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USF Book Club: Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay

November 14th, 2011 by Kelci No comments »

Howdy everyone! The Book Club will read and discuss Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay for December. We will meet on December 9, 2011 in Room 139 of Gleeson Library from 12-1 pm.

Gleeson has a copy of Savage Beauty that you can request, but it will probably go fast so your alternatives are requesting it through Link+, getting it from the SF Public Library, or reading it on one of our iPads or our Kindle.

Millay is one of my personal role models… she was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, and in her day, she achieved the level of celebrity now reserved for movie stars and reality show idiot savants. She was an anti-war activist and led a unconventional love life. I can only imagine how much better the U.S. would be if we celebritized our poets the way we do those in the entertainment industry.

One thing that boosted her to this level of celebrity was her spellbinding performances. She did a lot of radio broadcasts and reading tours in support of her work, and her thick, lustrous voice and classic early 20th century North East accent bewitched all those who tuned in.

Appropriate for the spirit of Christmas we are approaching, here is an old radio recording of Millay reading her poem “Ballad of the Harpweaver” in the Christmas edition of Anthology.

And my personal favorite… a classic

(Poem #34) First Fig

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends--
It gives a lovely light!

– Edna St Vincent Millay

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Union College (NY) Semi-Centennials

November 14th, 2011 by Larry T. Nix No comments »

I recently became aware that this year was the semi-centennial of the Schaffer Library at Union College in Schenectady, NY. The last event of their year long celebration was a lecture by Jeremy B. Dibbell, writer of the PhiloBiblos blog. This reminded me of a piece of postal librariana in my collection related to the Philomatheon Society of Union College. The Philomatheon Society was one of the student literary societies at colleges and universities that I have written about previously. The item in my collection is a stampless folded letter written in 1848 by a former member of the Society in regard to a circular that he had received announcing a publication related to the semi-centennial of the Society. The circular also contained an appeal to the alumni of the Society for funding to enlarge the Society's library. The writer of the letter J. Petrie, who was at that time a student at Auburn Theological Seminary, proposes to donate a book (Rational Psychology by Hickok, to be published in early 1849) to the library. He requests two copies of the semi-centennial publication which is available now in digital form from the Internet Archive. The publication indicates that at the time of the semi-centennial there were 115 members of the Society and about 3,000 volumes in the library.

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Newark’s Transition to a Free Public Library

November 14th, 2011 by Larry T. Nix No comments »

America's transition from fee based membership and subscription libraries to free (to the user) public libraries occurred over a number of decades starting in the mid-19th century. Sometimes membership libraries ceased to exist because their support base or governance was inadequate. In some instances they transferred their assets to newly created free public libraries, and in others they continued to coexist with public libraries for variable periods of time. A few survive even today. In Newark, New Jersey, there was a rocky transition from the Newark Library (originally the Newark Library Association), a membership library established in 1847, to the Newark Free Library Association (now the Newark Public Library) established in 1887. In 1889 the Newark Library agreed to lease space in their building to the Free Library and to allow the use of their collection. However, this all broke down when the librarian of the Free Library was discovered stamping the Newark Library's books with the Free Library's ownership stamp. This resulted in the Newark Library requiring the Free Library to buy its collection. A Library Journal article in the August, 1889 issue (pages 354-355) discusses the controversy, and there is a wonderful reprint of comments of a correspondent to in the Call newspaper about the situation. The correspondent wrote: "The Newark Library Association was chartered by the New Jersey Legislature in 1847 for the purpose of providing a library for the people of our city. It was never an aggressive institution, and how it has managed to hold together so long is a wonder to me. It has been moribund for years. Now the life has left the body and nothing remains except the bare bones of a library, some real estate, and some books, but no vitality. It long ago came under the control of a few very amiable and agreeable gentlemen, who met at the library building occasionally, but for many years they left the management of the institution to another gentleman of most estimable character, who had no fitness for the position and no appreciation of the wants of a great public institution." I wonder how he really felt. The librarian for the Free Library who started all the commotion was Frank P. Hill who was one of the most prominent librarians of his era and after a very successful stint in Newark went on to direct the Brooklyn Public Library. I'm not sure when the Newark Library officially ceased to exist, but some of the brief histories of the Newark Public Library that I've seen imply that there was a smooth transition from the membership library to the free public library, which it certainly was not. The advertisement for the Newark Library Association which is shown above is from an 1885 publication.

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Reading Stand and Revolving Book Case

November 12th, 2011 by Larry T. Nix No comments »

Postal cards with advertising related to library supplies and equipment are among my favorites. This one is an 1899 advertisement for the Marsh Reading Stand and Revolving Book Case which everyone knows was "Recognized throughout the Civilized World unequalled as an Office or Library article." The postal card offers the $7 stand for only $3 "if you will sign, cut off and return promptly the order below." In the statement which you have to sign as part of the order is an agreement to "write half a dozen of my responsible friends, recommending them to order one of you on same terms." Quite a piece of marketing. It reminds me of the over the top TV ads that are too good to refuse.

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IEW@USF: At home in the world

November 11th, 2011 by Debbie Benrubi No comments »

Gleeson Library is proud to cosponsor International Education Week at USF (Nov. 14-18), and this year we’re inviting you to make yourself at home in the world by visiting the library lobby, where international newspapers, magazines and books await your perusal.

This year’s schedule for IEW looks great. The lineup includes Trivia Night, the USF World Cup, “Language and culture tables” in the Market Cafe, panels on USF internationalization and international education, folk tales from around the world, and much more.

Now’s the time (til Nov. 17) to vote in the IEW@USF photo contest. And tickets are on sale for Culturescape, the festival of performance and food that showcases the talents, culture and cuisine of USF students. I love Culturescape. It’s super fun and delicious and brought to us by USF students. Click here to see video and menus from years past.