May 2019 Archives

Among the graduates of the class of 1969 gathering on campus this weekend to celebrate their fiftieth reunion are dozens of authors. Forty-eight of their books—paired with brief author essays—are featured in a special exhibition in the Sterling Memorial Library Nave through Monday, June 3.

The titles and accompanying essays provide a glimpse into the diverse career arcs, avocations, and personal passions of the alumni. The range of topics includes the waterfalls of the White Mountains, international business arbitration, Burgundy wines, and  “a satirical recreation of the Beowulf legend.”

Several titles explore the lessons of history. Reed Hundt’s A Crisis Wasted: Barack Obama’s Defining Decisions analyzes choices made in the winter of 2008-09 about how the government would respond to the recession that Hundt believes led directly to the Trump presidency.

Thomas Hine, who has published widely on history, culture and design, has written about another kind of history in Populuxe, described as “a meditation – with pictures – on the world in which I and my fellow early boomers grew up.” Hine called the book “a gift from my childhood, a book I did not realized I had been researching all my life.

Other titles highlight different forms of creativity. Jay Castelli’s Who is This Tiny Child? contains the published words and music of a Christmas song he wrote. Classmate Marty Cohen chose to display an illustrated poetry collection, A Traveller’s Alphabet. William Stanisich’s Land’s End is a full-color monograph featuring his paintings of California’s Golden Gate Recreation Area.

“I have painted steadily since my days at Yale and continue to find inspiration in the light within the world around me,” Stanisich wrote.

A common thread is a life-long commitment to the printed word, often discovered or nurtured at Yale.

During his senior year, Michael Medved earned independent study credit for writing “a meandering, self-indulgent novel” that was never published. Instead, his writing led him to success as a non-fiction author with thirteen published books. For the exhibit, he chose to display The American Miracle: Divine Providence in the Rise of the Republic, a bestseller with a sequel coming out in November. 

“I’ve held oddly assorted jobs in a crowded life, among them reviewing movies and hosting a syndicated radio talk show for twenty-three years,” Medved concluded. “But I’ve always come back to book-writing, which still strikes me as a uniquely honorable and enduring endeavor.”

Authors from the Class of 1969 was organized by class member Jean-Pierre Jordan and produced by Yale University Library’s exhibition staff, under the direction of Exhibits Production Manager Kerri Sancomb. View the exhibit in the Nave of Sterling Memorial Library through Monday, June 3. 

-- Patricia M. Carey

Buckle up for a free 35mm screening of Speed Racer, starring Emile Hirsch in the title role. "This is a movie that is giddily, gorgeously overwhelming," wrote critic Tom Maurstad, "from the cool slow-motion to the Kubrick cartoons to the wormhole pyrotechnics to the kaleidoscopic bliss." Steven Rea said of the 2008 action-comedy from the Wachowskis, "Speed Racer offers a crazy, turbo-charged mix of cartoon kitsch, gamer action, and a wild new way to think of—and look at—movies." Christina Ricci, Matthew Fox, John Goodman, and Susan Sarandon co-star. 35mm print from the Yale Film Archive.

Visit the event page.

Time/Date:
7 p.m. Wednesday, July 17

Location:
Whitney Humanities Center Auditorium
53 Wall Street
New Haven, CT

What is Treasures from the Yale Film Archive?
Treasures from the Yale Film Archive is an ongoing series of classic and contemporary films in 35mm curated by the Yale Film Study Center and screened at the Whitney Humanities Center.

Yale University Library has selected six 2019 graduates to receive this year’s library prizes for outstanding senior essays. The prizes, awarded in three categories,  will be presented to the students at their residential college graduation ceremonies on May 20. The winning essays will be published online in Eli Scholar.

The Harvey M. Applebaum ’59 Award is for an essay using the library’s collections of government documents and information. This year, a first-prize of $500 and a second-prize of $250 will be awarded.

• First Prize: Pascale Bronder, Grace Hopper College, for Renewable Energy Access and Resilience in Urban Developing Areas: Distributed Solar Networks and Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading in Puerto Rico.
• Second Prize: Seamus C. Joyce-Johnson, Silliman College, for “Its Cargo Is People”: Repositioning Commuter Rail as Public Transit to Save the New York–New Haven Line, 1960–1990.

The Manuscripts and Archives Diane Kaplan Memorial Prize is for an essay based substantially on research in any Yale Manuscripts and Archives collection. The $500 prize will be presented to two students this year.

