Challenge Yourself: Judy Chicago's Studio Art Pedagogy

“Challenge Yourself: Judy Chicago’s Studio Art Pedagogy,” an exhibition, is on display from March 24 to June 13 in The Eberly Family Special Collections Library, 104 Paterno Library. The exhibit is one of many activities at Penn State, during spring 2014, to celebrate Chicago and her work and can be viewed online. 

In 2011, artist, author and educator Judy Chicago gave Penn State University Libraries the Judy Chicago Art Education Collection, one of the most important private collections of feminist art education. The collection includes textual, photographic, graphic and audiovisual materials related to various art education projects and instruction of Chicago as well as her extensive journal writing about her teaching. It began in the early 1970s, when after a decade of professional art practice, Chicago began a program for women at the California State College, in Fresno — a pedagogical approach to art education that expanded and continues.

University Archivist Jackie Esposito wrote, “Art is tactile; archives are contextual. For each moment that art touches the human soul, an archive offers a visual, written or audio reflection of that event to provide visceral documentation for the ages. Art transcends time; archives capture the moments that resonate within human experience and preserve them for eternity. Judy Chicago’s archival collection allows the researcher to connect her art with her need to instruct the viewer over a transom of ideas, ideologies, concepts, theories and emotions, so that when the viewer walks away from the work, he or she is changed forever.”

The exhibition is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and from 1 to 5 p.m. during the spring semester.

The Judy Chicago events are sponsored at Penn State by the Friends of the Palmer Museum of Art, the School of Visual Arts, the Institute for the Arts and Humanities, the Office of Research in the College of Arts and Architecture, The Eberly Family Special Collections Library in the University Libraries, the HUB-Robeson Galleries, the Women’s Studies Program, the Sexuality and Gender Studies Minor, the Women’s Studies Graduate Organization and the Department of Art History, as well as Through the Flower and the National Art Education Association Women’s Caucus.

For more information or if you anticipate needing accessibility accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, contact Jackie Esposito at jxe2@psu.edu or 814-863-3791.

Behind-the-scenes look at the Special Collections Library

Chip Kidd with sketch of his iconic image for 
Jurassic Park book cover.
Image credit: Wilson Hitton for the Eberly Family Special
Collections Library

Discover what's so special!

The public is invited to discover What’s “special” in the Special Collections Library, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Friday, April 11, in The Eberly Family Special Collections Library, 104 Paterno Library, Penn State University Park.

Ever wonder what is so “special” about the Special Collections Library? Join us to find out. Rare book curator Sandy Stelts will show attendees rare and unique children’s “flap books” also known as “metamorphoses” or “harlequinades” and also demonstrate how Penn State faculty are studying and digitizing them. University Archivist Jackie Esposito will introduce visitors to the sports archives and explain Penn State's athletic history is preserved. Huck chair and head of the special collections Tim Pyatt will give a preview of the newly acquired Chip Kidd collection, which includes everything from book jacket designs to nearly one terabyte of digital records. Staff also will be available to guide visitors through the current exhibit, “Challenge Yourself: Judy Chicago’s
Studio Art Pedagogy.”


For more information or questions about the physical access provided, contact LuAnn Shifter at lus7@psu.edu or 814-867-0290.

-Article originally appeared at news.psu.edu

2014 Mann Lecture -- April 4th

On April 4^th Matthew G. Kirschenbaum will deliver the Mann Lecture at 4:30 in the Foster Auditorium of the Paterno Library. His talk is titled “Invalid Keystroke: Recovering a Literary History of Word Processing.” A reception follows in the Mann Assembly Room. The Charles W. Mann Jr. Lecture in the Book Arts is supported by the Mary Louise Krumrine Endowment.

Kirschenbaum is an associate professor in the department of English at the University of Maryland and is associate director of the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH). A 2011 Guggenheim fellow, Kirschenbaum specializes in digital humanities, electronic literature and creative new media, textual studies, and postmodern/experimental literature.

Please RSVP to: lus7@psu.edu by March 28 if you plan to attend either the lunch or the reception.

