What's
New Archive
June 2007
Special Announcements
Gallery talk -- on Celebrating Our Roots: 100 Years of Home Economics at Penn State -- First Thursday, June 7, 2007, 7–8 p.m. -- First Thursday openings of the Special Collections exhibit area will end with this program and resume in September.
Archival Workshop
Penn State Offers Archival Training
University Park, PA — Registrations are being accepted for a series of workshops developed by the Society of American Archivists (SAA) that will provide archival training opportunities for smaller repositories. Workshops will focus on advanced-level archival concepts and practices and the needs of institutions primarily staffed by non-professionals and volunteers. A number of scholarships funded through a grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission are available for participants from Centre and contiguous counties, plus those in Pennsylvania outside the targeted counties on a space available basis. Scholarship assisted per-person fees are $20 a day.
Registration is open to all Pennsylvanians at this time for the fifteen places that are still available. These slots are to be divided among the three workshops, the details of which follow.
- Monday, March 26 (8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.): Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS).
- Thursday, May 10 – Friday, May 11 (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.): Copyright: The Archivist and the Law.
- Monday, June 18 – Tuesday, June 19 (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.): MARC according to DACS: Archival Cataloging to the New Descriptive Standard.
All workshops will be held in the Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library, at Penn State’s University Park campus.
Non-scholarship workshop fees are $365 per person for a two-day workshop and $235 for a one-day workshop for non-members of SAA. For more details on the workshop, housing information, and registration forms, please go to: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/saaworkshops/. Early bird registration closes one month before the date of the workshop.
Space is limited, so please register early. For further information, contact project director Susan Hamburger, sxh36@psulias.psu.edu or 814-865-1755.
Special hours - Special Collections closed Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Summer hours (8:00 am to 5:00 pm, M –F) for Special Collections start May 21, 2007
Celebrating Our Roots: 100 Years of Home Economics at Penn State
“Celebrating Our Roots: 100 Years of Home Economics at Penn State," is on display in the Special Collections Library, 104 Paterno Library, April 25 through July 25, 2007. The exhibit contains over 100 photographs and items from the collections of the Penn State University Archives.
The exhibit explores the history of home economics at Penn State, from the establishment of the Department of Home Economics in 1907 through the 1960s when it was a College of Home Economics, offering multiple degree options. It celebrates the people, places, and programs that were a part of home economics at Penn State through photos and memorabilia representing various aspects of the home economics curriculum, including home art, clothing and textiles, foods and nutrition, hotel and institutional administration, commercial consumer services, child development, and home management. The display also includes home economics faculty and administration, buildings and places, and the "early years" of home economics.
The exhibit is part of the Home Economics Alumni Reunion and 100-Year Celebration, which is sponsored by the College of Health and Human Development. The reunion is scheduled for April 27-28, 2007. "Because the College of Home Economics is a forerunner of the College of Health and Human Development, the reunion will celebrate our roots," said Fred Vondracek, interim dean of the College of Health and Human Development. "The College of Health and Human Development's focus—improving the quality of life of individuals, families, and communities—was of utmost importance to the home economics faculty and students who came before us."
“Collegian Chronicles”
The recently-published Collegian Chronicles: A History of Penn State from the Pages of the Daily Collegian, 1887-2006, compiles over a century's worth of reporting to serve as an historical account of Penn State as told by the student reporters and editors. The book explores how world events impacted campus life and how students impacted the world around them. More than 90 former Collegian writers, editors, and business managers from eight decades contributed new, original stories to The Collegian Chronicles. It also draws from hundreds of photos from the newspaper and within the collections of the Penn State University Archives and presents a colorful account of shared Penn State community experiences unrivaled in collegiate journalism.
To complement the release of this memorable book, the University Archives created an exhibition of words and images highlighting the 120 years of University history that figure so prominently in this compilation. The exhibit, curated by Alston Turchetta, Archives Assistant, captures selected headlines, bylines, and events that have proven memorable for all Penn State alumni.
Bellefonte Central Railroad Key to Local Development
Online Exhibit
University Park, PA—An exhibition charting the growth and significance of the Bellefonte Central Railroad from the turn of the twentieth century until its demise in the 1980s will be displayed in the Pattee Library main exhibit area from June 4 to August 24. The exhibition is being held in conjunction with the newly published Rails to Penn State by Michael Bezilla and Jack Rudnicki. The authors will give a presentation about the book, followed by a book signing on July 12, at 3:30 p.m. in the Foster Auditorium, 101 Pattee Library.
