Welcome to the Kenneth Spencer Research Library blog! As the special collections and archives library at the University of Kansas, Spencer is home to remarkable and diverse collections of rare and unique items. Explore the blog to learn about the work we do and the materials we collect.
A séance with L.E. James (Jim) Helyar, our late fellow librarian, and bibliographer of KU’s foundational Ralph N. Ellis collection of ornithology, is in order.
In our recent attempts to catalog mysterious heretofore unidentified bibliographical puzzlements in our Ellis collection backlog, we nailed the identity of a royal folio without a title page that had stymied Jim: he knew it was related to Alexander Wilson’s American Ornithology, but not how. Even though Jim was closer to solving this who-done-it than he knew, he wrote in notes left behind that “I don’t immediately see anything under Wilson or Bonaparte which corresponds.” “I suspect it’s something that ‘every [ornithological bibliographical] schoolboy knows’, but not me.”
Apparently, Jim was thrown off by the “Wilson/Bonaparte, American Ornithology” notes written at the bottom of the vulture plate shown below, so in fact who-done-it was not exactly who Jim thunk done-it. This messy (both physically and bibliographically) volume turned out to be an imperfect variant of one of our exceedingly rare ornithological tomes: the royal folio edition of Scottish naturalist Captain Thomas Brown’s Illustrations of the American Ornithology of Alexander Wilson and Charles Lucien Bonaparte, published in Edinburgh in 1835 (Call Number: Ellis Aves H76). This volume was created as an atlas to accompany a much earlier text, Alexander Wilson’s AmericanOrnithology, first issued in Philadelphia between 1808 and 1814. In his notes Jim mentions Thomas Brown only as one of the artists credited for the “Wilson derived illustrations.”
A plate in Thomas Brown’s Illustrations of the American Ornithology of Alexander Wilson and Charles Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Musignano. With the addition of numerous recently discovered species, and representations of the whole sylva of North America superbly illustrated with 124 large copper plates engraved by Lizars, Scott, Mitchell and others all beautifully colored by hand. Edinburgh: Frazer & Co., 1835. Call Number: Ellis Aves H161. Click image to enlarge.
Close-up view of the handwritten note at the bottom of the vulture plate in Thomas Brown’s Illustrations. It reads “Wilson, A, & C. L. Bonaparte. American Ornithology. 4 vols. See VIII 90.” Call Number: Ellis Aves H161. Click image to enlarge.
I have created a small exhibition of the two copies, plus my start on what could be an arduous time-taking continent- and/or world-crossing project, to complete a census, not altogether do-able, ideally, entirely on-line or by phone. I was tempted at first to try the on-line and phone route, but same as with Jim perhaps … oh, the press of time …
The exhibit is free and open to the public in the North Gallery through September 16.
Check the blog each Friday for a new “That’s Distinctive!” post. I created the series because I genuinely believe there is something in our collections for everyone, whether you’re writing a paper or just want to have a look. “That’s Distinctive!” will provide a more lighthearted glimpse into the diverse and unique materials at Spencer – including items that many people may not realize the library holds. If you have suggested topics for a future item feature or questions about the collections, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this page.
This week on That’s Distinctive! we share a book from Spencer’s Children’s Book Collection, which is housed within Special Collections. The book, East of the Sun and West of the Moon: Old Tales from the North, was published in 1914. The book shares folklore from Norway and is illustrated by Kay Nielsen. Nielsen contributed twenty-five color and monotone plates to the book along with other printed images.
According to Wikipedia, Kay Nielsen (1886-1957) was a popular Danish illustrator in the early twentieth century. Nielsen illustrated works such as Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen, Other Stories by the Brothers Grimm, and Red Magic. In addition to these works, Nielsen contributed his artwork to Disney in works such as Fantasia. Unfortunately, Nielsen spent his final years in poverty. His last works were for local schools and churches in Los Angeles, California.
Why this item? It gives a unique look into a children’s book with more than simple illustrations. The detail in the artwork alone is enough to draw a reader in. I recently brought my family in to Spencer for a tour and to show them several items from the collections. This book was one of those items and it really drew their attention.
The front cover of East of the Sun and West of the Moon: Old Tales from the North, illustrated by Kay Nielsen, 1914. Call Number: Children D230. Click image to enlarge.
An endpaper in East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Call Number: Children D230. Click image to enlarge.
|
|
Selected illustrations from the folktale “East of the Sun and West of the Moon,” the first one in the book of the same name. Call Number: Children D230. Click images to enlarge.
Check the blog each Friday for a new “That’s Distinctive!” post. I created the series because I genuinely believe there is something in our collections for everyone, whether you’re writing a paper or just want to have a look. “That’s Distinctive!” will provide a more lighthearted glimpse into the diverse and unique materials at Spencer – including items that many people may not realize the library holds. If you have suggested topics for a future item feature or questions about the collections, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this page.
This week on That’s Distinctive! we highlight a book from Special Collections titled Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction by Hallie Q. Brown. The book, published in 1926, highlights notable African American women of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by, in the words of a Google Books summary, telling the stories of “[enslaved people] and social workers, artists and activists, cake makers and homemakers.” In so doing, it offers “unusual insight into female networks, patterns of voluntary association, work, religion, family life, and Black women’s culture.” The book highlights many notable figures such as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Dinah Cox, Matilda J. Dunbar, and Martha Payne (mother of Daniel Alexander Payne).
–
–
–
–
The front cover of – and selected pages from – Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction by Hallie Q. Brown, 1926. Call Number: Howey C6221. Click image to enlarge.