Sports Archives 25th Anniversary Open House

Women run in the Field Day track race

We are pleased to invite everyone to our celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Penn State Sports Archives, a collection in The Eberly Family Special Collections Library. Established in 1988, the collection consists of athlete files, audio-visual materials, media guides, press kits and memorabilia.

Activities  will include:
Noon to 1:30 p.m. Sunday, March 2, in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library — “Early Women’s Athletics,” a short film premiere and panel discussion, in conjunction with Women’s History Month, featuring never-before-seen films, including physical education instructor Marie Haidt and Penn State women students from the 1930s and 1940s, followed by a discussion marking the 50th anniversary of Women’s Intercollegiate Athletics at Penn State, led by Ellen Perry, former associate athletics director; Janet Atwood, associate professor emerita sports science; Martha Adams, professor emerita health, physical education and recreation; Charlene Morett, head coach for women's field hockey; and others.

1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday, March 2, Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library — “Sports Archives Open House,” including photo ops with the Nittany Lion Mascot (2:30 to 3:15 p.m.) and viewing of selected segments of the collections, including media guides, athlete photographs, rarely seen memorabilia, and team schedules and rosters.

For more information about the Penn State Sports Archives or if you anticipate needing accessibility accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact Paul Dzyak at pjd106@psu.edu or 814-865-2123.

Penn State Special Collections Research Travel Awards

The Eberly Family Special Collections Library on the University Park campus of Penn State offers travel awards of $1,500 for researchers whose work would benefit from access to the collections held at Penn State. Currently, three travel grants are available:

• The Dorothy Foehr Huck Research Travel Award: Supports one award for researchers using any collection from the Special Collections Library.

• The Helen F. Faust Women Writers Research Travel Awards: Supports two awards for researchers working on a project including women writers that would benefit from use of the Eberly Family Special Collections Library’s collections

• The Albert M. Petska Eighth Air Force Archives Research Travel Award: supports one award for researchers working on a project pertaining to history of the Eighth Air Force during World War II.

Researchers receiving the awards would be expected to use the collections during the period of June to August of 2014. They will also be expected to participate in an informal public talk with library staff about their research project.

Who is eligible?

• Any faculty member, graduate student, or independent scholar with a research project requiring the use of materials held by the Special Collections Library is eligible to apply. All applicants must reside outside of a 100-mile radius of State College, Pennsylvania.
• Research topics should be strongly supported by the collections of the Special Collections Library. We encourage each prospective grant applicant to discuss his or her research project and the collections that might support it with Special Collections staff before submitting an application.
• For information about the collections, please visit our website.

What expenses does the award cover?

• There is no restriction on how the award may be used as long as the researcher visits Special Collections Library during the prescribed period. Please note that depending on how the award is used there may be tax implications for the recipients.

How do I apply?

• Complete an application 
• E-mail C.V. as an attachment (Word document or PDF) to LuAnn Shifter with “TRAVEL GRANT- (Enter Last Name)” in the subject line. We will send you an e-mail confirming that your application was received.

What dates do I need to remember?

• The deadline for applications is February 28, 2014 by 5:00 PM EST.
• Grant recipients will be announced by March 31, 2014.
• Grants must be used between June 1 and August 31, 2014.

For questions about the program, please contact:
Doris J. Malkmus djm51@psu.edu

A Conversation with Owen William of the Folger Shakespeare Library

Monday, October 7, 2013

4:00 p.m. Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library

Owen Williams, the Folger Institute’s Assistant Director for Scholarly Programs, will talk about the research and educational opportunities at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. He will focus on participation in Institute seminars, conferences, and workshops. He will also be happy to discuss fellowships and other funding opportunities, the Folger collections, and Folger-based digital resources and digital humanities initiatives.   

Penn State is a member of the Folger Institute’s Consortium, a group of forty-four universities here and abroad that plans an annual slate of advanced scholarly programs. Our membership gives Penn State faculty and graduate students priority in admission and eligibility for grants-in-aid to fund travel and lodging. These programs regularly include a variety of topical seminars, conferences, workshops, and symposia in addition to paleography training, dissertation seminars, and M.A.-level research methods courses. Recent offerings have included a three-week institute on “Early Modern Digital Agendas” supported by the NEH Office of Digital Humanities, a workshop on teaching the History of the Book, and a faculty weekend seminar on orality and literacy. 

