Hide and Seek in Hidden Collections:
New Acquisitions |
It Can Play, Just Not Very Well!
One of 2015's acquisitions is even more exciting than usual. We love all our new additions, but this book is truly music to our ears.
The Actual Accordion Book (2014), made by American book artists Peter and Donna Thomas, is the history of the accordion (paired with digitally printed vintage photographs of accordions), pasted into the slit bellows of a vintage student accordion. The slit bellows create an
accordion book structure, a common book format in both fine press and historic children's literature.
A small portion of the bellows remain un-booked, allowing the accordion to still be played (just not very well). It's an accordion book, on the history of accordions, made out of an accordion! No wonder we're so tickled.
Currently, our Collection Care conservators are working on creating a custom-built enclosure to protect the accordion so it can be shelved in our collection. The next step: the Library's special collection catalogers will tackle the fun challenge of creating a library catalog record for an accordion.
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Upcoming Exhibition in Our Dietrich Gallery
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Or Else: Cautionary Tales for Children
Books for children don't always end happily ever after. For more than 250 years, "children's literature" has balanced a desire to keep little readers' attention with a mission to keep their attentions proper. Juvenile literature is full of educational purpose, sometimes leavened with appealing illustration and rhymes or subverted entirely in mischievous parodies. This exhibition highlights moral reckonings, both morbidly satirical and mortally serious, in children's literature from the 18th century through the modern era, featuring both forgotten gems and enduring classics, and includes a corner reading nook to experience the stories directly.
Mark your calendars!
Or Else
opens February 22 and runs through July 23, 2016.
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Last Chance!
Sacred Stories:
The World's Religious Traditions
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Sacred Stories closes January 30, so just a few weeks left to experience this beautiful exhibition!
With items dating from the 9th century to recent times, Sacred Stories highlights the shared traditions of scripture in Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism.
William B. Dietrich Gallery
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Rare Book Department items include 1000+ of our Pennsylvania German fraktur and more than 4000 images from our collection of Medieval Manuscripts.
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