DePaul's University Archives has unveiled a fresh exhibit to celebrate the opening of the new College of Science and Health. From Halley's Comet to the Bottom of the World highlights the fun, the strange, and the remarkable events and people in DePaul's scientific past.
Did you know that the first women to spend an entire winter in Antarctica were from DePaul? DePaul alumna and faculty member Mary Alice McWhinnie was internationally renowned for her work with krill, a tiny crustacean that flourishes in the Antarctic waters. She and her research assistant, Sister Mary Odile Cahoon, spent much of 1974 at an isolated research station on McMurdo Sound, studying the life cycle of krill. Professor McWhinnie left behind a rich record of her experience there, beyond her scientific publications, in the lengthy letters she wrote to friends and family during that 1974 trip.

The new exhibit features excerpts from these detailed and often humorous letters, as well as photos of McWhinnie's time in Antarctica. You'll also see a scientific paper she co-authored with some of her DePaul colleagues, including one who would attain his own distinction as DePaul's 8th president. The Very Reverend John T. Cortelyou C.M. was a member of the faculty and chair of the Biology Department before taking the top office. Father Cortelyou remains the only DePaul president to have received an advanced degree in the sciences, although he is not the only notable priest-scientist in DePaul history.

The Reverend Daniel McHugh, C.M., who taught astronomy and other sciences at DePaul, gained national attention for claiming to be the first person in Chicago to observe Halley's Comet in November of 1909. The sighting, made from the observatory atop Byrne Hall, incited controversy, and Fr. McHugh received many letters disputing the possibility of his claim. Despite the controversy, Fr. McHugh spoke widely on the Comet in Chicago, in part to put people at ease about the strange and infrequent sight in the sky.

See letters from some of Fr. McHugh's doubters alongside artifacts documenting Father Cortleyou's and Dr. McWhinnie's contributions to science at DePaul, and don't miss the exhibit's timeline of milestones and quirky mom ents in science at DePaul.

Where and When: See the exhibit on the 1st floor of Richardson Library; on display during Winter and Spring Quarters 2012.

For more information about the science or scientists featured in the exhibit:  Email us or stop by Richardson 314. Browse McWhinnie and Cortelyou's scientific papers, and see the original letters challenging Fr. McHugh's claim to the Halley's Comet sighting.

Can't make the exhibit?  Watch this Two-Minute Tour and see other unique resources in the Special Collections and Archives Department!   

"Reputation is gained by many Actions, and lost by one," cautions George Fisher in his 1794, The American Young Man's Companion. In the age of Twitter, this might sound like a lofty warning, but in 1915 a proper lady's image could be damaged by wearing earrings which were considered a "relic of barbarism".
 
Here's a look at books from the past describing how desirable behavior could be cultivated through education, exhibited through outward appearances, and expressed in socially acceptable ways.

Learn Your Lessons
Today's feast of cartoons with messages are merely a modern spin on teaching behavior and moral standards to young people. The very act of penmanship involved the repeated copying of cautionary sayings, advice, and standard phrases. The following flow alphabetically in Fisher's manual: "All idle lazy Boys, do obstruct their Parents Joys" … "Honour that is true, is lawful to pursue" … "Zeal in a good Cause, will merit applause". The Young Clerk's Assistant advises: "Virgins should value nothing less that Titles, Figures, Shape and Dress…"

Not even physical exertion was without its lesson as some of the lyrics to one of the Calisthenic Songs suggest: "Now we little children assembled in school, Must all be attentive to order and rule…"

 

Dress Appropriately
According to Duffey's, The Ladies' and Gentlemen's Etiquette, it is "duty of every woman to make herself as beautiful as possible" and that we owe the "duty of looking well" to others as well as to ourselves. The Ladies'Committee of Almacks, [sic] however, proclaims that the hair is the most important of all female decorations. In 1857, this group devoted an entire small book to their "cheval de bataille" or favorite subject so that there will no longer be any excuse for "monstrous mistakes" such as the "Pyramidal" or "Door-knocker" styles.

