Happy Birthday Jean D.
Posted: June 30, 2011 Filed under: Art Library | Tags: art, Art Library, Jean Dubuffet, Kentucky Center Leave a comment »
Perceval and Faribolus by Jean Dubuffet, at the Kentucky Center.
French artist Jean Dubuffet was born in Le Havre on July 3, 1901. Two of his works can be see in Louisville at the Kentucky Center on Main Street.
Perceval and Faribolus are part of a cycle of work called Hourloupes, a name Dubuffet created because he liked the sound. Perceval, a knight in Arthurian legend and Faribolus, which means nonsense in French, were inspired by ballet and are just two of an eleven figure series.
The Hourloupes derived from Dubuffet’s doodling with red and blue pens. The sculptures are made from Styropor, a fragile white plastic which Dubuffet cut with a heated wire, using it like a brush.
Stop by the Kentucky Center to see the sculptures, then come to the Art Library and find out more about Dubuffet and his work.
The many uses of the Henry Clay Building
Posted: June 22, 2011 Filed under: Collections, Photographs | Tags: digital collections, Henry Clay building, Louisville, photographs Leave a comment »You may have attended special events — a wedding, reception, formal dinner, or even a prom — at the 88-year-old Henry Clay building located at the southwest corner of 3rd Street and Chestnut Street, but have you ever wondered what else has happened in this building?
Henry Clay Hotel, Louisville, Kentucky, 1935.
Originally an Elks Athletic Club, the Henry Clay was built in 1924 and designed by local architectural firm Joseph & Joseph in a neo-classical revival style. Four years later, the Elks moved out and the building was re-purposed as the Henry Clay Hotel. Images in the Royal Photo Co. collection show that Southern Bell frequently held classes for employees there.
In 1963, the building took on a new life as a YWCA. Some people may remember taking swimming lessons in the building (sadly, the pool no longer exists). There are painted signs on the south side of the building along the alleyway that connects to Third Street pointing to the Pool Entrance.
Reception area, 1924.
Although added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, eventually, the building fell into disuse and sat empty for many years. Since 2005, however, the Henry Clay has been owned by City Properties Group, which restored the building to much of its original splendor, including limestone floors and ornate molding in the lobby. Lower floors are used for event space and house the Bunbury Theatre, while the upper levels have residential apartments and condos.
Browse these and other images at the University of Louisville Digital Collections in the Images of Kentucky and its Environs and Royal Photo Company collections.
Southern Bell class in the Henry Clay basement, 1946.
UofL Photographic Archives now on Historypin
Posted: June 20, 2011 Filed under: Collections, Photographs | Tags: Google, Historypin, Louisville, Maps, photographs Leave a comment »
The University of Louisville Photographic Archives is now contributing historic photographs of Louisville to Historypin.com. Utilizing Google Street Maps and Street View technology, historic scenes of streets, neighborhoods, cities, and all kinds of other locations can be compared to current day views. Institutions and individual users from around the globe are adding photographs from their archives to the Historypin map to create a time-traveling look at places all over the world. Do you want to see what Bardstown Road looked like in 1930? Did you know that the view of 2nd and Main Streets has not changed much since 1913, or that the building on the corner of 37th and Broadway used to be a firehouse?
Visit www.historypin.com/profile/view/UniversityofLouisvillePhotographicArchives/ for a look at Louisville’s past.
Historypin map of Louisville
The UofL ETD Collection
Posted: June 17, 2011 Filed under: Collections | Tags: digital collections, Dissertation, ETD, Graduate school, Thesis, University of Louisville 1 Comment »Did you know that the University of Louisville Libraries have a digital collection of over 700 theses and dissertations from U of L graduates, ranging from the current year all the way back to the early 1900s?
Well, we do. It is called the University of Louisville Electronic Theses & Dissertations!
Since 2002, we have been building a collection of color digital copies of theses and dissertations that were written by U of L students. This effort was inspired by an international trend of institutions migrating to electronic theses and dissertations in order to provide free worldwide access to these titles and to enable graduate students to include digital media in their works.
The collection covers a broad range of topics from the fields of art, engineering, medicine, dentistry, history, education, politics, theater, social work, and many more. We also have several titles in our collection in which the author earned a joint degree with U of L from either the University of Kentucky or Western Kentucky University.
I have been working with this collection since 2004 and it has been quite an experience watching it grow over the years. It is my hope that more and more graduates will choose to participate in this free service that gives their work more visibility through the World Wide Web.
For more information, frequently asked questions, statistics about the collection, and to find out how your work can become part of this collection, click here.