This spring, upcoming programs include a two-day faculty seminar on “Rogues, Gypsies, and Outsiders: The Marginal People of Early Modern England” (directed by David Cressy); a one-day symposium on “Borders and Boundaries in Early Modern Jewish History”; “Shakespeare and the Problem of Biography,” a major conference sponsored by an NEH Collaborative Research grant; and a month-long Mellon Summer Institute on English Paleography.  

Like the Folger collection itself, the reach of the Folger programming is broad, and offerings include transatlantic and global topics as well as British literature and history. They engage scholars in a variety of fields, including European history, Asian studies, library sciences, continental literatures, theater history, and early American studies. 

The Folger also sponsors short-term and long-term research fellowships, which several Penn State faculty members have enjoyed. 

This talk is sponsored by the University Libraries, The Committee for Early Modern Studies, and the Material Text Workshop. For more information, please contact Marcy North mln14@psu.edu

PSU Library's Role in THON

Penn State student Andrea Karelitz and Special Collections staff member Paul Dzyak highlight the role of Special Collections in THON preparations.

PSU Distinguished Alumna gives 2013 MARAC Plenary Session Address

Joan Chittister, O.S.B.

IT’S WHY WE DO IT THAT COUNTS:

THE ROLE OF ARCHIVISTS IN A CHANGING WORLD

Joan Chittister

I’m reminded of a story about speaking in your own hometown: A man was asked by his hometown historical society to speak at their next meeting. When he arrived the only ones there were the board members and a couple of old geezers in the back. “Did you tell them I was coming?” he asked them. “No, I guess we really didn’t,” the chair answered “but it sure looks like the word seeped out.”

And from the philosopher Boethius: “Every age is a dream that is dying and a new age coming to life.”

From the paleontologist Chardin: “The only task worthy of our efforts is to construct the future.”

And from the Zen: “The meaning of life is to see.”

I have spent a great deal of time thinking about this conference and this presentation for two reasons. The first is a simple one: if there were ever a place where I would not expect to be invited, this would certainly seem to be it. I would certainly understand

an invitation to colleges and civic social groups, to spirituality centers and ecumenical programs, yes. But at a conference of archivists? Trust me: until now, at least, the chances were slim to non-existent

And yet, the second reason I’ve thought so much about today’s presentation is equally simple: if there were ever a group I identify with--as well as with writers and speakers,

with educators and researchers, with historians and theologians, archivists are definitely it.

What that means is that I could not be further away than I am from the life of an  archivist. But it also means that as a woman, as a writer, as a social scientist I realize my indebtedness to you and to your profession.

I value your work and I respect your dedication to it. In fact, I think the values and sensitivity with which archivists approach the development of public archives may actually be what is missing in much of public life today. Which is why I want to talk today about what it means to choose a profession, to make a career a vocation, to decide between making a salary and making a difference,

Wormholes and the Science of Print

Please join us on March 14 at 4:00 in the Mann Assembly Room for a presentation by Blair Hedges, Department of Biology at Penn State, who will discuss his research on worm-holes in old woodblock prints as part of Material Texts Workshop series.

. 

By examining art printed from woodblocks spanning five centuries, Hedges has identified the species responsible for making the ever-present wormholes in European printed art since the Renaissance. The hole-makers, two species of wood-boring beetles, are widely distributed today, but the "wormhole record," as Hedges calls it, reveals a different pattern in the past, where the two species met along a zone across central Europe like a battle line of two armies. The research, which is the first of its kind to use printed art as a "trace fossil" to precisely date species and to identify their locations, was published in the journal *Biology Letters* in November.

Hedges’ method has relevance not just to biology, but also to art history. "There are some situations in which a book or print's origin is unknown because a printing location was never added to the text," Hedges said. "Now that we know that different species of beetles existed in different locations in Europe, art historians can determine whether a book was from northern or southern Europe simply by measuring the wormholes."

Sarah Werner of the Folger Library to speak on Undergraduate Use of Special Collections

On Monday, February 11th, Sarah Werner, of the Research Division of the Folger Shakespeare Library, will be presenting as part of the Penn State Materials Text Workshop series in the Mann Assembly Room, from 4:30 until 5:30.

