Research by a University of Iowa led team reveals new information about why paper made hundreds of years ago often holds up better over time than more modern paper.
Led by Timothy Barrett, director of papermaking facilities at the UI Center for the Book, the team analyzed 1,578 historical papers made between the 14th and the 19th centuries. Barrett and his colleagues devised methods to determine their chemical composition without requiring a sample to be destroyed in the process, which had limited past research. The results of this three-year project show that the oldest papers were often in the best condition, in part, Barrett says, due to high levels of gelatin and calcium.
“This is news to many of us in the fields of papermaking history and rare book and art conservation,” says Barrett. “The research results will impact the manufacture of modern paper intended for archival applications, and the care and conservation of historical works on paper.”
… The UI Libraries is hosting the newly launched website http://paper.lib.uiowa.edu/ which details all the project goals, procedures and results.
Convocation in memory of Martin Luther King, Jr., The University of Iowa, Apr. 9, 1968 | Iowa City Town and Campus ScenesConvocation in memory of Martin Luther King, Jr., The University of Iowa, Apr. 9, 1968 | Iowa City Town and Campus ScenesConvocation in memory of Martin Luther King, Jr., The University of Iowa, Apr. 9, 1968 | Iowa City Town and Campus ScenesThe Daily Iowan, Apr. 5, 1968 | The Daily Iowan Historic NewspapersThe Daily Iowan, Apr. 6, 1968 | The Daily Iowan Historic NewspapersThe Daily Iowan, Apr. 10, 1968 | The Daily Iowan Historic Newspapers
A bluejay drifted into the plum framed by our frosted window.
Snow dust floated to the ground as he froze, silent as the snowy dawn.
Then, counting it no crime, he snatched all the iced berries within beak’s reach
that the robins had abandoned in their haste and the cardinal has not yet claimed.
He still lingers in his winter place in Mérida with its sundrenched courtyards,
roosting by night, crooning by day, con sus primos, los pájaros de Yucatán.
Hurry home, my love.
Glittering, swirling flakes fall
delicately from periwinkle skies
so serene at the time
and yet, only students realize
just how much woe
those seemingly innocent snowflakes
will bring them come June
of the sidewalk: brown bud, brown blossom,
not even a frozen palm’s full, lost to flight by cold
unreasonings of season, wings frost-fixed
to your diaphram, only downhills remain.
Registration is now open for THATCamp Iowa City! THATCamp Iowa City will run from Friday, March 30 to Sunday, April 1 at the University of Iowa. Conference sessions will be held Saturday and Sunday, with workshops on that Friday. THATCamp stands for “The Humanities and Technology Camp.” It is an unconference: an open, inexpensive meeting where humanists and technologists of all skill levels learn and build together in sessions proposed on the spot.
The UI Libraries is a proud sponsor of THATCamp Iowa City.
With almost 14,000 historic editorial cartoons in Iowa Digital Library, we have no shortage of Baby New Years, a figure commonly seen in newspapers around this time of year. Early samples below of older, fully-clothed children show the symbol still in flux, but by the 1930s it had solidified into the top-hat-and-diaper-clad infant we’re familiar with today.
View more New Year cartoons from the Des Moines Register Cartoonists digital collection here.
Detail from "Well, here I am!" 1903 | Editorial Cartoons of J.N. "Ding" Darling
Detail from "The new delivery boy," 1914 | Editorial Cartoons of J.N. "Ding" DarlingDetail from "Here's wishing everyone a happy New Year," 1931 | Editorial Cartoons of J.N. "Ding" DarlingDetail from "A tip to a stranger in town," 1935 | Editorial Cartoons of Harold "Tom" CarlisleDetail from "You're lucky. You missed Phase I," 1972 | Editorial Cartoons of Frank MillerDetail from "Yeltsin," 1991 | Editorial Cartoons of Brian Duffy
In contrast to today’s holiday letters summarizing the year’s major events, Lieut. Andrew F. Davis’ Christmas note to daughters Orrilla, age 8, and Nan, age 5, catalogs the day-to-day minutiae of life in a Civil War camp. Mixed in with holiday greetings (“I hope Santa Claus in his rambles last night did not miss the stockings of my two little girls”) are observations on camp fare (“country people sell [meals] cheap enough if they were only cooked good but they are poor people who bring them and they have to cook them by the fire in skillets as they have no cook stoves”), scenery (“there is several hundred tents in camp and all with lights in them which makes them look like big lanterns scattered all over the country”), and reactions to news from home (“Tell your ma I am glad she has got her hogs killed but I am afraid she will work so hard that she will be sick again”).
See the full text below, courtesy of the tireless volunteers from our Civil War Transcription project; view more of Davis’ correspondence here; read other holiday letters at our Civil War transcripts Twitter account.
Andrew F. Davis letter to daughters, Dec. 25, 1861 | Civil War Diaries and Letters
Camp Wycliff Ky.
