Tag Archive for 'history'

New Stuff Tuesday – October 6

Published
by
kyle
on October 6, 2009
in new stuff tuesdays
. 0 Comments

Paradise Found

Paradise Found:
Nature in American at the Time of Discovery
By Steve Nicholls
QH102 .N53 2009
New Book Island, 2nd floor

How has your hometown changed over the last ten years? Your lifetime? Ever wonder what your hometown looked like before anyone actually lived there? This week’s featured title take a look at our continent and its natural history around the time that Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

Nicholls, known for his work as a wildlife filmmaker, takes the reader on a journey through North America – before the first settlers left their lasting marks. The Europeans that made the voyage across the ocean were met with untouched natural beauty, leaving behind detailed notes of the flora and fauna that they encountered. The author uses his vast knowledge of natural history and experience from directing and writing documentaries to bring the picturesque beauty of the landscape to life. He utilizes the firsthand accounts from the past and scientific research being done today to create portraits of each of the regions of the continent.

John F. Kennedy & Warren Commission

Published
by
Barbara
on September 24, 2009
in around the library and around the world
. 0 Comments

On Sept. 24, 1964, the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (aka the Warren Commission) delivered its report on John F. Kennedy’s assassination to President Lyndon B. Johnson. President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, TX, on November 22, 1963. You may be aware that there was a lot of controversy about this assassination. Who dunnit? Was it really just “lone gunman” Lee Harvey Oswald, as the Warren Commission concluded? There have been other theories over time, some pointing to conflicting details within the Commission’s own report.

Killing of a President coverIf you are interested in this bit of history, Andersen Library has materials that you could use! You can read the Warren Commission report and supporting volumes of evidence (2nd-floor Federal Documents Collection, PR 36.8:R 29 or 3rd-floor Main Collection, E842.9 .A55 1964a). There also are many books about the assassination and the investigation that can be identified by searching the HALCat Andersen Library Catalog, Conpsiracy title coversuch as Rush to judgment: A critique of the Warren Commission’s inquiry into the murders of President John F. Kennedy, Officer J. D. Tippitt, and Lee Harvey Oswald (3rd-floor Main Collection, E842.9 .L3), The weight of the evidence; the Warren report and its critics (3rd-floor Main Collection, E842.9 .A68), The killing of a president: the complete photographic record of the JFK Assassination, the conspiracy and the cover-up (3rd-floor Main Collection, E842.9 .G76 1993), and Conspiracy in Camelot: The complete history of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (NetLibrary online book).

There also are many articles in journals, magazines and newspapers that could be found using the Library’s article databases. For example, searching America: History and Life would find articles including “Top ten myths of the Kennedy assassination” (American History, 2003, v.38, no.5, pp58+).

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.

Government Printing Office logo

The University Library is a federal depository with many federal, state, local, and international documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in print, microfiche, CD-ROM, and electronically. Come check out your government at the University Library!

Peace Corps anniversary

Published
by
Barbara
on September 22, 2009
in around the world and info.gov
. 0 Comments

In September 1961, Congress passed Public Law 87-293 authorizing the Peace Corps. It was signed into law by then-president John F. Kennedy on September 22nd, although prior to this Congressional authorization he had established the Corps by Executive Order 10924 on March 1st.

So You Want To Join the Peace Corps coverToday Peace Corps volunteers are in over 70 countries, working with local people in areas of education, business and community development, technology, agriculture, youth outreach, health, and the environment. Learn more from the Peace Corps web site, which provides the quarterly Peace Corps Times newsletter, its mission, statistics (94% of volunteers have their bachelor’s degree), and application information for those considering volunteering. There also is an opportunity on Wed., Sept. 30th, to chat online with a returned volunteer and recruiter (preregistration required).

Crossing Cultures coverYou also can find digital images and text (including the public law and executive order noted above) from the National Archives (search the Archival Research Catalog for “peace corps” (the “Digital Copies” button should be highlighted), and search HALCat (Andersen’s Library’s catalog) for the keyword phrase “peace corps” to find titles in our collection such as Crossing cultures with the Peace Corps: Peace Corps letters from the field (online), A Life Inspired coverA life inspired: tales of Peace Corps service (2nd-floor Federal Documents collection, PE 1.2:L 62), and So, you want to join the Peace Corps–what to know before you go (3rd-floor Main Collection, HC60.5 .B34 2000).