The topic of  her presentation will be: "Undergraduates in Special Collections: Beyond Show and Tell."  You can also learn more by visiting Sarah Werner's blog: http://sarahwerner.net/blog/

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. 

Reading of King Nutcracker in the Special Collections Library

On Sunday afternoon, December 2, at 4:00 p.m., The Special Collections Library, 104 Paterno Library, will host a reading in world languages of two popular children’s books by the 19^th-century German author Heinrich Hoffmann.  Bettina Brandt, Senior Lecturer in German at Penn State, and her young daughter, Vera Purdy, will be joined by a number of native speakers of German, Dutch, Turkish, Italian, French, Spanish, and more – including English!—in reading Hoffmann’s Struwwelpeter, a book that has delighted children on both sides of the Atlantic since 1845, and his second book, King Nutcracker and poor Reinhold.

The story of Nutcracker traveled a long path before it became the most well-known secular Christmas tale.  Heinrich Hoffmann, the author most famous for his wild Struwwelpeter, helped popularize the story with his colorful 1851 picture book, King Nutcracker and poor Reinhold.   Daniel Purdy, Professor of German, will introduce the program and speak briefly about how the Nutcracker helped define Christmas celebrations as we know them today.

A reception with light refreshments will follow the readings.  Children are welcome!

The event will conclude with a repeat screening (with new material added for the occasion) in the Mann Assembly Room of a video produced by Berlin videographers Alexander Kraudelt and Victoria Magali Herzog, featuring songs by the Tiger Lillies, a British trio often described as the forefathers of Brechtian Punk Cabaret. The entertaining video features Frau Marion Herzog-Hoinkis, whose late husband, Gerhard Hertz Herzog, was director of the Struwwelpeter Museum in Frankfurt am Main, talking about the history and influence of the boy Slovenly Peter, or Shockheaded Peter, as he is known in English. She will also reveal Hoffmann’s inspiration for his imaginative dream tale of King Nutcracker. In his autobiography, Hoffmann wrote, “I had the idea that children love stories out of a secret, magic world, and I wanted to create a fairytale among their usual toys.”

The reading will be held in conjunction with the exhibition “Heinrich Hoffmann’s Stories for Children and the Emergence of the Modern Picture Book,” on display in The Special Collections Library, 104 Paterno Library, through January 25, 2013.

The event is co-sponsored by the University Libraries, the Department of German and Slavic Languages and Literature, and the Max Kade German-American Research Institute.  For more information, contact Sandra Stelts at sks5@psu.edu or 814-863-5388.

How to Survive the Literary Apocalypse

Thursday, December 6, from 4:00- 5:30 pm in the Mann Assembly Room of the Pattee/Paterno Libraries.  

Presenting will be Jason Rekulak, Creative Director of Quirk Books (publisher of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, among other titles). He will be speaking on book design in the electronic age. His visit is sponsored by the Penn State Press and the Department of English.

Archive Adventures: I've Put a Spell on You

Once upon a desk shift dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,

Over many quaint and curious boxes of forgotten lore,

While I typed there, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at the archive door.

"'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, "tapping at the archive door-

Only this, and nothing more."

Things are getting spooky in Special Collections. Michelle Belden,  our Access Archivist, shows off her Gorey-themed costume with examples of the inspiration! 

If you think the Stacks are creepy late on a fall night, you should check out our amazing collection of strange, thrilling, and bewitching fare in the archives!

In the Exhibit Room right now is a wonderful selection of Struwwelpeter books and artifacts. Der Struwwelpeter was written by Heinrich Hoffman, a man who didn't think that life was scary enough for 19th-century children and decided to terrorize them some more in the form of children's picture books. Okay, not really--he was writing moral tales on topics that middle-class parents dealt with in raising kids, and believed that children's books should be a learning tool. Still, the ways he gets his point across are understandably terrifying. Some of these illustrated tragedies include a child's thumbs being scissored off, another being swept away into the sky by a blustery storm, and one even being burned to death after playing with matches. While Struwwelpeter was probably the nightmare-fuel of children around the world, these stories are beloved across all ages and many different cultures. There are  Struwwelpeter plays and movies, academic articles, and even Struwwelpeter accessories (to go along with your new Shockheaded Peter up-do for this Halloween season)! Why not stop in and get the full history? Seeing is boo-lieving.

