When was the last time you read a scary story - a truly spine-tingling yarn?

It’s Halloween – time for a frightening tale ! We’re giving you one courtesy of the Library’s Rare Book collections. We hope you’ll enjoy Washington Irving’s classic The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. First published in 1820, this tale of terror in early America has inspired countless artists and illustrators to depict the hapless Ichabod Crane in his flight from the Headless Horseman. Between now and November 5,  2010 you’ll find rare illustrated copies of this timeless story from 1849, 1860 and 1888 as well as some related works on view in the reading room. After taking a look, please feel free to sit down a read the story for yourself from the more recent copy provided… that is read it if you dare.

Happy Halloween!



Chrysler Museum Collection 52.18.140.48



- L.C.



Archives Month - A Bump on the Head

Pirates and phrenology? Yes. That’s right. In 1827 John Myers, who was Inspector of Customs for Norfolk at the time, received an odd question about the skull of a pirate from his friend Joshua Cohen. Apparently there was a desire for the skull for “phrenological appreciation at Baltimore” by a Dr. Archer. Did Dr. Archer wish to derive meaning from bumps on the bones of the Pirate Tardy? Popular science at the time postulated a relationship between a person’s character and the morphology or shape of the human skull. This study became all the rage, and was used in society at the time to explain misfortunes, predict the future, diagnose maladies, etc. Dr. Archer probably would have wanted to inspect the skull of a pirate in order to determine the malformation that sparked his life of crime.

It was the job of John Myers to say whether or not it was in his jurisdiction to allow this piece of a pirate, buried in the sand at Old Point, to leave the state of Virginia. We’ve had some challenging research questions here at the Jean Outland Chrysler library, but we’re willing to bet that this one had John scratching his own noggin. Interest in the human head has waned little in the last almost two centuries. The use of the skull in art has sky rocketed in the last few years – think of Damien Hirst’s diamond encrusted skull. Do you have a mind for some phrenological explorations of your own? Stop by the JOCL this Fall and glance through such popular titles as Wonder and Horror of the Human Head and Ghost in the Shell. We also have a copy of George Combe’s The Constitution of a Man - one of the most popular works on phrenology.
Just thought we’d give you a heads up.

- SCM

Here's the original 1827 letter from the Myers Collection. Click on the Image for a better view!

In the Library This Saturday! Reading with a 19th Century Family!

 Calling all history lovers, bibliophiles, and   Victoriana Enthusiasts! 

This Saturday, October 23 we have a program just for you!  Join us at 2 pm  in the Library Reading Room for “Reading with a 19th Century Family - The Myers Library”

We all know that the 19th century was a great age of American literature (think Poe, Twain, Hawthorne...), but what were Americans actually reading? With rare volumes of both fiction and non-fiction from the Myers Family Library as a guide, join us to explore the reading habits of a Norfolk family from 1800 – 1900.

This program is free, and open to everyone!

   For more information; contact Laura Christiansen at (757) 965-2035 or  at lchristiansen@chrysler.org.

Top Shelf Books from the Age of Queen Victoria

The World’s Columbian Exhibition, 1893

As an ode to the beauty of Victorian book and their ornate bindings, we’ve filled the top shelves of the reading room with volumes most fitting of attention. One such is The World’s Columbian Exhibition, 1893. The pale blue, gold and black volume is lavishly decorated with scenes of innovation and antiquity. The inside is even more impressive than the binding. The book is filled with photographs and sketches of the exhibits and participants, architecture and inventions. The account of artwork and technology in each building was painstakingly compiled by Trumbull White, World’ Fair Correspondent and William Igleheart, World’s Fair Editor of “Chicago Record.” Others contributed introductions and commentary. Such a large exposition could not possibly be reported by just two journalists. With a full list of illustrations, a department by department introduction, and further commentary by luminaries of the time, this book would have been a must-have for anyone attending the exposition as well as those too far away to enjoy its wonders. Please stop by the Jean Outland Chrysler Library and have a look at this marvel of decorative binding and all of the other books on display.

-SCM

Archives Month - Love, Marriage, and a Pound of Butter

I’m getting married on Saturday. In the midst of all of the wedding to-do, my brain needed a break. To procrastinate from planning my own event, I took a few moments to comb through the Myers archives in search of a snapshot of weddings and marriage in a Norfolk long gone by. The search turned a wide variety of wedding related artifacts, including a cake recipe fully loaded with butter, sugar and lots of fruit – a cake truly meant to impress the early 19th century guest. Another wonderfully interesting piece is a newspaper article from May 4, 1816 describing the May 2, 1816 London wedding of Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte Augusta to His Serene Highness Leopold George Frederick at Charlton-House. The article gives a full account of those involved, their stations in life, the setting, ceremony and celebration. Proof that Royal gossip has always been interesting on both sides of the pond! Finally, a sentimental little poem called “To Sir Robert Smyth” popped up. Written by an anonymous author and reprinted in the local paper, it was a literary answer to a poem by the former. These artifacts, along with many sentimental tomes in the Myers’ library give full account to the human interest in love, marriage, sentimentality and whimsy.

-SCM

Going Green circa 19th Century

We are often surprised by the things we find in books. While walking through our stacks, I noticed what appeared to be a leaf of paper protruding from the cracked spine of an 1864 volume entitled The Shakespeare Gallery: A Reproduction Commemorative of the Tercentenary Anniversary. On more careful examination, the inside of the loose hard binding looked to be lined with a bill or ledger page, probably from the early part of the century of publication. These additions to bindings exist all over the library; inside periodicals, volumes from the Myers library, art reference materials, etc.

