Friday, January 25, 2013

Archive Adventures: The Dream Continues

In honor of Black History Month, as well as the anniversary of two incredibly important events--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech during the March on Washington (50th) and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation (150th)--I thought it would be relevant to look at our outstanding collection of Black History materials. It's an amazingly diverse and eye-opening collection, so while I won't be able to cover everything, I hope to cover just a few of the many items that caught my fancy and inspired me.

The Blockson Collection (looking right upon entry)


Just next to the Fred Waring's America archives on the third floor of Pattee is the Charles L. Blockson Collection, devoted to African-American history and the diaspora* of the African people. Blockson is an alumnus of PSU and collected African and African-American historical memorabilia, literature, and everything from sculptures to postage stamps.


We are currently working on digitizing Paul Robeson's music from the records we have in our collection. For now, here's a poster from one of his shows in Germany in 1968. Visit us here in Special Collections if you just can't wait to hear his music!

This famous autobiography broke ground during its day and today provides profound insight into the life of a man (born in 1745) who was sold into slavery, bought his freedom, and then worked as an explorer, merchant, and author. He details the horrors of slavery and his eventual rise to freedom and the success of his business.

This is just a fraction of the postage stamps in Blockson. If I could include all of them, I would!

While discussing this post with my supervisor, Tim Babcock, one thing I mentioned being afraid of was "offensive" material. While some of the books I picked up were intriguing for their outrageous racism and stereotypical images and language, I couldn't help but pause to wonder if I should just skip over that whole genre. Tim pointed out that Blockson, an African-American himself, collected not only the inspiring, but the offensive and depressing, too, because...well, it is still a part of African-Americana. These things are just as important as the uplifting, encouraging, and accurate. If we excluded everything we felt was offensive, there'd be nothing left in the libraries and we'd lose out on the opportunity to learn from the past and better ourselves today! I owe Tim a huge thank you for giving me the courage to post the following pictures.

The racist images and the use of the word "nigger" (while quite common and acceptable for its time) might shock today's readers, but its record of Ethiopian songs is an important piece of history that we can appreciate today.

This little book of songs includes lyrics, all of which are written in what we might find a stereotypical dialect today. However, it is a wonderful record of what they call "late and popular songs of the day" from 1854.

History isn't always puppies and sunshine, as we all know, and sometimes coming face-to-face with the harsh truth of it all is entirely depressing. Here in Blockson, we have two cases of slave shackles, a display that initially took my breath away and gave me a more focused awareness of the pain and reality of slavery.

Slave shackles from Rhode Island

Besides those materials, Blockson contains everything from modern literature and books on African-American culture, history, and great historical figures...

There are a ton more!!

 ...to older books discussing early explorations of Africa, accounts of its native people and cultures, and early studies of slavery, the diaspora, and political histories.


 One of my favorite covers from the older books I found was an oversized book that looked like a giant travel guide with pictures to oogle. I also found a modern coloring book for young children that talks about embracing African heritage that I thought was very informative and had unique illustrations!

Look at all that shiny embossing!

I'm both sorry and happy to say, if you come to look at the coloring books we have...don't bring your crayons!

If military history is up your avenue, you won't be disappointed in what we have! One of my favorite parts of Civil War history was learning about the black soldiers in the 54th who fought for their freedom. So it was awesome to see artwork on the wall of their famous charge and find a book on African American soldiers in the War of Independence, the War of 1812, and the Civil War.


While the shiny embossing on the front is pleasing, much more pleasing are the historical contents! (Can you tell I'm probably descended from a magpie yet?)
 While that's the end of my narrative on my time spent exploring Blockson, there are some links I would like to share with you before you go! Did you know that Martin Luther King visited PSU? It's true! If you pass by Rec Hall, you will see the historical marker erected in 2006 in honor of his speech during the Civil Rights movement. We also have plenty of photos on our Flickr photostream from the Blockson Collection. Want to learn more about black history and the United Mine Workers/Steelworkers? We've got it! If you like memorabilia, one of the largest Flickr sets we have for Blockson is dedicated to his collection of postcards. However, I'm not going to give it all away! You're going to have to do some exploring as well (and we'd love to hear back from you about what you found interesting and why in the comments section!), because half the joy and fun of all this is the thrill of adventure!

Til next time!
-Alex

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Celebrate Central Pennsylvania Architecture


Sunday, January 13, 2013
3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
The Eberly Family Special Collections Library

The Architecture and Landscape Architecture Library and the Eberly Family Special Collections Library invite you to join them in a celebration of outstanding architecture from our own community.  Original plans and drawings of local houses designed by former Penn State faculty member, A. William Hajjar, will be on display in the Special Collections Library and a new digital collection of outstanding Central Pennsylvania architecture will be unveiled. 



In the 1950s and 1960s Hajjar challenged the conservative look of the State College community with his contemporary-style homes.  Now more than 50 years old, these forty-plus buildings still delight those who appreciate post-war modern design, and their owners are proud to play a part in conserving a significant part of State College history.

The new digital collection, Central Pennsylvania Architecture and Landscape Architecture, documents not only the work of Hajjar, but also many other designers active in our region, including buildings by modernists Philip Hallock and Kenneth Heidrich.  It consists of both online exhibitions and a database of images.  Beginning with research and photography contributed by Robert Malcom and Arthur Anderson, Jr., this collection of 1000 well-documented images is growing rapidly. 

2013 Research Travel Awards



For the Summer of 2013 the Eberly Family Special Collections Library will be again offering travel awards of $1,200 for researchers whose work would benefit from access to the collections held at Penn State.
Three travel grants are available:

  • The Dorothy Foehr Huck Research Travel Award: Supports two awards for researchers using any of the Special Collections Library collections.
  • The Helen F. Faust Women Writers Research Travel Award: Supports one award for researchers working on a project including women writers that would benefit from use of the Special Collections Library’s collections.

Researchers receiving the awards would be expected to use the collections during the period of June to August of 2013. They will also be expected to participate in an informal public talk with library staff about their research project.
For more information about program and instruction on how to apply, please see:



Deadline to apply is February 29, 2013.