Human societies have developed numerous means to preserve information, and have made use of a wide array of materials—papyrus scrolls, clay tablets, and sheets of bronze—to do so. The codex, a Eurasian method...
Emanuel Julius (later Haldeman-Julius upon marriage) grew up an avid reader. He was born in Philadelphia in 1889 to Jewish immigrants who had fled the pogroms of 19th century Odessa. This would lay the groundwork that would later lead him to create the Little Blue Books, a series of pocket sized books that was published from 1919 through 1978...
While people around the world have been sending greeting cards for centuries, most cards produced prior to the 19th century were crafted by hand. They were prohibitively expensive for many, and were not widely circulated as a result. Advancing print technologies and the introduction of the...
Fernando Sor was a composer and guitarist who lived from 1778-1839. He was born in Barcelona and gained much of his early musical education at the monastery at Monserrat. The time period in which he lived was called the Classical era and contains many composers, which are quite....
Photographer Richard Cross spent 1974 to 1978 as a volunteer in Bogotá, Colombia, working as a photographer and audio-visual consultant for the Peace Corps’ Agricultural Communications program. While there he visited and photographed the Teatro de Cristóbal Colón...
In 1978, CSUN President James W. Cleary began working on a plan to improve the campus’ international reputation. Step one; initiate an international student and teacher exchange program. As one might expect, it took several years for such a program to become firmly established. In November 1983, Cleary’s administrative assistant Kay Kellogg said, “… the program is just now becoming operational.” By this time, exchanges with China, Brazil, and Poland had occurred, and an estimated dozen students and a dozen teachers had already participated in exchanges with China...
Legendary classical guitarist Julian Bream passed away at the age of 87 on August 14, 2020. Bream was a lover of all music, and he surrounded himself within the sonic landscapes of every musical era, going back as far as the music of 15-century lutenists. The IGRA Guitar Research Archives Discography Collection contains an immense collection of phonograph recordings. These recordings are a valuable resource for any music researcher, performer, teacher or student looking to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of performed music...
In 1958, students at San Fernando Valley State College chose the matador as their official college mascot. Other nominees, the Apollos and the Titans, were among the most popular mascot alternatives for their inherent and mythological ties to the sun. Many students felt that these two options were more suitable choices for the “sunshine campus,” despite the matador winning by popular vote...
Charles Clarence Easley was born in Utica, Nebraska on September 13, 1885. Clarence, as he was called as an adult, began learning the guitar at age nine. As a young man, he worked as an accountant in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Following World War I, he began working as a court reporter, and in 1920 moved to San Francisco to take a job working in the local courts. Easley had a lifelong fascination with the guitar...
W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan produced fourteen enormously popular comic operas between 1871 and 1896, including H.M.S. Pinafore, the Pirates of Penzance, the Mikado, and more. These works are considered by many to be precursors of the modern musical, distinguished by comedic examination and critique of class, gender, and political systems of the time. The David Trutt Gilbert and Sullivan Advertising Cards Collection contains...
