Derby season
Posted: May 2, 2013 Filed under: Archives & Special Collections, Collections, People, Photographs | Tags: digital collections, Kentucky Derby, Louisville Leader 1 Comment »
Louisville has been the proud host of the Kentucky Derby for the past 139 years. A Louisville Leader newspaper article (“Derby Visitors Feted As Hospitality Reigns“) from May 14, 1938 reports,
“Not only is Louisville famous for its annual event at Churchill Downs but it has also become famous for its many social courtesies extended those who visit at Derby time.”
The University of Louisville Libraries’ collections include visual and written documentation of Derby races and parties. Travel back in time to Derbies past through these images freely available in our Digital Collections.
UofL’s proud basketball history–online!
Posted: April 5, 2013 Filed under: Archives & Special Collections, Collections, University Archives & Records Center | Tags: basketball, digital collections, University of Louisville Cardinals, yearbooks Leave a comment »
Most Card fans know that the University of Louisville has a history of winning basketball teams–we are no strangers to championships. And we are no strangers to Wichita State: in February 1963, the University of Louisville Board of Trustees voted to join the Missouri Valley Conference, which then as now included the Wichita State Shockers.
50 years and three (soon to be four) conferences later, the University of Louisville Cardinals return to the NCAA Final Four men’s basketball tournament for the 10th time on Saturday night, facing their former conference rival.
Photos from the University of Louisville Yearbooks show past meetups between the teams, such as these from the 1966-1967 season, featuring Louisville greats Wes Unseld (#31) and Alfred “Butch” Beard (#14).
The University of Louisville’s women’s basketball team dates back to 1909 when the dean of Arts and Sciences, John L. Patterson, heeded the request of a handful interested in forming a team.
Check out our digitized U of L Yearbooks and Selected U of L images to find more women’s and men’s basketball history.
GO CARDS!
Day of Digital Archives 2012
Posted: October 12, 2012 Filed under: Art Library, Collections | Tags: Archives month, Art Library, baseball cards, digital collections, Leonard Brecher Leave a comment »
Joe Tinker of the Chicago Nationals.
October is Archives Month, and this October 12 is the Day of Digital Archives.
Kentucky has chosen a sports theme this year, and since it’s also baseball playoff season, so our Leonard Brecher Tobacco & Chewing Gum Card Collection is an apt digital collection to highlight.
These baseball cards housed in the Margaret M. Bridwell Art Library at the University of Louisville date back about 100 years, when advertising tobacco to young people was not yet considered objectionable, and the Chicago Cubs won games.
Shortstop Joe Tinker (at left) was one-third of the Chicago Cubs double-play lineup memorialized in the 1910 poem “Baseball’s Sad Lexicon,” by Franklin Pierce Adams. Images of his teammates Johnny Evers and Frank Chance are also available in the digital collection.
You can read the poem and the feats that inspired it in another digital archive, the Library of Congress’ American Memory website Baseball Cards 1887-1914 collection.
Remembering Helen Mazzoli
Posted: July 19, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized, University Archives & Records Center | Tags: digital collections, Helen Mazzoli, oral history Leave a comment »
The Mazzoli family at Romano Mazzoli’s swearing in to the Kentucky State Senate, 1968 (Kentucky Dept. of Public Information photo)
On June 18, 2012, Louisville lost a particularly wonderful citizen: Helen Mazzoli. I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Mazzoli as the University Archives & Records Center worked with her husband, Congressman Romano (Ron) Mazzoli, to process his papers and renovate our reading room in his honor. She was the kind of woman you meet and think, “Wow. I want to be like her when I grow up” — even if you are, technically, already well past that mark.
As part of the Mazzoli Papers Project, we conducted a series of oral history interviews with the Congressman’s staff and colleagues, as well as with his family. I had the privilege of interviewing Mrs. Mazzoli in January 2011. She deserved a far better interviewer, but she was a very gracious interviewee. While I enjoyed hearing about her work on Congressman Mazzoli’s campaigns, their life together while he was in Congress, and their time at Harvard after he left politics, my favorite story concerned her going to Hollywood at the age of three to audition for the movies. I won’t relate the entire story, as her interview is now available online, so you can hear her tell the story herself.
