May 2009 Archives

May 1, 2009

Annual Report of the Librarian Now Available

The Yale University Librarian's annual report for 2007-2008 is now available and can be accessed here.

Posted by Yale University Library on May 1, 2009 9:22 AM

May 5, 2009

16th Lewis Walpole Library Lecture

Lynn Hunt, Eugen Weber Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles, will present the 16th Lewis Walpole Library Lecture on Friday, May 8 at 5:30 p.m. Professor Hunt will speak on "Visualizing Religious Difference: Picart's Religious Ceremonies and Customs of All the Peoples of the World (1723-1737)."

The lecture is free and open to the public and will be held in the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel Street. Please note that seating is limited. A reception will follow in the Library Court.

The Lewis Walpole Library is a research library for eighteenth-century studies and the prime source for the study of Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill. Its collections include significant holdings of eighteenth-century British books, manuscripts, prints, drawings and paintings, as well as important examples of the decorative arts. Housed in an historic frame house in Farmington and given to Yale by Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis and Annie Burr Lewis, the Lewis Walpole Library is a department of Yale University Library, open to researchers by appointment.

Posted by Yale University Library on May 5, 2009 10:11 AM

May 6, 2009

New online exhibit: Starry Messenger

Starry Messenger: Observing the Heavens in the Age of Galileo

In the autumn of 1609, the Italian mathematician and astronomer Galileo Galilei turned his telescope to the heavens. When, in 1610, Galileo published his Sidereus Nuncius, or Starry Messenger, the German astronomer Johannes Kepler responded with enthusiasm, praising the significance of Galileo’s observations. This online exhibition reveals European observations of the heavens from the sixteenth through the eighteenth century.

Posted by Rebekah Irwin on May 6, 2009 3:24 PM

A new blog at the Beinecke Library

The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library recently published a new blog, General Modern at Beinecke. This new blog highlights the Beinecke Library's European collections with particular attention to avant-garde movements of the twentieth century.

Explore this new blog and others at the Beinecke's Blogs & Podcasts page.

Posted by Rebekah Irwin on May 6, 2009 3:33 PM

May 12, 2009

New Netcast: Living Distance

Living Distance: The Life and Papers of James Welch

James Welch, an American of Blackfeet and Gros Ventre heritage, was a novelist, poet, and teacher. He was born on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, Montana and died in 2003. His papers are held at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, at Yale University. This audio essay, prepared by Eric Ward '09 and read by Presca Ahn '09, explores the writer’s life and legacy.

This netcast is available here or on Yale University on iTunes U.

Posted by Rebekah Irwin on May 12, 2009 10:47 AM

May 22, 2009

Memorial Day Hours

For information on opening and closing hours across the Library system over the Memorial Day weekend, visit www.library.yale.edu/hours.

Sterling Memorial Library will be open on Saturday, May 23 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. and Sunday, May 24 from 12 noon to 2:45 p.m. (Baccalaureate Day). The Library will be closed on Monday, May 25 in observance of Memorial Day.

Posted by Yale University Library on May 22, 2009 9:21 AM

May 26, 2009

University Library Awards Senior Essay Prizes

University Library Awards Prizes for Senior Essays

Yale University Library has awarded several prizes to exceptional senior essays that were written based on research in its collections.

Lauren Sonderegger, a History and Biology major, won this year's Beinecke Library Prize in Early Modern European Studies for her essay, "War and Bureaucracy in the Seventeenth-Century Mediterranean: Evidence from the Correspondence of a Papal Official." Sonderegger’s research drew on the Beinecke’s Spinelli Family Papers and in particular on the correspondence of the seventeenth-century Florentine official Giovanni Baldocci.

Manuscripts and Archives awarded prizes to Jennifer K. Lin and Kevin Michel. Lin was honored for her essay on Yale history, "From Chemical Terror to Clinical Trial: The Development of Chemotherapy at Yale in World War II." Michel’s essay “A Struggle Between Brothers: A Reexamination of the Idea of a Cohesive Conservative Movement Through the Intellectual Life and Personal Conflict Surrounding L. Brent Bozell," was based on research in the department’s manuscript collections. Prizes were generously underwritten by Donald F. Melhorn, Jr., class of 1957.

The Harvey M. Applebaum ’59 Award went to Lauren Harrison for her International Studies senior essay “Of Rice and Riots: The Effect of Food Price Increases on Political Stability in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Data from the Government Documents and Information Center’s Food and Agriculture Organization collection were critical to Harrison’s analysis. The Applebaum Award was established by the family of Harvey M. Applebaum, class of 1959, and first awarded in 2008.

This year’s Map Prize was awarded to Christopher Lewine for “Parental Valuation of School Quality in Connecticut.” Levine made extensive use of the resources of the Map Department and Geographic Information Systems Support Services to analyze the relationship between school quality and housing prices. The prize was established in 1949 with an endowment from Mrs. Arthur W. Butler.

Posted by Yale University Library on May 26, 2009 11:18 AM

May 27, 2009

Yale University Library Open House

Saturday May 30, 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
Sterling Memorial Library, 120 High Street
Free and open to the public | Fun for the whole family

Events in the Nave

Welcome and Information Table: Library brochures, information, and publications

History and Treasures of the East Asia Library: Meet library staff as they display highlights from Yale's East Asian studies collections. Materials on display will include some older and unusual books in Chinese and Japanese, some of them donations from distinguished Yale alumni, as well as some illustrated books from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in European languages.

