Rare Book & Manuscript Madness: Manuscript Division

MANUSCRIPTS: Saint Benedict – La Regle Saint Benoit (ELIMINATED IN ROUND 1) La regle saint Benoit or, The Rule of Saint Benedict, is a 13th century manuscript that laid out the rules of interaction between inhabitants of monasteries. This particular copy is especially important because it is almost certainly written for a female Benedictine community. […]

Rare Book & Manuscript Madness: Science Division

SCIENCE: Andreas Vesalious – De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem  De humani corporis fabrica libri septem is one of the most significant anatomy books in the history of science. The text deviated from the teachings of Galen, a Roman physician, in order to promote a more hands-on approach to learning anatomy and subsequently learning how […]

Rare Book & Manuscript Madness: Literature Division

LITERATURE: Jane Austen – Emma (ELIMINATED IN ROUND 1) Emma is the fourth novel written by Jane Austen and it took a little over a year for her to write.  The novel was ultimately printed on commission. Austen paid for the advertising and the first print run of 2,000 copies herself after declining John Murray’s […]

Rare Book & Manuscript Madness: Archival Division

ARCHIVAL: Carl Sandburg – Stereograph (ELIMINATED IN ROUND 1) Before becoming a well known poet and author, Carl Sandburg spent four years selling stereographs from door to door.  Stereographs use two almost identical photographs to create a three-dimensional image when viewed through a stereoscope. The Keystone View Company produced this stereograph of the Union Stock […]

Rare Book & Manuscript Madness!

Can’t wait for March Madness to begin? Neither could we, so we decided to make our own March Madness bracket! But instead of picking college basketball teams, we decided to pick materials in our own collections and we’ll have the fans (you!) vote to advance them to the next round. HOW RARE BOOK & MANUSCRIPT […]

Historic Data Visualization: A Pop-up Exhibit

Curated by Xena Becker Graphic representations of data are older than the written word. As the way that information is communicated developed and expanded with writing, graphic representations of information shifted to match them. Today, we call this representation “data visualization.” Data visualization re-frames the way data is presented to a graphic format as a […]

From “The First Men in the Moon” to the first man on the Moon

A major lunar landmark in its own right, The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells was first published in 1901. This fictional lunar voyage tells the story of Bedford, an Englishman who moved to the countryside for some peace and quiet while he writes a play, in an attempt to make it rich. […]

Reading the Rainbow: A Pop-Up Exhibit Celebrating LGBTQ Pride Month

2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, a series of uprisings at Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. Now considered the first major event of the LGBT equality movement in the United States, the clash between law enforcement and members of the LGBT community at Stonewall sparked outspoken queer activism across […]