Edgar Allan Poe - 200 Years

Once upon a a research query while I pondered bright and cheery over many a quaint and curious volume of artistic lore...

In honor of Halloween this weekend and of Edgar Allan Poe's 200th birthday this year, we thought we would present these items from our collection  that are connected to the Poe's life and work. Click on the Album below to see more images. Enjoy!

Edgar Allan Poe in Jean Outland Chrysler Library Collections

Celebrating American Archives Month: At Home and Abroad

Every family keeps records: birth certificates, deeds to land, and of course, passports. This particular passport, signed July 8, 1810 is special. It would have kept Jean Jacques Andre and his wife Suzanne out of prison as they left Norfolk and traveled to France in the middle of the American embargo against France. Suspicious that the United States was turning a profit from shipping goods from French colonies, Napoleon ordered the seizure of all American ships in European ports in 1806. By 1809, the United States Non-Intercourse Act stated that any French or British ships entering U.S. waters were to be seized. In 1810, the year stamped on the Andre’s passport, fears of war between the United States and France ran rampant. Tensions ran high between the two powers, making it difficult to travel by sea, and even more difficult to be a Frenchman traveling on an American ship. The trade disputes were eventually settled by the creation of tariffs and proper documentation for items shipped overseas. Proper travel documentation and regulations for people and cargo remain an important part our lives to this day. Unlike the passports of today, however, photographs were not available at this time for easy identification. Instead this passport features a description by the issuing agent, providing an interesting look at what he may have looked like.  Interested in finding out more? Stop by the Library and take a look!

Celebrating American Archives Month: Archival Musings

Library volunteer Ramon Colorado has been working with a unique portion of our archival collections - ledgers. These oversized volumes contain a wide variety historical information and were used to record important data by organizations as varied as an early 19th century local milita (the Norfolk Blues), a late 19th century liquor store, and an early 20th century police Sargeant's in Norfolk. Ramon jotted down a few thoughts about some of the information our volunteers have come across while catagorizing, organizing, and preserving the ledgers in our archives. Ramon writes:

"Did you know that the Norfolk Sheriff of 1882 was wounded aboard the C.S.S. Virginia during the Civil War? Or, that bottles of Budweiser beer were being shipped into the area as early as the 1880’s. The next time you’re driving around town you might notice street names such as Corprew, Llewellyn, Nimmo or Colley. These are not just random names given by the city planners but instead modest memorials to our area’s founding citizens. While researching information at the Jean Outland Chrysler Library we’ve discovered many such links between past and present.

Researching with archives -  often consisting of unread or rarely read materials of American history  - may seem boring to many. However, opening up a 200 year old roster of a volunteer military unit (the Norfolk Light Artillery Blues) that served in the Virginia militia, the Confederate Army, and the United States military, and finding a pressed rose from the 1840’s and a letter to one’s sweetheart brings this history alive. Each book researched is a treasure chest of knowledge and each page turned a potential academic goldmine of information. "

Interested in learning more? Stop by the Library and take a look at ledgers on display in the Reading Room.

Celebrating American Archives Month: Hampton Roads Stories from Our Collections

October is American Archives Month. To celebrate, we thought we would share some of the stories told by items in the archival collections of the Jean Outland Chrysler Library. Each week in October we'll be featuring a story from our archives that reveals part of Hampton Roads history. This week's item, a diary, is a little mysterious...

Can you solve a mystery? – Diary-keeping has always been a popular form of reflection for both men and women. A diary might hold lists of daily activities, family life, travels, or – of course – secrets. The author of this diary is unknown. Writing between 1893 and 1895, the author was a servant on a working farm or estate in New Hampshire. We know what work the author did each day, what food they ate, what books they read (strangely enough, this diarist loved mystery novels), and even what time they got up each morning. We don’t know the name of the person who created this diary, their gender, why the author wrote or how this detailed account of daily life ended up here in Norfolk. Who knows, maybe you can solve the mystery.

Item of the Week: Emma's Favorite

Portraits of the Fifties by Sanford Roth

While wandering through the stacks of the library, I came across a plain black book that for no particular reason I pulled from its place on the shelf. I had no expectations and was therefore hugely surprised to find striking photographs of familiar faces looking back at me. This book Portraits of the Fifties is a collection of images featuring people who, now remembered as icons of their generation, were at the height of their celebrity. The talented photographer Sanford Roth humanized these artists, actors, scientists, and composers in his work by catching them at their most natural and relaxed state. Many of them were or became his close friends. The most interesting thing about the book is the diversity of the people featured. From a handsome James Dean wearing a cowboy hat to an aged Henri Matisse opening his mail to a brooding Aldous Huxley staring into the camera, Roth’s varied pictures remain both beautiful and haunting.

 - By Emma Tisdale, Library Intern Summer 2009

Celebrating Archives Month: Hampton Roads Stories from Our Collections

October is American Archives Month. To celebrate, we thought we would share some of the stories told by items in the archival collections of the Jean Outland Chrysler Library. Each week in October we'll be featuring a story from our archives that reveals part of Hampton Roads history. Feeling a little under the weather? This week’s item might help.

