The History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library has two new trial databases, Black South African Magazines and Bibliography of Indigenous People in North America. Check out the descriptions below!
Enjoying these databases? Let us know at hpnl@library.illinois.edu
Africa Commons: Black South African Magazines
Trial available through April 30, 2023. Continue reading “Trial Databases April/May 2023”
WAND TV released a news report about HPNL’s “Blaxtravaganza” event taking place March 2-8th.
URBANA, Ill (WAND) – The History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library at the University of Illinois will host a Blaxtravaganza which will highlight the talents of faculty members.
Event organizer Courtney Becks says the goal is to highlight research, creativity, and brilliance. Continue reading “WAND TV Reported on HPNL’s “Blaxtravaganza””
Halloween Reading List!
Looking for some magical reading? Here’s some non-fiction and fiction recommendations for books on witches, witchcraft, and magic in honor of upcoming All Hallow’s Eve!
Dear instructors,
As you prepare for the fall semester, we know that many of you are trying to make sure your students have online access to assigned readings. The Library is ready and able to help as much as we can with this.
Continue reading “Will my students have online access to assigned readings (and films)?”
In late June, the University Library will introduce its new catalog, Primo. The Primo Catalog is the search interface of a state-of-the-art library management system called Ex Libris Alma. The Alma/Primo system was designed to provide better access to, and management of, 21st-century library collections. It has been adopted by a number of research libraries including Harvard and Northwestern.
In September of 1944 the front pages of the Daily Illini were covered with updates about the ongoing war. The newspaper readily chronicled major developments in the war as well as the deaths of young men who, just a few short years before, had once walked the university’s halls. Given the amount of bloodshed that was unfolding around the world, it is easy to miss the newspapers’ coverage of one particularly strange event, one that would come to be called the Mad Gasser of Mattoon.
In March of 1912 a lovelorn young woman wrote into the Rock Island Argus with a problem. At 20 years old she found that her boyfriend of 2 years was starting to hint that he was interested in marriage. Overcome with doubt, she wrote a letter to Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson, the Rock Island Argus’ resident advice columnist. After explaining the situation, she ended her letter with one simple question: Am I too young? The answer she received was quick and straight to the point: “No”. This short and straight to the point style of answering questions seemed to be Mrs. Thompson’s specialty. Another woman in the same issue asked for advice on what to wear to an upcoming masquerade and was told curtly to dress as a French maid. Mrs. Thompson’s knowledge base was expansive and she seemed to be able to answer questions over a broad array of topics from skincare to food to fashion. She also dealt with much heavier topics, telling people, women in particular, how to survive and provide for their children when they had nowhere else to turn.
Series 13 of Early American Newspapers boasts over 2,300 titles from the trans-Mississippi west. If you browse the series, however, you might notice something peculiar: over a third of these titles are represented by only a single issue, with all these single issues coming from the year 1876. Why does the collection contain so many random issues from the year 1876?
Continue reading “Something Interesting About Early American Newspapers Series 13”
Call for applications: 2019-2020 Research Travel Grant
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library and the Department of History are pleased to announce a Research Travel Grant to support scholars conducting research in any of the Library’s collections.
Continue reading “Call for applications: 2019-2020 Research Travel Grant”
There is no secret that humans are drawn to the macabre. Shows revolving around murder, such as CSI and Criminal Minds, carry on for years and spur a number of spin-offs which are often met with success. In the meantime, podcasts like UP and Vanished and My Favorite Murder continue to top the iTunes podcast charts.
Continue reading “Morbidity, Macabre, Murder, and Memory: a look into our collections”