Like Sands Through the Hour Glass...

In the heat of the summer, people all across the country are dreaming of vacations; car trips, cook-outs, crashing waves and, of course, long days spent on warm sand. Alicia G. Longwell of the Parrish Art Museum also thought about the significance of sand when she created Sand: Memory, Meaning, and Metaphor. The book is a collection of prose, poetry and works of art ranging from paintings to elaborate multimedia constructions and traditionally-built sandcastles. Longwell focuses on the effect of sand on artists and their work including Pablo Picasso, William Merritt Chase, and Jackson Pollock, who is pictured on the beach with Lee Krasner. She also plays with sand, literally, using images of sand encased in glass to give the reader the opportunity to ponder the origin of glass. The focus of the book is far-reaching yet unified. One is left feeling that the final point is this: sand inspires. Children building castles with water-filled moats on Virginia Beach, glass blowers in the hot shop at TCC Portsmouth, and the artists and writers featured in this book all have one thing in common; as they allowed grains of sand flow through their fingers they were inspired to create.

- By Library Assistant Sara Mason

Unique to the Library...

This week, I came across a book to catalog that is unique to the Jean Outland Chrysler Library: Barton Myers: The Architecture of the Theater: Learning from Italy, published by the Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles on the occasion of a 2006 exhibition of the architect’s work. Barton Myers, a descendent of Moses Myers and the grandson of a former mayor of Norfolk (Barton Myers, 1853-1927), remains involved in the Norfolk community. The Library has a number of other interesitng architecture books as well. Also to catalog I discovered several architectural and engineering books and manuals once belonging to Wyatt Hibbs (1903-1998), a former resident of Norfolk. These books, annotated by Mr. Hibbs, were used by their owner in his work as an architect and draftsman. The discovery of books whose history is tied to their subjects, uses, and former owners, caused me to consider the responsibilities of the cataloging librarian: both to accurately transcribe information about the books and objects in the library, but also to add meaning (through the addition of subject headings) that relates specifically to the history of the community and to current and future needs of library users, with the goal of making searching for materials easier and more effective. Thus, the collection and catalog of the Jean Outland Chrysler Library strive to represent and to serve the Chrysler Museum’s collections, staff, visitors, and the larger community.

- Rachel Juris, 2009 Jean Outland Chrysler Library Cataloging Fellow

Jean Outland Chrysler Library Cataloging Fellow

The staff of the Jean Outland Chrysler Library enthusiastically welcomes Cataloging Fellow Rachel Juris ! Established with the goal of enabling access to the Library’s unique resources while offering Masters of Library and Information Science students the opportunity to gain valuable experience, the Jean Outland Chrysler Library Cataloging Fellowship is made possible by funding from the Friends of the Library. Rachel is already hard at work cataloging materials that have previously been unavailable to Library patrons. Interested in learning more? Keep an eye on the Library's blog for weekly updates from Rachel about her work, new additions to the collection, and interesting items she comes across while cataloging.

New in Norfolk

Allow me to introduce myself (I am, after all, following on the heels of Emily Post’s Etiquette): I am the Jean Outland Chrysler Library Summer 2009 Cataloging Fellow. A recent library school graduate, I am thrilled to have this opportunity to put my skills and experience to use in the Jean Outland Chrysler Library. This summer, I will be working to input materials (books, photographs, films, and more) into the library catalog and to make using the catalog to search and find materials easier for all. In my first week, I have cataloged many interesting new books. Among my favorites is Harold Gregor’s Illinois, an exhibition catalog of photo-realist paintings. This is my first visit to Norfolk (my hometown is Chicago) and I am looking forward to exploring the Library, the Museum, and the City.

- Rachel Juris, 2009 Jean Outland Chrysler Library Cataloging Fellow

May I present Mrs. Emily Post?

The Jean Outland Chrysler Library wishes to extend a polite “How do you do?” to our newest addition: Emily’s Post’s Etiquette. Written by her great-grand daughter-in-law, Peggy Post, it is the 17th edition of Post’s 1922 publication, Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home. Etiquette contains helpful sections that have been updated for the modern audience including correspondence and communication protocol, dress and grooming, using proper names and titles, table manners, hosting celebrations, workplace interactions, how to behave when traveling, and a large section dedicated to weddings. Good manners and the know-how to handle a wide variety of social situation are essential to any institution, and the Chrysler is no exception. While Post’s work may be our latest acquisition, it is by no means our only book dedicated to custom and behavior. The Jean Outland Chrysler Library holds such insightful classics as Count Baldesar Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier and The Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette: a Guide to Contemporary Living. Drop by the library (no R.S.V.P. required) and we will be happy to show you - as long as you say “please!”

- By Library Assistant Sara Mason

Welcome, Jean Outland Chrysler Library Interns!

The staff of the Jean Outland Chrysler Library would like to welcome our summer 2009 interns! They are Jessica Dame (Christopher Newport University), Emma Tisdale (New York University), Brendan Higgins (College of William and Mary) and Gabrielle Barr (Johns Hopkins University). We are thrilled to have them, and they have already been a great help to the library. After a brief demonstration this afternoon, the interns tried their hand at creating four-flap enclosures for the Myers books. Enclosures, specially-fitted boxes made of acid-free board, are a safe way to protect delicate books from physical damage. The interns will be using their new skill to help us in the continuing effort to protect the entire Myers library.

Item of the Week:Wonder, the Rainbow, and the Aesthetics of Rare Experiences

This photograph was too good not to share. At the perfect place at just the right time, Library Assistant Sara Mason caught this double rainbow over the Chrysler Museum one Saturday afternoon. It’s a wonderful image – one that got us thinking about what amazing things rainbows are. Fleeting, it’s hard to see one without stopping to take a long second look. In his book, Wonder, the Rainbow, and the Aesthetics of Rare Experiences, Philip Fisher explores this effect – a combination of pleasant surprise and curiosity that philosophers throughout history have labeled “wonder”. Specifically, Fisher embarks on his discussion by tracing the history of curiosity about rainbows. How, he asks “did the combination of pleasure and puzzlement in the face of rainbows lead to a scientific explanation” of this phenomenon? Weaving together science with philosophy, art history, and poetry, Fisher’s point of view is not quite what you would expect – he argues against the more common suggestion that familiarity breeds contempt and that explanation leads to a loss of innocent wonder. Whether you agree or disagree with Fisher, I think we all must admit that “wonder” is an important part of the experience here at the Chrysler Museum – it’s that special something that gets us to stop and take a second look in the galleries or to pause and pull a book off the shelf that wasn’t really what we were supposed to be looking for. Wonder, the Rainbow, and the Aesthetics of Rare Experiences is in the Library. If you have a chance, stop by and take a look - who knows what other wonderful things you might find?