So much learning it'll make your hair stand on end.

"Okay, sweetie, it's time for a bedtime story!"

I believe the term used today for accessories of this nature is "swag"

If you're looking for something a bit less on the side of reliving your childhood nightmares, perhaps you might enjoy our rather large Occult collection? We have everything from the famous Aleister Crowley (including his papers!)...

...to books on demons and Nostradamus' prophecies...

...all the way back to very old books (not bound in human skin, sorry) on the occult. 

On the other hand, sometimes around this holiday it's nice to put aside all the spooky unknown and just enjoy the decor. Bats, cats, orange, black; the sound of an owl on a crisp night and the sight of cobwebs hanging on a porch as little superheroes and ghouls run from door to door gathering candy. Well, what do you know! We've got that!

Unfortunately not included are the creepy, gorgeous prints inside! You'll have to come in to see those!

Another great cover for a book that we just got in out of storage

My particular favorite example out of all of these, though, is our Edward Gorey collection. These are a real scream...

I'll let you consider that combination for a moment...

Edward Gorey is famous for his macabre illustrated books. These are just two examples of a whole bunch I was pouring over today, and if you're a fan of surrealism or literary nonsense and don't know Gorey's work, we have a great collection of them in Rare Books. Be warned though, they might have you laughing out loud in the Reading Room and hungry for more!

Any way you like it--whimsical, terrifying, enchanting, or chilling--Halloween is fun to indulge in once a year (and by Halloween, I mean eating massive amounts of candy). Yet, long after you take your carved pumpkin off your porch and the Christmas lights start going up, you can still give yourself a good laugh or scare in the spirit of Halloween if you look in just the right places.

Happy Halloween!
-Alex 

Special Collections Gallery Talk Highlights Picture Books for Children

A Special Collections Gallery talk on Wednesday, October 10, at 4:00 p.m. in the Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, will highlight a new exhibition in the Special Collections Library. “Heinrich Hoffmann’s Stories for Children and the Emergence of the Modern Picture Book,” opening on October 8, will explore the work of Hoffmann (1809–1894), a German psychiatrist whose most popular book, Struwwelpeter, has delighted children on both sides of the Atlantic since its first publication in 1845.

Gerhard F. Strasser, professor emeritus of German and Comparative Literature at Penn State, will introduce an engaging video featuring Frau Marion Herzog-Hoinkis, of Frankfurt, Germany. Herzog, whose late husband, Gerhard Hertz Herzog, was director of the Struwwelpeter Museum in Frankurt am Main, will give a lively, illustrated tour of the history and influence of the boy called Shockheaded Peter, as he is known in English, and will explain how there came to be a museum devoted to a fictional character.

The video, produced by Berlin videographers Alexander Kraudelt and Victoria Magali Herzog, is accompanied by the darkly humorous songs of the Tiger Lillies, a British trio often described as the forefathers of Brechtian Punk Cabaret. Their 1998 musical “Shockheaded Peter: A Junk Opera” set the stories of Heinrich Hoffmann to music.

Frau Herzog recently donated to the Special Collections Library some 300 items from her personal collection of editions, translations, imitations, and parodies of the story, many of them included in the exhibition. Early children’s books were moral tales about teaching virtues or etiquette. Hoffmann’s genius is that he turned such moral tales upside down and made fun of them with his exaggerated stories. The iconic status of Struwwelpeter is a testimony to Hoffmann’s radical and original influence on the modern picture book, where the text and the illustrations are integral and equal. His innovation was the birth of the funny picture book, whose legacy includes comic books and even the graphic novel. Hoffmann’s influence can also be seen in modern examples in the exhibition, including works by Edward Gorey and Maurice Sendak.

The exhibition draws on the extensive holdings of children’s literature in the Allison-Shelley Collection of German Literature in English Translation. A special feature of the display will highlight educational toys developed by the 19^th-century German educator Friedrich Froebel, who created the concept of the “kindergarten” and coined the word.

The gallery talk will be followed by a reception in the Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library. The exhibition will run through January 25, 2013.