Author Archives: Erin Thomas

African Art in the Cultural Heritage Library

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lecongoillustr11892brux_0137The Cultural Heritage Library (CHL) has been through a few incarnations over the last 3 years but the content remains the same. It is a digital collection that includes materials from the History, Art, and Culture libraries within the Smithsonian. The collection has been developed using branch librarian’s selections as well as items that have been identified as being relatively scarce according to OCLC holdings. Subject headings are part of the descriptive metadata for each title and are available to browse from the Internet Archive website, providing an at-a-glance overview of the collection. Continue reading →

Space Saving with the CHL!

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catalogueofgames00milt_0001As many of you have likely heard by now, the Internet has reached capacity. We have simply digitized too much, posted too many pictures of our cats, and tweeted all the one liners possible. There is no more room. No more blog posts, no more Instagram accounts and certainly no more Facebook! Residents of the modern world have filled the Internet’s digital pages and it is now, at long last, complete. Continue reading →

Highlights from the Cultural Heritage Library: James Whistler

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James Whistler was a Victorian dandy.  A staunch proponent of “art for art’s sake”, a prominent figure in Victorian society, and while born in America, he divided  his time between London and Paris. He advocated the decorative in art to such an extent, that his signature evolved into an apt symbol: the delicate, yet threatening, butterfly with a stinger. Continue reading →

Highlights from the Cultural Heritage Library: Vintage Knitting Patterns

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Illustration of an old woman and a little girl knitting, from the Art of Knitting

Illustration from The Art of Knitting

In 1892, for 50 cents or 2 shillings, you could have purchased this month’s Cultural Heritage Library selection and wowed all your friends with the latest and most comprehensive guide to knitting on the market to date. The Art of Knitting (1892) was published as a companion to The Art of Crocheting and contains simple instructions for beginners as well as more complex fancy stitches and patterns for more seasoned craftsmen. As it stands, however, we are well into the Electronic Age and you can impress your friends and save your cash by downloading this title for free from the Internet Archive! Continue reading →

CHL Collections Highlight: Japanese Woodblock Prints

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Roughly half of the Cultural Heritage Library (CHL), available online here, includes titles from the Smithsonian’s Art Libraries. While copyright restrictions prohibit much coverage of more contemporary titles, the CHL addresses a broad swath of art history’s major movements and themes, including wildly popular and renowned movements like Cubism and Impressionism. Sometimes we isolate historical events; we forget that preceding events and influences play major roles in what comes next. This seems to be especially easy when it comes to art history’s tendency to declare masterpieces and the genius of the artisté. This month we take a look at part of what made Van Gogh and Monet so relevant for their time and enduring into ours: ukiyo-e, the “floating world” of Japanese woodblock prints. Continue reading →