According to Britannica, author Hallie Q. Brown was an
“American educator and elocutionist who pioneered in the movement for African American women’s clubs in the United States. In 1893 Brown was a principal promoter of the organization of the Colored Woman’s League of Washington, D.C., which the next year joined other groups to form the National Association of Colored Women. In 1893 she was appointed professor of elocution at Wilberforce University, but her teaching duties were limited by her frequent and extensive lecture tours, notably in Europe in 1894–99. Her lectures on African American life in the United States and on temperance were especially popular in Great Britain, where she appeared twice before Queen Victoria. She was a speaker at the 1895 convention of the World’s Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in London and a representative of the United States at the International Congress of Women there in 1899. Browns other works include Bits and Odds: A Choice Selection of Recitations (1880) and First Lessons in Public Speaking (1920).”
The title page of Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction with a picture of author Hallie Q. Brown. Call Number: Howey C6221. Click image to enlarge.
Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction is a part of the Howey Collection within Special Collections at Spencer Research Library. The Howey Collection houses many books that originate from the Gerritsen Collection. Spencer’s copy of this volume originally came from the library of physician and women’s activist Aletta Jacobs (1854-1929) and her husband C. V. Gerritsen, who collected books, pamphlets, and other materials on women’s issues. Acquired by the John Crerar Library of Chicago in 1903, the Gerritsen collection was purchased with other Crerar Library materials by the University of Kansas in 1954. The collection was microfilmed and is now available digitally through subscription to libraries worldwide.
The John Crerar Library bookplate in Spencer’s copy of Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction. Call Number: Howey C6221. Click image to enlarge.
A digital copy of the book can be found at Documenting the American South, or the library’s physical copy can be viewed in the Reading Room, Monday through Friday between 10am and 4pm.
Check the blog each Friday for a new “That’s Distinctive!” post. I created the series because I genuinely believe there is something in our collections for everyone, whether you’re writing a paper or just want to have a look. “That’s Distinctive!” will provide a more lighthearted glimpse into the diverse and unique materials at Spencer – including items that many people may not realize the library holds. If you have suggested topics for a future item feature or questions about the collections, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this page.
This week on That’s Distinctive! we are sharing miniature (tiny) Bibles. We have many tiny books within Special Collections, including the Bibles shown below. The three Bibles range in size from 1 ¼” to 2 ¾” wide. Though the text is quite small, they can be read like regular sized books. However, some other tiny books within the collections are not readable by the naked eye.
So why miniature books? They’re pocket sized! According to the Oxford Companion to the Book, which is available at Spencer Research Library and (for KU users) online, “miniature books, with the exception of micro-miniatures, are normally produced to be read without the aid of magnification, and rarely exceed 3in. in height. The earliest miniature books were MSS [manuscripts] made from papyrus or parchment in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD.” Miniature books have been of high interest throughout time. From Bibles, to Greek and Latin classics, to the works of Shakespeare and Robert Burns, books of all kinds have been converted to miniature formats. There have even been instances of miniature books being produced to supply libraries within doll houses. “Over the last century, miniature books have featured as specialist areas of both fine press printing and fine bookbinding.”
Within Spencer Research Library, Special Collections holds over 250 miniature books. Their call numbers generally include the size designation “t” (for “tiny”) or “tk” (for oblong miniature books). To qualify for a “t” call number in Spencer’s Special Collections, books must be between zero and ten centimeters in size. Some books such as Children 3957 (below) have yet to be cataloged at a designated “t” call number.
The front cover of The Bible in Miniuture [sic], or, A Concise History of the Old and New Testaments, 1780. Call Number: t170. Click image to enlarge.
The front cover of a miniature Bible, 1816. Call Number: Children 3957 [no online catalog record]. Click image to enlarge.
The front cover of Novum Testamentum domini nostri Jesu Christi, vulgatae editionis (i.e. the New Testament of the Bible), 1844. Call Number: t40. Click image to enlarge.
The three miniature Bibles in a horizontal row. Call Numbers, from left to right: t170, t40, and Children 3957. Click image to enlarge.
Check the blog each Friday for a new “That’s Distinctive!” post. I created the series because I genuinely believe there is something in our collections for everyone, whether you’re writing a paper or just want to have a look. “That’s Distinctive!” will provide a more lighthearted glimpse into the diverse and unique materials at Spencer – including items that many people may not realize the library holds. If you have suggested topics for a future item feature or questions about the collections, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this page.
For our science fiction lovers out there, this week we highlight Amazing Stories by Hugo Gernsback. According to Wikipedia, Amazing Stories is an American science fiction magazine that was first published in 1926. The magazine was the first of its kind in being solely devoted to science fiction, which helped launch a new genre of pulp fiction. Gernsback’s contributions to the genre as a publisher were so significant that he is sometimes called “The Father of Science Fiction.” Annual awards presented at the World Science Fiction Convention are named the “Hugos,” in his honor.
Here at Spencer, we have many copies of Amazing Storiesfrom throughout its long publishing history. This week we include just a small sample of early covers from the library’s large collection. The magazines offer a fun array of cover scenes that can be fun to flip through along with the contents of the magazines as well.
–
The front covers of Amazing Stories, October 1926 (top) and February 1929 (bottom). You can see on the latter cover that Gernsback referred to the genre as “scientifiction” rather than “science fiction.” Call Number: ASF CURR D3. Click images to enlarge.
–
The front covers of Amazing Stories, August (top) and November (bottom) 1958. Call Number: ASF CURR B23. Click images to enlarge.
