Rare Books and Manuscripts Library

Highlighting our collections and the work that we do

Category: Collections (page 1 of 2)

Chester Himes Collection Now Available

This post was written by Diego Arellano.

The Rare Books and Manuscripts Library is excited to announce that the Chester Himes Collection, 1932-1978 is now available. Chester Himes (1909-1984) was an American author best known for If He Hollers Let Him Go and the Harlem Detective series of novels. Many of Himes’ writings explore racism and the experience of African Americans in the United States. He also wrote essays about civil rights, riots, and the relationship between black communities and law enforcement. The collection contains materials related to Himes’ writings and films adapted from his works that were part of the blaxploitation genre.

Chester Himes
Alex Gotfryd/ Corbis

Himes was born in Jefferson City, Missouri. His family later moved to Cleveland, Ohio and Himes attended Ohio State University, but was expelled for playing a prank. In 1928, Himes was arrested for armed robbery and sentenced to jail and hard labor for 20 to 25 years. While in prison, he wrote short stories and had them published in national magazines. Himes’ stories appeared in The Bronzeman in 1931 and began appearing in Esquire in 1934. In 1936, Himes was released from prison on parole. After his release, he worked part-time jobs and continued to write.

In the 1940s, Himes spent time in Los Angeles working as a screenwriter and writing two novels, If He Hollers Let Him Go and The Lonely Crusade. Both of these books dealt with the experiences of African American migrant workers. During this time, he also provided analysis of the Zoot Suit Riots for The Crisis, the magazine of the NAACP.

In the 1950s, Himes decided to settle permanently in France, where he met his second wife and was part of literary and political circles. In 1958, Himes won France’s Grand Prix de Littérature Policière.

Four of Himes’ novels were made into movies, including the 1970 blaxploitation film Cotton Comes to Harlem, directed by Ossie Davis. Himes originally wrote the script for the film, but ultimately his script was not used.

The Chester Himes Collection is arranged chronologically and contains materials dating from the author’s career between the years of 1932 and 1978. It includes speech transcripts, screenplays, publicity, correspondence, photographs, and critiques of Himes’ works. Among the screenplays in the collection are those for Baby Sister, Night Hunt, and Cotton Comes to Harlem. To learn more, please visit the Chester Himes Collection finding aid.

“A Refugee of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of April 18th, 1906”

The photograph collections in Rare Books and Manuscripts offer students a strong historical survey of processes and movements, from daguerreotypes to modern digital prints, as well as selections by some of the most recognized names in the medium.  Researchers are less likely to know about the less aesthetic and more purely historical collections, such as those documenting life in central Ohio in the early twentieth century, or the experiences of soldiers and researchers outside of Ohio.  On this anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake we call your attention to a collection of photographs taken by individuals living in that city, who responded immediately to the devastation around them.

View Towards Market Street

View Towards Market Street

This collection of well over 100 images was created by DeWitt C. Morrill, brother of Mrs. Frank H. Haskett, former University photographer, and son of Harrison D. Morrill, alumni secretary of OSU, whose 1925 funeral was presided over by President William Oxley Thompson.

Looking Toward Market Street from Howard and Third (to the south)

Looking Toward Market Street from Howard and Third (to the south)

DeWitt took photographs as he wandered the city immediately after the earthquake, and kept careful notes, which he entitled “Notebook of a Refugee of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of April 18th, 1906.”  He rounded out his historical collection with post cards and additional photographs from the Pillsbury Picture Company, established earlier that year by Arthur C. Pillsbury (perhaps a friend).  While many photographs of the San Francisco Earthquake are available at other institutions, the notes taken by D.C. Morrill, and the identifications on the versos of his photographic prints bring an added value to this collection.

SPEC-RARE-DCM-1-6-007

Morrill’s notebook

Wholesale District, Corner of Sansome and Pine

Wholesale District, Corner of Sansome and Pine

Artists’ Books on Display, March 23

view of an artist's book

Please stop by Thompson Library room 150  from 2-6 PM on Wednesday afternoon, March 23, to see a large selection of artists’ books on display.   Artists’ books have been a collection focus for both the Fine Arts librarians and Rare Books curators for decades, and as a result, the collection is quite extensive.  We can’t possibly pull them all out for you, but there will very likely be something available to please every visitor.  Be sure to inquire about the new acquisitions!colophon of artist's book

Photograph Collections Open House in Thompson Library

Stop by next Thursday afternoon to take a look at some examples of the impressive photograph collections held by OSU Libraries, and housed in Thompson Library Special Collections.   I think you’ll be surprised by the range – including art photography, celebrity portraits, scientific experimentation and social documentary, dating from the very beginnings of the medium through the present day.  You’ll see some big names that you recognize, and learn some new ones that you’ll want to remember.

The open house runs from 1-5 p.m. March 3 in Room 150 of the Thompson Library, 1858 Neil Ave.,  Columbus, OH  43210.

flyer for photo collection open houuse

Download a full-size PDF of the flyer to share.

Coloring Our Collections, Part 4: The Nuremberg Chronicle!

Who doesn’t love the imagery of the Nuremberg Chronicle, taking us through the history of the Christian west from Genesis through the lives of the saints up to the reign of Maximilian I, and introducing us to exotic places in the world of the late fifteenth-century?  There are digitized copies available online, such as that owned by The University of Cambridge, but those are deluxe painted versions.  Our copy was not painted, and in addition, received a cleaning as part of a preservation project in 1999.  The selection of images that we offer are fresh and clean and ready for your colored pencils.  Enjoy!

