As we say good-bye to 2011 and welcome 2012, the staff of the Rubenstein Library would like to thank its researchers, fans, and supporters. This has been an incredibly busy and exciting year!
New Year's Eve Card, Postcard Collection
Highlights were the generous gifts from David M. Rubenstein and Merle Hoffman. The library formerly known as the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library is now the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Bingham Center Director Laura Micham is now the Merle Hoffman Director.
We also welcomed wonderful new colleagues! The History of Medicine Collections and their curator, Rachel Ingold, joined us in July. We are thrilled to add these rich materials, which beautifully complement our existing collections, and such a knowledgeable colleague. We were delighted to welcome Valerie Gillispie as our new Duke University Archivist and Kat Stefko as Head of Technical Services. Finally, Molly Bragg, former Drill Intern, has returned to work as our move coordinator, assisting us in preparing for renovation.
The excitement will continue in 2012 as plans for the Rubenstein renovation are finalized.
We wish you all health, happiness, and plenty of good books (and manuscripts!) in the New Year!
Published for more than 30 years from Joseph Blumenthal’s Spiral Press, the poems were often written specifically for this purpose.
Robert Frost's The Wood-Pile
The Rubenstein Library has an excellent collection of Frost’s books, chapbooks, broadsides, and other ephemera. Part of the important Trent family collections, the Frost collection is kept in the Trent Room, fittingly with the Walt Whitman collection.
Robert Frost's One More Brevity
Rubenstein’s Frost collection sometimes includes multiple copies of particular winter poems. Occasionally, a copy will come with an inscription from the poet or a comic or personal remark.
Note included with Robert Frost's Does no one but me at all ever feel this way in the least
For more information about Rubenstein’s literature collections, visit our literature library guide.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, time for you (and us) to trade in boxes of archival materials for boxes of colorfully-wrapped presents!
The Rubenstein Library will be closed for the holidays from December 23 to January 2. We’ll reopen on January 3, 2012, at 9:00 AM, ready for a new semester of excellent research. Check out our website for full details.
For Sally: Topper Toys advertised a line of Suzy Homemaker® products for girls who were “square” because they washed regularly, wore shoes rather than beads, and got “more fun out of being a cook than a kook.” Rebellious Sally will surely love spending the day cleaning with her new Vacuum and Super Sweeper, baking Dad a chocolate cake with the High Speed Mixer and Safety Oven, and then getting gussied up at the Vanity before she sneaks out to see Glen. The perfect gift to reinforce traditional gender roles (or perhaps the best way to create a feminist)!
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For Roger Sterling: What could be better than Milton Bradley’s Drop in the Bucket game, the highlight of the next office holiday party! Apparently it was “so zip-zap new” that you would be “hailed like Columbus for discovering it.” Who else would have the nerve to strap a net to his waist as coworkers try to drop “bouncy cubes” in it? Just add a few martinis and watch the merriment commence!
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For Megan: Jewelry is the obvious choice for Don’s new young wife, and nothing says “I love you” more than the tagline “Fake hair, fake nails, fake lashes, but real jewelry.” Only the best for his lovely bride!
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For Betty: Don still has a soft spot for his ex-wife, so he needs to find something that says “Merry Christmas and I’m sorry I never told you my real name.” How about astrology soap on a rope! “Boldly sculptured” in “fragrances and colours to match every personality,” I’m sure he will find the one that fits Betty’s polished, repressed and passive aggressive nature.
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And Don, don’t forget Rover! French’s People Crackers for Dogs would be the perfect choice for the furry member of his family. The dog can literally take a bite out of the mailman, the policeman, and even the dogcatcher!
Don will surely be thirsty after all that shopping. Since he is cutting back on alcohol, why unwind with some drink ideas from Campbell’s Soup? Perhaps he could make Tomato Ice by freezing Tomato Soup, or chill some Consommé until it jellies and serve it with “a lemon slice, cucumber or sour cream.” And who doesn’t love Beef Broth on the Rocks “poured right from the can over ice”? That’s what we call “Mmm Mmm Good!” (This ad is from the Roy Lightner Collection of Antique Advertisements.)
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Happy Holidays from the Hartman Center!
Post contributed by Jackie Reid, Director of the Hartman Center, and Liz Shesko, Hartman Center intern.
Sorting through the unprocessed contents of an archival collection can be compared to a treasure hunt – sometimes you find an unexpected gem that produces an impromptu “ooh,” but then after the initial excitement wears off, you have to figure out what you’re actually looking at and then decide what to do with it.
A mystery box of Foundation Models (100 scale)
A small box marked “Foundation Models (100 scale)” found in one of the unprocessed boxes of the Foundation for Southeast Asian Art and Culture (SEAAC) records was one of those discoveries. Inside the box were fourteen miniature buildings, ranging from about ½ inch to 1¼ inches in size and elaborately constructed from a thin cardboard material. After a bit of investigative work using the other records in the collection, I found that the miniatures were part of a model of a Thai Village Complex that Doris Duke planned to build in Hawaii during the 1960s. The set of miniatures were quickly dubbed the “Tiny Thai Village.”