Mind Your Manners
Beyond the traditional reprimands to avoid swearing, spitting, and other vulgar habits, it is keen to remember that in 1877, "absent-mindedness is a sin against good manners" and that to compliment another too profusely can be unendurable. In response to an advertisement in Godey's Magazine for a wife, a single lady responds that the gentleman may find a wife who is lively and gay "if his manners match his wit".

The exhibit is located on the 3rd floor of DePaul University's Richardson Library and runs from Jan. 2, 2012 until March 20, 2012. For more information regarding titles in our "Early Rising" etiquette and education collection, please contact Special Collections at: archives@depaul.edu

 

Calisthenic Songs Illustrated: A New and Attractive Collection of Calisthenic Songs Beautifully Illustrated, for the use of both Public and Private Schools, Containing Songs for Diversion, Devotion and Recreation / by Flora T.       Parsons. New York : Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor, c1869.
Call Number: SPC. 782.42159 C154p1869

Cooke, Maud C.  Social Etiquette, or, Manners and Customs of Polite Society / by Maud C. Cooke.  Chicago: Monroe Book Company, 1896.
Call Number: SpC. 395 C7733 1896

Duffey, Eliza Bisbee. The Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s Etiquette: A Complete Manual of the Manners and Dress of American Society. Containing Forms of Letters, Invitations, Acceptances and Regrets. With a copious index. By Mrs. E. B. Duffey.  Philadelphia:  Porter and Coates, [c1877].
Call Number: SpC. 395 D856L 1877

Farnsworth, Eva Olney. The Art & Ethics of Dress: As Related to Efficiency and Economy / by Eva Olney Farnsworth; illustrations by Audley B. Wells. San Francisco, Cal., : P. Elder & Company c1915.
Call Number: SpC. 646.3 F236a1915

Fisher, George. The Instructor, or, American Young Man's Best Companion: Containing, Spelling, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetick, in an Easier Way Than any yet Published ... / by George Fisher, accomptant. Walpole, Newhampshire : Isaiah Thomas and David Carlisle, 1794.
Call Nubmber: SpC. 031.02 F533i1794

Godey's Magazine. New York [etc.] : The Godey company [etc.], 1830-1898.
Call Number: SpC. 391.005 G582g

The Young Clerk's Assistant; or, Penmanship Made Easy, Instructive, and Entertaining, Being a Compleat Pocket-Copy-Book, Curiously Engrav'd For the Practice of Youth in the Art of Writing. London: Printed for Richard Ware, 1733.
Call Number: SpC. 652.1 Y681r 1733

The Special Collections exhibit Mother's Milk:  The Story of La Leche League has been extended until February 1, 2012.  The exhibit features materials from the organization's archives, which are available for research in DePaul's Special Collections and Archives Department. La Leche League is an international organization offering help and support to breastfeeding mothers since 1956. For more information about the La Leche League exhibit, read the 11/28 Chicago Tribune article, "Promoting Mother's Milk Before it was Popular."

Location:  Special Collections and Archives, Room 314, John T. Richardson Library, DePaul University.

Special Collections opening hours:  Monday through Friday 9-5, with extended evening hours until 8pm on Wednesdays, January 18, 25, and February 1, 2012.

For maps and parking information: http://directory.depaul.edu/maps/default.aspx


For more information, please call 773-325-7864 or email.

How do college students spend their time and money?  What's on their minds?  See how advertisers have tried to answer those questions in University Archives' newest exhibit: "Please Patronize Those Who Patronize Us: Advertising Student Life in The DePaulia," now on display in Richardson Library.  The exhibit features advertisements that have appeared in the pages of The DePaulia, and highlights perceptions of the college experience – as reflected in the ads themselves.  The title was taken from a short blurb that appeared periodically in the paper, encouraging DePaul students to spend their money on the products and businesses advertised there.

Themes like sex and dating were common, and used in advertisements that attempted to sell college students everything from caffeine supplements to cigarettes.  Other ads tapped into social trends or current events.  Items in the exhibit illustrate the evolution from military-themed advertisements during World War II, to ads that draw on the social unrest of the 1960s.  Local businesses often tailored their ads specifically to DePaul students, promoting their proximity to campus and the chance of meeting with other DePaul students.  The exhibit also features historical images of DePaul students and University artifacts – come see which popular DePaul personality had his face immortalized on a can of Old Style!