SPEC-INCUN-1493-S3_fol187v(800w)   

NurembergChronicle-OSU_Special_Coll-ColoringBook

Color Our Collections, Part 3: Fashion

Today we’ll dip into our huge and wonderful collection of historic trade catalogs and find some fashions from the turn of the century – not this century, mind you, but the late nineteenth- and early twentieth- centuries.

girls in hats from catalog

 

To be fair, some boys’ and mens’ wear have also been included, but the shading tends to be rather dark on their clothing, so perhaps not the best for coloring.  However, you might be amused by the “university”  and “fraternity” clothes.  These are all everyday garments, from mail order catalogs, not illustrations from the high fashion magazines of the time.  Here’s your coloring book of the day.   Have fun!

CatalogFashions-OSU_Special_Collections

Color Our Collections, Part 2: Herbal Illustrations

Today’s coloring pages come to you from the late sixteenth-century Herball Or Generall Historie of Plantes by John Gerard.  We’ve made a PDF for you to print out as a coloring book.  The frontispiece is lush and detailed, so we left it relatively intact for you to admire.  The rigid garden layout represented in the oval frame at the bottom was the standard, unlike our more meandering, seemingly “natural” flower garden designs.

The individual images have been stripped down to black and white for easy coloring.  Some of the nicest images we could not provide because an earlier owner of the book could not resist, and painted them!  (As you can see, the edges of the title page were repaired since the book was so well worn from use.)  There are many more illustrations, and of course, a descriptive text.  Let us know if you’d like to see it sometime.

frontispiece, John Gerard, Herbal
QK41_G34-OSU_SpecColl-Herbal_to_Color

 

Color Our Collections!

How often have you eyed an attractive engraved frontispiece in an old book and thought to yourself that it might be fun to take some colored pencils or markers to it?  Of course we don’t permit such acts of vandalism in the Special Collections reading room!  Yet Special Collections around the world are inviting readers to “Color our Collections” this week by providing scans of selected works in black and white as “special” coloring books for adults, and encouraging artists to post the results on Twitter, with the hash tag #ColorOurCollections.  Today we offer to you a PDF of selected fantasy fireplace designs dreamed up by the 18th century artist, Piranesi, from the huge volume opened below (we faded them out a bit though, so that your beautiful colors shine through).

Piranesi frontispiece

Follow the link below to pull up the coloring pages, and check back tomorrow to see what else we’ve got for you!

PiranesiColoringPages-OSU_Special_Collections

 

 

Japan after August 6, 1945 (The Allied Occupation)

On this day after the 70th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing we might turn our thoughts to post World War II Japan, the subject matter of a collection of photographs donated to Rare Books and Manuscripts in 2003 by anthropologist John W. Bennett.  His photographs document the period 1948-1951.  They were published, along with excerpts from his journals and other textual material, as an online exhibition: “Doing Photography and Social Research in the Allied Occupation of Japan, 1948-1951: A Personal and Professional Memoir” 

The photographs have been the focus of considerable interest since made available to the public.  Most recently  they were the subject of an article by Morris Low – “American Photography during the Allied Occupation of Japan: The Work of John W. Bennett,” The History of Photography: An International Quarterly  39 no. 3 (2015): 263-278.  This was just published in a special issue of The History of Photography entitled “American Photography in the Asia-Pacific.”

JWB_in_Japan-10(400w)John W. Bennett, “The Rice Ration in Suburban Tokyo”
(from a selection of Urban Images)

From Astrology to Astronomy: Cassini Maps the Stars

Image of foldout from the back of the book that has a diagram of the path of the comet from the view of a telescope in February 1681 with illustration of a winged foot at the bottom of the page

From Astrology to Astronomy:  Cassini Maps the Stars

Abregé des observations & des reflexions svr la comete qui a paru au mois de decembre 1680, & aux mois de ianveir, fevrier, & mars de cette Anneé 1681 was the first book I examined as I began working on the Provenance Project.  It is an account of observations of the path of a comet recorded over several months.  The author, Giovanni Domenico Cassini (also known by the French translation of his name, Jean-Dominque Cassini), was a 17th century astronomer.  He was born in Italy but eventually moved to France where he became a citizen (Zimmerman, 2012).  Cassini’s interest in astronomy derived from his study of astrology.  He was appointed a position at the Panzano Observatory in Bologna and later became a professor at the University of Bologna.  Cassini was known for many things including his observations of comets, planets, and orbital patterns. Image of an illustration of the constellation virgo taken from a large foldout of a map of the stars found in the back of the book He was also a knowledgeable mathematician and engineer (Zimmerman, 2012).  He believed that the Earth was the center of the universe, which was reflected in his work.  He was the first to calculate the rotation of Jupiter and Mars and to see the spots and moons of Jupiter.  At the request of Louis XIV, Cassini moved to Paris to become head of the Paris Observatory where he made more significant discoveries such as finding four moons of Saturn and a gap in Saturn’s rings that has since been named the Cassini Division (O’Connor & Robertson, 2003).  His son eventually took over his position at the Paris Observatory.  Cassini started a family legacy of astronomers, and his influence continues to inspire scientists.

RBMS’ copy of the book, Abregé des observations & des reflexions svr la comete qui a paru au mois de decembre 1680, & aux mois de ianveir, fevrier, & mars de cette Anneé 1681, is a beautiful book with its gilded, leather binding, decorative borders, and detailed illustrations.  Some of the most fascinating parts of the book are the three foldouts.  The first is a chart of the path of the comet with an illustration of a winged foot.  The second is a map of constellations and stars.  The third is another chart.  The book was one of two works printed at E. Michallet, a publisher that appears to have specialized in scientific work, in that year (Open Library).

 

 

 

 

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