Bezilla and Rudnicki, both Penn State alumni, made extensive use of vast resources on the railroad in Penn State's Historical Collections and Labor Archives, within the Special Collections Library. The library acquired Bellefonte Central corporate records in 2001 and has a total of 122 boxes of cataloged archival materials in its holdings. Images from the collection comprise the current exhibition. "The Bellefonte Central corporate archive is one of the most detailed and comprehensive collections of its kind anywhere," Bezilla noted. "It's likely to be a tremendous asset for other researchers interested in the history of railroads, the University, and some of the other customers the BFC served, such as the lime and limestone industry."
The 19-mile-long rail line was Penn State's primary passenger and freight transportation link to the outside world for several decades. It began life in 1886 as the Buffalo Run, Bellefonte, and Bald Eagle Railroad and was reorganized as the Bellefonte Central in 1892. Hard-pressed by competing modes of transportation and changes in the regional economy, the Bellefonte Central ran its last train in 1982 and was abandoned in 1984.
At Bellefonte, it connected the campus and the surrounding State College community to the vast Pennsylvania Railroad system. "As a passenger hauler, the Bellefonte Central carried thousands of undergraduates and faculty members, along with such notables as steel magnates Andrew Carnegie and Charles Schwab and U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower," Bezilla said. "As a freight railroad, it carried virtually everything that Penn State and State College needed to function and to grow—bricks, office furniture, food, home appliances, paper, coal, gasoline, even new automobiles for the town's dealerships. Plus mail and express."
Bezilla, who is a director in University Relations, has authored many books on the history of Penn State. Rudnicki, a supply chain management graduate, is in sales management for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Railway. "The Bellefonte Central corporate archive is one of the most detailed and comprehensive collections of its kind anywhere," Bezilla noted. "It's likely to be a tremendous asset for other researchers interested in the history of railroads, the University, and some of the other customers the BFC served, such as the lime and limestone industry."
Rails to Penn State will be available for sale at the book signing on July 12. Sponsored by Penn State University Libraries, the event is free of charge and open to the public.
For more information, contact James Quigel, head of Historical Collections and Labor Archives, at 814-863-3181
May 2007
Special Announcements
First Thursday
First Thursday: Libraries Participate in Town/Gown Event
State College, PA — "First Thursday State College" will kick off its inaugural celebration of the arts on February 1, with exhibits, performances, and activities at locations throughout downtown State College and the Penn State campus. Modeled after “First Fridays” held in the cultural districts of cities across the United States, First Thursday will feature events at cultural institutions and art galleries on the first Thursday of each month.
Thursdays were chosen because businesses already stay open for extended hours, and parking is free that evening at all municipal street meters; the Beaver, Allen, and Fraser parking lots; and the McCallister Parking deck. Posters on the sidewalk outside each event venue will identify participants. Information will also be available on the web at www.firstthursdaystatecollege.org, a site that is currently under construction. Unless otherwise noted, admission to all First Thursday events is free and open to the public.
Archival Workshop
Penn State Offers Archival Training
University Park, PA — Registrations are being accepted for a series of workshops developed by the Society of American Archivists (SAA) that will provide archival training opportunities for smaller repositories. Workshops will focus on advanced-level archival concepts and practices and the needs of institutions primarily staffed by non-professionals and volunteers. A number of scholarships funded through a grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission are available for participants from Centre and contiguous counties, plus those in Pennsylvania outside the targeted counties on a space available basis. Scholarship assisted per-person fees are $20 a day.
Registration is open to all Pennsylvanians at this time for the fifteen places that are still available. These slots are to be divided among the three workshops, the details of which follow.
- Monday, March 26 (8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.): Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS).
- Thursday, May 10 – Friday, May 11 (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.): Copyright: The Archivist and the Law.
- Monday, June 18 – Tuesday, June 19 (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.): MARC according to DACS: Archival Cataloging to the New Descriptive Standard.
All workshops will be held in the Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library, at Penn State’s University Park campus.
