In Greek mythology, Atlas was the god condemned to hold up the heavens for eternity. In modern culture, we think of an atlas as collection of maps, usually bound, that can be a window to the world packed with colorful maps and guides. In Special Collections and Archives, we have many interesting atlases, including...
Johann Sebastian Bach wrote hundreds of works in his lifetime that were forgotten for more than a century after his death. It wasn't until Felix Mendelssohn, well-known composer and pianist of the 19th century, stumbled upon Bach's music by chance and brought it back to the public to enjoy once again, that interest in Bach’s music was reignited. Bach’s music was cherished once again, and many composers ...
asdf
Special Collections and Archives holds many rare books that capture the unique history of specific events. This post focuses on the Woman’s Board of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition hosted by San Francisco in 1915 as told by Anna Pratt Simpson and John Henry Nash in Problems Women Solved: Being the Story of the Woman's Board of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition ..
The scholarly study of prostitution began to flourish in the mid-1980s sparked by public health concerns over sexually transmitted diseases, the need for legislative protections against sexualized violence and sex trafficking, and a growing awareness of relationships between sex work, substance abuse, and mental health. The regulation of prostitution in the United States is not ...
In honor of Black History Month, this week’s blog post highlights just a few African Americans who have contributed to the development and culture of the City of Los Angeles. These figures have roots embedded deep in the history of Los Angeles, some well before California was even part of the United States. Special Collections and Archives holds many interesting items that capture this history...
Primers were a type of textbook used to teach beginning students how to read. Early examples of primers date back to the 15th and 16th centuries, at which time they bore little resemblance to textbooks used for the same purpose today. Their contents typically consisted of word lists, catechisms ...
Special Collections and Archives holds a fragment of a Torah scroll. Although difficult to date, the scroll most likely dates from 1800 to 1950. On 10 sheets of parchment sewn together, the section runs from Numbers 2:22 to 32:131. Although the segment is no longer Kosher...
Japanese incursions into China began as early as 1931, shortly after the Mukden (or Manchurian) Incident. The following six years saw several smaller incursions, both military and political. For the Far East and Southeast Asia, the war began with the full-scale Japanese invasion of China in 1937; two years later it would become World War II...
This week's blog post explores several cookbooks from our Culinary Collections, focusing on one main ingredient – corn. Corn is a coarse grain with origins in the Americas. Although its birth place is debated, Mexico is often cited with a date range of 5,000 to 25,000 years ...
