Please Join Us!
Music in the Library: Clarinet, Bass, and Jazz Duo
Friday, February 27, 2015
3-3:25 p.m.
Collins Memorial Library, Reading Room
Performance by: Jenna Tatiyatrairong, Kelton Mock, Brady McCowan
Please Join Us!
Music in the Library: Clarinet, Bass, and Jazz Duo
Friday, February 27, 2015
3-3:25 p.m.
Collins Memorial Library, Reading Room
Performance by: Jenna Tatiyatrairong, Kelton Mock, Brady McCowan
Tips from Liz Roepke ’15, Peer Research Advisor
I’m not sure about you, but I am definitely starting to feel the pressure of quizzes, exams, papers, and projects this semester! When my to-do list keeps getting longer, I forget what day of the week it is, and I feel tired at 8 o’clock at night, I can tell I’m getting stressed out. So what to do about it? It seems backwards, but what helps me through weeks of particularly heavy workloads is usually stepping back from my work and taking some time to stop thinking about all the tasks I need to complete. Other methods I use are studying with friends from my class, writing more lists, and seeking outside resources like tutoring sessions or research consultations. Here’s my list of helpful resources from the library and around campus:
Remember, if you’re stressing out over upcoming tests and papers, take a deep breath and then utilize these available resources that are designed to help you succeed!
Despite having lived in Tacoma for the last three and a half years, I am the first to admit that much of the city remains a mystery to me, and in my last semester at UPS, I have been trying to get out more and experience all that Tacoma has to offer. Last month, I found myself back in Tacoma in early January with little to do before classes started up again. At a loss for ideas, I headed to trip advisor, hoping to find some undiscovered Tacoma attraction. In my search, I came across Tacoma’s Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, which is located just across the street from the Seymour Botanical Conservatory, in Wright Park. I had been meaning to check it out since I’d heard about it over the summer, but hadn’t yet visited. So, in the spirit of getting to know the city a little better, I ventured out with a friend in tow.
The Museum is currently showing a Mark Twain Exhibit, which features letters, manuscripts, notes, and illustrations by or about Mark Twain’s works. While the exhibit was interesting, the director of the Museum, Tom, is arguably more informative than the exhibit itself. As my friend and I were the only two people in the museum at the time, Tom ended up giving us a personal tour, as well as telling us about various materials that have moved through the museum in past exhibits. The whole experience was surprisingly interesting and engaging- I learned quite a bit about Mark Twain, and I got to chat with Tom about rare books and the variety of materials that rotate through the Tacoma Karpeles. He even brought out some reproductions of some of the other items in the Karpeles collection, including a “historical” time line of Narnia created by C.S. Lewis when he was doing the world-building for his books, which was really fun to see.
While the museum is free and open to the public, with only one employee, it remains in a state of disrepair and seems to remain a mystery to much of the city. Intrigued by my visit, and mildly confused about why the museum hasn’t been marketed better as a Tacoma cultural attraction, I decided to do a bit of quick research on the topic.
The Karpeles system as a whole is rather eccentric- developed by David Karpeles, a southern California mathematician turned real estate tycoon, the creation of the museums allowed him to display his ever expanding manuscript collection to the public. The museums are solely funded by Karpeles himself, and all are free to the public. Karpeles’ holdings include a wide range of materials, from the first Mickey Mouse cartoon, to a Papal decree from 1183, and none of the museums have a permanent exhibit. Instead, exhibits rotate among the museums roughly every four months. While the cities in which Karpeles museums have been established may seem random—Duluth, Minnesota, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Tacoma Washington—Karpeles reportedly established museums in cities that lacked cultural resources, rather than in urban metropolises. With so many museums across the country—fourteen locations in all—it seems that some locations may be better cared for then others.
That being said, the Tacoma Karpeles Museum is definitely worth checking out. The museum provides a hands-on way to experience history, and with the non-existent price of admission, may be a more accessible way for students like us to experience the variety of rare materials the Karpeles system has to offer.
For more information about the museum, check out Kate Albert Ward’s article in Post Defiance: http://postdefiance.com/the-tacoma-karpeles-manuscript-library-museum/ or the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museums official website: http://www.rain.org/~karpeles/
By Kara E Flynn
Please join us! Tea, cookies, and conversation at the Behind the Archives Door series.
