Collins Unbound

Collins library has acquired a gift from the U.S. Senate Archives – an early 1930’s political themed painting by an unknown artist. Here are some intriguing facts we know about the art piece:

• It was recovered from a crawl space in the attic of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in mid-January 2010.
• It was rolled up inside of a cardboard mailing tube addressed to Senator Homer T. Bone. (1883-1970).
• The return address was “S.E. Cox” in Port Angeles, WA.  The staff at the Clallum County Historical Society confirmed that Samuel Earl Cox  (1879 – 1945) lived at that address.
• An obituary for S.E. Cox describes him as “a member of the Longshoremen’s Union and prominent in labor circles.”
• Both the postage and the cancellation stamp have been removed, likely by a stamp collector.
• It is an oil on canvas measuring a little more than 2 feet by 3 feet in a portrait orientation.
• Curators from the Smithsonian Political History Division looked at it in June or July of 2010 and agreed that it was in the style appropriate to similar political paintings/posters from 1915-1940.
• There is no date or signature on the painting.  It was mailed from the Cox residence, but cannot definitely determine the identity of the actual painter.
• Senator Bone was elected to the Senate as a Democrat, but had previously run as a Socialist, Farmer-Labor, and a Republican candidate.
• The Senator was an attorney in the Tacoma area specializing in labor law.
• He had served as the lawyer for the Longshoremen’s Union during the 1919 strike and later as the attorney for the Port of Tacoma.
• Senator Bone was strong supporter of FDR and the New Deal policies. His trademark issue was public ownership of utilities.
• He had delivered a campaign speech in Port Angeles in October 1932.
• FDR and Senator Bone toured the Olympic Peninsula by car in 1937.
• Best interpretation of the painting’s message,”the big money (banking) monopoly suckling Uncle Sam (federal government) and the minor monopolies (railroads, mining, industry, etc.) while ignoring the middle class (small businessmen, laborers, farmers)”. This message falls squarely in line with the social progressive grassroots movement that brought FDR (and Bone) to office in the election of 1932 and the spurred the New Deal legislation of 1933 and 1934.
• Senator Bone took office in March 1933 and most of the major financial reform legislation was concentrated in FDR’s “First One Hundred Day”, March to June 1933. This included the Glass-Steagall Act, National Industrial Recovery Act, and the legislation regarding the Gold Standard.
• It is assumed that the painting was probably created sometime around or after the October 1932 campaign speech in Port Angeles,  but not later than June 1933 when the major financial reforms were enacted.
• The artist may have been Cox, a member of the Cox family, a friend of Cox, a fellow longshoreman, or possibly even a Bone for Senate supporter (we have no information on Cox’s involvement with the campaign) – but definitely someone with strong social progressive opinions of the banking industry.

Steve Jobs, visionary co-founder of Apple, died Wednesday at age 56. In remembrance, here are some articles of interest, and a few words from Puget Sound’s Chief Technology Officer regarding Steve and his influences in the digital age.

Steve Jobs Must-Reads: Reflections, Tributes, Photos and Webcomics (PBS Newshour)

Apple’s Visionary Redefined Digital Age (The New York Times)

In high-tech tributes, Apple fans mourn Steve Jobs (The Seattle Times)

ARTstor Article, October 6, 2011

* * *
A Tribute from Puget Sounds’ Chief Technology Officer

William E. Morse, Jr. J.D.
Chief Technology Officer
Associate Vice President for Technology Services
University of Puget Sound

Once upon a time, when I was still a student and working for Emory University’s central computing unit, I bought one of Steve Job’s NeXT computers. As you probably know, this is the computer company he founded after leaving Apple. The computer was expensive. Very expensive, but I saved up for it as it was, hands down, the best computer I had ever used. It got everything right.

Impulsively, I wrote Steve Jobs at NeXT to say that. To my surprise, he wrote me back and we had a dialog for a bit. In the end, he offered me a Job at NeXT which I did not accept as I wanted to finish my degree. While I absolutely love what I do today, I sometimes wonder what my life would have been like had I taken that path instead.

Still, many of the lessons of Steve Jobs are with me today in what we do. Put simply, he taught us that it is not about the technology, it is about the people using it. You should not need to be a computer expert to get things going. It should “just work.”

