding aids has clearly helped hone Roethler’s ability to find the remarkable in the often overlooked.

“I found so many things when I put the exhibit together,” explained Roethler. “The fact that Bess Streeter Aldrich had won an O Henry Prize; that three of Dorothy Johnson’s short stories had been turned into films, all of which I HAD heard of… that straight-laced Octave Thanet may have had a lesbian relationship with her long-time companion; that Josephine Herbst knew Hemingway well enough to write the extraordinary letter that appears in the exhibit and that that letter is probably to Katherine Ann Porter, with whom Herbst was very close; that Eleanor Saltzman died in a sanitarium operated by her cousin.” The fascinating stories of these women go on and on.

For Roethler, she wants people to know that this exhibit is just the tip of the iceberg. Narrowing down to just nine writers was a difficult task, having to exclude Susan Glaspell, Katinka Loesser, Actea Duncan, and so many more.

“I want people to seek out these writers–to help them not slide into oblivion,” stated Roethler. “I think that’s one of the main jobs of any Special Collections.”

Jan 25 2019

Earn your own bookbinding badge with this new exhibit

Posted on January 25, 2019February 7, 2019 by Meaghan Lemmenes

Do you have an interest in bookbinding? Have you always wanted to be a boy or girl scout but never took the opportunity to join? Or maybe you miss those scouting days? Well, now is your chance to earn your Bookbinding badge and join the Book Scouts.

Curated by Olson Graduate Assistant Laura Michelson, graduate student Zoe Webb, and graduate student Damien Ihrig, How to Earn Your Book Scouts Merit Badge is an exhibit now on display in the reading room of Special Collections.

This exhibit breaks down the process of bookbinding in chronological order, starting with a 1950’s Official Boy Scout Bookbinding Kit, which they discovered up in the Conservation Lab of the Main Library. From there, the three graduates display the materials used in making books, including parchment and minerals used in making different colored paints and dyes. The exhibit continues with displays of several historical book binding models, as well as their own creations from their classes in Center for the Book.

“There’s more to the creation of books that people don’t understand sometimes,” Michelson said.

The addition of their own bookbinding work brings their curation of this exhibit to a personal level.

“It does a good job of capturing the specific things that we’re interested in individually,” Ihrig said.

Michelson, Webb, and Ihrig are three graduate students in the School of Library and Information Sciences with a graduate certificate in Book Studies (BLIS). They were asked to create an exhibit about their experiences in the BLIS program and they found that bookbinding was something they all had in common.

But, what made this exhibit really come to life was the boy scout bookbinding kit.

From left to right: Zoe Webb, Damien Ihrig, and Laura Michelson

“We weren’t sure how to set up the exhibit,” Webb said. “We had a lot of the pieces but it was still a little confused, and the kit made everything fall into place.”

They also wanted to add an element of interactivity with the exhibit because the boy scout bookbinding kit included a checklist on how to earn the badge in bookbinding. So, they created their own list for participants to earn their book arts badge for the new Book Scouts.

Along with the list, there will also be a pop-up exhibit on March 6th from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. where people can make their own book and check-off an item on their list to get their badge. Other items include visiting the exhibit, visiting Special Collections, attending a bibliophiles talk and then submitting a form by April 2nd. Then you could be an owner of a Book Scouts Merit Badge.

You can download the list here or pick one up at the front desk at Special Collections. Once filled out, turn it into the Special Collections front desk to receive your own badge!

How to Earn Your Book Scouts Merit Badge is currently on exhibit and will be up until the mid-to-late April.

Dracula's bat-like cape taking center stage

Oct 24 2016

Edward Gorey’s Reawakening of Dracula

Posted on October 24, 2016January 14, 2019 by Hannah Hacker

By Hannah Hacker

Dracula has been a name that has instilled fear and fascination in the imaginations of readers and viewers since its original publication by Bram Stoker in 1897. There have been many adaptations and remakes of the novel since then, including F.W. Murnau’s silent film Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Graunens, the 1931 Universal Studios version of Dracula starring Bela Lugosi, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula starring Gary Oldman and directed by Francis Ford Coppola in 1992.

There was even a play adaptation about the captivating vampire. In 1924, Hamilton Deane adapted Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula into a stage play with the permission of Stoker’s widow. The play toured in England and was brought to Broadway in 1927.

Dracula was revived in 1977 under the direction of Dennis Rosa. Sets and costumes were designed by Edward Gorey, who is well-known for his quirky cat drawings on T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats and other Gothic illustrations that have graced the covers of numerous classics, poetry books, and various other publications. With the set and costume design for Dracula, Gorey channeled his obsession with bats. Bats can be found in the walls, in the cobblestone, in the furniture – there are even bats incorporated into the characters’ clothing, like Renfield’s bat-buttoned pajamas.

The set and costumes were so enthralling that the play soon became known as “Edward Gorey’s production of Dracula,” instead of being fully credited to the director. Gorey’s designs were nominated for Tony Awards, and the production received a Tony in 1977 for the best revival of a play.

Dracula closed in 1980 after a strong run of 925 performances.

Edward Gorey’s vision of Dracula did not die with the close of the play. The designs rose once again in 1979 when Scribner’s published them as a spiral-bound book called Dracula: A Toy Theatre. The book contains Gorey’s original designs of the sets and characters, as well as a synopsis of the characters, scenes, and acts. The images of the characters, furniture, and set could be cut out from the pages and taped together so the reader could create their own interactive version of the original stage.