Non-scholarship workshop fees are $365 per person for a two-day workshop and $235 for a one-day workshop for non-members of SAA. For more details on the workshop, housing information, and registration forms, please go to: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/saaworkshops/. Early bird registration closes one month before the date of the workshop.
Space is limited, so please register early. For further information, contact project director Susan Hamburger, sxh36@psulias.psu.edu or 814-865-1755.
Intersession hours (9:00 am to 5:00 pm) for Special Collections, in effect May 14 – 18, 2007
Summer hours (8:00 am to 5:00 pm, M –F) for Special Collections start May 21, 2007
Exhibitions and Events
Celebrating Our Roots: 100 Years of Home Economics at Penn State
“Celebrating Our Roots: 100 Years of Home Economics at Penn State," is on display in the Special Collections Library, 104 Paterno Library, April 25 through July 25, 2007. The exhibit contains over 100 photographs and items from the collections of the Penn State University Archives.
The exhibit explores the history of home economics at Penn State, from the establishment of the Department of Home Economics in 1907 through the 1960s when it was a College of Home Economics, offering multiple degree options. It celebrates the people, places, and programs that were a part of home economics at Penn State through photos and memorabilia representing various aspects of the home economics curriculum, including home art, clothing and textiles, foods and nutrition, hotel and institutional administration, commercial consumer services, child development, and home management. The display also includes home economics faculty and administration, buildings and places, and the "early years" of home economics.
The exhibit is part of the Home Economics Alumni Reunion and 100-Year Celebration, which is sponsored by the College of Health and Human Development. The reunion is scheduled for April 27-28, 2007. "Because the College of Home Economics is a forerunner of the College of Health and Human Development, the reunion will celebrate our roots," said Fred Vondracek, interim dean of the College of Health and Human Development. "The College of Health and Human Development's focus—improving the quality of life of individuals, families, and communities—was of utmost importance to the home economics faculty and students who came before us."
“Collegian Chronicles”
The recently-published Collegian Chronicles: A History of Penn State from the Pages of the Daily Collegian, 1887-2006, compiles over a century's worth of reporting to serve as an historical account of Penn State as told by the student reporters and editors. The book explores how world events impacted campus life and how students impacted the world around them. More than 90 former Collegian writers, editors, and business managers from eight decades contributed new, original stories to The Collegian Chronicles. It also draws from hundreds of photos from the newspaper and within the collections of the Penn State University Archives and presents a colorful account of shared Penn State community experiences unrivaled in collegiate journalism.
To complement the release of this memorable book, the University Archives created an exhibition of words and images highlighting the 120 years of University history that figure so prominently in this compilation. The exhibit, curated by Alston Turchetta, Archives Assistant, captures selected headlines, bylines, and events that have proven memorable for all Penn State alumni.
"Phi Beta Kappa: The History of the American Scholar"
"Phi Beta Kappa: the History of the American Scholar," an exhibit of images and resources from the Penn State University Archives and the Phi Beta Kappa Society, is on display in the Pattee Library main exhibit area, March 7 to May 11.
The nation's oldest and most widely known academic honor society, Phi Beta Kappa was founded by five students during the American Revolution at the College of William and Mary on December 5, 1776. Today an invitation to membership is a reflection of an individual's outstanding achievement, acknowledged by employers and academic institutions alike. Counted among its members are Ralph Waldo Emerson, who wrote the American Scholar essay; many former United State's presidents, including John Quincy Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, George Bush, and Bill Clinton; former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt; poet Nikki Giovanni; actress Glenn Close; director Francis Ford Coppola; composer Stephen Sondheim; United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; researcher Jonas Salk; quarterback Peyton Manning; Amazon founder Jeff Bezos; Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo; among many others.
For over two and a quarter centuries, Phi Beta Kappa has embraced the principles of freedom of inquiry and liberty of thought and expression. Its Greek initials are the motto, "Love of learning is the guide to life."
Although laptops have replaced quill pens and instant messaging has replaced the town crier, the ideas symbolized on Phi Beta Kappa's distinctive gold key, still lay the foundations of personal freedom, scientific inquiry, liberty of conscience, and creative endeavor. Its mission is to foster and recognize excellence in undergraduate liberal arts and sciences.