That lesson was driven home for me with the iPhone. It just worked and it was the first smart phone I have ever had that could claim that to be true. Hence, it has become an invaluable, indispensable part of my life. No other phone in its class, past or present (and we have the support tickets to prove it) works so well, so easily or so reliably.

The man was brilliant. Whether you use Apple products or not, there is no denying that he remade all of our lives. So, here is to you, Mr. Steve Jobs. Rest in Peace.

PS: Yes, I still have my NeXT Turbo Color. It is the only computer I will ever keep.

Since his arrival on campus in 1980, Geoffrey Block has become one of the University’s most prolific faculty authors. A professor of Music History, Dr. Block earned a PhD and an MA from Harvard University and a BA from UCLA. He was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Bonn and has received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship. In addition to publishing three books on Charles Ives and three books on the Broadway musical, Block is the general editor for the Yale Broadway Masters series and series editor for Oxford’s Broadway Legacies. In 2008 he earned the title of Distinguished Professor. Read professor Block’s 2011 article: Is life a cabaret? Cabaret and its sources in reality and the imagination, published in the online Journal Intellect Ltd, via ingentaConnect.

Other publications found in the Collins library collection:

Charles Ives, A Bio-Bibliography (Greenwood Press)

Ives, “Concord” Sonata (Cambridge University Press)

Charles Ives and the Classical Tradition, ed. (Yale University Press)

The Richard Rodgers Reader, ed. (Oxford University Press)

Richard Rodgers (Yale University Press)

Enchanted Evenings : The Broadway Musical from “Show Boat” to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber (Oxford University Press)

Read “UCSC’s Grateful Dead Archivist”, an interview with Nicholas Meriwether, Special Collections, McHenry Library, University of California Santa Cruz. (USCS) from ilovelibraries.org.

In recognition of the opening of the William T. and Gail Weyerhaeuser Center for Health Sciences, the Library is pleased to announce the acquisition of an important new online reference resource to support the Social and Health Sciences.

The Encyclopedia of Behavioral Neuroscience was “highly recommended” by Choice Reviews Online. The reviewer wrote, “The Encyclopedia of Behavioral Neuroscience (EBN) is an excellent resource providing detailed information on specific behavioral neuroscience topics.”

Publishers Description: “Behavioral Neuroscientists study the behavior of animals and humans and the neurobiological and physiological processes that control it. Behavior is the ultimate function of the nervous system, and the study of it is very multidisciplinary. Disorders of behavior in humans touch millions of people’s lives significantly, and it is of paramount importance to understand pathological conditions such as addictions, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, autism among others, in order to be able to develop new treatment possibilities. Encyclopedia of Behavioral Neuroscience is the first and only multi-volume reference to comprehensively cover the foundation knowledge in the field. The important research in all areas of Behavioral Neuroscience is covered in a total of 210 chapters on topics ranging from neuroethology and learning and memory, to behavioral disorders and psychiatric diseases.”

Banned Books Week is Sept. 24 – Oct. 1, 2011! This annual event celebrates the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. While highlighting the benefits of free and open access to information, it draws attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States. Read More.
From The Chronicle of Higher Education: My Lost Library: Books, Exile, and Identity

And check out our display of banned books in the front of the Library!

A few weeks ago, Collins Library held the “Piece It Together” puzzle mystery event and winner Emma Spalding goes home with the grand prize: a brand new Kindle, and she is featured in our blog! Emma shares with us her thoughts and experiences. Read on and see what she has to say!

1. What did you like best about Orientation?
I loved the Passages portion of orientation. I am passionate about the outdoors and work as a Summer Camp Counselor, so being able to see upperclassmen so involved and interested in the Freshman class and willing to take time out of their summer was a great welcome to college. It also truly showed the spirit of the student body at UPS and reaffirms the reasons I chose to come here.

2. What did you learn about Collins Library?
I learned just how vast the resources at the Library are and how different it is from my high school library. I also learned about all the librarians and how they specialize. I can’t wait to use their knowledge to help me with my papers and projects. I also learned that there are so many resources that the library has that I have yet to explore.

3. First Impressions of Puget Sound?
My first impressions of UPS from the orientation week are that this is the perfect place for me. Literally everyone is friendly and they do care about you. Also there are so many people interested in the outdoors and there will be so many opportunities for me to explore the Pacific Northwest. It has been really sunny, but I think that is the one first impression that is going to be proven false!