What's New

Latest Issue of "Off the Shelf" Arrives

The Spring 2013 issue of Off the Shelf, the Libraries' biannual magazine, has arrived on campus and is on its way to the mailboxes of library supporters. It is also available for view online, at http://library.wustl.edu/offtheshelf/, along with past issues of the publication.

This latest issue highlights 24-hour access to Olin Library, the role of libraries in an evolving information landscape, and a range of recent developments and events at Washington University Libraries.

For more information about Off the Shelf or to send feedback, contact Joy Lowery (jlowery@wustl.edu) or Evie Hemphill (ehemphill@wustl.edu).

Congratulations to the winners of the 2013 Neureuther Competition

When Carl Neureuther, a 1940 graduate of Washington University, set up an endowment in 1987 to support library collections, he was also ensuring support for something more: a lifelong love of reading.

He wanted to encourage students to read for pleasure—not just for class—and in addition to growing the University Libraries’ collection of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, Neureuther’s gift created an annual essay contest that invites students to share stories of their own passion for reading and collecting books.

Twenty-six years later, the results are in for this year’s Neureuther Student Book Collection Essay Competition sponsored by Washington University Libraries. WU students entered their essays into undergrad and graduate categories, competing for prizes of $1,000 for first place and $500 for second place. Judging was conducted by four volunteers recruited from among the faculty of Washington University and the St. Louis community.

This year, Sarah Sobonya, a PhD candidate in Anthropology, won first place in the graduate category for her essay titled “Keeping Abreast of the Literature.” John Gauthier, a first-year law student, took second place in the graduate category with “Arturo Belano and the Storybook War.”

In the undergraduate category, senior Brian Feldman (PNP, Classics) won first place for his essay “A Muse for Recollection: On Collecting Ancient Greek Textbooks.” Sophomore Lauren Henley (History) took second place with “Asthmatic and Alone: How Books Became My World.”

Members of the organizing committee wish to thank and congratulate all of the students who participated in this year’s contest.

The 2013 winning essays, as well as an archive of past ones, are available on the Libraries’ website. An exhibit celebrating the winners' book collections and essays will also be on display in the lobby of Olin Library in late March and early April.

Exhibition, Reading to Feature William Gass

In conjunction with the debut of William Gass’s new novel, Middle C, the University Libraries present an exhibition and a reading featuring the critically acclaimed author this spring.

“William H. Gass: The Soul Inside the Sentence” opens Monday, March 11, in Olin Library’s Ginkgo Reading Room and Grand Staircase Lobby. Drawing on Special Collections’ archive of his literary papers, the exhibition includes items related to each of Gass’s many books, which range from novels to short story collections to essays and literary criticism. Materials related to Gass’s education, World War II navy experience, teaching career, photography, and bibliophilism are also among the items to be displayed. Continuing through early July, the physical exhibition will precede a digital exhibit. Once available online, that ongoing resource will include content from the physical exhibition, as well as audio and video elements and a closer look at some of the Gass manuscripts.

Gass will also give a reading on the Danforth Campus in Wilson Hall, Room 214, at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, titled “How to Behave Around Books.” Gass will open with an essay, “I Live in a Library,” and then read selections from his new novel, Middle C (Knopf). A reception and book signing in the Gingko Room of Olin Library follows, with Middle C and other books by Gass available for sale.

Gass is the David L. May Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis, where he taught philosophy for 30 years and also founded and directed the International Writers Center. Gass began donating his literary papers to the Modern Literature Collection in the 1960s, before the publication of his acclaimed first novel, Omensetter’s Luck. Now in his late eighties, Gass continues to write prolifically, most recently publishing essays in Conjunctions and Harper’s, among others. Middle C is his 15th book.

To learn more about the Manuscripts unit at Washington University Libraries, visit the website. The reading and exhibition are free and open to the public, and the exhibition will be available for viewing any time that Olin Library is open (see the library hours page at http://www.library.wustl.edu/about/hours.html). Call 314-935-5495 for more information.

Photos of Gass by Michael Eastman, 2013

Jackie Robinson Exhibit on Display in Mallinckrodt during "Jackie & Me"

Colorful facsimiles of items from the University Archives, Film & Media Archive, and Modern Graphic History Library are currently on display in the Mallinckrodt Center on the Danforth Campus. The exhibit, featuring Jackie Robinson and civil rights history, is in conjunction with "Jackie & Me," a play production by St. Louis' Metro Theatre Company and the Edison Ovation Series that runs through Sunday, January 27, in the Edison Theatre.

Library staff members from Special Collections were on site for the opening night, with original materials for audience members to peruse. The Special Collections units also hosted several class visits from 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders around the city as part of the Edison Theatre’s Field Trip Series.

WU Professor to Give "Cheap Photography, Classy Illustration?" Talk Jan. 31

Washington University’s own Douglas B. Dowd will give a talk at 5 p.m. Thursday, January 31, in Olin Library’s Ginkgo Reading Room (Level 1).

Dowd, a professor of art and American culture studies, has titled his presentation "Cheap Photography, Classy Illustration?: Class, Price, Style and Desire in Mid-Century American Periodicals for Men (and Women)."

Dowd is an active curator, essayist, and critic in the realm of modern graphic culture, writing on topics in comics, animation, and illustration. He writes the blog Graphic Tales and serves as an advisor to the Norman Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He is also an illustrator, animator, and printmaker.

An illustration by Al Parker for Sports Illustrated, May 11, 1964.