December 25th 1861
Miss Orrilla Davis and Nan Davis
My dear little daughters,
This is Christmas night and no doubt while I am setting in my tent in a war camp, you are enjoying yourselves at the Christmas Supper which I understand you are having at the Court House. No doubt you are enjoying yourselves over your Christmas presents and I hope Santa Claus in his rambles last night did not miss the Stockings of my two little girls but put something nice in them to make them happy. I got a Christmas present this evening which was nothing more than a letter from my dear little girl, and I now hasten to answer it. I was very sorry to hear that our sweet little babe was so sick but I hope it is getting well before this time and no doubt but what I will next hear that you and Nan will both have the measels and if you do you must be patient and you will soon get well again. I was surprised that you could write so good a letter & I read it to some of the boys and they said it contained more news than one half of the letters that they got from Liberty.
We did not have to drill today consequently I do not feel as tired as I do some nights. I will tell you what we had to eat today as you no doubt would like to know. Well we had roast chicken, oysters, peach pie, dried beef, molasses, brisket, butter, crackers, milk, sweet potatoes, rice, eggs &c. So you see we did not starve. It was not cooked as nice as your mother could cook it but it was very good. We bought most of it from country people and they sell them cheap enough if they were only cooked good but they are poor people who bring them and they have to cook them by the fire in skillets as they have no cook stoves. Stuffed chickens ready cooked are worth 20 & 25 cts, pies 10 cts, cabbage 5 cts apples 6 for 5 cts. milk 10 cts pr qt. roast turkies 75 and 80 cts. Sweet potatoes 75 cts per bushel, and many other things about the same. Jo Miller is in my tent while I am writing and almost cried when he read your letter. George [Rinehart?] come back from the Hospital today and is nearly well again. All of the Liberty boys are well now and none of them are at Louisville now.
I send with this letter 2 papers which I want you to take to Mr Thomas for him to publish in the Herald. I want to know if you are going to go to School this winter I gave $2.50 for the picture I sent home to your mother and the one I sent to your Grandpa, Tell mother if she can get the two big pictures framed for $5.00 to get it done but not to give any more than that. It is the prettyest sight I ever saw to go out of out tents after night before the lights are put out as our camp is on hilly ground and there is several hundred tents in camp and all with lights in them which makes them look like big lanterns scattered all over the country. Tell your ma I am glad she has got her hogs killed but I am afraid she will work so hard that she will be sick again. I got weighed today and weighed 167 lbs without my coat on so you see I am well and getting fat. Tell Nan I mean this letter for you and her both and I want her to get in some sly corner and write me one some of these days. Tell ma and uncle Newton that I have not got a newspaper from them since I have been Kentucky. Wm Appleton got last weeks Herald tonight and I got to read it. The darkie I had to cook for me went home today and one of the soldiers is cooking for me now. Ab. Bennett was to see me this evening and is going home in the morning. I am glad to hear that Wally Smith has been promoted to Sergeant as it proves that he has been a good soldier. Mans Crist is Sergeant in our company now.
The drums are now beating for us to put out the lights so I must stop for this time but will write to some of you again this week. You must write to me often as that is the way to learn, and you don’t know how glad it makes me to get a letter from my dear little girls.
No more this time from your affectionate father,
A.F. Davis
Around the Christmas tree by Elsie Baker, 1914 | Traveling Culture: Circuit Chautauqua in the 20th CenturyChildren around Christmas tree, University of Iowa elementary school, 1920s | Iowa City Town and Campus ScenesWAVES carolling at naval air station, Ottumwa, Iowa, 1943 | WWII Iowa Press ClippingsToy store trade card, 1880s | Victorian Trade CardsWe will have Christmas by Grandma Moses, 1945 | University of Iowa Museum of Art
America the beautiful: Alabama, 1966 | U.S. Government Posters
Today in 1819, Alabama became the 22nd state to join the Union.
Alabama moon by Elsie Baker and Olive Kline, 1920 | Traveling Culture: Circuit Chautauqua in the 20th CenturyBlack Barn, Alabama, by William Christenberry, 1979 | University of Iowa Museum of Art5 cent Demopolis, Alabama, by William Christenberry, 1980 | University of Iowa Museum of ArtThe Alabama Jubilee Quartet, 1920s | Traveling Culture: Circuit Chautauqua in the 20th Century
Brian Duffy cartoon on 2000 presidential election, Nov. 9, 2000 | Des Moines Register Cartoonists
On this date in 2000, Vice President Al Gore reluctantly conceded defeat to Texas Governor George W. Bush in his bid for the presidency. View more Des Moines Register cartoons on the 2000 election here.
Brian Duffy cartoon on 2000 presidential election, Nov. 12, 2000 | Des Moines Register Cartoonists
Playing in the snow, Iowa Child Welfare Research Center, 1938 | Iowa City Town and Campus Scenes
Snow is falling in Iowa City, and it’s early enough in the season that we don’t hate it yet. In these historic images from the Iowa Digital Library, Iowa Child Welfare Research Station students demonstrate the proper way to appreciate a snowfall. View more wintry scenes of Iowa City here.
Playing in the snow, Iowa Child Welfare Research Center, 1938 | Iowa City Town and Campus ScenesPlaying in the snow, Iowa Child Welfare Research Center, 1938 | Iowa City Town and Campus ScenesPlaying in the snow, Iowa Child Welfare Research Center, 1938 | Iowa City Town and Campus Scenes
