An Advertisement For A 1769 Slave Auction.Imagine you're an amateur genealogist. You want to learn more about the history of your family. Where do you start? By tracing legal records bearing your family name, of course. But what if in the legal census, the age, race, and gender of your ancestors was recorded but never their names. What if your family members were considered not people but property?This is the dilemma facing not only genealogists but historians when they wish to find out more about the estimated 12 million men, women, and children who came to the United States not...
Strawberry Hill Forever
Horace Walpole's Castle, Strawberry Hill.When you think of haunted houses, tortured heroes, mysterious femmes fatales, ghosts, werewolves, vampires, and dark and stormy nights, what author comes to mind? Perhaps Stephen King, Stephenie Meyer, or Anne Rice? Probably not Horace Walpole. But fans of The Shining, Twilight, and Interview With The Vampire might not be enjoying their favorite scary stories if not for the inventor of the Gothic novel, Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford. Yale's Center For British Art and Lewis Walpole Library have collaborated with The Victoria and Albert Museum to create an exquisite exhibit celebrating the birthplace of...
Morgan Library’s Christmas Gift: Display of Dickens’ Decisive Deletions
Charles Dickens' Manuscript On Display At The Morgan Library. (Photo By Angel Franco for The New York Times.)The Morgan Library and Museum in Manhattan is offering modern readers a chance to see the creative process behind Victorian literature's most enduring holiday tale, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The library, housed in an Italian renaissance style palazzo in Murray Hill, holds the original manuscript of the story, written and rewritten in Dickens' own hand. According to Alison Leigh Cowan of The New York Times, the manuscript goes on display each year at the Morgan, but under glass, with only a single...
African American Archivist’s Dream Must Not Be Deferred
Avery Clayton (1947-2009)Avery Clayton lived long enough to find a home for the largest collection of African American artifacts on the West Coast. But not long enough to see the treasure trove of rare books, manuscripts, photographs, feature films and ephemera, his mother's life's work, made available to the public. Mr. Clayton died suddenly on Thursday, while hosting a Thanksgiving dinner. He was 62 years old.Mayme A. Clayton (1923-2006)Clayton's mother, Mayme, spent 40 years amassing materials on African American history from every source imaginable: garage sales, flea markets, attics, used-book stores, and even dumps. She rescued thousands of rare books,...
Charity Begins At The Library
Libraries may be struggling with cuts in hours, staff, and budgets but that doesn't mean those institutions have forgotten that some folks are worse off than they are. Below is a very short, and NOT at all inclusive list of libraries that are sponsoring charitable efforts to make the holidays happier for everyone:The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas is asking quilters to make wounded soldiers more comfortable. The “Quilts of Valor” challenge seeks display worthy quilts for an exhibit on Veteran's Day in 2010. After the exhibition, the quilts will be donated to wounded troops.The Red Hook...