Hot off the Presses! New Glass Publications

You may have heard that the museum's main doors are closed for renovation, but the Glass Studio is still open and offering an incredible array of classes, demonstrations and special events. With all of the exciting programming at the studio, the summer promises to be "hot" in more ways than one! Bad pun, I know...


Come visit. Every seat is a good seat, and the TV monitors are great for close-ups of the action.

Part of our job at the library is provide all of the glass artists and students with the most cutting edge information about the contemporary glass word, so we've ordered several glass and craft periodicals and books. In fact, our studio staff are so accomplished they are often featured in these publications. I hope you'll stop by the studio and take a class, or check out thes magazines to learn more about the exciting world of contemporary glass!

Farewell from the 2010 Jean Outland Chrysler Cataloging Fellow

Sadly, it’s time to say goodbye. Like the old cliché, time flew and, though I feel like I’m just getting started here at the Jean Outland Chrysler Library, the 2010 Cataloging Fellowship is coming to a close. I hope my time here has served the library as well as it has served me. In the spring, I looked forward to the diverse material and formats I would encounter here at the Chrysler and, in the end, underestimated just how rich an opportunity this fellowship is. Over the summer I’ve cataloged in the neighborhood of 650 items: monographs, periodicals, pamphlets, archival collections, and videos. Many presented time-consuming challenges and I hope to have met those challenges with the result of ever-improving access to this valuable collection.

Open coffee container = place in the empty bottom drawer

But now I have to say goodbye to my desk chair, my caffeine drawer (pictured), white archival gloves, volume of Pearl Jam photographs (pictured), and Library of Congress Classification System reference books.

It’s been a summer of professional growth (applying classroom lessons in a professional setting) and personal milestones (my fiance's engagement ring was mailed to the Chrysler!) and I cannot thank the Friends of the Jean Outland Chrysler Library enough. Finally, thanks are due to Dickson Librarian Laura Christiansen and Library Assistant Sara Mason who created an environment of collaboration and put up with my stream of questions. Best wishes, all around!

--John Curtis, Cataloging Fellow

Postcards, Periodicals, and Greetings from Estonia

Happy Fourth of July! Appropriately, the early 20th century postcard collection I’ve begun processing this week has its fair share from the US of A, along with what I’ve determined to be one postcard from what is now the capitol of Estonia. No I'm not spending the holiday weekend in Eastern Europe, but if I had sometime around the turn of the century, I could have sent a postcard much like the one in our collection. I’m putting my archives training to good use (hopefully) and creating a finding aid for a small postcard collection currently housed in the rare books room of the Jean Outland Chrysler Library. The origins of the collection are a bit mysterious, but that won’t keep us from arranging and describing it to provide access for researchers interested in late 19th and early 20th century postcards. The collection is truly a global one, with landscapes, cityscapes, art, and architecture from more than a dozen countries. Most of the postcards are blank, but represent a useful resource for both those interested in postcard manufacture and use and those interested in the scenes they depict. The bulk of the collection is art reproductions and scenic locales so I’m currently arranging the collection into series based on geography and, in the case of the art postcards, Library of Congress classification. The finding aid won’t describe individual postcards, but will provide an overview of the collection and valuable access points to what could otherwise be an overwhelming jumble.

This week I also worked on cataloging art periodicals. In addition to our diverse current periodical subscriptions, the library also holds donated and rare materials and specific issues related to museum collections and shows. More dynamic than single or even multi-volume monographs, periodicals present unique cataloging challenges. Periodicals often change names, absorb other serials, change the frequency of distribution, and shift the place of publication. Cataloger becomes detective!

Finally, a quick shout-out to our new glass door. Museum staff and visitors can now see the friendly faces waiting for them at the reference desk as they enter the reading room. What once appeared to be a particularly foreboding vault door is now a lot more inviting. It may seem like a small detail, but, especially in the case of museum visitors, the new door sends the message that they’re welcome at the library.

--John Curtis, Cataloging Fellow

"Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?"

When ArtNews published feminist art historian Linda Nochlin’s essay “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” in 1971, it set off a firestorm of discussion in the art world. Nochlin focused on the male-centric world of art history. Were there really never any great women artists, or had their accomplishments been misattributed and played down? Thirty years later Nochlin’s question became the topic of a conference at Princeton on the state of women artists, and her new essay “Why Have “”There Been No Great Women Artists” Thirty Years After” was published. Are you interested in weighing in on this issue? Please join us at the next Chrysler Museum Art & Books, Wine & Cheese on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 for what is sure to be a lively discussion. Please e-mail us at library@chrysler.org if you would like to have digital scans of the articles sent to you. We hope to see you there!

Periodicals in Fashion...

My activities this week were devoted to cataloging periodicals. I added approximately 35 new titles to the library catalog, ranging from American and French fashion magazines of the early 20th-century (Signe: Les Modes à Paris, French Elle, Vogue) to art-related titles. As Jessica mentioned in her blog entry last week, fashion and art are closely related. Many early fashion magazines include articles about artists and artworks of the times, in addition to stylized fashion photography and graphic design advertisements. One art-related title of particular note is an issue of View magazine, a surrealist art and poetry publication. The Jean Outland Chrysler Library collection already contained a book about the history of View magazine (View: Parade of the Avant-Garde), which, over the years of its publication (1940-47) featured work by artists, including: Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp. Now, library users can see an original example of the magazine itself.

-Rachel Juris, 2009 Jean Outland Chrysler Library Cataloging Fellow