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This week’s post will be a reflection of my work over this semester. I applied for this internship after a class I had been in worked frequently with the Special Collections library. I applied and shortly after, the position was mine.

Over the course of the semester I have worked with literature that is hundreds of years old, comic books, pamphlets and novels. Even through all of my work, I have still barely scratched the surface of the treasure trove that is the MU’s Special Collections library. The staff, especially my supervisor Kelli Hansen, have been welcoming and more helpful than I could have ever asked for. This has been my first internship experience and I could not have had a better one.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in this library and I am happy I got the opportunity to peruse through the extensive collection. I encourage everyone who can to pay Special Collections a visit!

The above pictures were my favorite works to read this semester.

For this week’s post, I will be writing on a piece called “The New Library Building”. I thought it would be interesting for everyone to hear the history of the place that I have ben doing all of my work in this semester! Just a little Mizzou history for you all: in 1892, the academic hall (now known as Jesse Hall) was destroyed in a fire. The university library was housed inside, and was subsequently destroyed as well.

In 1913, the president at the time requested a grant of $200,000 (almost 5 million dollars today) for the central portions of the building, and $75,000 (almost 2 million dollars) for a site to build it on. The grant was approved and the building of what would be known as Ellis Library commenced.

Architecturally, the building resembles those of the English renaissance, with the nearest prototype being Trinity College, Cambridge.

The entire building is fireproof, as another devastating fire is the last thing anyone wanted. In tangent to that, when Ellis was built it was purposefully made that there was not enough flammable material in any one room for a significant fire to catch. Better safe than sorry! Radiators (that are still in place) were installed for heating. During construction, the system for call numbers was established, which is still used today. Basically, it works where every book in Ellis has a number that is assigned to it and it can be retrieved via that number. It’s a very simple but effective system.

At the end of construction, the new library was said to enable greater and more efficient service to the public, and I firmly believe that goal was met and continues to be true everyday.

This week’s post will be about A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, which was written by Charles M Schulz and published in New York in 1974. An infamous franchise, the Charlie Brown comics are a recognizable part of American pop culture.

This particular comic starts out with Sally asking a disgruntled Charlie Brown what the matter was, to which Charlie responds that holidays depress him. Charlie has a unique take on holidays because for most people they are a time for family and love. Later, Linus asks Charlie what he’s doing for Thanksgiving, to which he responds that he is going to his grandmother’s house with his family, and reiterates that holidays depress him.

Peppermint Patty mistakenly calls Charlie Brown thinking that he is Chuck and proceeds to invite herself over for dinner. She calls two more times after that, each time inviting a new person over. Charlie wonders why these things are always happening to him, and Sally tells him that it is because he is too wishy-washy. Linus tells Charlie to call back and correct Peppermint Patty, but Charlie is unwilling. Linus suggest two dinners: one for family and one for friends. Charlie says that all he can cook is cereal and maybe toast (me too, Charlie), so then he instructs his trusty dog Snoopy to go to the garage and start preparing for the Friendsgiving.

Snoopy frantically sets the entire table and cooks all the food, which is impressive seeing as my dog couldn’t do that. As the guests enter, Linus starts to tell the classic story of the first Thanksgiving. Everyone is served a delectable course of pretzel sticks, popcorn and a single piece of toast...all to Peppermint Patty’s vehement disdain. She proceeds to throw a fit over what she considers to be an inadequate Thanksgiving dinner.

Patty eventually realizes the error of her ways and asks Marcie to apologize to Charlie Brown for her, who she is still referring to as Chuck. Marcie apologizes, but in the middle of it Charlie realizes that he is going to be late to his grandmother’s Thanksgiving dinner. After this realization, he calls her, explains the situation and she invites everyone over to her house.

I completely understand why these comics are so popular. Lighthearted, funny, and easy to read, I enjoyed every second of reading through A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Each character is distinct and memorable as well.