More recently, Pomegranate Communications picked up the book and made it into a box set of the toy theater with loose leaves of die-cut fold-ups and fold-outs. Once the theatre is constructed, the reader can have a full 3-D model of all three acts of the play.

Here at the University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections, we not only have a copy of Scribner’s publication of Dracula: A Toy Theatre, but two copies of the Pomegranate publication as well.

If you want to see them in person, you can swing on by to the Special Collections on the third floor of the Main Library. Otherwise, on October 28^th, 11:00am – 3:00pm, we will be hosting a Halloween Pop-Up Exhibit on the first floor of the Main Library, where the complete construction of Dracula: A Toy Theatre will be the star of the exhibit, along with a showcase of some of our spookiest comics and fanzines.

Read more about the event at the link below, and we hope to see you there!

A ‘Gorey’ Good Time: Pop Up Exhibit

Works Cited

“Dracula (1924 Play).” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

“Dracula (1977 Play).” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

“Dracula.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.

Miller, Patrice. “Bat Ambassador: Edward Gorey.” The Edward Gorey House. Edward Gorey House, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

Popova, Maria. “When Edward Gorey Illustrated Dracula: Two Masters of the Macabre, Together.” Brain Pickings. Brain Pickings, 17 Sept. 2015. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.

Feb 04 2016

Main Library Exhibition Gallery is Now OPEN : First Exhibition “Explorer’s Legacy”

Posted on February 4, 2016December 2, 2016 by Colleen Theisen

Explorer’s Legacy:

James Van Allen and the Discovery of the Radiation Belts

February 1 – April 8

After months of being closed for renovations the new state of the art gallery in the University of Iowa Main Library is now open. Stop by and take a look at the exhibition, including the story of the discovery of the radiation belts, and the tale of how the earliest data recorded from space was recovered, digitized, and made available for scientists and scholars.

Gallery hours:

Monday-Saturday: 10am – 5pm
Sunday: 11am – 5pm

Special Collections Week in Review, 8/28 – 9/4, 2015

Posted on September 4, 2015January 14, 2019 by Colleen Theisen

Recently on the Web and Social Media:

The Hevelin Fanzine Digitization Project was featured on The Verge. The University of Iowa Libraries is digitizing science fiction fanzines from the 1930s-1950s.

August Old Gold column from University Archivist David McCartney, Harrison Hall, the Residence Hall That Never Was.

The planned 1,100-student high-rise, proposed in 1966, never got off the ground.

A Culinary Alphabet by Annie Tremmel Wilcox, published in 1998 was featured on our Instagram page. This culinary artist’s book has three spoons as part of the binding. [Szathmary N7433.4 W524 C8 1998]

Upcoming Events:

1. The first Iowa Bibliophiles meeting of the 2015-2016 season

University of Iowa Center for the Book calligraphy instructor Cheryl Jacobsen will present about calligraphic hands featured in Medieval manuscripts held in Special Collections.

6:00PM – Stop by to view a repeat showing of the livestream video of Alison Altstatt’s September 4th talk

6:30PM – Refreshments served

7PM – Cheryl Jacobsen’s talk

Special Collections Reading Room, 3rd Floor Main Library, 125 W. Washington, Iowa City, IA

2. Special Collections Editions featured in Old Capitol Museum Exhibition

Opening Reception for The Quest Begins: Quixote at 400

Thursday, September 17, 2015 – 5:00pm to 7:00pm

Old Capitol Museum

Exhibition: Illustrations of Don Quixote: Interpretation of Imagination

September 17, 2015 to January 3, 2016

Old Capitol Museum Keyes Gallery for the Arts, Humanities, and Sciences

Explore artistic interpretations of Cervantes’ tale from the 1600s to the 1930s through collected images from editions of Don Quixote from the University of Iowa Libraries.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact the sponsoring department or contact person listed in advance of the event.

New Acquisitions:

1. A new acquisition for our collection of miniature books.

Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr., Descent of Mount Gadam, Jubilee Press, 1993. Adapted from a folktale of the Mensa Bet-Abrehe people of northern Ethiopia. Includes a linocut outline map of Africa.

https://vine.co/v/eTJBM6xpHaH

2. A new addition to the University of Iowa Libraries’ map collections for studying World War I.

The Markets of the World. Open to Great Britain: Closed to Germany, London : Roberts & Leete Ltd., [1916]. This map shows sources of import for Britain during 1916.

https://vine.co/v/eT5YZ5uwWnm

Just for Fun:

Our graduate assistants made a parody of our new acquisition unboxing videos we’ve been making on the social media site Vine.

Please welcome our “new acquisition,” graduate assistant John Fifield.

https://vine.co/v/eIYrx5PBEwY

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Dec 04 2012

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol on Display in Special Collections

Posted on December 4, 2012January 14, 2019 by Colleen Theisen

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was an instant publishing success, and it remains a beloved piece of literature today, celebrated during the Christmas season around the world. The first edition, printed in 1843, includes four hand-colored steel engravings by John Leech. Our copy of this work comes from the collection of James Wallace, a collector of children’s books with a fine eye for condition and rarity. Several of the high points in children’s literature from our collections were obtained by Wallace.

Thoughout the month of December we will be consecutively displaying each of the four hand-colored illustrations. Stop by Special Collections on the third floor of the Main Library where it will be on display in the case just inside the doors.

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