Posted in Snapshots on Apr. 29, 2009 by Olivia Bartlett Drake
At left, Suzy Taraba, university archivist and head of Special Collections, speaks to Phil Resor, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences, and Suzanne O'Connell, chair and professor of earth and environmental sciences, director of the Service Learning Center, during the Special Collections and Archives Earth Day Open House April 22. Taraba is explaining printer and publisher Robin Price's 43 Paper maps from locations along the 43rd parallels are bound in an accordion that structurally supports the main text, which is printed on graph paper and joined together as an accordion.
Rebecca McCallum, cataloging librarian at Olin Library, used old cataloging cards to knit this "fabric," which was on display at the Earth Day event. Several Olin library employees created recycled art for the open house.
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Posted in Snapshots on Feb. 13, 2009 by Olivia Bartlett Drake
Leith Johnson, project archivist for the William Manchester Papers, speaks about author William Manchester's career at Wesleyan Feb. 5 in Olin Library. The Friends of the Wesleyan Library sponsored the event titled "William Manchester: Portrait of a Writer" honoring and celebrating Manchester, a writer in residence at Wesleyan whose ties to the university date back to 1955. Manchester died at his home in Middletown, Conn. in June 2004.
Manchester was most known for his book, The Death of a President (1967). In 1964, Jacqueline Kennedy selected Manchester to write about John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Two years later, she sued him to prevent the publication of The Death of a President, setting off a controversy that played out on the front pages of newspapers around the world.
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Valerie Gillispie, assistant university archivist at Wesleyan University, flips through the pages of a class photo album dated 1873. A gentleman from Newark, Del. found the album in a pile of books and donated it back to Wesleyan this month. (Photo by Olivia Bartlett)
When John Chambless was rummaging through a pile of old books at his mother’s home in Newark, Del., one mammoth album with an ornate and intertwined “WU” stuck out. Curious, he opened it up and discovered an album containing more than 50 black and white hand-laid photos of students, staff and campus buildings dated 1873.
Intrigued by the mysterious book that lacked attribution, Chambless began a series of internet searches in attempt of finding the book’s origin. (more…)
Author William Manchester , pictured here about 1979, worked from an office on the north side of Olin Library. The office disappeared with the library addition. (Photo by William Van Saun/Wesleyan University via Associated Press)
During his 82-years of life, author and historian William Manchester made himself known for his writings on Winston Churchill, President John F. Kennedy, Douglas MacArthur, among other great figures.
On Feb. 5, the Friends of the Wesleyan Library will sponsor an event honoring and celebrating Manchester, a writer in residence at Wesleyan whose ties to the university date back to 1955. Manchester died at his home in Middletown, Conn. in June 2004.
“There are so many people on campus who still remember Manchester,” says Leith Johnson, project archivist for Wesleyan’s William Manchester Papers. “Almost all of his books made it onto bestsellers lists. (more…)