Documents to the People: The Government Documents & Information Center at Yale: The Government Documents & Information Center is a depository for documents from the U.S. federal government, Canadian federal government, United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization, and the European Union. Its rich collections support research in a wide range of subjects, including international relations, public policy, economics, trade, agriculture, environmental studies, public health, and much more. Depository collections – whether print volumes in Yale’s stacks or digital information online -- are available for use by both Yale affiliates and the public.

The Ministry Resource Center, Yale Divinity Library: Explore resources (print, DVD, CD, etc.) for leading congregations and agencies on social justice, worship, all age groups, learning and carrying out projects on "everything congregations/agencies care about."

Historical Sound Recordings Collection: The purpose of the Yale Collection of Historical Sound Recordings (HSR) is to collect, preserve, and make available for study historical recordings of performers important in the fields of Western classical music, jazz, American musical theater, drama, literature, and history (including oratory). A member of the library staff will have examples of several formats of sound recordings from the collection for viewing, as well as some audio for listening.

Lillian Goldman Law Library: Learn about the Law Library's resources, including one of the world's finest collections of print and online legal materials, and the various services offered to the Yale community. Take part in a library tour and discover the treasures hidden in this magnificent library, located within the heart of the Yale Law School complex.

In the Exhibits Corridor

Children’s Treasure Hunt (with prizes!): Introduce your children to the gargoyles, stained-glass windows and other wonders of Sterling Memorial Library. This activity is available from 11am-1 pm. The treasure hunt table will be in the exhibition corridor of SML.

Library Merchandise & Gift Table: Stop by and pick up some terrific Yale University Library merchandise, including tote bags, T-shirts, gift cards, and travel mugs. The merchandise table will be in the exhibition corridor of SML.

Exhibit: The Art of the Ketubah: A Study in Jewish Diversity: Celebrating the ketubah (plural ketubot), the marriage contract that Jewish law requires a groom to provide for his bride on their wedding day. The ketubot on display in the exhibit are from the Yale University Library’s Sholem Asch Collection and span from four centuries and many countries. This exhibit is in the display cases along the exhibition corridor.

Tours

Glass, Stone, Iron and Wood: The Architectural Decorations of Sterling Memorial Library led by International Program Support Librarian, Graziano Krätli. This tour focuses on the glass windows, stone carvings, ironwork and woodwork of one of the most remarkable and artistically relevant buildings on the Yale campus. The physical library as an encyclopedic compendium of signs, symbols, stories and legends. This tour will meet at 12 noon at the Circulation Desk.

Treasures of the Yale Library: Led by Geoffrey Little, YUL Communications Coordinator. This is a wonderful opportunity to see remarkable treasures that make up one of the world’s leading research libraries. The tour will begin at 11:15 a.m. at the Circulation Desk of the Sterling Memorial Library. Space is limited and participants will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library: The Library contains the principal rare books and literary manuscripts of Yale University and serves as a center for research by students, faculty, and other scholars, whether affiliated with Yale or not. Beinecke is one of the largest buildings in the world devoted entirely to rare books and manuscripts. Please come for a tour and hear about the myths and legends of a great research library. Oh, and the Gutenberg Bible and Audubon’s, Birds of America, are always on display. Meet on the Beinecke plaza at 1:00 PM.

Self-Guided tours of the architecture, stained glass, and reading rooms are also available at the Library’s High Street entrance.

Additional guided tours of the Sterling Memorial Library may be offered according to demand.

Events in the Memorabilia Room & Lecture Hall

Revisiting Old Yale: Judith Schiff, Chief Research Archivist and author of the Yale Alumni Magazine column, “Old Yale,” will draw from the vast archives for a look into Yale’s past. Presentations begin at 10 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. in the Lecture Hall

Events in Manuscripts and Archives

Manuscripts & Archives Open House: A rare chance to view close-up some of the treasures of this rich and diverse collection.

Posted by Yale University Library on May 27, 2009 2:33 PM

May 28, 2009

Model of the New Residential Colleges on Display in Memorabilia Room

The architectural model of Yale's two new residential colleges will be on display in the Sterling Memorial Library Memorabilia Room (128 Wall Street) for portions of this week and next. The impressive scale model is approximately 12 x 8 feet and places the new colleges in the context of the entire central Yale campus.

The model will be installed on May 28 and will be on view until Friday, May 29, when it will be moved to the rotunda of Woolsey Hall for the course of the upcoming reunion weekend. It will come back to Sterling on Monday, June 1 and will remain there until Friday, June 5, when it will again find itself in Woolsey Hall for the second reunion weekend.

Dean Robert A.M. Stern, the architect of the two colleges, will give a presentation to members of the Yale community on May 28 at 1:00 p.m. in the Sterling Memorial Library lecture hall. Dean Stern's presentation will also be recorded and will be made available via the University's channel on YouTube.

Posted by Yale University Library on May 28, 2009 10:58 AM