Libraries & Culture articles from March 1999

Libraries & Culture archives from March 1999

Autonomy and accommodation: Houston's Colored Carnegie Library, 1907-1922.
March 22, 1999... Denied the use of the Houston Lyceum and Carnegie Library, African American leaders organized their own public library in a high school in 1909. Working through native Houstonian Emmett J. Scott and his boss Booker T. Washington, local black...

"The greatest morale factor next to the Red Army": books and libraries in American and British prisoners of war camps in Germany during World War II.
March 22, 1999... The demand for books in American and British prisoners of war (POW) camps in Germany during World War II was insatiable. Libraries, both lending and reference, were established in almost all the camps. In addition, there was a considerable...

Patricia Spereman and the beginning of Canadian public library work with children.
March 22, 1999... Patricia Spereman of the Sarnia Public Library in Sarnia, Ontario, was likely the first children's librarian in Canada. During her tenure (1904-1908), Sarnia Public Library demonstrated five elements characteristic of basic public library...

Unpacking: Walter Benjamin and his library. (Notes & Essays).
March 22, 1999... It is widely acknowledged that Walter Benjamin was not only a singular philosopher but also the most important and innovative literary critic and essayist in twentieth-century Germany. What is perhaps less well-known is that Benjamin was an...

The Igbo in Diaspora: The Binding Force of Information. (Notes & Essays).
March 22, 1999... Introduction In a carefully documented study published in 1974, Alex Inkeles and David S. Smith singled out the Jews of Eastern Europe, the Swiss Protestants, the Parsis of India and the Igbo of Eastern Nigeria for achievement motivation....

Libraries without walls or architectural fantasies: A turn-of-the-millennium dilemma. (Notes & Essays).
March 22, 1999... "What is the purpose of rebuilding [the library of] Alexandria, this absolute symbol of knowledge . . . ?" asks Michel Melot in his excellent Introduction to the volume titled in English, New Alexandrias: Great Library Construction Sites in the...

The cover.(Brief Article)
March 22, 1999... A jester figured on a bookplate would suggest books of a merry disposition, and a jester is just what the San Francisco Public Library has provided for the 3 1/2- by 4 1/2-inch bookplate of the Schmulowitz Collection of Wit and Humor. Nat...

The DDC, the Universe of Knowledge, and the Post-Modern Library. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 1999... The DDC, the Universe of Knowledge, and the Post-Modern Library. By Francis L. Miksa. Albany, N.Y: Forest Press, 1998. vii, 99 Pp. $20.00 paperback. ISBN 0-910608-64-4. This volume represents an expanded version of Francis Miksa's...

Manuscripts of the Bible: Greek Bibles in the British Library. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 1999... Manuscripts of the Bible: Greek Bibles in the British Library (revised edition). Edited by T. S. Pattie. London: The British Library, 1995. 48 pp. [pounds sterling]4.95. ISBN 0-7123-0403-7. Two of the most famous manuscripts of the Bible...

The Envy of Angels: Cathedral Schools and Social Ideals in Medieval Europe, 950-1200; Women and Literature in Britain, 1150-1500. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 1999... The Envy of Angels: Cathedral Schools and Social Ideals in Medieval Europe, 950-1200. By C. Stephen Jaeger. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994. xvi, 515 pp. $39.95 hardcover. ISBN 0-8122-3246-1. Women & Literature in...

Written Work: Langland, Labor, and Authorship. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 1999... Written Work: Langland, Labor, and Authorship. Edited by Steven Justice and Kathryn Kerby-Fulton. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997. ix, 347 pp. $45.00. ISBN 0-8122-3396-4. Only five essays appear in this hefty...

Images and Texts: Their Production and Distribution in the 18th and 19th Centuries. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 1999... Images and Texts: Their Production and Distribution in the 18th & 19th Centuries. Edited by Peter Isaac and Barry McKay. Winchester: St. Paul's Bibliographies and New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll Press, 1997. xiv, 188 pp. $42.50. ISBN l-884718-37X....

Organized Womanhood: Cultural Polities in the Pacific Northwest, 1840-1920. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 1999... Organized Womanhood: Cultural Polities in the Pacific Northwest, 1840-1920. By Sandra Haarsager. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997. xiii, 427 pp. $19.95. ISBN 0-8061-3001-6. When we think of a women's club, we envision...

Reading Lives: Reconstructing Childhood, Books, and Schools in Britain, 1870-1920. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 1999... Reading Lives: Reconstructing Childhood, Books, and Schools in Britain, 1870-1920. By Gretchen R. Galbraith. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997. vii, 184 pp. $39.95. ISBN 0-312-12143-1. The title swept me away. I was struck by the nuances...

Research and the Manuscript Tradition. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 1999... Research and the Manuscript Tradition. By Frank G. Burke. Lanham, Md.: The Scarecrow Press, and Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1997. x, 310 pp. $47.00 hardcover. ISBN 0-8108-3368-4. Frank Burke, a leading American archivist...

Free Books for All: The Public Library Movement in Ontario, 1850-1930. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 1999... Free Books for All: The Public Library Movement in Ontario, 1850-1930. By Lorne Bruce. Toronto: Dundurn Press Ltd., 1994. xix, 347 pp. $34.99. ISBN 1-55002-205-9. Lorne Bruce's Free Books for All: The Public Library Movement in Ontario,...

Libraries and Life in a Changing World: The Metcalfe Years, 1920-1970. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 1999... Libraries and Life in a Changing World: The Metcalfe Years, 1920-1970. Edited by W. Boyd Rayward. Sydney: University of New South Wales School of Information, Library & Archive Studies, 1993. ix, 230 pp. $26.00 ISBN 0-7334-0014-0. These...

Instruction and Amusement: Papers from the Sixth Australian Library History Forum. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 1999... Instruction and Amusement: Papers from the Sixth Australian Library History Forum. Edited by B. J. McMullin. (Monash Occasional Papers in Librarianship, Record-keeping and Bibliography, No. 8). Melbourne, Australia: Ancora Press, 1996. vii, 203...

Pioneering Culture: Mechanics' Institutes and School of Art in Australia. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 1999... Pioneering Culture: Mechanics' Institutes and School of Art in Australia. Edited by Philip C. Candy and John Laurent. Adelaide, Australia: Auslib Press, 1994. ii, 413 pp. $48.00. ISBN 1-875145-25-7. In Britain and North America Mechanics'...

Academic Duty. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 1999... Academic Duty. By Donald Kennedy. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997. viii, 310 pp. $29.95 hardcover ISBN 0674-002-29. The author is a thoughtful, knowledgeable person, broadly experienced in the ways of the academy, and as...

Our Joyce: From Outcast to Icon. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 1999... Our Joyce: From Outcast to Icon. By Joseph Kelly Austin: University of Texas Press, 1998. x, 287 pp. $39.95 hardcover. ISBN 0-292-7433 1-9. On 20 July 1998, The New York Times ran a feature story entitled "Ulysses at Top As Panel Picks 100...

Library of Congress to host international conference on National Libraries on 23-27 October 2000.
March 22, 1999... As part of the commemoration of its bicentennial in the year 2000, the Library of Congress will host a conference, "National Libraries: Interpreting the Past, Sharing the Future," on 23-27 October 2000. The co-chairs are Winston Tabb, Associate...