• Samuel Bennett, Ezra Stiles College, for “A Critic Friendly to McCarthy”: How William F. Buckley, Jr. Brought Senator Joseph R. McCarthy into the American Conservative Movement Between 1951 and 1959. 
• Ethan Swift, Pierson College, for Young Americans for Freedom and the Anti-War Movement: Pro-War Encounters with the New Left at the Height of the Vietnam War. 

The Library Map Prize recognizes the best use of maps in a senior essay or equivalent project. This year, a first prize of $500 and an honorable mention of $250 will be awarded.

• First Prize: Claire Rossi de Leon, Pierson College, for Ranging and Behavior of Black and Gold Howler Monkeys in Formosa, Argentina
• Honorable Mention: Amanda Taheri, Branford College, for Settler Colonialism as a Structure: Interpreting Historic Moroccan Actions in Western Sahara

Photo Credit: Joanna Carmona

The 2019 library prizewinners are shown, from left to right: Pascale Bronder ‘19, Amanda Taheri ‘19, Ethan Swift ‘19, Samuel Bennett ‘19, Seamus C. Joyce-Johnson ‘19, and Claire Rossi de Leon ‘19

Explore the new journalism of Janet Malcolm, the origins of celebrity party photos, biblical art books, pioneering women in music at Yale, how to conserve your family treasures, Supreme Court bobbleheads, the beauty of rare book bindings, and the history of evolutionary biology at Yale in eight exhibitions at Yale's libraries this spring and summer. All are free and open to the public. 

The Courtroom, the Couch, and the Archive: Janet Malcolm's Journalism

Janet Malcom entered the writing world in the late 1950s, just as “new journalism” was about to emerged. This student-curated exhibit draws from her papers at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, as well as other Beinecke and Manuscripts and Archives collections, to illuminate how she pieced together the stories of others and, eventually, of herself. May 13 – Oct. 6, Sterling Memorial Library Exhibition Corridor, 120 High Street Life of the Party:

Text and Image: Book Artists Engage with the Hebrew Bible

An exhibit about biblical art books shows how several modern artists interpret and reinterpret books in the Hebrew Bible from Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis to the Book of Ruth. May 17 – Sept. 16, Haas Family Arts Library, 180 York Street

Jerome Zerbe and the Social Photograph & Michael Childers: Author! Author!

The golden age of nightclubbing never looked better than in the photographs of Jerome Zerbe, a Yale graduate who captured actors, socialites, and other wealthy groups, as well as scenes in the South Pacific during World War II. This exhibition uses Zerbe as a lens for understanding the rise of celebrity over the past century and how framing images of people sharing in celebration became a practice that continues today. May 16 – Aug. 12, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, 121 Wall Street

From Molecules to Ecosystems: The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale

Yale’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology explores the stunning variety and myriad interactions of life on earth. Ecology and evolutionary biology faculty, students, and researchers study processes and systems that have implications for the treatment of human diseases, the development of biotechnology, and the conservation of biodiversity. April 8 – Sept. 30, Center for Science & Social Science Information, Kline Biology Tower, 219 Prospect Street

Musical Daughters of Eli: Women Pioneers at Yale

A new exhibit highlights first women at Yale who found different paths to music despite unequal opportunities. Materials on display include music manuscripts, a book based on the dissertation of one of the first women to earn a Ph.D. in music from Yale, and news coverage of the university’s first female a cappella group. Feb. 25 – June 16, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, 120 High Street

Legally Binding: Fine and Historic Book Bindings from the Yale Law Library

Many of the historic volumes in the Lillian Goldman Law Library are significant not only for their texts, but for their extraordinary bindings. More than 20 of these have been selected for their beauty, craftsmanship, functionality, and historical significance. Feb. 1 – May 30, Lillian Goldman Law Library, 127 Wall Street

Wobbling Justice: Supreme Court Justices Bobbleheads

Twenty-five Supreme Court justice bobbleheads and a handful of others who are not justices, such as Harold Koh, former dean of Yale Law School, will be on display. The selection of bobbleheads will be changed every few weeks. The current exhibit features Justices Harry A. Blackmun, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Clarence Thomas, David J. Brewer, Benjamin R. Curtis, and Louis D. Brandeis. Throughout the summer, Lillian Goldman Law Library, 127 Wall Street

Pass It On: Preserving Our Collective and Personal Cultural Heritage

This exhibit showcases the artistic, surgical, scientific, and technological solutions executed by preservation specialists and conservation experts together with advice to the public on adapting these solutions to preserving and conserving their personal and family treasures. April 15 – July 12, Sterling Memorial Library Memorabilia Room, 120 High Street