Press "Enter" to skip to content

Month: July 2013

Defaced Donation Leads to Exhibition Exploration

Alexandra Reigle
July 31, 2013
2 Comments
Imagining Our Future Together: South Asia Artists Exhibition catalogue
Imagining Our Future Together: South Asia Artists Exhibition catalogue

This is a post written by Rita O’Hara who works at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library.

In February, Richard Koshalek, the Hirshhorn Museum director donated to the library a copy of The World Bank exhibition catalog entitled Imagining Our Future Together: South Asia Artists. The exhibit featured the winners of a regional art competition organized by the World Bank’s South Asia vice presidency and the World Bank Art Program. This gift of the catalog led to a reconnection with a former classmate and a field trip to The World Bank.

Continue ReadingDefaced Donation Leads to Exhibition Exploration

Tumblr: A slightly irreverent look at the Libraries collections

Richard Naples
July 29, 2013
3 Comments
Frederick Godman Insecta. Lepidoptera-Rhopalocera , 1879-1901
Frederick Godman
Insecta. Lepidoptera-Rhopalocera , 1879-1901

If you’ve spent any time deep in the heart of libraryland, then you surely have encountered ephemera, marginalia, stunningly beautiful bookplates, funny advertisements, and other semi-random stuff in the stacks that yearned to be shared, so we’re doing just that through the microblogging platform Tumblr.

Continue ReadingTumblr: A slightly irreverent look at the Libraries collections

The Visit of the Steamship Historical Society of America in the Dibner Library

Erin Rushing
July 22, 2013
Leave a Comment

This post was written by Lilla Vekerdy, Head of Special Collections.

On June 24, 2013, The Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology hosted a group from a national society interested in a special topic, steam vessel navigation. The Steamship Historical Society of America requested a rare book display and presentation following the encouragement of Brent Dibner, who is a Board Member of the association and knows about the Library’s extensive holdings on the subject.  Mr. Dibner is grandson of Dr. Bern Dibner (1897-1988), the founder of the Library.

Continue ReadingThe Visit of the Steamship Historical Society of America in the Dibner Library

The Fix – Edward Jenner’s Cure for Smallpox

Katie Wagner
July 17, 2013
Leave a Comment

When a book that had the impact of Edward Jenner’s An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae comes into the conservation lab we get fairly excited. This 1798 first edition, part of the Dibner Library, outlines the technique of infecting patients with the mild cowpox virus to create immunity from the highly contagious and often deadly smallpox virus. As a result of his findings Jenner is considered the father of immunology and is credited with saving more lives than any man in history.

Continue ReadingThe Fix – Edward Jenner’s Cure for Smallpox