Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio

500 years of Western printmaking

Congratulations to the University of Iowa Museum of Art on their new exhibit, “In the Footsteps of Masters: The Evolution of the Reproductive Print,” now on display at Davenport’s Figge Art Museum. For a sneak preview of some of the artifacts on display, please view the “Prints” gallery in our University of Iowa Museum of Art Digital Collection, featuring over 4400 engravings, woodcuts and etchings, dating from 1470 to the present day.

Cornelis Galle the Elder (Flemish; Antwerp, 1576-1650), Procne Showing Tereus the Head of his Child (after Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish; Antwerp, 1577-1640), c. 1637, Engraving, Museum purchase 1980.92

The University of Iowa Museum of Art’s (UIMA) second exhibition presented at Davenport’s Figge Art Museum, “In the Footsteps of Masters: The Evolution of the Reproductive Print,” opens Jan. 21 and will remain on view through May 23. The exhibition is curated by UI student Nathan Popp, a UIMA curatorial graduate assistant who organized the exhibit to examine the role of printmaking in the development of visual culture.

The exhibition spans 500 years, featuring nearly 80 Western reproductive prints from the 15th to the 20th century. Featured in the exhibition are original prints and drawings by artists Albrecht Dürer, Annibale Carracci, Jusepe De Ribera, Edouard Manet, Jean-Baptiste Corot, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, William Blake, Francisco Goya, and Grant Wood, as well as reproductive prints made after the works of famous masters such as Raphael, Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt, Jan Vermeer, Jan Van Eyck, Titian, Michelangelo and others…

http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2010/january/011210UIMA-Figgeexhibit.html

The ghost of holiday recipes past

Student party at the Iowa Memorial Union, 1920s

Those of you wanting to party like it’s 1929 this holiday season have no further to look than the Iowa Digital Library’s Szathmary Recipe Pamphlets digital collection, featuring early 20th-century advertising ephemera reflecting the evolution of the modern American diet. See excerpts below for instructions on preparing old-school seasonal puddings, cakes, and forms (?). One tip: probably best to skip the garnish of holly (it’s poisonous).

Household helper: a book of practical suggestions, recipes, etc., for the home, ca. 1910s

The new art in iced foods, ca. 1920s

Cleveland’s superior receipts, 1895

New magic in the kitchen: 208 delicious dishes made with sweetened condensed milk, ca. 1920s

4800 Tom Turkeys

Happy Thanksgiving from Digital Library Services!

Forty-eight hundred Tom Turkeys by A.M. Wettach, ca. 1960
University of Iowa Museum of Art Digital Collection

University history in motion

Students rush to class formally attired in suits and dresses. Football fans stream out of Model Ts and into a brand new Kinnick Stadium. Herbert Hoover campaigns for president on the steps of the Old Capitol building.

These scenes from the past come alive in the latest addition to the Iowa Digital Library’s Iowa City Town and Campus Scenes collection. Along with thousands of photographs documenting the University and its surrounding area, the collection now contains ten sets of digitized filmstrips taken by Professor Frederick W. Kent in the 1920s through the 1940s.

The Libraries is grateful for the assistance of Information Technology Services and the Center for Media Production in helping to make these resources available online to the public.

View the Kent Films.

Visit the Iowa City Town and Campus Scenes home page.

Witnessing history from 100 feet up

To mark the 20-year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we’re featuring a reminiscence by Michael Gartner from the Iowa Journalists Oral Histories collection. Gartner’s long career spanned a stint as a sports reporter at The Des Moines Register at age 15 to a position as president of NBC News. In this clip, he discusses his most memorable experience as a journalist: “…NBC was the only network there when the wall came down. I was in one of those cherry pickers, up about 100 feet watching the Berlin Wall come down. To me, that was tremendously exciting…”

Michael Gartner interview pt. 15, July 2005: “Memorable stories”

For more interviews, please visit the Iowa Journalists Oral Histories home page.

A new view for IDL

We’ve added a new viewer to the item interface for the Iowa Digital Library. dmMonicle is an image viewer that makes it easier to see detailed pictures with its click-and-drag capability (think Google Maps). Another significant change is how you zoom. Rather than having defined zoom levels, zooming is handled with a sliderbar. It doesn’t look a whole lot different from the previous toolbar, but the usability is much improved!

A shout out to the development staff at the UNLV Libraries for making this terrific viewer!

–Mark F. Anderson
Digital Initiatives Librarian

‘The man who brought the literary world to Iowa’

In 2000, Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack declared Oct. 12 to be “Paul Engle Day,” in honor of the Iowa-born poet who served as head of the Writer’s Workshop from 1942 to 1977, helping to develop it from an obscure experimental program to an internationally renowned literary center. Featured here is an audio recording from the first annual Paul Engle Literary Festival, which includes tributes to Engle from International Writing Program Director Christopher Merrill and from novelist Arnost Lustig.

Audio recording: First Annual Paul Engle Literary Festival, The University of Iowa, 2000

Innovation in history

The Libraries is currently preparing to play host to area junior high and high school student researchers participating in National History Day, a program that teaches critical thinking, research, and presentation skills through a nationwide contest.

Below are a few images from Iowa Digital Library related to this year’s theme, Innovation in History: Impact and Change.

Diesel locomotive from the Rock Island Railroad, drawing, ca. 1937

James Van Allen in his laboratory, The University of Iowa, 1953

Evelyn Birkby driving a tractor, Shenandoah, Iowa, 1950s

Surgical instruments, engraving, 1655

Men driving automobile, Iowa City, Iowa, 1920s

“Preparing sweet corn for freezing…” by A.M. Wettach, ca. 1948

Carl Menzer broadcasting, The University of Iowa, ca. 1930

“The laugh is on you,” postcard, 1917

Chicago bound

Congratulations to former DLS student assistant and recent library school grad Sarah Dorpinghaus on accepting her first professional position. Sarah was instrumental in helping us put together our Lincoln Digital Collection, so it’s fitting that she’ll relocate to the Land of Lincoln, where she’ll be working as a Project Archivist at the Chicago History Museum. Good luck, Sarah!