"Imaginary Cities"
The exhibition opened for a brief time in the Special Collections Library Exhibition Hall in conjunction with a symposium, “Imaginary Cities: Fictions of Space in the Early Modern World,” hosted by Penn State’s Committee on Early Modern Studies, held on April 13 and 14 in the Foster Auditorium. (See (http://www.earlymod.psu.edu/) for information.) The exhibition will be reinstalled in the summer, from July 1 through August 31.
The publication in 1516 of Thomas More's Utopia brought a new literary genre into existence, and by 1611 the word "utopia" made it into an English dictionary. After More's Utopia, writers throughout Europe wrote similar novels about idealized communities that were nestled in the distant reaches beyond the known world.
Implicit within all utopian novels is a critique of the political and moral organization of cities. As many scholars have noted, a utopia presents an idealized community that is supposed to stand in sharp contrast to the reader's experience of city life and represent a possible alternative world. The fictional claim of most utopian novels is that the city depicted in the story actually does exist-for example, on a distant island.
Utopian literature is also allied with discourse on city planning. As writers described the internal structure and operation of their ideal cities, they relied on treatises on architecture and city planning, such as the one surviving Roman treatise written by Vitruvius. Architects, like novelists, composed imaginary cities that never left the paper on which they are drawn.
The materials on display include a selection of the holdings of the Arthur O. Lewis Utopia Collection in the Special Collections Library.
Collections and Finding Aids
New finding aids available:
Harmony Society Collection, 1838-1935
Jacob Nofsker Account Ledger and Civil War Letter, 1833-1873
Rayfield Mooty Oral History Interview by James B. Stewart, circa 1990
Don Taylor Movie Scripts and Photos, 1967-1988
T.C.H. Jacobs literary papers, 1907-1974
A.P. Jacobs carpentry and sawmill account book (Bradford County, Pa.), 1839-1855
Jorge Amado Papers, 1970-1987 (bulk 1970-1971)
Fiona Pitt-Kethley Literary Papers, 1982-1993
Christopher Logue Papers, 1939-1993 (bulk 1950-1993)
Jacques-B. Brunius Papers, 1929-1967
January 2007
Special Announcements
“Huddle with the Faculty” visit
Special Collections exhibit area will be open for visitors this Saturday,
October 14, 2006 from approximately 11:00 am until 4:00 pm.
The exhibit area will open first for a special Civil War program.
Attendees of the "Huddle with the Faculty" lecture on the
historical impact of the Emancipation Proclamation, which begins at
9:30 a.m. at The Nittany Lion Inn, will come to Special Collections
to view a rare copy of an Emancipation Proclamation, on loan to Penn
State University Libraries through April 2007.
There will also be two presentations: William Blair, professor of
history and director of the Richards Center, will discuss "Highlights
of Pennsylvania's Contributions to the Civil War" and James Quigel,
Head of Historical Collections and Labor Archives, will do a short
presentation on Civil War materials in Special Collections.
Following the “Huddle,” the
Special Collections exhibit area will remain open allowing visitors
to see the current exhibit "Teaching America to Draw: Instructional
Manuals and Ephemera, 1794-1925."
Exhibitions
and Events
Teaching America to Draw: Instructional Manuals and Ephemera,
1794-1925
September 29, 2006 through January 7, 2007
This critically acclaimed exhibition is drawn from the holdings of
the Special Collections Library, principally from the collection of
Albert A. Anderson Jr., and Evelynn M. Ellis. It provides a fascinating
insight into the history of drawing instruction in the United States
and documents the development of the discipline as it became increasingly
specialized in the 1800s. The earliest manual in the exhibition is
the first American edition of a drawing instruction book from 1794,
the content of which includes plates and instructions on rudimentary
perspective, the landscape, the human figure and simple objects. Unbound
drawing cards, popular in the mid-1800s, children’s workbooks
and copybooks are also part of the exhibition.
The exhibition was on display this past summer in New York City at
the Grolier Club, one of the country’s oldest bibliophile societies,
and received extensive and illustrated coverage in the New York Times
on July 19, 2006. In his review, leading art critic Michael Kimmelman
described the exhibition as “evocative of a golden era when
drawing, like reading, was a civilized pastime.”