His presentation will compare the phenomena of pin-up painting for Brown & Bigelow, photographic "girlie mags," and the advent of Playboy. In addition, Dowd will discuss the relationship between Ladies Home Journal and Modern Romances.

"I’m interested in the prestige of illustration, followed by its collapse," he says, "and the transition from somewhat harsh black and white photography to the airbrushed color photography of post-Playboy."

A reception will follow the event, which is free and open to the public. The talk is sponsored by the University Libraries and given in conjunction with an exhibition currently on display in Olin Library, Thrill Seekers: The Rise of Men’s Magazines. For more information, contact Skye Lacerte, curator of WU’s Modern Graphic History Library, at slacerte@wustl.edu.

Modern Graphic History Library Unveils Digital "Thrill Seekers" Exhibit

The Modern Graphic History Library (MGHL) has launched a digital companion to Thrill Seekers: The Rise of Men’s Magazines, an exhibition on display in Olin Library’s Ginkgo Reading Room and Grand Staircase Lobby this semester.

Thrill Seekers charts the growth of men's magazines from the 1940s to the 1960s, drawing on the MGHL’s unique collections. Highlights include original artwork, tear sheets, and whole issues of Esquire, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, and Fortune, as well as pulp fiction and girlie magazines. Artists featured include Al Parker, Robert Weaver, Ernest Trova, and Robert Andrew Parker, among others.

The digital exhibit, created by MGHL library assistant Jolie Braun with digitization assistance from student worker Sarah Croop, is arranged chronologically and thematically. In addition to an extensive image collection, the site includes bibliographic information, cultural history, recommended readings, and other resources. The homepage URL is http://omeka.wustl.edu/omeka/exhibits/show/mensmags/home.

“The exhibit explores different themes such as the post-war fear of foreign enemies,” says Skye Lacerte, curator of the MGHL, “and the reintegration of soldiers into society, the family, and the workplace.”

All of the items in the exhibit are part of the MGHL, which is a Special Collections unit of the Washington University Libraries. Comprised of original art and printed material from many fields of popular American pictorial graphic culture, the MGHL focuses on 20th-century illustration, including artists’ working materials and sketches as well as original artwork from books, magazines, and advertising. Visit the MGHL website to see other digital exhibits and explore the collections.

"Thrill Seekers" exhibition on display in Olin Library

An exhibition titled Thrill Seekers: The Rise of Men's Magazines opened Thursday, October 4, on Level 1 of Olin Library, in the Grand Staircase Lobby and Ginkgo Reading Room. The display, presented by Washington University's Modern Graphic History Library, charts the growth of men's magazines from the 1940s to the 1960s. Highlights include original artwork, tear sheets, and whole issues of Esquire, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, and Fortune, as well as pulp fiction and girlie magazines. Artists featured include Al Parker, Robert Weaver, Ernest Trova, and Robert Andrew Parker, among others.

Thrill Seekers will remain on display until January 31, 2013. A digital version of the exhibit is forthcoming.

Learn more about the unique collections comprising the Modern Graphic History Library at http://library.wustl.edu/units/spec/MGHL/.

"Remembering 9/11" Exhibition Opens

Join Washington University's American Culture Studies program and the University Libraries for the opening of "Remembering 9/11,"at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11, in Olin Library Room 142.

The "Remembering 9/11" exhibition is a cultural archives project exploring 9/11 memory at the university and in the culture as a whole. It was launched on the tenth anniversary of September 11 and is an ongoing effort to collect artifacts that reveal 9/11’s impact both then and now. Included are interviews, written reflections, speeches, oral histories, and original works of art. The exhibition will remain on display in Olin Library through September.

Wayne Fields, Ph.D., the Lynne Cooper Harvey Distinguished Professor of English, American Literature, and American Culture Studies, will make opening remarks and introduce the exhibition. A reception and exhibition viewing follow in Olin Library’s Grand Staircase Lobby and Ginkgo Reading Room (Level 1).

For more information about the project, including information about how to get involved, visit remembering911.wustl.edu.

University Archives Staff Launch "Bears Repeating" Blog

Interested in the history of Washington University and the St. Louis region? The University Archives unit of Special Collections recently unveiled "Bears Repeating: History and Happenings from Washington University Archives," a blog that highlights fascinating stories and events of the past and brings various collection items to life. Learn more about the new blog in this announcement that ran in the Washington University campus newspaper, The Record, in July of 2012.

Jefferson Historian to Speak March 28

Washington University Libraries invite you to a talk by Ann Lucas Birle, research historian at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, about her book Thomas Jefferson’s Granddaughter in Queen Victoria’s England: The Travel Diary of Ellen Wayles Coolidge, 1838-1839 and about the discovery of books once owned by Thomas Jefferson, in Washington University Libraries’ collections.

Birle's lecture is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 28, in Wilson Hall, Room 214, on Washington University’s Danforth Campus. A reception, book signing, and exhibition will follow in Olin Library’s Ginkgo Room and Grand Staircase Lobby. Birle’s book will be available for purchase at the reception. The exhibition, State of the Union: Reconstructing a Thomas Jefferson Family Library, can be viewed during regular library hours through mid-June.

This event is free and open to the public. If you plan to attend, please email jlowery@wustl.edu or call 314-935-5418. Leave your name and the number of people in your party. For a map of campus, visit http://wustl.edu/community/visitors/maps/danforthmap.pdf. Wilson Hall (building #125 ) is on the south side of campus, and Olin Library (building #81) sits at roughly the geographic center of campus.