This common practice of lining the inside of book bindings is the 19th century version of using post-consumer materials. Often letters, ledger pages, advertisements, etc. were used as binding materials as new paper was expensive and often difficult to come by. Adding “recycled” paper to the bindings reduced the initial cost of publication and helped to lower repair costs to existing books. Occasionally, when volumes begin to age and become worn, these times capsules of lost information are revealed. Though we many never know whether or not the remains of the documents that were used in the binding stood the test of time, the many small clippings contained in the bindings of quite a large number of books here in the Jean Outland Chrysler Library live on.

One of our favorites includes the 1841 publication Memoirs, Letters, and Comic Miscellanies in Prose and Verse of the Late James Smith Esq., which includes an advertisement for “the Queen’s own” clockmaker. Please stop by if you’d like to see some of the volumes in our collection that contain these hidden examples of going green and thinking economically.

- SCM

October in the Jean Outland Chrysler Library

The Library staff loves October at the Chrysler! How about you? This past weekend an impressive crowd of Museum Members attended the exciting opening events for London Calling: Victorian Paintings from the Royal Holloway Collection. This is a world renowned collection has some jaw-dropping examples of amazingly detailed 19th century narrative paintings. I think you’ll find that this exhibition may require a second or even a third look. While you’re in the Museum, stop by the Library - we’ve got so many wonderful events and programs coming up this month. Here are just a few to look forward to:

To celebrate both the Royal Holloway Exhibition and Cheers to Queen Victoria: British Glass from the Chrysler Collection we’ve gathered a selection of 19th Century books from the Library collection that exemplify the beauty and detailed craftsmanship of binding during the Victorian era. We’ve given them a place of honor on the top shelves of the Reading room. Stop by between now and December for a look at our Top Shelf Books from the Age of Queen Victoria 1837 – 1901.

October is Archives month! This year Virginia is celebrating with the theme of Imagination in the Archives. Our collections are certainly not lacking in this department – look forward to blog posts throughout the month featuring some of the more creative aspects of Hampton Roads history from our archival collections.

When you visit London Calling you may find yourself thinking about some of the great literature of the 19th century – Dickens, Hawthorne, Gaskell, and many others. If you’d like to learn more about what 19th century readers were actually reading, join me on October 23 at 2 pm in the Library for Reading with a 19th Century Family - The Myers Library. We’ll be looking at actual books from the Myers Family Library.

If that doesn’t get you reading than our Book Club Selection for this month will. On October 20 at 6:30 pm in the Gifford Room we’ll be discussing Roland Barthes’ Camera Lucida – which is sure to encourage a visit to our new photography exhibition Portraying A Nation. Copies of Camera Lucida are available in the Library. Also, get ready for November’s discussion of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.


Finally, anyone who’s visited the Library previously at the end of October will know that Halloween is a holiday that inspires the Library staff, perhaps a little too much. Drop by the reading room or the blog during the last week of October (25 – 29) as we lose our heads a little over the Library’s fantastic collection of illustrated versions American author Washington Irving’s classic tale The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
I hope to see you this month in the Library!


- Laura

Intern Collections

During the summer, we asked Interns Chelsea and Casey to create a virtual collection by collecting digital images of some aspect of the library collection to be decided by them. For example, they could collect images of bookplates in the collection, of details on binding, books with funny titles, or books on a particular subject – the possibilities were endless. In July, at the Library Open House, each collection was presented.  You can see both collections scrolling below, or click on them to take a closer look. Thanks to our Summer interns for all of their hard work!


Casey’s Collection



Chelsea’s Collection

Library Assistant Sara Mason...

Library Assistant Sara Mason has been on the Lecture circuit. Sara has just returned from presenting a paper at the University of South Carolina’s annual I-COMM week – a conference show casing the work of students in USC’s School of Mass Communications and Information Studies. Sara is currently working on her Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science. She spoke as part of a panel about the Challenges of Distance Education. Keep up the hard work Sara ! More information here: http://www.sc.edu/cmcis/news/icomm/2010/slis_distance.html

--LC

A View From the Stacks: Intern's Journal Week 7

Our wonderful interns Casey and Chelsea have completed their internships and are headed back to school, but they left us with a vivid journal recounting their summer adventures in the Library. This is the last edition of "A View from the Stacks", but I'll be posting the wonderful collections Casey and Chelsea created next week!  

Week 7 - End of the Summer
I’ve reached the last week of my internship and I have one more task and a few more loose-ends to attend to. While we also got to finish the Docent Library and dismantle our book cart, the most exciting portion of the week (so far) was our rare book project, and the hardest is this blog, as it is sadly my last project!

Our final library task involved investigating the value of one of the Jean Outland Chrysler Library’s rare books, and writing a label describing what we found. I chose to research a signed copy of Margaret Bourke-White’s Shooting the Russian War for my interest in the subject and the opportunity to see the famous photographer’s signature up close—it was awesome.

Overall, this project—to me—felt like saving the best for last. It was a thrill to handle a book that is certainly a piece of history in its own right, but also a treasure for its signature. But of the many great opportunities I have had this summer to get acquainted with the museum and its staff, my work in the library has been the most educational and rewarding. I am so grateful to Laura and Sara for their time and guidance, and so sad to be leaving such a great institution!

- Chelsea Reinhardt 2010 Summer Library Intern