Happy Thanksgiving 2016, everyone! I hope your holiday is filled with family, food, and fun.

This week’s material is titled Woman Suffrage and Politics. Signed and authored by Carrie Chapman Catt and published in New York in 1923, three years after the addition of the 19th amendment, this book discusses the intersection where women’s suffrage and American politics met.

The book states that the movement was galvanized by two previous ones, dubbed “the man movement”, which attempted to evolve the control of governments in the favor of the people, and “the woman movement”, in which women wanted to be free of the patriarchal systems that law, religion, tradition, and customs bound them to. After these two were successful, suffrage was the obvious next step.

Later, in the political realm, a surprising majority were in favor of both black men’s and white women’s suffrage, but the rhetoric was that both were not likely to be accepted if done at the same time. The black man was decided to be first, with the phrase “this is the negro’s hour” being the common response to women’s appeals.

“The woman’s hour will come.” Between the adoption of the 15th amendment (March 30, 1870), and 1910 were 40 tiresome years of suffragettes wishing, waiting, and hoping for their hour to come. Eventually, the women’s hour came in the form of referendum votes on a state-by-state basis. Some states took the referendum to the supreme court, hailing unconstitutionality, but grievances were thrown out one by one. Eventually the 19th amendment was passed in 1920, and remains in law today and forever.

This reading was important to me because not only was it written by a woman who had to fight tirelessly for her rights, but also it came to me two days after there were two women on the ballot to be president of the United States. Regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum, the ability to bear witness to history is a phenomena to be cherished and celebrated. A meager 97 years ago, women could not vote. We sure have come a long way.

As most of you may know, the Cubs recently won their first World Series in 108 years, their third in the team’s history. In the spirit of their recent victory, I decided to browse The St. Louis Baseball Reader as this week’s blog post material. It was edited by Richard Peterson and published by the University of Missouri Press in 2006. Now, if some of you are confused as to what the Cardinals have to do with the Cubs, here it is: the two teams have been in a longstanding rivalry. I am from the St. Louis area and I scarcely hear anything good about the Cubs, and I am sure most Chicagoans can say the same about the Cardinals. I congratulate them on their win, but we’ll be back next year!

In the text I learned that the St. Louis Cardinals actually used to be the St. Louis Browns, until we were renamed in 1900. We are the second most successful franchise in baseball history, our eleven World Series titles second only to the New York Yankees’ twenty-seven. After our 1926 World Series win against the Yankees, the ball started rolling (pun intended) and we solidified our formidable reputation.

The book also discusses Stan ‘The Man’ Musial, who was the most famous Cardinals player to ever live. It wouldn’t be a book about the Cardinals without mentioning Stan, who passed away in 2013.

I look forward to next baseball season in terms of the dynamics between the Cards and the Cubs.

This week’s post will be about one of the infamous Garfield comics by Jim Davis. The one I read was titled “Garfield Gains Weight” and was published in New York City in 1981. The comic starts out with Garfield and his owner Jon discussing the fact that they have been watching television all day, to which Jon brashly tells Garfield that he is getting fat. Garfield brushes the comment off and then refuses the cat food that Jon tries to force on him.

Garfield later breaks the fourth wall by doing characteristically cat activities, and then addresses the audience by saying that he only did it to appease them. He also acts like a cat in the fact that he only wants to be pet when he desires to be. One thing I loved about this comic is that Garfield refers to himself as both a cat and a person. He does things like scratch the carpet, but then he also has the very human quality of biting sarcasm. And of course his trademark lasagna addiction.

Garfield’s stomach eventually gets to be too big for him to walk, so then Jon takes him to the vet. Jon is immediately enthralled with the vet, who is quick to extinguish his advances. Garfield is even quicker to tell Jon that he is embarrassing himself.

In the end of the comic, it is springtime. Garfield expresses his undying love for springtime, to which Jon tries to get him to go on a walk. Garfield starts arguing with him about it and the comic ends before the argument is resolved.

