In Defense of Print

26/08/2022

After more or less fifteen years of work, I have finished an experimental novel with images, to be published next year. I worked on it at least two hours every day over that period, and I rearranged my teaching and research to accommodate it. I've learned a tremendous amount about reading, writing, and the history of fiction, but also, unexpectedly, about memory and attentiveness -- how to listen.
For the next year or so I'll be posting only on literature and writing that includes images, so if you're looking for visual art you might want to unfollow or unfriend.
One of the innovations in the book is that it includes sheet music. This is an example. The music is meant to be seen on the page, and I describe it in the book, but it doesn't need to be heard. I'm not aware of any fiction that does this. If anyone knows any examples, let me know.
More soon.

20/07/2022

This vintage postcard, produced between 1930-1940, features the aerial view of Bedloe’s Island. Military buildings are situated behind Fort Wood, with visitors disembarking at the north pier.

In 1937, the National Park Service was officially granted control of the island and set off to redesign the landscape. By 1957, all military buildings were removed and Bedloe's Island was renamed to Liberty Island in honor of the transformation.

PC: National Park Service, Statue of Liberty National Monument

19/07/2022

On July 19, 1848, more than 300 people assembled in Seneca Falls, New York, for the nation’s first women’s rights convention. There, Elizabeth Cady Stanton read her now-famous “Declaration of Sentiments” protesting women’s inferior legal status and listing 11 resolutions equality, the most radical of which demanded “the elective franchise.” Stanton’s original Declaration is believed lost, but this rare printed version has survived and is held by the Library's Manuscript Division.

https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/women-fight-for-the-vote/about-this-exhibition/seneca-falls-and-building-a-movement-1776-1890/?loclr=fbloc

12/07/2022

Boston Review //: The wide-ranging philosopher had the uncanny ability to bring very different traditions into conversation.

By Seyla Benhabib

https://bostonreview.net/articles/remembering-richard-j-bernstein/?

The wide-ranging philosopher had the uncanny ability to bring very different traditions into conversation.

11/07/2022

Our colleagues at the New York Archival Society are seeking new board members.

The New York Archival Society was founded in 1976 to build support for New York City government’s historical records. The society promotes and assists the Municipal Archives and Library in several important ways. It enhances the financial position of the Archives through fundraising, serves as the fiscal agent for grants, publicizes the Archives and its collections, and promotes the Library and Archives within city government and among other cultural and academic institutions.

One special program that the society coordinates is “adopt a record.” In this program, people “adopt” an important record in disrepair and make a contribution that covers the cost of repairing it. Notables successes include drawings for the Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park, a 1686 land patent, and volumes from the Board of Alderman collection. Learn more:
http://www.newyorkarchivalsociety.org/adopt

If you are interested in joining this non-profit board, please email Gerald Rosero at [email protected] .

04/07/2022

INDEPENDENCE DAY: Check out Thomas Jefferson's rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, complete with deletions, corrections, insertions & other edits from members of his committee prior to July 4. https://www.loc.gov/resource/mtj1.001_0545_0548/?sp=1&loclr=fbloc

16/02/2022

NYPL The New York Public Library //: The idea for outdoor concerts came from a patron's suggestion to hold the concerts in the back of the Library in Bryant Park. With financial support from the pianist, singer, and songwriter Lanny Ross, the Music Division purchased equipment, hired a disc jockey, and in 1948 began holding midday concerts from noon to 2 PM on weekdays. The Union Dime Savings Bank funded the outdoor concerts from 1949 until the programs ended in 1968. The Bryant Park concerts became a popular lunchtime haunt, averaging 2,000 attendees daily.

To share its growing record collection with the public, the Music Division held outdoor recorded concerts in Bryant Park from 1948–68.

31/01/2022

Today in History: President James Madison approves bill approving the purchase of Thomas Jefferson's personal library for use by Congress, 1815 https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/january-30/?loclr=fbloc

13/01/2022

BH101 Mobile Museum //: As we honor the life and legacy of the great Sidney Poitier, I would like to share one of his most unacknowledged contributions that changed the course of history.

In 1959, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and Jackie Robinson used their personal financial resources and their status as celebrities to raise funds for the African Airlift Program that initially brought 81 Kenyan students to America for a college education.

One of those students was Barack Obama, Sr. who came to America to study economics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. There he met and married fellow student Stanley Ann Dunham. On August 4, 1961, they gave birth to son Barack Obama II and the rest is history.

This original letter signed by Poitier, Belafonte, and Robinson details the African Airlift program including those first 81 students is one of the most treasured pieces in the archive of the Black History 101 Mobile Museum.



Thanks to Dr Khalid El-Hakim and Kim Cliett Long

06/01/2022