Where and When: See the exhibit on the 1st floor of Richardson Library; on display during Autumn Quarter 2011.

Like the exhibit and want even more DePaulia?  Email us or stop by Richardson 314 to see original copies of the paper going back to the 1920's.  Watch this blog for more information about when historical issues of The DePaulia will be available online!

Can't make the exhibit?  Watch this Two-Minute Tour and see other unique resources in the Special Collections and Archives Department!

If you're looking for a good book to take along on summer travels or can't wait to catch up on your just-for-fun reading list this summer, you'll find plenty of popular fiction and non-fiction books on the shelves at DePaul Libraries. 

Like many university libraries, DePaul doesn't have a separate fiction section, and you're not likely to find blockbusters like the lastest in the Twilight series or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. But you will find novels by literary and award-winning authors such as A. S. Byatt, Paul Theroux, Sherman Alexie, Don DeLillo, Jane Smiley, Ha Jin, E. L. Doctorow, and Margaret Atwood. You'll also find a wide selection of contemporary international fiction, such as The Skating Rink by Roberto Bolaño, The Class by François Bégaudeau, The Collector of Worlds by Iliya Troyanov, The Mirage by Naguib Mahfouz, and Rhyming Life & Death by Amos Oz. 

Non-fiction readers also have plenty to choose from in categories from history to culture to science to memoirs to the arts. A few recent favorites are Just Kids by Patti Smith; Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin by Hampton Sides; The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet by Neil deGrasse Tyson; Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich; and Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker by James McManus.

And if DePaul doesn't have the books on your summer reading list, don't forget to check the I-share catalog to place a request for another library to send the book to DePaul for pickup. The Chicago Public Libraries, or your local public library, are other great places to find recreational reading.

Also check out our display of fiction and non-fiction summer reading suggestions in the Richardson Library first-floor display case.

Happy reading this summer!

Back in the 1930s, a young man from Indiana, Mladen Sekulovich, is credited for his role in the program for the Goodman Studio Theatre performance of "Dark Echos." Could anyone at that time have predicted that the inauspicious character actor, now better known as Karl Malden, would have gone on to rub shoulders with Marlon Brando, win Emmys and Oscars, and earn a coveted spot in film history? This is just one story. There are many more "inauspicious beginnings" that emanated from the two theatrical traditions that merged to make up DePaul's Theatre School as it is known today; Gillian Anderson, Kevin Anderson, Bruce Boxleitner, Theoni Aldredge, Melinda Dillon, Bill Hargate, Linda Hunt, Harvey Korman, Karl Malden, Joe Mantegna, Lois Nettleton, Kevin J. O'Connor, Elizabeth Perkins, Ted Wass, Geraldine Page, John C. Reilly, Carrie Snodgras, just to name drop a bit...

So, as this awards season kicks into full swing, we thought it might be fun to show off a couple of the Emmys earned by alumni in our collections (they are as heavy as they look!) and to investigate the early traditions from the Goodman School of Drama and DePaul's theater program that merged in 1978 to make DePaul’s Theatre School what it is today. This exhibit juxtaposes materials from DePaul's Theatre School Archives, such as Mary Agnes Doyle's, "Daily Dozen Diction Drills,"

and photos and papers from the collections of notable instructors, David and Bella Itkin, with award-winning costume designs, scripts, and film stills from personal collections donated to DePaul by distinguished alumni: Theoni Aldrege, Bill Hargate, and Lois Nettleton.

For finding aids or more information about these collections, contact: archives@depaul.edu or visit us in Room 314.

"Inauspicious Beginnings: Success Stories in DePaul's Theater Archives," Exhibit by Special Collections & Archives (Winter Quarter 2010); 3rd floor of the Richardson Library

What’s with all the buzz about Burnham? One hundred years ago, Daniel H. Burnham and Edward Bennett compiled the most influential city planning documents in U.S. history, the 1909 Plan of Chicago (SpC. 720.9 C734p 1909). Their visions and architecture defined many of the familiar features of Chicago today. A first edition copy of the Plan along with other works from this time period that highlight the history and development of Chicago are currently on exhibit in Special Collections and Archives­—Room 314.

