Now that it’s cold outside, this is the perfect time to think of warmer temperatures and perhaps a vacation. The Trade Literature Collection at the National Museum of American History Library includes a lot of railway-related catalogs but not all of them are about equipment and supplies. Some are directed towards the tourist, like this nineteenth century catalog by Jacksonville, St. Augustine & Indian River Railway.
Year: 2016
What better day to celebrate one of our favorite French fashion periodicals than January 15th – known in some corners of the internet as “National Hat Day”. In the pages of Gazette du Bon Ton, fantastic head adornments certainly abound:
The style of book binding above with mottled leather is called Cat’s Paw, appearing to have had little inked feline foot pads walk over its covers. But no, this more »
Since 2014, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library (HMSG) has received grants totalling $15,000 to catalog materials of Latin American artists. Former Smithsonian American Art Museum Curatorial Assistant, Florencia Bazzano-Nelson, explains why these materials are important:
“Scholarly holdings regarding Latin American art are important because they provide the historical and cultural context for many artists in these collections … In a global environment, it is important for us to understand what is happening in the arts of other places, especially those places that have maintained a fluid cultural dialogue with the United States for more than two centuries.”
Funds for this ongoing project were provided by the Washington Art Library Resources Committee (WALRC). This non-profit is made up of research institutions related to art and architecture in the metropolitan DC area. With their support, the HMSG library has had over 200 materials processed so far. Below are some highlights from the recently cataloged items.
No doubt some of you are among the many hardened souls intent upon making this year the year you finally get in shape. And as you resolve to hit the gym, I’d like to shift your attention momentarily to something most of us don’t ponder—the history of the humble exercise machine.
The Cooper Hewitt Library regularly collaborates with the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum on exhibitions and publications, providing images, books and other related materials from our Special Collections that complement the theme of a show. We are often asked to seek out new materials for possible inclusion in upcoming exhibitions. This past summer, in looking for books and related materials from the 1920’s and early 30’s for an exhibition, the Library acquired several novels selected for their Art Deco-style graphic dustjackets. A beautifully illustrated book with a striking black and white dust jacket titled Gods’ man : a novel in woodcuts , by the artist printmaker Lynd Ward (1905-1985) aroused my curiosity. It was what was referred to at the time of its publication in 1929 a “wordless novel” – what we can refer to today as the “graphic novel”. It is a narrative genre that uses sequences of captionless pictures to tell a story. Gods’ man was the first of six wordless novels created by Lynd Ward during the years 1929- 1974, and the first American wordless novel.