John Frederick Whitehead: An Indentured Servant in Revolutionary
America
October 10, 2006 through November 15, 2006.
The exhibition offers an intimate glimpse at the life of Whitehead,
who left Germany in 1773 at the age of 15, bound for colonial America.
To pay his passage, he became an indentured servant and upon his arrival
in Philadelphia, a Quaker family in Berks County bought his indenture.
Whitehead taught himself English and used his newfound skill to keep
a diary of his life experiences, including a detailed description
of the servant contracting process—a unique source for historians
of this period.
In October, the Penn State Press will publish Whitehead’s diary
in the same volume with another indentured servant’s diary,
that of Johann Carl Buettner, who also traveled on the same ship as
Whitehead. The diaries are the only first-hand accounts of German
indentured servant immigrants to America. Souls for Sale: Two German
Redemptioners Come to Revolutionary America presents these parallel
accounts, which enhance our knowledge of German indentured servitude
in colonial America, providing valuable historical records of immigrant
attitudes, perceptions and goals. The Whitehead diary was acquired
by gift/purchase in 2003 from John Frederick Whitehead IV for the
Libraries' Allison-Shelley Collection.
Under Cover: Treasures in Photographic Albums
October 10, 2006 through December 31, 2006, on display in the B. and
H.
Henisch Photo-History Collection Exhibition Room, 201A Pattee, in
the Pattee Library
The exhibit features many examples of albums from that period, including
“gem” albums for miniature tintypes, albums with hidden
music boxes, and others that have the look and weight of family Bibles.
The first album designed expressly for photographs on paper made
its appearance in Paris in 1858, following the invention in 1854 of
carte-de-visite images—small prints mounted on cards—that
became highly popular. Albums came in many styles and were designed
to embody and convey established Victorian virtues.
The exhibition is a memorial display in honor of donor and photo-historian
Heinz Henisch (1922-2006). The Henisch Photo-History Collection was
acquired by gift/purchase from Heinz and Bridget Henisch in 1996.
May Our Lives but Swell Thy Fame: Penn State Distinguished
Alumni (1951-2006)
October 2006 through January 2007, on display in Robb Hall, Hintz
Alumni Center
This exhibit honors all Distinguished Alumni Award recipients. For
a complete list of honorees, see http://www.alumni.psu.edu/awards/individual/.
Collections and
Finding Aids
New finding aids available:
Kenneth
Burke Letters to William H. Rueckert, 1959-1987
Civil
War Draft Exemption Records from Rockland County, New York, 1862
Robert
E. Dengler Map Collection, 1847-1947
Jack
Rabin Collection on Alabama Civil Rights and Southern Activists, 1941-2004
(bulk 1956-1974)
October 2006
Special
Announcements
Exhibitions
and Events
"Always
Room at the Inn: 75 Years of Hospitality at the Nittany Lion Inn"
-- on exhibit through September 15
May 9, 2006
Nittany Lion
Inn Exhibit
University Park,
PA — “Always Room at the Inn: 75 Years of Hospitality
at the Nittany Lion Inn" is on display through Friday, September
15, in the Special Collections Library exhibit area, 104 Paterno
Library. Hours are Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The exhibit
celebrates the anniversary of the opening in May of 1931 of the
Nittany Lion Inn, documenting the history from its original management
under the Treadway Corporation to the present day as an integral
part of Penn State's Hospitality Services.
Drawn from the
Penn State University Archives collection, the exhibit covers major
renovations, additions, and refurbishments, through photographs,
menus, artifacts (such as plates and glasses), newspaper articles,
brochures, and the guest book from the 50th Anniversary.
Featured items
include a menu autographed by Eleanor Roosevelt, the newly published
history of the Nittany Lion Inn, and a series of images detailing
the changes in the Inn's appearance over the years.
Questions about
the exhibit can be addressed to exhibit curators Robyn Dyke and
Alston Turchetta at 814-865-7931.
"Bridging the Gaps:
Pennsylvanian Railroad and Highway Bridges, 1865-1915" -- on
exhibit through July 30
April 10, 2006
Exhibit Shows
Railroad and Highway Bridges, 1865-1915
University Park,
PA —"Bridging the Gaps: Pennsylvanian Railroad and Highway
Bridges, 1865-1915" is on display through July 1, in The Eberly
Family Special Collections Library, 104 Paterno Library.