Commissioned by the Commercial Club of Chicago, an elite group of Chicago businessmen, the Plan of Chicago was an attempt to re-shape Chicago to address some of the problems caused by its rapid growth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Burnham, well-known for his architectural and city planning work including the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, was already a member of the club. Edward Bennett, his associate in his architectural firm, was responsible for much of the design work on elements of the Plan that were put into place in the decades after its publication. Some of Bennett’s best known work includes Buckingham Fountain and the Michigan Avenue Bridge. 

    

Over the next 20 or so years, many elements of the Plan came to fruition in one way or another. While many of results do not exactly match the visionary illustrations in the Plan of Chicago, one can clearly see the intention of the Plan in much of what we have today in Chicago, especially in the areas of the lakefront, Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive, and Burnham Harbor and the Museum Campus.  

 

Exhibit runs through Dec. 18. Free to the public.

  

Please join us on Nov. 4 at 5:00 when Dr. Joe Schwieterman of the Chaddick Institute will read and sign copies of his book, Beyond Burnham: An Illustrated History of Planning for the Chicago Region. A reception will follow.

 

We label and stamp them, charge them out, and then back in again. We gather them in great piles from the drop boxes. We shelve them, a never-ending task, much like bailing out the ocean with a teaspoon. Still, we love them – the books.

Our first books were about girl detectives, boy wizards, kind monsters, and countless heroic orphans. We inhabited these completely, and they live on inside of us. As adults, we still encounter books that mark us. This exhibit is a way for members of the library staff to share our passion for books and reading.

The books in this exhibit on the first floor of the Richardson Library are all the personal copies of DePaul library staff.  Join the discussion at our Shelfari online group – go to www.shelfari.com and search for the group called “Bookmarked”.

There's still time to cast a vote for your favorite submission to this year's student video contest, This is DePaul. Students have already submitted an impressive selection of short videos depicting the DePaul student experience, and the entries can all be viewed and voted on from the YouTube movie gallery.

According to contest guidelines, all submissions had to feature at least one aspect of academics at DePaul, so it's no surprise that you'll see shots of the library in so many of these videos! Submissions also needed to feature elements of student life and Vincentian mission and at least one iconic Chicago landmark.

After online voting closes on May 25th, a panel of judges will choose three winners and award $4000 dollars in prize money. An additional award, the Audience Choice, will also go to the entry with the highest YouTube rating. So check out some of the fine work submitted to this contest and cast your vote soon!:

http://www.youtube.com/groups_videos?name=thisisdepaul

The Victorian Age in England saw an increased demand for print and pictures to accompany a growing literacy and increase of book publication.  The current exhibition in Special Collections and Archives highlights our growing collection of Victorian materials here at DePaul.

Victorian publishing merged the work of authors with artists in countless ways.  Authors like Charles Dickens used illustrations to define the plot and characters of their novels.  The artists for those novels depicted scenes in vivid detail to call the reader’s attention to minute aspects of the story.  But books dealing with all subjects were also illustrated, both through woodcuts and engravings. Those illustrations enhanced the understanding of the reading public about the expanding role of science, technology, and sociological study that blossomed during Victorian England.  

From amateur artist-scientists illustrating the worlds seen through a microscope, to travelers depicting the world they saw, illustrations provided a visual means to understand and amplify the text. The world was captured for readers who would never dissect a caterpillar or travel to India.  Illustrations also provided a way for the publishing industry to market and sell their books to new audiences, such as those riding another major invention of Victorian times, the railroad.  The illustrations communicated information about new inventions such as the velocipede, a Victorian version of today’s bicycle.

Illustrations in serious literature diminished by the end of the 19th Century, but  found new life in children’s books, magazines, and cheap popular fiction; eventually making their way into the 20th century as comic books, graphic novels, and fine press illustrated editions.

Department of Special Collections and Archives, 314 Richardson Library, Open Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm.  http://library.depaul.edu/Collections/SpecialCollectionArchives.aspx