Tag Archives: Historical

400-year-old Bible in college basement

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Geneva Bible from 1599

This amazing story of discovery is proof that you never know what you may find when you are at the library!

At the Lewis & Clark College’s Aubrey R. Watzek Library in Portland, a rare piece of history was hiding, just waiting to be unearthed and appreciated. According to this article from The Oregonian, it was history major Sam Bussan that discovered the Geneva Bible from 1599 that was printed in London by none other than Queen Elizabeth I’s printer.

The article also includes an interview with Hannah Crummé, head of special collections and college archivist at the Aubrey R. Watzek Library. She explains the significance of the Bible in relation to religion and literature accessibility at the time it was printed: “Elizabeth I pitted her Protestant nation against the Catholic powers in Europe, particularly Spain,” Crummé said. “She allowed her subjects to study the Bible in their native English, making not just religion but the written word newly accessible to the majority of people.”

Want to see more of the discovered Bible? Watch this video from MSN for a closer look at the Bible itself, which features detailed drawings and music notations.

Preservation and Decoding Civil War telegrams

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Preserving telegrams from the Civil War

The Huntington Library in San Marino, CA is working on a project of huge historical significance. They are working on decoding and digitizing 15,971 telegrams from the Civil War that were found hidden in a wooden foot locker for more than a century. This article from the LA Times details the contents of some of the telegrams, which are a window into the war experiences of the Civil War and include disease, fear, humor, and praise of President Lincoln. The telegrams were found to have come from the Union side, but the correspondence was coded for safety. According to the article, this led the Huntington Library to start “a Decoding the Civil War crowdsourcing campaign that relies on volunteers using cipher charts to unravel secret texts.” These volunteers, named “citizen archivists” continue to work through the ongoing task of deciphering the coded messages.

In addition to decoding the messages, the Huntington is working to digitize the documents to make them available online. The library is working with Zooniverse to put the documents online at the Decoding the Civil War website. Using digitization to preserve these formerly hidden documents is important to ensure they continue to provide a glimpse into this country’s history.

Check out the official site of the project for a glimpse into the decoding process, suggested reading, and links to more resources on the Civil War.

 

 

 

Instagram & marbled paper

nature patternMost book-lovers agree that print books have a certain beauty, and some even enjoy the smell of a book, library, or bookstore. But have you ever heard of marbled book art?

The American Antiquarian Society has been sharing the beauty of this ancient art form over their Instagram feed, and their feature #MarbledMonday has become very popular. This art form used on historical book bindings is undeniably beautifully artistic – the papers, edges, and cloths of these books are enhanced with colors and swirling patterns and shapes. Another reason for the popularity of this feature is the fact that artists in the 18th and 19th century produced these complicated patterns without the help of modern equipment!

The way these designs are produced is by placing chemicals and pigments in a water bath, then the artist manipulates the floating pigments to create patterns, which are then put onto the book edges or papers.

In the early days of America, even currency was marbled to prevent counterfeiting! Check out the full article here for more examples and pictures.

Image credit: https://unsplash.com/(Sebastian Unrau), licensed under CC0 1.0

 

Webinars: Historical Minneapolis Tribune

Information in this post was provided by MDE, State Library Services.

You are invited to participate in bi-monthly training webinars offered by Proquest

The Historical Minneapolis Tribune is a great resource for local history, genealogy and History Day research. In collaboration with State Library Services, Proquest has established bi-monthly one-hour webinars that will help you increase your skills and knowledge. Training sessions provide a review of the content and search options as well as strategies for getting to the most relevant articles on your topic.

Sessions are currently scheduled through March 2014 and the full list of free webinars can be viewed at Proquest’s Training Website. We’ve set up a range of days and times designed to fit a variety of schedules; advance registration at the Training page is requested but not required.

If you are interested in scheduling in-person training at your location, or would like more information about the webinars, please contact Jennifer Nelson at 651-582-8791 or jennifer.r.nelson@state.mn.us.