From the Stacks – A few of our favorites – 1892: Gossip in a Library

Stacks_GossipInLibraryGossip in a Library!  Another title that we just could not resist, but don’t pick up this book expecting to find out some long forgotten secrets of scandalous library behavior. Edmund Gosse, the author,  was a prolific man of letters. He worked as a librarian, English translator, literary historian, author and critic.  His book is a collection of essays about the special books in his private collection. Gosse started his career out as a librarian at the British Museum and later became a lecturer at Cambridge University. His final position was as librarian for the House of Commons. He married an artist who was associated with the Pre-Raphaelites.  In an article that appeared in the New York Times on May 9th, 1892, the reviewer describes the publication as a happy volume that excites curiosity!*

Gosse’s intriguing essays on books are a must for any bibliophile!

A free audiobook is available, too, if you want to listen!

*New publications. (1892, May 09). New York Times (1857-1922), pp. 3-3. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.ups.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/95037856?accountid=1627

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Research Tip #2: Seek out multiple news sources

SEEK OUT multiple news sources to get a variety of viewpoints and media frames.

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Take the Valentine Trivia Quiz!

CALLOUT_ValentineThis year’s trivia quiz is all about people and based on one of our most popular databases filled with facts.  Each clue has some connection with Valentine’s Day – it could be a profession, a color, a name or an event!   You can click on the link below to find the answers!

  1. Only in power for forty days, this Italian was beloved for goodness.
  2. This composer is known for Heartfelt  music.
  3. A comic with a sweet name.
  4. An actress and dancer with a wandering spirit.
  5. Sweet Home, Arkansas is where this writer hails from.
  6. A trumpeter with a sweet personality.
  7. Like Water, Like Chocolate.
  8. We know he loves wine but hates Merlot.
  9. She has a lot of cards to her name.
  10. A legacy of red was left by this nurse.

Trivia Answers

Portion of graphic designed by Freepik

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Valentine Trivia Answers

  1. Only in power for forty days, this Italian was beloved for goodness:  Pope Valentine
  2. This composer is known for Heartfelt music:  Bruce Adolphe, The Tell Tale Heart Opera
  3. A comic with a sweet name:  John Candy
  4. An actress and dancer with a wandering spirit:  Gypsy Rose Lee
  5. Sweet Home, Arkansas is where this writer hails from:  Henry Dumas
  6. A trumpeter with a sweet personality:  Harry Sweets Edison
  7. Like Water, Like Chocolate: Alfonso Arau, Director of movie, Like Water for Chocolate
  8. We know he loves wine but hates Merlot:  Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti
  9. She has a lot of cards to her name:  Robin Wight (House of Cards)
  10. A legacy of red was left by this nurse:  Clara Barton
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Distinguished Visitor at Collins Library

This week Collins Library was happy to host a very distinguished visitor: Flat Stanley. Stanley is a boy whose bulletin board flattens him one night in his bedroom. At first he is sad, but then he finds all sorts of things he is able to do when he is flat. He can fold himself up in an envelope and mail himself to visit friends in faraway places. Students in the Fulton Elementary School class of Mrs. Rosado, in the town of Ephrata, Pennsylvania (2, 700 miles away from Tacoma) sent Flat Stanley to the Collins Library for a visit. Flat Stanley is a book by Jeff Brown, first published in 1964. Since the publication, numerous adaptations of Flat Stanley have appeared and in 1995 the Flat Stanley Project was started by a teacher to foster communication and understanding amongst schoolchildren worldwide. Students send Flat Stanley to schools all around the world and Stanley then has a chance to learn about the community. Stanley is returned home in an envelope full of photos and stories about his visit. Stanley’s connection to Puget Sound: Jane Carlin’s grandniece, Madison Kauffman, is a student in Mrs. Rosado’s class at Fulton Elementary School. Check out some of these photos of Stanley at Puget Sound.

