February 2018 Archives

March 21, 2017

Two "Treasures" this week: a 75th anniversary screening of Hitchcock's SHADOW OF A DOUBT (7:00pm Tuesday, February 27) and "An Evening with Norman Weissman" (7:00pm Wednesday, February 28), both at the Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall Street in New Haven. "Treasures from the Yale Film Archive" screenings are always free and open to everyone. Learn more.

Post on February 25, 2018 - 7:00pm |

February 22, 2018

Construction site sign

The Special Collections Reading Room at the Gilmore Music Library will be closed from Monday, March 12 through Friday, March 16. The exterior windows in the Music Library office suite are going to be replaced, and we expect the construction work to be noisy and disruptive. If you need to do special collections research that week, let us know, and we’ll try to make alternative arrangements for you.

Post on February 22, 2018 - 3:11pm |

March 21, 2017

Join us for the Yale Collection of Classic Films 50th Anniversary Celebration, featuring a selection of silent films with live musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin. 5:30pm reception, 7:00pm screening, Friday, February 23, in the Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall Street in New Haven. "Treasures from the Yale Film Archive screenings are always free and open to everyoneLearn more.

Post on February 14, 2018 - 7:00pm |

February 13, 2018

A trial for a Chinese language database, China Comprehensive Gazetteers 中國綜合方誌庫, has been set up for Yale University users from now to March 12, 2018. The database has been added to the Library’s Chinese studies research guide. Since the access is controlled by Yale IP ranges, you have to login Yale VPN first to get access from off-campus locations. User’s guide is available.

Produced in conjunction with the National Library of China, East View’s China Comprehensive Gazetteers (CCG) database presents a vast collection of Chinese local gazetteers spanning eight centuries 1229-1949. Chinese gazetteers are one of the rich resources available for researching China in multiple aspects, including its political history, literature, and religion, as well as the biographies of famous personages, its culture, economic development and its geography and natural history. More than just local gazetteers, CCG also includes source materials, dictionaries, specialized works on topography, palaces, gardens, travel and even foreign travel. This particular database contains approximately 7,000 titles (100,000 volumes) presented in image and/or full text to date. The database also supports both simplified and traditional Chinese search.

Please feel free to contact Michael Meng, Librarian for Chinese Studies, if you have any questions about the trial.

Post on February 13, 2018 - 10:38am |

February 12, 2018

Oxford Music Online Logo

Grove Music Online (aka Oxford Music Online) migrated to a new platform in December.  This migration happened suddenly and there are a number of bugs still being worked out. The Music Library Association (MLA) has a news blog on the Grove Music Online Update with issues and tips that may help you if you have questions about your search results or missing information, and we (your librarians at Yale) are not immediately available to help.  Music librarians in the US and Canada have been very active in reporting issues to Oxford University Press (OUP), and Anna-Lise Santella, Senior Editor of Grove Music Online, is updating MLA weekly with responses. OUP has assured us that many of the major issues will be resolved in the near future.  Feel free to report issues you find to us.

One of the most confusing features is the prominent “sign in” box in the upper left.  If you see Yale University above that, rest assured that the database recognizes your computer as being part of the Yale subscription, and you have full access to the content. The sign-in box is actually for individual subscribers; just ignore it.

The new platform will facilitate incorporation of articles from The Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd ed. (2013), and The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, 2nd ed. (2015), into Grove Music Online. At present some of the articles are in Grove Music Online but the complete texts of these recent editions are online through Oxford Reference. For a list of articles already present in Grove Music Online, see What’s New. Also of interest are the Subject Guides and Research Resources, now linked from a single page on the new platform, which include indexes (such as those from The New Grove Dictionary of Opera: opera incipits (first lines) and opera roles), and research resources that give overviews of scholarly resources, such as library collections and manuscripts.