Please ask a librarian for more assistance with finding materials.

Government Printing Office logo

The University Library is a federal depository with many federal, state, local, and international documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in print, microfiche, CD-ROM, and electronically. Come check out your government at the University Library!

Smithsonian Institution anniversary

Published
by
Barbara
on August 10, 2009
in around the library, around the world and info.gov
. 0 Comments

On August 10, 1846, President James Polk signed legislation that created the Smithsonian Institution. It all started in 1826 when James Smithson, a British scientist, named his nephew as his beneficiary, but stipulated that if the nephew died without heirs (which he did) the estate would go to the United States to found the Smithsonian Institution, “an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.” Read more about it on the Smithsonian web site.

So happy birthday, Smithsonian! It exists now as a complex of 19 museums, 9 research centers, and the National Zoo. I’ve visited several of the museums, and I can enthusiastically recommend them. My favorites are the National Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of the American Indian. But if you can’t travel there, the museum web sites have wonderful content. The Natural History Museum, for example, has a virtual tour that I’ve enjoyed.

Smithsonian Magazine coverThe Smithsonian Magazine (also on Twitter) is full of interesting articles on all kinds of topics. Andersen Library receives it in print and puts the most recent issue on the 2nd-floor magazine racks.

Government Printing Office logo

The University Library is a federal depository with many federal, state, local, and international documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in print, microfiche, CD-ROM, and electronically. Come check out your government at the University Library!

Happy Birthday, NBA

Published
by
Barbara
on August 3, 2009
in around the library and around the world
. 0 Comments

I am going to shock my coworkers by blogging about sports! I just like to keep them guessing sometimes.

image of basketball and hoopOn August 3, 1949, the Basketball Association of America and National Basketball League merged to form the National Basketball Association (NBA). You can read more about it on both the NBA’s web site and the History Channel’s web site.

Andersen Library also has materials on the history of basketball (and sports in general) if you’d like to read more about it. A search of the Library Catalog would find titles such as They cleared the lane: The NBA’s Black pioneers (3rd-floor Main Collection, GV885.7 .T46 2002) and A Century of women’s basketball: From frailty to final four (3rd-floor Main Collection, GV886 .C45 1991). Encyclopedia of world sport: From ancient times to the present (2nd-floor Reference Collection, GV567 .E56 1996) has information on the Basketball Association of America, National Basketball League, National Basketball Association, and the National Wheelchair Basketball Association.

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.

Eastman & color for everyone

Published
by
Barbara
on July 30, 2009
in around the world
. 0 Comments

On July 30, 1928, George Eastman demonstrated his “kodacolor” process that allowed anyone to make color motion picture films. He was 74 at that time and had never even finished high school. But his inventions, such as roll film, brought photography to the masses. I even remember my parents having a cheap Brownie camera. One wonders what he would have done with the technologies we have now.

It was front-page news in the New York Times of July 31, 1928 – you can read it by searching for “home movies in colors” in the ProQuest Historical Newspapers – The New York Times database.

There is more relevant material in Andersen Library’s collections; please ask a librarian for assistance.

Cover of Reader's Companion titleCover of They made America title For example, the Library Catalog lists books with entries for Eastman such as The Reader’s companion to American history (2nd-floor Reference Collection, E174 .R43 1991) and They made America: From the steam engine to the search engine: Two centuries of innovators (3rd-floor Main Oversize Collection, T39 .E83 2004).

Bugs Bunny’s debut anniversary

Published
by
Barbara
on July 27, 2009
in around the world
. 1 Comment

A Wild Hare was released on July 27, 1940, and it’s considered the first appearance of both Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny in their mature forms. It’s also the first time Bugs pops up and asks Elmer, “What’s up, Doc?”

The illustrated “biography” Bugs Bunny: Fifty years and only one grey hare is available to UWW students and staff from UW-Oshkosh’s library (use ILLiad interlibrary loan to make requests while Universal Borrowing is down for an upgrade July 27-August 17).

Andersen Library has materials on the history of cartoons. Search the Library Catalog to find titles such as Cartoons: One hundred years of cinema animation (3rd-floor Main Collection, NC1765 .B4213 1994) and the DVD Looney tunes (2nd-floor Browsing DVD, Feature Film, Call Number Loo).

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.