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From the Archives & Special Collections: Fingerprints

Jan31_archivesLooking to learn a little bit about fingerprinting between your classes or errands? Ron Thom has got you covered! President Emeritus Ron Thomas donated a collection of his favorite books to the Archives & Special Collections upon his retirement, and one of the books is Practical Fingerprinting by B.C. Bridges. In this book you can discover a little more about the history of the fingerprint identification process. You can learn terms like “Radial Loop” or my personal favorite, the “Exceptional Arch” to describe attributes of fingerprints. President Emeritus Thomas was specifically interested in the history of criminology in the Victorian Era. At this time the modern police force was emerging, identification technology was becoming more advanced, and detective stories were booming. President Emeritus Thomas wrote in his essay, “Literature is Everything”,that these phenomena were all “forms of storytelling, too, about the very nature of individuals during a time of dramatic social change”. The book collection also contains many other criminology books such as Crime: It’s Causes and Remedies by Cesare Lombroso and Criminal Sociology by Enrico Ferri. Come to the Archives and Special Collections and explore a bit of the history of criminology!

The Archives & Special Collections is open on Monday – Thursday from 10:00-3:00 p.m. or by appointment.

By Laure Mounts

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A simple walk to school breaks a bond…

CALLOUT_bloodsistersAll starts off normal one morning when three little girls set off for school. Within an hour, one of them is dead. Fifteen years later, the surviving girls are going through their own struggles. Kitty can no longer speak and has no memory of the accident. She lives in an institution and is unlikely to ever leave. While Art teacher Alison seems fine on the surface, she struggles underneath her façade. She is having problems making ends meet and trying to forget her past. She takes a teaching job at a prison, despite her fears, and this is when she starts receiving alarming notes. In the shadows, someone is watching the two, someone who never   forgot what happened fifteen years ago. This is someone who wants revenge, a revenge that will only be complete by taking another life.

       Check in out in the Popular Reading Collection!

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A simple job that isn’t so simple…

ShadowGirlMei shows up at a beautiful house on mysterious Arrow Island to tutor a rich man’s daughter, Ella, for the summer. She thinks the job will be drama-free but what Mei doesn’t know is that there is something wrong with the Morison house.  Mei tries to focus on her work but she becomes increasingly distracted by the family’s problems and her feelings about Ella’s brother, Henry. She also has to deal with the weird noises she hears at night, the howling, thumping, and cries. Mei can’t shake the fear that there is danger lurking in the shadows of the house and that darkness could possibly destroy the family and her.

Check it out in the Popular Reading Collection!

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From the Archives & Special Collections: The Towers Restaurant

1.) AWS president-elect, Marian Swanson (center) with Rosemary Martinson (left) and Betty Rusk (right). A Sound Past.  2.) New Otlah members. A Sound Past.  3.) New SPURS members. A Sound Past.

FROM TOP:  1.) AWS president-elect, Marian Swanson (center) with Rosemary Martinson (left) and Betty Rusk (right). A Sound Past. 2.) New Otlah members. A Sound Past. 3.) New SPURS members. A Sound Past.

On December 30, 2017, Imperial Dragon, a Chinese restaurant on Sixth Avenue in Tacoma, shut down. Although the Imperial Dragon restaurant had been in operation since 1993, the site was previously home to two other restaurants: Empress Garden, from 1971 until Imperial Dragon’s opening; and The Towers Restaurant from 1947 until the late 1960s.

The Towers Restaurant was frequently used as a venue for University of Puget Sound (then College of Puget Sound) student events. One such event was the Associated Women Students’ annual banquet on May 15, 1950, celebrating the first anniversary of the Associated Women Students (AWS) as an organization. Women’s groups on campus such as the Women’s Athletic Association (WAA), Otlah (an academic honors group for senior women and the predecessor to Mortar Board), and SPURS (a service honors group for sophomore women) were present at this event. WAA introduced the president and cabinet for the 1950-1951 school year, as well as awarded individual students and sororities for athletic achievement. Both SPURS and Otlah announced their new members for the 1950-1951 school year. The AWS president-elect, Marian Swanson, received the president’s book. For more detail about the women present and the awards given, see the May 19, 1950 issue of The Trail or take a look at A Sound Past to see our collection of photos from student events held at The Towers.

For more information about Imperial Dragon and its history, see the Tacoma News Tribune article from January 4, 2018.

The Archives & Special Collections is open Monday – Thursday from 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. or by appointment.

By Julia Masur

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Research Tip #1: Stuck?

STUCK?  A librarian can help you brainstorm ways around or over any research hurdles.

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