I loved this comic. It’s witty, humorous, and creative. Garfield has such a big personality and he singlehandedly carries the story. The comic is long, around 100 or so pages, but it is mostly picture based. It’s also unlike any other comic I’ve read in that it does not have one overarching plot, but is a sequence of seemingly unrelated and arbitrary occurrences that culminate to tell the story. I would definitely recommend Garfield to anyone.

This week’s installment will be a review of an edition of the longstanding comic Archie and Friends. The installment I read was published in 1998 in New York, and is Halloween themed.

The comic starts out with two of the characters, Sabrina and Steve, purchasing comics at a comic book shop. The duo end up getting teleported to a post apocalyptic scene where they have an encounter with Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles the Echidna, who are moments away from getting into an altercation with Dr. Robotnik, who seemingly is a villain. It is revealed that Sabrina has magic powers, and she teleports the four of them back to the original setting and promptly starts discussing the Halloween party she has to attend, in typical teenaged girl fashion. She invites Steve to the party, and after lamenting that he has no costume, she uses her magic to adorn them both with a costume. Her a pilgrim and he a superhero. After watching this, Sonic and Knuckle complain that they are far away from home, to which Sabrina appeases to them and brings them to the party.

Once the group arrives to the party, there is talks of a huge pig roast, the thought of which Sonic and Knuckle are uncomfortable with. As the party goes on, the audience finds out that Sabrina accidentally brought Dr. Robotnik back with her. He, Sonic, and Knuckle get into a fight that results in Sabrina’s magical cat, Salem, using his powers to send them back to their wasteland, and to make everyone at the party forget about what they saw.

This comic was quirky and interesting to read. I loved the fantastical elements and how there was a structure, but the occurrences were odd. I also chose it because Halloween is right around the corner.

This week’s pamphlet was titled “Impressions of a Visit to the North of Ireland in 1862. I personally love the candidacy of the title, which was the style of the time. It was written by a man named Edward Harper and published in London. Harper is an Englishman who went to Ireland in order to study the Protestant faith and see his distant family members. Upon his landing, he prayed that Jesus would end all of Ireland’s suffering. He never outright stated what suffering he was referring to, but Ireland was just ten years out of their Great Famine, which had decimated their population.

In the two weeks that Harper was there, he ardent pushed for Protestantism in Ireland, a topic which he was passionate about and spoke on with gusto. He frequently met with like minded people, attended dinners, and gave speeches all dedicated to his cause. Over half of the pamphlet’s contents were his views on the debate between Protestantism and Catholicism that is still an issue in Ireland to this day. But aside from his thoughts on social issues, he greatly describes the rain that is a staple of Irish weather. He visited rural towns and went to weddings that encompassed the entire town, which he remarked on as oddly charming because that would have never happened in London.

I enjoyed this pamphlet because of the passion with which Harper defends his cause, and the descriptions he gives of Ireland’s nature and weather.

For this post, I read the issue number 2,149 of Marvel’s Luke Cage that was published on April 30, 1976 in New York City. This copy starts out with Luke being tied to the underside of the Harlem River Bridge while there is a tugboat approaching in the background. It is revealed that Luke’s nemesis, Cockroach Hamilton, chained him there. Luke’s narrative then delves into a inner monologue in which the audience can see that Luke thinks in terms of truisms. The one for right now? Life is uncontrollable. After intense struggle, Luke breaks free from his chains. Even though his skin is impenetrable, he is still subject to feeling the intense pain of his situation. Luke is now hanging down by his wrists, and his shoulder is throbbing as it was previously dislocated by Cockroach. He finally breaks completely free and falls directly onto the tugboat. As he is jumping off the tugboat in order to make a suave escape, another truism comes to light: Life isn’t a series of one-liners.

