Amy Dawson

The Gries Tobacco Printed Works, Manuscripts and Artifacts Collection

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 20:43:00 GMT

The Gries Tobacco Printed Works, Manuscripts and Artifacts Collection spans the years 1650-1973, with the bulk of the items dating from the late 18th and early 20th centuries, and contains material related to the manufacturing, sale, and use of tobacco in the United States and abroad. The material was donated by Robert H. Gries in 1942-1953 and some items were acquired by the library staff.
The sheer variety of the material is vast, including both paper-based materials and artifacts.

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Making and Faking Shakespeare

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:47:00 GMT

William Shakespeare is the most famous and most written about literary figure of all time, but interestingly, little is actually know about him. What we do know about him is that he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564, married at 18, moved to London sometime between 1585-1592, published 3 books of poetry, was an actor and part owner of his theatre company, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later the King’s Men), and died in 1616. Shakespeare never published his own plays in his lifetime. It wasn’t until 1623 that two of his closest companions published the First Folio, containing 36 of his 37 plays.

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The Origin of Halloween

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:44:00 GMT

Halloween is believed to have originated as a Celtic holiday, celebrated during the time of year when the hours of the day grew smaller and nighttime was longer. Samhuinn, the Gaelic holiday for Halloween, means the fire of peace. The fire, which was kept burning throughout the night was used to protect peoples’ farms and their possessions and ceremonies and superstitious rites were performed around them. For good luck on the night of Halloween children were given apples and nuts.

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New West meets Old East

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:13:00 GMT

Orientalism, the interest in all things Asian and Eastern, was a popular subject of fascination and wonder during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and consequently was a popular field for collectors. John G. White, the founding donor of the library’s Special Collections, was an avid collector of foreign and international books, including orientalia. Amongst the White collections, the Cleveland Public Library has many copies of the 1001 Arabian Nights, along with a truly special collection of the first photographs of the Islamic holy city of Mecca.

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The Cleveland Musicarnival Collection

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 15:29:00 GMT

Musicarnival was a tent theatre company that operated in Cleveland from 1954 to 1975, with a winter session in West Palm Beach, Florida from 1958. During the course of its career, the Musicarnival theatre company earned national respect for its professionalism and devotion to quality as a producer of Broadway shows and musicals, Operettas, and as a host for big name musical and entertainment acts.

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World Checker Tournament

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 16:44:00 GMT

Cleveland Public Library and the Agora Theater host the American Checker Federation and World Checker & Draughts Federation's (WCDF) World Checker Tournament.

On August 17, 19, & 20, the Cleveland Public Library will host the 3-move world title match of checkers between Alex Moiseyev (Dublin, Ohio) and challenger Michele Borghetti (Italy).

August 17 10:00 a.m. - 6 p.m. - Main Library, 3rd Floor, Treasure Room
August 19 - 20 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. - Main Library, Louis Stokes Wing Auditorium

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The Fascinating Life of Opal Whiteley

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 19:08:00 GMT

Opal Whitely (1897-1992) was a fascinating American writer who got her start in the American Northwest where she was quickly recognized as a child prodigy in the fields of the natural sciences. Born in 1897, Opal was raised in timber camps and on a farm in Oregon and spent most of her time in the forests , observing animals and plant life and writing about it in her journal. By the time she was a teenager she started giving lectures about the natural world and had applied to the University of Oregon, where professors had declared she already knew more than they could teach her. Opal began writing a children’s book, entitled The Fairyland Around Us. The text was drawn from Whiteley’s early lectures, and written in her poetic, fanciful style. Changes Opal made in the text resulted in the publisher asking for more money. Unable to secure the needed funds, Opal personally took on the task of finishing the book, pasting and captioning the pictures. No two copies of the book were quite the same. (Of the hundred or so finished books, only ten copies are known to survive. Cleveland Public Library’s Special Collections Department is fortunate to own two of these.)

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The Book of Kells

Thu, 12 May 2011 20:50:00 GMT

Ireland’s most famous national treasure is an illuminated manuscript, known as the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells was most likely created by Celtic scribes and monks, who filled the pages with ornately designed script and sacred images, on the Isle of Iona around 800AD. This island, located between Scotland and Ireland, was raided by the Vikings and the monks of the island were forced inland for security. The monks took their treasured book, which contains the four Gospels from the New Testament written in Latin, with them to the Abbey of Kells. There, the book stayed from the 9th century until 1541. While there, in 1051, the book was stolen, stripped of its jewel encrusted cover and tossed in a ditch, where it was recovered. During the Protestant Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church took possession of the Book of Kells to protect it and did not return it to Ireland until 1661. It has been housed in Dublin’s Trinity College since them. The Book of Kells is on permanent display but one cannot view more that one page per day. Although it is a one of kind, the Cleveland Public Library owns a fine facsimile copy of this Irish masterpiece and is available to be viewed in its entirety in the Special Collections Department.

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Cleveland Institute of Art Chess Sets and Artists Books

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 20:35:00 GMT

For the past three years, Professor Barbara Stanczak, of the Cleveland Institute of Art, challenges her Foundation Design students to create a unique chess set or artists’ book using materials and tools they are unfamiliar with and brings them to the Special Collections Department for inspiration.

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Jones's Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of the Birds of Ohio

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 22:16:00 GMT

In 1876, Genevieve Jones, a young woman from Circleville, Ohio was inspired to contribute to the field of ornithology after seeing John James Audubon’s Birds of America on display in Philadelphia. She would contribute by creating an illustrated collection of the nests and eggs of birds found in Ohio. Genevieve and her father, Dr. Nelson Jones, both amateur naturalists, and her friend Eliza Shulze decided to take on the task, which proved so huge that it would take seven years to complete and nearly $14,000 to complete. Howard Jones, Genevieve’s younger brother collected the nests and eggs and took field notes while Genevieve and Eliza drew them, once on paper and then on stone to make a plate to print the image with, a technique called lithography. The finished stones were taken to Cincinnati to be professionally printed on the finest quality paper. Then the plates were released in 20 sets at a cost of $5 per set for color and $2.50 per set for black and white.

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