The Smithsonian Institution Libraries has been collecting texts written in the languages of various Native American peoples since the late 19th century, when the United States Congress established the Bureau of Ethnology (later known as BAE, or the Bureau of American Ethnology) at the Smithsonian.
Category: Collection Highlights
These wonderful children’s book illustrations make one yearn for snow. They were done by the artist Karl Mühlmeister, about whom very little seems to be known. He is believed to have been born in Hamburg in 1876, and died around 1942-45, location unknown. These simple print illustrations have a charm all their own.
The weather is definitely getting colder, so this seemed like a perfect time to feature a trade catalog illustrating winter fashion from the late nineteenth century. John E. Kaughran & Co.’s Illustrated Catalogue, Fall and Winter, 1884-85 has several pages showing ladies’ cloaks, coats, and jackets.
The first Noël, like many pop-up and movable books, was created to celebrate the holiday season.
In the 1950s-1960s, Vojtěch Kubašta, an Austrian-born paper engineer and illustrator working in
Czechoslovakia, created a series of pop-up adventure and fantasy stories combining bold folk art style imagery, distinctive colors, and innovative cut and folded paper styles. Some of his large-scale constructions of this period include Marco Polo (1962), The tournament (1950s), and Ricky the Rabbit (1961).
Wow!: The pop-up book of sports is featured in the Libraries’ current exhibition highlighting innovative book design, Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop & Turn, which is on display in the Smithsonian Libraries Exhibition Gallery, National Museum of American History, first floor west, through September 1, 2011.
For National Cocoa Day we thought we might share some chocolate recipes from our staff—a recipe for chili from Polly Lasker, and some hot chocolate from Ninette Dean—both sure to warm you up. Just add chocolate!