While the escaped Luke is at the movies with his friend D.W., Cockroach Hamilton is relaxing in his pest infested apartment with a shotgun he adoringly calls “Josh”. He gets a phone call from a man named Piranha Jones, where he divulges that Luke Cage is dead. He and Piranha quickly concoct a plan to hijack a convoy from Adonis Chemical and use the toxins inside to control the whole city.

Further along in the story, Cockroach, Piranha and Luke all cross paths where an immediate physical altercation ensues. Piranha bites Luke on the neck with his sharp, stainless steel teeth but to no avail. In the background, an Adonis Chemical truck drives by and a gas canister falls out. The ending scene of the comic is the three men ceasing their fight and anxiously watching the gas slowly seep out of the canister.

Marvel’s Luke Cage was a great read for me. There was just enough action to where the storyline was believable and tempting. I loved how they gave Cockroach humanistic characteristics, like living in an apartment that needs to be cleaned and having an attachment to an object. And finally, I loved the breaks in narration where Luke delivered his truisms. They helped me understand him as a character better and they also gave him a distinct human quality. Luke Cage season one was also just released on Netlfix, and after reading I plan on giving it a watch!

Today's post will be a reflective and brief piece about the history of women's writing.

Historically, female authors have not enjoyed the same merit as male authors. Many assumed male or masculine sounding pen names in order for their writing to be taken seriously, examples reaching back to George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) and even as recently as infamous Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, whose publisher told her that young boys may be put off by a book written by a female author.

Up in the Special Collections library at Mizzou, there can be found a myriad of novels, pamphlets, poems, etc that simply say they were written "by a lady". There are no names on them, no other identifier than the fact that the author was a woman.

In Anne Bradstreet's poem, The Prologue, she discusses the backlash she faced for being a female writer by saying "I am obnoxious to each carping tongue/ Who says my hand a needle better fits". Even though Bradstreet is a singular woman, we can deduce that her words were applicable to many female writers of her time, and even still to a lesser extent today.

Gender roles of these times were rigid and unforgiving. A woman's job was to tend to her husband, her children, and her home. She was assumed to have a propensity for all things servile, and women rarely received adequate formal educations. But despite these restrictions, there were women who boldly wrote anyway. Perhaps the publisher wouldn't let her put her name on her work, or told her to take on a pen name but regardless, women were writing, and they were doing it prolifically. If I had a dollar for every time I've come across a work in Special Collections that was written "by a lady", I could drop out of school and buy all the first edition Charlotte Bronte novels my heart desired!

These women— unnamed female writers— paved the way for me to be able to sit on my laptop, clicking away. I can proudly publish and put my name on my work without fear of backlash for simply writing while female. For this gift, I am eternally grateful.

“The Triumphs of Bigotry” is a pamphlet located in the Special Collections library at the University of Missouri. It was mysteriously written “by a lady” in 1749 and published in London. In the story, the narrator has a friend who is described as a “spritely genius”. This innominate friend has an endowment of powers that include Urania’s melodious lyre, seraphic fire, wisdom, and supreme command. For those, like me, who were unsure who Urania is, she was the muse of astrology and a daughter of Zeus in Greek mythology.

Further along, the narration revealed that the no-named friend’s primary goal was the peace and happiness of man. His overwhelming good powers were weakening Satan, who was beginning to get worried about his dwindling power. Satan, in turn, had a discussion with his demons about fighting the unnamed friend’s good powers. Eventually, Satan was defeated by “tenfold heat” despite his efforts otherwise. The narrator’s friend was eventually dubbed the Christian Hero, and following his triumph, men’s immortal happiness pursued.

This text was intriguing to me for several reasons. Firstly, I thought that keeping the central figure nameless until the end made him even more important because he was shrouded in an air of ambiguity. I was constantly wondering if this hero would be revealed. I also loved the that it was a poem instead of a short story, because it made the writing musical and airy, as opposed to the straight forward nature of prose.

#specialcollections #mizzou #rarebooks

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