1928 Harmon Exhibition Brouchure featuring Sargent Johnson
When wealthy real estate developer William Elmer Harmon founded the Harmon Foundation in 1922, it originally supported causes as varied as playgrounds, biblical films and nursing programs. But it is better known today as one of the first major supporters of African American creativity and ingenuity.
Artists’ Books by Ed Ruscha, at the AA/PG Library
“If there is any facet of my work that I feel was kissed by angels, I’d say it was my books. My other work is definitely tied to a tradition, but I’ve never followed tradition in my books.” Ed Ruscha, in an interview with David Bourdon in Art News, April 1972.
In this series on artists’ books at the AA/PG Library, we are starting off with Ed Ruscha, the American artist known primarily for his large canvas paintings that incorporate words or phrases. Continue reading
Situated at the center of the world’s largest museum complex, the Smithsonian Libraries is a vital part of the research, exhibition, and educational enterprise of the Institution. Each Smithsonian scholar engages in an individual voyage of discovery using the artifacts and specimens of the Smithsonian Institution in conjunction with the Libraries’ written and illustrated record of the past. The Libraries is uniquely positioned to help scholars understand the continuing vitality of this relationship, via exceptional research resources ranging from 15th-century manuscripts to electronic journals.
Jan van der Straet, Nova reperta. Speculum diuersarum imaginum speculatiuarum, 1638
The Spencer Baird Society Resident Scholar Program: Stipends of $3,500 per month for up to six months are available to support scholarly research in the Special Collections of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries in Washington, DC and New York, NY, in an extensive range of subject areas. Historians, librarians, doctoral students, and postdoctoral fellows are welcome to apply.
The Dibner Library Resident Scholar Program: Stipends of $3,500 per month for up to six months are available to support scholarly research using the history of science and technology rare books and manuscripts at the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Historians, librarians, doctoral students, and postdoctoral fellows are welcome to apply.
To have an application form mailed to you or for further information, call 202-633-3872, or email SILResidentScholars@si.edu.
—Liz O'Brien
The Libraries is pleased to host Margaret "Betsy" Hagerty in an internship that will extend from January through the summer. Betsy will assist on a variety of staff projects, from helping Metadata Librarian Doug Dunlop research a book proposal to archiving files in the Director's Office. She will also have rotations with Cataloging, Special Collections and Preservation.
Betsy comes to the Libraries with a brand new undergraduate degree in English and History from the University of Georgia (UGA). While attending UGA, she worked in the Special Collections department of the libraries there. She intends to pursue an MLS this fall, although she remains open-minded about her specialization there. Like any good librarian-in-training, Betsy enjoys reading in her spare time, as well writing and enjoying whatever Netflix has to offer.
Please join us in welcoming Betsy!
—Erin Clements Rushing
It is not hard to find special collections librarians who believe that there are no duplicates, meaning that no two printed items made by hand are the same, even if from the same type, plate, or press.
This may seem funny to some since the very goal of publishing and printing is to make reproduceable copies of the same thing over and over again, but if you consider that all aspects of early books and printed matter were made by hand: the type, the ink, the paper, the binding, the illustration plates, everything, then differences between copies that were meant to be the same may be a little easier to understand.
Think of a batch of homemade cookies and how they all taste the same, but each is a little different, some are rounder than others, some with more chips, etc.
So when the American Printing History Association (APHA) during their conference "Learning to Print, Teaching to Print" came to visit the Special Collections Department of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, there were plenty of things to show.
Consider these different copies of the same plate by Friedrich Heinrich von Kittlitz, a 19 century naturalist, artist, and explorer:
Each is printed from the same plate, but coloured by hand differently: some are spotted, some are not; some are striped, some are not, etc. This is not only interesting from a printer's and illustrator's point of view, but also from a scientist's point of view. In printing and the printing arts, there are so many variables that can influence the end product. This is why we say there are no duplicates and why, in part, special collections librarians and printing historians have jobs. We provide perspective about the historical and technical nuances of these handmade printed documents.
Other types of printed matter we displayed for APHA were modern handmade artist's books about the history of science, variant copies of an illustration in different editions of a Galileo work, an illustrated 18th century encyclopedia on how to print, a 19th century scientist's proof copy of printed illustrations with corrections alongside the original drawings.
—Daria Wingreen-Mason