Rivers, valleys,
and hills of Pennsylvania make bridges an indispensable part of
the landscape. This exhibit from the University Libraries Historical
Collections and Labor Archives showcases photographs, architectural
drawings, documents, and illustrated books that highlight both the
technical and aesthetic aspects of bridges, 1865-1915.
Hours are Monday–Thursday,
8:00 a.m.–6:30 p.m., Friday 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Closed
Saturday and Sunday and holidays. Summer hours begin May 9, Monday–Friday,
8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
For more information,
contact Jim Quigel, head of Historical Collections and Labor Archives,
814-863-3181.
"History of Women
at Penn State" -- on exhibit through August 11, Pattee Library Exhibit
Area
March 7, 2006
History of Women
at Penn State
University Park,
PA — Since 1981, the Penn State Commission for Women has strived
to promote and support women and women’s issues at the University.
As part of the celebration of its 25th anniversary in 2006, the
Commission and Penn State Press are publishing We Are a Strong,
Articulate Voice: A History of Women at Penn State.
An exhibit,
“We Are a Strong, Articulate Voice: A History of Women at
Penn State,” is on display in the main exhibit area of Pattee
Library, March 10 through August 11, 2006, and features images included
in the book, which traces the history of women at the University
from the admission of the first female in 1871 through Penn State’s
150th anniversary in 2005. The majority of the images used in the
book and on display are from the collection of the Penn State University
Archives.
Using anecdotes
and photographs, We Are a Strong, Articulate Voice shares the struggles
and triumphs that have shaped the lives of women at this proud institution.
The images reflect those challenges and accomplishments, from the
early days when women yearned for independence from their dormitory
housemothers, to the turbulent 1960s, when women lent their voices
to wartime rallies, to the 1980s, when efforts to improve the campus
climate led to the creation of the Commission for Women. Photos
of notable women in Penn State’s recent history are also included.
We Are a Strong,
Articulate Voice, written by local author Carol Sonenklar, will
be available April 1 in local bookstores and can be ordered now
by visiting www.psupress.org or by calling 800-326-9180.
For more information,
on the Commission for Women at Penn State, go to http://www.equity.psu.edu/cfw/
For information
on the University Libraries, contact Public Relations and Marketing,
University Libraries, cqg3@psu.edu, 814-863-4240.
"George
Atherton's Legacy: A Remembrance" -- on exhibit through
mid-August, Hintz Alumni Center
April 21, 2006
Penn State University
Archives Collection Displayed on Campus
University Park,
PA — "George Atherton's Legacy: A Remembrance" and
will be on display through mid-August, in the Atherton Room and
Robb Hall of the Hintz Alumni Center, University Park campus. The
exhibit, which honors the 100th anniversary of George Atherton's
death and dedication of this room, showcases items from the collection
of the Penn State University Archives, the Special Collections Library.
The Hintz Alumni
Center, 814-865-6516, is open Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m. to
5:00 p.m., and Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Special Blue White
Weekend hours are Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and Sunday,
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
2005
Exhibitions
and Events
November 7, 2005 –January 31, 2006
John O’Hara: A Centennial Exhibition
Novelist and short-story writer John O'Hara (1905–1970) was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, in the state's northeastern anthracite coal region. Although he left Pennsylvania as a young man, he set five novels and more than fifty stories in what he called "my Pennsylvania Protectorate." The characters of O'Hara's fictional town of Gibbsville were the miners and poor immigrants, the bartenders, the country-club set, and the college-bred middle class of his hometown.
But O'Hara was more than just a Pennsylvania writer; he was a writer of national stature. O'Hara was a regular contributor to The New Yorker and wrote some four hundred short stories in addition to nineteen novels. Five of his novels were made into big-budget motion pictures, including Butterfield 8 and Pal Joey. Ten North Frederick won a National Book Award in 1956, and in 1964 O'Hara received a Gold Medal of Merit from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Timothy Babcock, a Rare Books and Manuscripts intern from the Syracuse University School of Information Studies, has made the selection of exhibition materials from the John O'Hara Papers and from O’Hara's published works. Penn State's O'Hara holdings include letters, manuscripts, photographs, book contracts, and the entire contents of his study, which has been reconstructed adjacent to our Exhibition Hall. The bulk of the O'Hara collection came to the University Libraries as gifts from John O'Hara, from his late wife, Katharine B. O'Hara, and from his daughter, Wylie O'Hara Doughty, with additional purchases by Rare Books and Manuscripts.