Dillinger d. July 22, 1934

Published
by
Barbara
on July 22, 2009
in around the world
. 0 Comments

John Dillinger was killed as he left Chicago’s Biograph Theatre after attending the gangster film Manhattan Melodrama on this date (July 22nd) in 1934.

You may have seen the currently-playing film Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp (I did!), which was partially filmed in Wisconsin. It’s based on the book Public enemies: America’s greatest crime wave and the birth of the FBI, 1933–34. The book is available to UWW students and staff from other UW campus libraries by using the free Universal Borrowing service (requested materials arrive in 2-4 weekdays). Other titles, such as Dillinger: The untold story, are also available.

Madison newspaper image day after Dillinger's deathMore information is available from Library article databases and reference materials, such as full-text newspaper databases including NewspaperARCHIVE or ProQuest Historical Newspapers – The New York Times.

Other article databases provide access to articles such as Public enemies keystone cops (American History, Aug. 2009, vol. 44:no. 3, pp. 34-39).

You can also read a 20-page entry (with several photos) on Dillinger in the 2nd-floor Reference Collection title Bloodletters and badmen (Ref HV 6785 .N37).

FBI book coverAnd check out The FBI: A Centennial History, 1908-2008 which details Dillinger and other gangsters as well as other intriguing cases encountered by the FBI in its history. It’s in our 2nd-floor Federal Government Documents collection (call number J 1.14/2:C 33/3) and available online at http://fbi.gov/book.htm. Dillinger is on the cover. Can you spot him?

Please ask a librarian for assistance in finding materials.

Government Printing Office logo

The University Library is a federal depository with many federal, state, local, and international documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in print, microfiche, CD-ROM, and electronically. Come check out your government at the University Library!

Presidential campaign TV commercials, 1952-2008

Published
by
Ronna
on May 4, 2009
in around the world
. 0 Comments

I know, I know, after the recent presidential election, we’ve probably all had our fill of campaign commercials. But this web site is worth a few minutes of your time, I promise. The Museum of the Moving Image put together The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials, 1952-2008. You can watch campaign commercials starting with the Dwight D. Eisenhower v Adlai Stevenson contest of 1952, all the way up to Barack Obama v John McCain in 2008.

The site is easy to browse. Just choose the year for the campaign you are interested in and at the bottom of the screen, thumbnails of the commercials appear, divided into Democrat and Republican. Click the one you want to view, and voila, you’re watching the commercial. You can even watch the “Peace Little Girl (Daisy)” commercial from Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1964 campaign, called by this web site: “the most celebrated and perhaps most notorious of all political commercials.” It aired only once, and was so controversial it even made the cover of Time.

Besides the pure entertainment value, what I really liked is the additional information provided by the site. The credits and a transcript for each commercial chosen are easily accessible, and tabs to the right of the commercial provide information on the campaign, each candidate, and the results of the election (including the number of popular votes, states, and electoral votes won by each candidate).

So take a moment and check out this site. It’s cool, it’s funny–and who knows what you might learn along the way?

World Digital Library: Cultural treasures, at your fingertips

Published
by
Ronna
on April 23, 2009
in around the world
. 0 Comments

On April 21, 2009, the World Digital Library debuted. Its mission: “[to make] available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.”

Developed by the Library of Congress with the support of UNESCO (the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), and many other partner institutions, the WDL contains books, journals, manuscripts, maps, motion pictures, prints and photographs, and sound recordings. At its launch, the site contained contributions from 25 institutions in 19 countries.

You can browse the site by place, time, topic, type of item, or by institution. The movable timeline at the bottom of the home page starts at 8000 BC, and runs up to the present time. Keyword searching is also available. Both browsing and searching can be done in seven different languages: Arabic, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese, and Russian. Many more languages are found in the actual materials, which are shown in their original languages.

Browsing by type of item, I found and listened to a beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace, played on bagpipes by a military band from Scotland in 1972 (contributed by the Library of Congress). Browsing by place, I looked at the pages of The Four Books in Chapter and Verse with Collected Commentaries (in Chinese), created in China in 1217 (contributed by the National Library of China). And finally, I browsed by time, and studied a 1775 Latin map of the world (contributed by the National Library of Brazil).

As you can see, there are lots of fascinating cultural treasures in this online library, and it will continue to grow. Take a look, and see what treasures you can find!