3 pieces from the Tiny Thai Village
An avid world traveler, Doris Duke fell in love with the art and culture of Thailand during a trip to the country in 1957. It is likely that this visit inspired her to create a Thai village in Hawaii with houses similar to those she had seen. The establishment of SEAAC in June of 1961 resulted in a project that Doris Duke saw as a gift to the people of Hawaii, and one that occupied her for many years. At least five sites in Hawaii were considered for the Thai Village and it was the choice of an appropriate location that ultimately proved the stumbling block to completion of the project. Her dream of a Thai Village was never realized, however Doris Duke’s interest in Asia continued and she purchased art objects right up until her death in 1993.
Now that I knew what these miniatures were, I needed to determine how to make them accessible to researchers. As both the size and delicacy of the objects were obvious barriers, the need for expertise help in creating practical housing for the Tiny Thai Village was essential. Fortunately for the Rubenstein Library, we have a crack team of conservators who like a good challenge. To read how the puzzle of the Tiny Thai Village was resolved, see the Preservation Underground blog.
Post contributed by Mary Samouelian, Doris Duke Collection Archivist.
Our Game Night to celebrate the opening of the Edwin and Terry Murray Collection of Role-Playing Games was great fun! Thanks to all who took a break from studying and the hectic holiday season to attend on Tuesday. Here are a few photos from a memorable night.
Students enjoy examining a sample of the thousands of games in the RPG collection.L to R: Rubenstein Director Naomi Nelson talks with collection donors Terry and Edwin Murray.Materials in the collection related to Dungeons and Dragons, the original role-playing game.Kids of all ages enjoy a game of "Castle Panic."
Thanks to Nelda Webb for these photos. For more on the Edwin and Terry Murray Collection of Role-Playing Games and Game Night, check out our earlier post, the “Top 5 Role-Playing Games You Haven’t Heard Of” (via Duke Today), and this article by Neil Offen in the Durham Herald-Sun. And check out this excellent bonus photo from Game Night, by Beth Doyle!
The Archive of Documentary Arts monthly blog post highlights work in our holdings that has been digitized. This month, we remember the great Mississippi Delta Bluesman, Honeyboy Edwards (1915-2011), through the photography of Cedric Chatterley. Cedric traveled with Honeyboy extensively on the national and international concert circuit. He also visited Honeyboy in Chicago and photographed the South Side in winter. To see more of Cedric Chatterley’s photographs of Honeyboy Edwards, visit the library’s online exhibit site. To learn more about the photography of Cedric Chatterley take a look at the catalog record that describes his collection to date. Eventually, Cedric Chatterley’s life’s work will be housed in the Archive of Documentary Arts.
Amtrak passing through the Southside heading north, Chicago, Illinois, winter, 1995.
Parking lot for a fish store on Chicago's Southside. Regular deliveries of live fish come from Mississippi and other states, winter, 1994.Friends of Honeyboy Edwards jamming in a storefront on South 47th Street, Chicago, Illinois, winter, 1995.Honeyboy Edwards at home on South Wells near 43rd Street, Chicago, Illinois, winter, 1994.
Post contributed by Karen Glynn, Photography Archivist, Archive of Documentary Arts.
This was another busy semester for Rubenstein librarians, who taught or co-taught more than 70 classes between September and early December! The classes ranged widely in subject, from feminist comics to medical history.
One exciting event, nicknamed “Anatomy Day,” brought 100 medical students to the Gothic Reading Room to investigate historical anatomical atlases and other books and manuscripts from the History of Medicine Collections. Rachel Ingold, Curator of the History of Medicine Collections, led a team of Rubenstein librarians in presenting these treasures to the students.
Rachel Ingold, Curator of the History of Medicine Collections
A few of the Duke classes that met in the Rubenstein Library this past semester are:
Beyond Wonder Women: Comic and Graphic Novel Feminisms
History of Photography, 1839 to the Present
Documentary Photography and the Southern Culture Landscape
Early Soviet Culture 1917-1934
American Slavery/Emancipation
Accelerated Intermediate Italian
On the Boundaries of Medicine
The Physician in History
Hidden Children
Dante and the Afterlife of the Book
We also hosted classes from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.
The Rubenstein staff offers a vast array of class instruction and support options. Please contact us to learn more about what the Rubenstein staff can do for your class!
Searching for the perfect gift for that special Duke fan on your list?
We’d like to suggest the Duke University Archives’ new book, Duke Illustrated: A Timeline of Duke University History, 1838-2011. This beautiful, 80-page, full-color history of the events, traditions, and people that have made Duke one of the world’s leading research universities is the product of almost four decades of research by University Archives staff.
Donors who contribute $50 or more to the Duke University Archives will receive a complimentary copy of Duke Illustrated (and become a member of the Friends of the Duke University Libraries)—so it’s a double gift! Not only will you be sharing Duke University history with your loved ones, you’ll be ensuring that the University Archives is able to continue its work to preserve Duke’s rich historical legacy.
Order your copy today via our secure website. We’ll send it directly from our wintry Gothic Wonderland to your or your lucky recipient’s home! (Orders placed by December 15th should be delivered in time for the holidays!)
Catch Ben Lowy’s exhibit, “Iraq|Perspectives: Photographs by Benjamin Lowy,” in the Rubenstein Library Gallery through December 11.
Can’t make it to the Rubenstein Library? There is an online exhibit as well, where you can view Lowy’s award-winning photographs and listen to a recording of his talk about his work, given here at the Rubenstein Library this past November.