Papers of Feminist/Activist Allie Hixson
Posted: June 14, 2011 Filed under: Collections, People, University Archives & Records Center | Tags: Feminism, Kentucky Women Leave a comment »The University of Louisville Archives and Records Center is happy to announce the opening of the Allie Corbin Hixson (1924-2007) papers for research use. The bulk of collection dates from 1970 to 2004, with the largest portion of the collection contained in series titled “Organizational Work” (13.75 linear feet) and “Topical and Reference” (6.25 linear feet).
Allie Hixson was co-organizer of the Kentucky Pro-ERA Alliance and the Kentucky Women’s Agenda Coalition, and was elected chair of the Kentucky International Woman’s Year in 1977. She also led the Kentucky delegation to National Women’s Conference in Houston and served as one of the vice-chairs (1977). She was a founder of the Louisville Chapter of the Older Women’s League and was active in the American Association of University Women, Business and Professional Women, and Rural American Women. Allie Hixson and Riane Eisler co-authored ERA Facts and Guide which was published in 1986 and continues to be the definitive guide to the Equal Rights Amendment. The largest portion of the collection is contained in series titled “Organizational Work” (13.75 linear feet) and “Topical and Reference” (6.25 linear feet).
In the very near future, the finding aid to the collection will be available in MINERVA, UofL’s online catalog. Just search Hixson under author and click on the listing for her papers.
Works Progress Administration Maps
Posted: June 13, 2011 Filed under: Collections, Government Documents, University Archives & Records Center | Tags: Housing, Maps, Works Progress Administration Leave a comment »I have a great fondness for the products of the Works Progress Administration. I think it’s fascinating that the U.S. government found a way to hire unemployed workers during the Great Depression to protect land and build infrastructure, create art, and document society (and I love that, as a product of the U.S. Government, these materials are in the public domain!).
Some of the documentation, such as the collecting of slave narratives, reached back into the past but occurred just in time, before all those who remembered living in slavery were gone. Other projects documented then-contemporary society, providing a very detailed view of life in the United States during the 1930s. One such project was the “Real property survey and low income housing area survey of Louisville, Kentucky,” which is now available online via the University of Louisville Libraries Digital Collections. This set of 15 maps, created in March 1939, depicts information about Louisville housing and its owners/renters, including housing in poor condition and lacking private bathrooms; average monthly rental values; and race of household.
Urban studies enthusiasts and those following the Louisville Metro Housing Authority’s Hope VI initiatives may be among those interested in these historical maps.
Intermediate EndNote Workshop
Posted: June 13, 2011 Filed under: Ekstrom Library, Technology Leave a comment »Ready to create custom groups and cite while you write in Microsoft Word? EndNote users who want to learn additional features are encouraged to attend an intermediate EndNote session in Room W102, Ekstrom Library, June 15, 10 a.m.-11 a.m., with an optional 30 minutes for practice and questions immediately following the session.
Register at http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dHpycURzZWplUVNjM1I4aHpwSjhsTHc6MA
Take me out to the ballgame!
Posted: June 10, 2011 Filed under: Art Library, Collections | Tags: Art Library, baseball cards Leave a comment »Tobacco, candy, and chewing gum companies printed trade cards or advertising cards to include with their products. The Art Library received a collection of these cards from Leonard Brecher in 1969. The majority of the cards are baseball players but there are also cards with bird images. Visit the Leonard Brecher Tobacco & Chewing Gum Card Collection, part of the Libraries’ digital collections, to see more of the tobacco cards.
Below is a picture of Thomas E. Downey who played for the Cincinnati Reds starting in 1910.
Faculty Book Delivery Service
Posted: June 8, 2011 Filed under: Books, Ekstrom Library Leave a comment »The Ekstrom Library now has a book delivery service for full-time faculty on the Belknap campus. Here is how it works:
First: Submit the signed use agreement forms One from the Department Chair, one from the individual faculty member. Both are required for the book delivery service.
The forms are located at:
Book Delivery Faculty Agreement Form
Book Delivery Department Agreement Form
Once the forms are received, the department will be added to our route.
Second: Submit your book request through your Interlibrary Loan account as a Document Delivery request.
Third: Sit back, relax, and wait for your book to be delivered to your department. Since we do not deliver to individual offices your department will distribute the books.
For more information click here or call 852-6757.
Charles Manson is in the Library
Posted: June 6, 2011 Filed under: Databases, Music Library, Technology Leave a comment »
Is Charles Manson really in the library? Yes, but not physically.
You can listen to his album Lie, the Love and Terror Cult, along with many other recording artists in the database American Song.
American Song is a history database that allows people to hear and feel the music from America’s past. Songs by and about American Indians, miners, immigrants, slaves, anti-war protests, the Civil War, and more are included.