Feeling a little under the weather? We’ve got a remedy for you – a home remedy from the eighteenth century. It’s a little worse for wear, but we can still read most of the ingredients for these homemade pills. You take half an ounce of rhubarb, half an ounce of an ingredient lost to time, mix both with soap and roll into pea sized pills. Add a little honey (to help it go down) and hope for the best. What ailment was this prescription for? Unfortunately (or, perhaps fortunately), this document is very discreet, but we do know that rhubarb was used as a cure for various stomach troubles. This document hails from a time when home remedies were relied on for everyday ills. If a home remedy didn't appeal to you, there were other options. By 1882, people in Norfolk could also elect to head to K. Cook’s Hair Dressing Saloon where particular attention, as this advertising card notes, was paid not only to the dressing of Women and Children’s hair, but also to “cupping and leeching. ”

As for me, I think I’ll stick to the rhubarb…

Item of the Week: Brendan's Favorite

We Apologize

It would have been impossible for me to choose a favorite book based on content—there are far too many interesting things tucked away in the stacks, and I didn’t have nearly enough time to get a really comprehensive idea of what was available. Instead I decided to pick something more obviously odd or unique, and in a library filled with artists’ publications, it wasn’t hard to find things beyond the traditional pages-enclosed-between-covers book. And when I came across We Apologize—which Cataloging Fellow Rachel Juris also wrote about recently—while labeling books, it became an easy decision. The Jean Outland Chrysler Library has #12 out of 100 copies of We Apologize, each copy constructed from recycled materials (the cover of the Chrysler’s is a B.B. King record cover), signed by authors/artists Paul Lamarre and Melissa Wolf, and containing a manifesto printed on a napkin, a book retrospective of their work since 1983, and a flow chart tracking these years. Lamarre and Wolf work together under the intentionally ambiguous acronym EIDIA, whose meanings are laid out in the manifesto and which include “every intellect develops intuitive art” and “everything I do is art.” The latter seems to sum up their philosophy pretty well: among the work discussed in We Apologize are documentary films, photography, a recipe, an encounter with the Virgin Mary, and instillations of bread, antiques, and Jackson Pollock-style paintings. There is also a clear tone of activism throughout, especially regarding the NEA and censorship, and a press release inserted in the book explicitly states their position against “America’s desperate neo-conservative agenda of privatization and homeland security.” While the art of EIDIA may be hard to swallow for many, We Apologize is worth seeing as the product of two passionate contemporary artists who approach their work determinedly and from every possible angle.

 - By Brendan Higgins, Library Intern Summer 2009

Celebrating Archives Month: Hampton Roads Stories from Our Collections

October is American Archives Month. To celebrate,we thought we would share some of the stories told by items in the archival collections of the Jean Outland Chrysler Library. Each week in October we'll be featuring a story from our archives that reveals part of Hampton Roads history.  This week it's the story of a well known (at the time) visitor to our area.

Born in 1868 into infamous wealth as the eldest daughter of New York financier and railroad magnate Jay Gould, Helen Miller Gould (later Helen Miller Shepard) spent her life in philanthropic efforts. Though “Miss Gould” focused on the education of children and the lifting of the less fortunate on the grounds of her home, Lyndhurst, her real love was the Young Men’s Christian Association. She traveled almost yearly on inspection tours of Y.M.C.A.s all over the country. Known for her patriotism and war-relief efforts which began during the Spanish-American War, she gave freely of her time. Miss Gould gave talks, joined in Bible studies and was a general inspiration. She also gave of herself financially, spending millions of dollars to build new facilities and libraries for soldiers and railway men who made use of the organization for social and academic enrichment.

Miss Gould made several visits to Norfolk. She presented a building to troops at Old Point Comfort in the early 1900s and returned for visits and Y.M.C.A. inspections over the years. She gave talks, participated in Bible studies, and encouraged the servicemen in any way possible. In the archives, the Jean Outland Chrysler Library holds images from one of these visits [pictured below].The young men in uniform listen respectfully, presumably to Miss Gould, on one of her visits to the Norfolk Naval Y.M.C.A. The local ladies pause in their conversation with Miss Gould for a photo with the lady of the hour. Want to learn more about Miss Gould's visit to Norfok or other Hampton Roads Stories?  Stop by the Library! 

Item of the Week: Gabrielle's Favorite

Moscow in a Different Light

Although wedged between a picture book on Spain and an illustrated anthology about Saudi Arabia, William Klein’s Moscow beckoned me to open its pages. It is not the fanciest volume, the most insightful work, or even the strangest piece in the collection, but its bright red title encouraged me to take a look. Klein explains the complexity of this age-old city in his forward which is represented in the series of photographs. The author chose pictures of everyday people engaging in common activities such as shopping, dancing, doing gymnastics, and cleaning chicken. Nevertheless, there is also an austerity to all the photographs, which author believes to stem from the harsh Soviet government. Behind state symbols, famous portraits, and institutionalized settings, the viewer is still able to catch a glimpse at the people of Moscow’s inner being whether it be a shot of women laughing over their coffee or a father balancing his son on his arm. My favorite photograph captures a crowd looking at St. Basil’s Cathedral at night. The crowd is blurred into the sky as fluorescent light illuminates the church and the Kremlin.

 - Gabrielle Barr, Library Intern Summer 2009