For more information about the exhibit or about the John O'Hara Papers, write to Rare Books and Manuscripts, 104 Paterno Library, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, or call (814) 865-1793. To take a virtual tour of the John O'Hara Study, go to http://www.libraries.psu.edu/gateway/vtour/ohara.htm.
August 20–December 30, 2005
Cases of Character: Selections of Photographic Case Art
from the B. and H. Henisch Photo-History Collection
An exhibit in the B. and H. Henisch Photo-History Collection Exhibit Room, opening August 20, highlights daguerreotype case design, a significant secondary art form that developed a life of its own in the last half of the 19th century.
One of the earliest needs of the photographic trade was to guard the delicate surface of daguerreotypes from abrasion and dust, and to permit the images to be conveniently handled. The design of such protective covers rapidly became a new form of craftsmanship, especially when thermoplastic "Union" cases (made of a mixture of soot, finely ground sawdust, and wood resin) were introduced in the early 1850s. This material not only lent itself to mass production but was also capable of accepting a variety of decorative imprints of great delicacy. Such cases looked more as if they had been made out of fine ebony than out of artificial (and cheap) materials, and daguerreotype cases became small works of art. Among the pictorial themes used by case artists were notions and images derived from literature, mythology, famous paintings, patriotic sentiments, religious symbolism, and the social scene. Once the daguerreotype cases had established their popularity, they began to be used for other forms of photographs (ambrotypes and tintypes, for example) and were treasured as valuable objects themselves.
Although thermoplastic was the material most often chosen, there were other delightful variations. The exhibit features examples of cases covered in leather, velvet, and mother-of-pearl, and others disguised as tiny books or rouge-pots.
The B. and H. Henisch Photo-History Collection Exhibit Room is located in 201A Pattee Library. For further information, call the Department of Special Collections at (814) 865-1793. The exhibit will run through December 30, 2005.
Contact: Sandra Stelts (sks5@psulias.psu.edu)
November 2004 - February 2005:
Double Vision: Stereo Cards & Their Descendants, The First Visual Mass Media
The Special Collections Library announces a new exhibit: "Double Vision: Stereo Cards & Their Descendants, The First Visual Mass Media." The exhibit, on display in the B. & H. Henisch Photo-History Collection Exhibit Room, features stereograph cards, stereo viewers and cameras, and Viewmasters. The stereo viewers are displayed to allow visitors to see the world through 19th-century eyes with the full stereo effect.
The items were selected by Special Collections staff member R. Aaron Rottner from the holdings of both the Historical Collections and Labor Archives, and Rare Books and Manuscripts. Aaron will deliver an informal gallery talk on November 18, 2004, at 1:00 p.m. In the Henisch Exhibit Room, 201A Pattee Library.
Stereographs, invented in the 1830s, were the first true-to-life visual mass media. For the first time in history, the ordinary person could see real people, places, and events from all over the world, and far more accurately, cheaply, and in greater quantity than the images produced by painters and engravers. Stereoscopic imagery uses the principle of binocular vision, which fuses two slightly dissimilar images in the brain. The amazing sense of depth produced by viewing a stereo image doubly enhanced the sense of reality already created by photography, itself a recent invention.
A popular family diversion from the 1850s to the 1920s, collections of stereoscopic views were more common than the parlor piano. They gave glimpses into the lives of other peoples and cultures to an extent previously not possible. Travel stereo views were reproduced in the millions, but humorous and sentimental views were also quite popular. Narrative sequences of these can be seen as precursors of the early silent film shorts. As the popularity of stereographs waned in the 1930s, a new type of stereo image appeared: the Viewmaster reel (1939), which is still made today.
The B. and H. Henisch Photo-History Collection Exhibit Room, 201A Pattee Library (located off the Paterno Reading Room) is open during University Libraries hours (see www.libraries.psu.edu/hours). The exhibit will be on display through February 2005. For more information, call the Special Collections Library at (814) 865-1793.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005, at 11:30 a.m.
