Just wanted to provide a quick link to the hypothes.is annotation extension I showed briefly during Thursday’s class. If you’ll install it in Chrome, we’ll have a go at using it for commenting on blogs. It may also come in handy when it comes time to put together your project site in the second half of the semester: you can use it to keep notes on site design, etc.
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A few videos on book production
Gaskell’s A New Introduction to Bibliography is a standard text—you can learn a lot from that book—but it can sometimes be a little hard to imagine how the various processes he describes would have worked in practice. Fortunately, intrepid biblionerds have taken to YouTube to show us how it’s done. If you watch only one video, start here, as this one gives you an overview of traditional typesetting, presswork, folding and binding in under four minutes:
For a more detailed look at the various stages of book production, keep reading after the jump.
Assignment #1 – The First Visit
This past week we were asked to take a trip down to our local archives and meet the archivist. The archivist here at Montevallo is a fun man named Carey Heatherly, and he was a huge help in finding what we needed for our assignment. My partner Mary Haynes and I, armed with our questions … Continue reading “Assignment #1 – The First Visit”
This past week we were asked to take a trip down to our local archives and meet the archivist. The archivist here at Montevallo is a fun man named Carey Heatherly, and he was a huge help in finding what we needed for our assignment. My partner Mary Haynes and I, armed with our questions and notebook, were ready to do some digging.
The first set of questions had to do with the oldest book in the archives. We ended up with a 1702 copy of The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis, the 3rd edition with sculptures. This particular copy was printed by Jacob Tonson, an 18th century bookseller and publisher famous for buying the copyrights to William Shakespeare’s plays. We do not know exactly how it ended up in the United States, let alone in Alabama, but we did discover through the archive’s book logs that the College bought it for $6.50 on February 8,1952 form someone known only as “Elizabeth Bkseller”.
(Juvenal, Decimus. The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis, 3rd ed. with sculptures. Jacob Tonson. Greys-Inn-Gate, London, 1702.)
The second Set of questions asked about a book with visible signs of wear and use. After searching for a bit, the best example we could find as a 1960 copy of The Mind of the South by W.J. Cash. This book had significant amount of both underlining and marginalia. With the help of the archivist we discovered that this book actually belonged to Ethel Rasmusson; Ethel was not only an avid donator to the archives, but also an instructor of history at the University of Montevallo. She received her master’s degree from the University of Chicago, and mainly taught History 101 and 102. Based on the areas underlined and the marginalia, we assume that this book as used to teach part of her class.
(Cash, W.J. The Mind of the South, 1st Vintage Ed. Vintage Books Inc. New York, 1960.)
The final set of questions we were set out to discover involved a collection within the archives. When told this, the archivist pointed us towards the Library of Science collection. Identifiable by a stamp on the inside of the cover, this ongoing collection is made up of children’s books with vibrant drawings in them. Some of the books included are stories like Gulliver’s Travels by Swift, The Haunted Bookshelf by Morley, Merrylips by Dix, and many more. The cool part about this collection comes for the history of it. Mainly used during the 20’s and 30’s, these books were used in classrooms to show perspective teachers how to build a classroom library. We did some digging and actually found the course descriptions of the classes this collection was used in. Book Selection was the name of the class, under the code of LS (Library Science) 301/302; the class was taught by Greta Largo who was an assistant professor in Library Science. The significance of this collection stems from our area’s deep history in education for women because not only was it taught during the time of Alabama College for women but, also because Education was (and still is) the largest major on campus.
The first visit to the archives was a complete success, and I cannot wait to discover more and more as this course continues.
Assignment One
The oldest book in the collection is a book made in Italy, written in Italian called “Sicuti antiquarum lectionum”. The book was owned and discarded by Amherst College. There is… Read More
Scarborough Library Archives
During my meeting with Shepherd University’s archivist Christy Toms I learned a lot about the archives and special collections housed at the Scarborough Library. The oldest book that they have… Read More
During my meeting with Shepherd University’s archivist Christy Toms I learned a lot about the archives and special collections housed at the Scarborough Library. The oldest book that they have cataloged was published in 1792 (“Memoirs of the Life of the Late Charles Lee Esquire”), but Christy also told me that the library hasn’t always documented the provenance of the items they collect, so it’s quite possible that there are older books somewhere in the special collections.
To see an example of reader use in a book, Christy showed me a copy of book “A History of Shepherd College,” which was published in 1967. Shepherd student Martha Campbell signed and embossed her name on the first page of the book, and had Shepherd professor Dr. Slonaker to sign the title page. Other than this display of ownership, there was no marginalia left in the book. The lack of visible use of this book tells me that, for Martha, owning the book was more important than engaging with it and its contents. So far Christy has found little evidence of reader use in materials other than yearbooks, but she hopes to find more marginalia and marks of ownership as she combs through the rare book collection.
Most of the archival items that the Scarborough Library houses were donated to the them by people in the area with the hope that the archives would preserve the materials better than they could manage themselves. One such collection is the Folk Collection (as in George B. Folk, not folk culture or heritage), which Shepherd acquired in the 1970s. The collection consists of the contents of Folk’s personal library. In order to keep to collection, Shepherd had to promise to keep all of Folk’s books together and not break up any parts of the collection. While Christy took me to see the collection on the shelves, she mentioned that the books are sorted by their Library of Congress call number and that she wishes that they knew specifically how Folk kept the books on his own shelves in order to show them in that order instead. Topically, Folk’s collection of books seem to be about West Virginia’s regional history and genealogy, but I think that not knowing how Folk actually stored his collection leaves a bit of mystery as to how he thought about his collection as items that he owned instead of how the words on the pages interested him.