That is one of the beauties of oral history: hearing her tell her own story is far better than reading my words. And her voice, her inflection, her way of telling that story, is captured forever in this recording. Knowing that I’m helping to preserve this memory – and making it available to the public – is one of the best parts of my job as an archivist.
The Mazzoli Reading Room… and Much More
Posted: November 11, 2011 Filed under: Collections, Exhibits, Uncategorized, University Archives & Records Center | Tags: archives, digital collections, oral histories, politics, Ron Mazzoli Leave a comment »
Mazzoli campaign button, 1982
Anyone who was on the fourth (okay, and third) floor of Ekstrom Library on the afternoon of Tuesday, November 8 knew something was up. This area — normally known for its silence — was packed full of people who gathered to celebrate the dedication of the Romano L. Mazzoli Reading Room in the University Archives and Records Center. A native Louisvillian and alumnus of the Brandeis School of Law, Romano (Ron) Mazzoli represented Kentucky’s Third Congressional District for 24 years, from 1971 until 1995. We also opened his papers to researchers and launched an online oral history collection focusing on the Congressman, his life and career.
The reading room includes exhibits focusing on Congressman Mazzoli, which can be enjoyed anytime between 8:00 am and 4:30 pm Monday-Friday. A companion exhibit showcases Louisville’s Italian American community. The Italian American Association (IAA) has been a generous supporter of the Archives’ work on the Congressman’s papers, and we are working with the IAA to collect materials that document the lives of Italian Americans in Louisville. If you are interested in making a donation, please give us a call at 852-6674!
Romano Mazzoli and his parents, about 1934
The Congressman’s papers themselves fill 633 boxes (that’s nearly 700 feet of shelf space). They document his campaigns as well as his time in office, including his work on the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, also known as the Simpson-Mazzoli Act. They also tell the story of a Congressman who placed a very high value on being accessible and helpful to his constituents. A detailed description of the papers is available online (http://uofl.me/lib-mazzoli), and the papers themselves can be accessed in the Archives on the fourth floor of Ekstrom Library.
In addition, we conducted 66 hours of oral history interviews with the Congressman, his colleagues, staffers, campaign volunteers and family. These interviews complement the papers, giving life to the official record and telling stories that simply aren’t captured on paper. These are being made available online via the University Libraries’ Digital Collections (http://uofl.me/lib-mazzoli2).
So come take a look at these new resources – whether in person or virtually!
Parkway Field images and other university landmarks
Posted: July 15, 2011 Filed under: Collections, Photographs, Services | Tags: digital collections, photographs, University of Louisville Leave a comment »During a recent conversation about my job, a friend asked me if 1) it was possible to order images from the collections, and 2) if we had images of Parkway Field. He remembered visiting Parkway Field as a child for baseball games and wanted a photo of it. The answer to both of these questions is Yes.
Within the Digital Collections, there are 10 images with the subject heading of Parkway Field (Louisville, Ky.) Many of these are in the collection University of Louisville Images, which focuses on the university and its history.
A football schedule posted on a wall at Parkway Field, 1950s
Ordering procedures for reproductions depend on which library or library department holds the original. Each record contains a field identifying the Digital Publisher and a field with Ordering Information, generally a link to the policies, possible fees, and contact information. Contact the Digital Publisher for the details about specific images.
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.
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.
Traipsin’ Woman
Posted: May 12, 2011 Filed under: Collections, Music Library, Photographs | Tags: digital collections, folk music, Jean Thomas Leave a comment »Sloane sisters of Rowan County, Kentucky
For those of you interested in folk music or music history the Jean Thomas Collection is a must-see. Known as the Traipsin’ Woman, Jean Thomas traveled around Eastern Kentucky photographing and writing about the music and crafts of the region.
Over 1000 photographs taken by Jean Thomas are available online at: http://digital.library.louisville.edu/collections/jthom/index.php. Some of my favorite shots are of the musicians with their instruments – from guitars and banjos to concertinas and jugs.
The Music Library has more materials from Jean Thomas, including lyrics, poems, brochures and more from the American Folk Song Festival which she organized.