Gallery Talk: Robert Joyce and Portraits in Activism
On Wednesday, November 30, 2005, at 11:30 a.m., there will be an informal gallery talk on Robert Joyce and "Portraits in Activism." It accompanies "The Photography of Robert Joyce," which is on display in the Special Collections Library Exhibits Hall. Both the talk and the exhibit are located in104 Paterno Library.
Over a career spanning twenty-five years with the National Guardian, Joyce's coverage of progressive causes, social protest, and acts of civil disobedience produced a photo-documentary file of immense historical importance. Capturing thousands of images devoted to protest scenes, he viewed mass demonstrations as progressive art in service to an esthetic cultural revolution.
The talk will include remarks by Jim Quigel, head of the Libraries' Historical Collections and Labor Archives; April Kent, lecturer in the English Department; and special guests Professors Thomas Benson, Department of Communication Arts and Sciences, and Margaret Benson, Human Development and Family Studies and of Psychology.
For more information, contact Jim Quigel at 814-863-3181 or jpq1@psu.edu
Monday, November 7, 2005:
Lecture: The Posthumous Lives of John O'Hara
The Pennsylvania State University Libraries will celebrate the centennial of Pennsylvania writer John O'Hara with a lecture on Monday, November 7, 2005, at 4:00 p.m. in the Foster Auditorium, 101 Pattee Library. Philip B. Eppard from the University of Albany, SUNY, will speak on "The Posthumous Lives of John O’Hara." Professor Eppard, who is on the faculty of the School of Information Science and Policy and the editor of Critical Essays on John O'Hara, will examine the different approaches biographers have taken and consider how their studies have enhanced our understanding of O'Hara's literary achievements and influenced his reputation.
Novelist and short-story writer O'Hara (1905–1970) was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Although he left the state as a young man, he set five novels and more than fifty stories in Pennsylvania, many in a fictional town called Gibbsville. O'Hara was a regular contributor to The New Yorker and wrote some four hundred short stories in addition to nineteen novels. Five of his bestseller novels were made into big-budget motion pictures, including Butterfield 8 and Pal Joey.
The lecture is sponsored by the Huck Chair for Special Collections, the Penn State Center for the History of the Book, and the Pennsylvania Center for the Book. A reception will follow in the Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library.
A related exhibition, "John O'Hara: A Centennial Exhibit" will be also open on November 7 in the Special Collections Exhibition Hall, 104 Paterno Library. Timothy Babcock, a Rare Books and Manuscripts intern from the Syracuse University School of Information Studies, will make the selection of exhibit materials from the John O'Hara Papers and from the Libraries' extensive holdings of O'Hara's works.
The Special Collections Library, 104 Paterno Library, is open Monday–Thursday, 8:00 a.m.–6:30 p.m.; and Friday, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. The exhibition will run through January 31, 2006.
July - September 30, 2005
Kenneth Burke and His Circles
A new exhibit in the University Libraries highlights one of the most important manuscript collections in the Department of Special Collections. "Kenneth Burke and His Circles" was conceived and installed in conjunction with a conference, Kenneth Burke and His Circles, jointly sponsored by the 19th annual Penn State Conference on Rhetoric and Composition and the Kenneth Burke Society, held at Penn State on July 10 through 12.
Kenneth Burke (1897–1993) was a philosopher of language whose criticism and theories had a major impact on many American writers and thinkers in the mid-20th century. A prominent intellectual in New York literary circles beginning in the 1920s, Burke was a poet, essayist, reviewer, critic, novelist, translator, social commentator, and writer of short stories. The Kenneth Burke Papers are housed in Rare Books and Manuscripts and contain eight decades of Burke’s correspondence.
The presenters in the exhibit made use of the Kenneth Burke Papers while they worked together in a graduate seminar offered by the conference organizer, Jack Selzer, professor of English and associate dean for undergraduate studies in the College of the Liberal Arts. Special Collections staff member Jeanette Sabre, who has been engaged in processing Burke’s correspondence, also made selections for the exhibit.
The exhibit will run through September 30, 2005. The Special Collections Library, 104 Paterno Library, is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and 8:00 to 6:30 p.m. during the fall semester. For more information, call the Special Collections Library at (814) 865-1793.
2004 and earlier
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