Journey Into the Archives: The Beginning
Upon meeting with the archivists of the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, I learned many interesting things. One being that there is a long journey ahead of me. With… Read More
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury | English Politician and Philosopher [1671-1713].” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, 9 Feb. 2007, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anthony-Ashley-Cooper-3rd-Earl-of-Shaftesbury#ref184884. Accessed 18 Jan. 2017.
McAteer, John. “The Third Earl of Shaftesbury (1671—1713).” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/shaftes/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2017.COPLAC- Assignment 1
While at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise we do not have a resident archivist, we did meet with a group of library staff that was very excited about the idea of this class and project. The group had compiled together for us a collection of the oldest books in the library. The very … Continue reading “COPLAC- Assignment 1”
While at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise we do not have a resident archivist, we did meet with a group of library staff that was very excited about the idea of this class and project. The group had compiled together for us a collection of the oldest books in the library. The very oldest being the text, “Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times” by Anthony, Earl of Shaftesbury. The book was printed in 1758, and based on the data sheet on the book, it was printed in Birmingham, England by John Baskerville. Unfortunately, there was no data available concerning who owned the book before the college acquired it; and since the book has been rebound, there are no hopes of determining on establishing an owner based on a name written on the inside cover. Upon doing research on the book, it was first published in 1711, and was revised by Shaftesbury in 1713 before his death. This book is a philosophical one, and provides the reader with Shaftesbury’s thoughts and opinions on a broad range of subject matter. The time in which Shaftesbury wrote this book is deemed “The Age of Enlightenment”. This was a period of time in which the “old order” of civilization was receding, and a sort of “new order” was being brought to the forefront. This new age of thinking was founded on science and reasoning, and it would later found the basis for important events such as the French Revolution. Those that would have owned and read this book during this time period, were probably interested in adopting a new way of thinking and opening their minds to certain aspects of the world.
We were also interested in taking a look at books that were well worn and had obvious use. They pointed us in the direction of the collection Gladys Stallard. Gladys was a local woman from Dorchester, which is a specific section of Norton, Virginia, and she had left her book collection to the college upon her death. The particular book I looked at from her collection was “Call Me Hillbilly” by Gladys Trentham Russell; she had written on the inside cover of the book that she acquired it in September 1974. This book talks about the lives of people that grew up in the Great Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Within the book, it features pictures of people from the region and provides their names; alongside this information, Gladys Stallard had written in many birth dates and death dates of the individuals. Mrs. Stallard had also obtained book reviews of the text, and stapled them to the inside of the front cover. This was interesting, as it made me wonder if perhaps she had personally known the author or had some connection to her. It was easy to tell from the condition and the comments in the book, that this was one that she frequented often. Looking at the other books in her collection, it would be safe to assume that Gladys was proud of and interested in preserving the lives and history of the people that live in the South-West Virginia and East Tennessee region.
We were also interested in looking at one specific collection, and they directed us to the collection of James Taylor Adams. There are 1242 stories, narratives, and individual works along with 1408 songs in the collection. This collection is composed of folklore and folktales from our local region, along with songs, poems, and genealogies. James Taylor Adams was a local man, from Stevens, which is specific part of Norton, Virginia. In Stevens he was a postmaster, and he also wrote articles for and organized his own newspaper. In my opinion, he collected the stories from around the region in order to preserve them and keep them alive for later generations. His collection has been at the library for over 40 years, and it was donated by his family to the college.
Meeting With Christy Toms at Shepherd University
After discussing the various collections in the Scarborough Library at Shepherd University with Christy Toms (The Coordinator of Archives and Special Collections) I discovered some interesting facts about the collection. First, the oldest book in the collection was the “Memoirs of the Life of the Late Charles Lee Esquire”. It was published in 1792 in London […]
After discussing the various collections in the Scarborough Library at Shepherd University with Christy Toms (The Coordinator of Archives and Special Collections) I discovered some interesting facts about the collection. First, the oldest book in the collection was the “Memoirs of the Life of the Late Charles Lee Esquire”. It was published in 1792 in London by J.S Jordan. It is not known who owned the book previously because unfortunately Shepherd University has no record and there were no notations inside the book to tell me otherwise. The book discusses his military career as well as his radical Whig republicanism reputation. Anyone who owned this book would have an interest in the life of a soldier and somewhat of an extremist during this time. Some evidence I found of a book with notations in our collection was in “A History of Shepherd College”. It was published in 1967 in West Virginia. The author was Arthur Gordon Slonaker. Inside was an inscription to the owner of the book, Martha Campbell, from a professor. Unfortunately I could not find much about her due to the lack of middle name ok the inscription. What I do know is that students aren’t much different from that time as there are today. She used this book to learn more about the university she was attending and had possibly a favorite professor sign it. When speaking with Christy Toms, I learned a little bit about a collection of yearbooks. What was interesting is there were gaps in years of the collection. For example, during World War I as well as the Great Depression and World War II. This would have represented the idea that a yearbook was less of a necessity in their life due to financial problems. The unifying theme in this collection is that they all are from Shepherd University. The collection came from members of the community donating their yearbooks in order for others to learn about past. This is a great example of a book as an artifact. Although they are not necessarily a literary work, they still can tell us a lot about the past and the owners of these books.
Special Collections at SUNY Geneseo
This assignment asked us to explore our local collections with the help of an archivist or special collections librarian, which was very exciting to me as someone who has been working on transcribing microfilm for this library’s special collections since last semester. Finally, an opportunity to access the special collections with a more in-depth purpose! […]
The Marble Gate: Visiting D. H. Ramsey Library Special Collections
The library at UNC Asheville is…well, it’s a library. It’s not sleek or modern or fancy, but we’ve got some good tech and great staff. It looks like what you’d expect to find at any library on a state campus. And then you get to the Special Collections door, shown here. I (with Dakota) was […]