Post on February 12, 2018 - 2:52pm |

February 9, 2018

Jason Moran. Photo Credit Left: macfound.org

New interviews: Since last summer, Oral History of American Music (OHAM) staff have conducted interviews with Robert Carl, Wayne Escoffery, Michael Gordon, Robert Kyr, David Lang, and Morton Subotnick. All interviews will be catalogued and transcribed and will be available to researchers in the near future. Consult OHAM's website on how to access these materials.

Future interviews: OHAM will continue its collaboration with the Yale School of Music by conducting video interviews with all first-year graduate composers.  With this initiative, OHAM contributes to the students’ professional experience and education by providing a serious interview opportunity while growing its collection by adding interviews with these promising young artists at the beginning of their careers. Interviews will be conducted in March prior to the Spring Break.

Instagram:  OHAM now has over 1200 followers on Instagram. OHAM welcomes 2018 with a new campaign: #OHAMbirthdays. OHAM will be sending birthday wishes to OHAM interviewees in it's Major Figures Collection. See for example these recent posts featuring Jason Moran and Neely Bruce, as well as Benny Golson.  

Post on February 9, 2018 - 11:48am |

February 13, 2018

Dame en Habit De Chambre,

Our latest exhibition, Treasures of Guitar and Lute Music from the Gilmore Music Library, opening February 13th 2018, spans more than 400 years. It includes two remarkable lute works from the late 16th and early 17th centuries: a treatise by Vincenzo Galilei (the father of the scientist Galileo Galilei) and a rare print of John Dowland’s Lacrimae. The guitar makes its appearance with a late 17th-century treatise by Gaspar Sanz. From the 19th century, we have a letter by the composer and guitarist Mauro Giuliani. The 20th century is represented by a guitar arrangement by Andrés Segovia, the most celebrated classical guitarist of his era, a study by the renowned Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, and a composition by Jack Vees, the director of Yale’s Center for Studies in Music Technology. Finally, we have selected three striking images from the library’s large collection of guitar iconography.

More information is available here. An online version of the exhibition is also available here

Post on February 7, 2018 - 8:09pm |

February 6, 2018

Cover of the book Iran: A Modern History by Professor Abbas Amanat, this month's Arts and Humanities Book Talk.

This history of modern Iran is an ambitious exploration of the story of a nation. It offers a revealing look at how events, people, and institutions are shaped by currents that sometimes reach back hundreds of years. Praised by critics as “a stately, scholarly study” and commended for “the grandeur of its ambition,” the book covers the complex history of the diverse societies and economies of Iran against the background of dynastic changes, revolutions, civil wars, foreign occupation, and the rise of the Islamic Republic.

Abbas Amanat combines chronological and thematic approaches, exploring events with lasting implications for modern Iran and the world. Drawing on diverse historical scholarship and emphasizing the twentieth century, he addresses debates about Iran’s culture and politics. Political history drives Amanat’s narrative, which is informed by decades of research and study. Amanat interweaves the book’s narrative with discussions of literature, music, and the arts; ideology and religion; economy and society; and cultural identity and heritage.

Professor Abbas Amanat will speak about his new book on February 27th in Sterling Memorial Library at 4:30-5:30PM. Coffee and cookies will provided before the talk at 4:00pm. 

Post on February 6, 2018 - 3:45pm |

February 7, 2018

"Highways, Byways, and Railways: Mapping Frederick Douglass' Journey in Britain"

February 7 at 2:30pm in Bass Library, L01

African American abolitionists made an indelible mark on nineteenth-century Britain. Their lectures were held in famous meeting halls, taverns, the houses of wealthy patrons, theatres, and churches across the country. Britons inevitably and unknowably walk past sites with a rich history of black activism every day. In this talk, Hannah-Rose Murray will discuss what digital humanities methods offer social historians, particularly when it comes to making activist histories more visible. 

Hannah-Rose Murray received a Ph.D. from the Department of American and Canadian Studies at the University of Nottingham and is currently a Fellow at the Gilder Lehrman Centre at Yale University. 

The event is open to the public. All are welcome to attend!

Post on February 1, 2018 - 9:24am |