Jessica Spring, local Tacoma letterpress printer and owner of Springtide Press, will discuss her recent work as shown in reCollection: An Ephemeral Exhibition of Exquisite & Eclectic Ephemera, which was on display at the Spaceworks Artscape from September – December 2014. Jessica’s talk will focus on the process of collecting and the curation of personal archives. “When used by collectors, the term ‘ephemera’ describes materials, often paper, that have little value beyond their intended use,” says Spring. Matchbooks, postcards and milk bottle caps are examples. “These objects serve to light a cigarette, send a message, or protect a bottle of milk, but they also provide a glimpse of another place and time.” Jessica will share examples of the ephemera as well as talk about how the curation of the collection has inspired and influenced her own art.
In this sequel to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Vampire Henry Sturges is searching for renewed purpose in the wake of Abraham Lincoln’s shocking death. The Last American Vampire takes readers on a journey to all sorts of different places, in a vampire novel that includes elements of several different genres.
Make sure to sink your teeth into this book!
Each month at 4:00 p.m., the Archives & Special Collections will hold a series of informal presentations on current research, unique resources, and rare books that are part of the University of Puget Sound Collections. Join us for informal discussion, refreshments, and the opportunity to handle documents and artifacts hundreds of years old!
Early Spring 2015 Events:
Collins Memorial Library
Pugetsound.edu/library
Quinn’s Auction Galleries is offering a signed condolence letter from President Lyndon B. Johnson to Coretta Scott King after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. The letter – an enormously important document in the history of the Civil Rights movement – is dated April 5, 1968, the day after Martin Luther King was shot in Memphis.
Dear Mrs. King:
My thoughts have been with you and your children throughout this long and anguished day.
Tonight, Mrs. Johnson and I pray again that God gives you the solace of His strength.
Since early morning, I have devoted all my hours and energy to honoring your good husband in the manner he would most approve. I have sought –by word, deed, and official act – to unite this sorrowing and troubled nation against further and wider violence.
I have met in that cause – in your husband’s name and faith – with leaders of government, Negro and white communities, our cities, churches and courts. We found more than grief to share. I wanted you to know tonight of the determination that binds us: We will overcome this calamity and continue the work of justice and love that is Martin Luther King’s legacy and trust to us.
I am also determined that the assassin will be found and punished. The full powers of local and Federal authority are marshaled now to assure it.
I am enclosing copies of my statements today so that you may know fully the concerns and intentions that guide me. I believe, with all my heart, that the American majority will also be guided by them, in goodwill and great hope. All of us ask God to comfort you now and restore your compassionate influence to us.
Sincerely,
Lyndon B. Johnson.
The letter arrived at Quinn’s from the collection of Stoney and Shirley Cooks. The letter was gifted to Shirley Cooks from Harry Belafonte, the songwriter and social activist.
Bidding starts at $60,000 with a $120,000 – $180,000 estimate. Online bidding is currently open. The auction, which also contains other items related to Martin Luther King Jr and the Civil Rights movement, will be held on March 5th.
Article from Fine Books & Collections online.
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Celebrating African American History Month.
This year marks five centuries since the death of Aldus Manutius, an Italian humanist who forever changed the direction of publishing, and got in one of its first copyright squabbles. Aldus Manutius: The Struggle and the Dream at the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library celebrates the printer of classical Greek texts, who in working to make scholarship more portable and accessible innovated the smallest mass-produced books since Gutenberg debuted his goliath bibles, and introduced the italic typeface.
The Struggle and the Dream opened last month with a small display in the library’s proscholium, joined by an online exhibition. Curated by Dr. Oren Margolis, a historian of the Italian Renaissance, the display brings together some of the library’s “Aldine” editions marked with the signature dolphin and anchor. These “octavo” editions were pocket-sized, freeing them from their literal chains where previously pricy editions of the same books where so large and valuable they were kept linked to library desks, becoming the predecessor of the modern paperback. – Read more at: Hyperallergic.com
It’s time for the annual Valentine Trivia Challenge sponsored by Collins Library. This year’s theme is the Spice of Life! Try your hand at answering these trivia challenge questions using online resources and no Wikipedia! The first three to submit all correct answers by noon on Valentine’s Day and you will receive a sweet treat from your Collins Library.