Please join us on Thursday, April 20, from 4-5:30 p.m. in Speakers’ Corner, Falvey Library, for a special event in honor of National Poetry Month.

Our latest exhibit, Art of War: Illustrated and Military Maps of the Twentieth Century, is now on display on the 1st floor of Falvey Library and in select cases at the Prince Family Veterans Resource Center. Both locations feature a selection of two types of imagery: maps that are illustrated, highly pictorial, and created for public distribution; and topographic maps that have been created by government war offices for use in military conflict. The juxtaposition forces a close analysis of the very nature of maps. Often assumed as truthful and accurate, maps lead and guide the way, provide direction, and help us make decisions. Yet as with anything that is human-made there are things to consider – the knowledge or bias of the creator, the intended audience, the purpose of the document.

These examples, largely drawn from the John F. Smith, III and Susan B. Smith Antique Map Collection, explore major conflicts of the twentieth century and emphasize the inherently ephemeral quality of maps. These maps have urgency and are very much “of the moment” – whether they are illustrating a political viewpoint or guiding military forces – they compel us to consider the control, reliability, and availability of wartime information.

The exhibit was co-curated by Rebecca Oviedo, Distinctive Collections Archivist, and Christoforos Sassaris, Distinctive Collections Coordinator, with graphics created by Joanne Quinn, Director of Communication and Marketing. Stay tuned for more information on a coordinating event and reception, to be held later this fall during the week of Veteran’s Day.

Military Mapping Maidens (3Ms) case in Falvey Library

Cases at the Prince Family Veteran’s Resource Center in Vasey Hall

Sir Ernest Shackleton’s book, The Heart of the Antarctic, published in 1909.

This week’s “Throwback Thursday” (TBT) is part of Falvey Memorial Library’s exhibit “That Fairyland of Ice”: Polar Exploration in Mind and Memory. The exhibit, both in the Library’s first floor display cases and online, highlights the generous donation of a collection of books and items about the Arctic and Antarctic recently given to the Library’s Distinctive Collections by Dr. James Wheeler. The exhibit includes connections to other Library materials as well as current issues affecting the polar regions today.

Sir Ernest Shackleton’s book, The Heart of the Antarctic, published in 1909, is pictured above. The online exhibit provides additional information on the explorer:

“Sir Ernest Shackleton, an Anglo-Irish explorer, made four expeditions to Antarctica between 1901 and 1922, leading three of them. He was third officer on Robert Falcon Scott’s Discovery expedition, 1901-4, before heading his own expedition in 1907 aboard the Nimrod. This expedition, split into two parties, achieved a new record for farthest south of 88° 23′ S; made a first ascent of Mount Erebus, the most active and second-highest volcano on the continent; and were the first to reach the South Magnetic Pole (different from the geographic South Pole first achieved by Amundsen). Shackleton wrote about this expedition in The Heart of the Antarctic, published after their return in 1909.”

“That Fairyland of Ice”: Polar Exploration in Mind and Memory will be available for viewing on the Library’s first floor through June 15, 2022.

The exhibit was co-curated by Laura Bang and Rebecca Oviedo, Distinctive Collections Archivist, with graphics by Joanne Quinn, Director of Communication and Marketing.

Comments or questions? Contact dcde@villanova.edu.

By Jenna Renaud

Word of the Week: Assiduous  

(adj) showing great care and perseverance  

Mid-terms are upon us, and I implore everyone to be assiduous with your studies this week. A much-needed Spring break is right around the corner, we all just need to persevere and put in those extra hours studying and drafting papers to get there. I’ll be pulling quite a few late nights and early mornings this week to get everything done, so just know you are not alone. 

This Week at Falvey  

NOW–Wednesday, Jun. 15th  

“That Fairyland of Ice”: Polar Exploration in Mind and Memory Exhibit | Falvey First Floor & Online | Free & Open to the Public 

Monday, Feb. 21st  

Mindfulness Mondays | 1–1:30 p.m. | Virtual | https://villanova.zoom.us/j/98337578849  

Wednesday, Feb. 23rd

Mid-Term Event | 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. | Falvey First Floor | Stop by for some dough to get you through midterms! Cookie dough and Play-Doh are the essentials you never knew you needed to get through this mid-term season.

This Week in History 

February 22nd, 1980 – U.S. hockey team beats the Soviets in the “Miracle on Ice” 

Stay in theme with the 2022 Beijing Olympics wrapping up this past weekend, this week’s week in history flashes back to the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games. In one of the most dramatic upsets in Olympic history, the United States hockey team, made up of college students, defeated the Soviet Union team that had one the last four Olympic gold medals. 

The U.S. team, with an average player age of 22, entered the Games as the 7th-seed as opposed to the Soviet Union’s experienced team entering as 1st-seed. In front of 100,000 spectators, the U.S. pulled out a 4-3 win and then went on to defeat Finland two days later, securing the gold. This unbelievable upset and victory was later memorialized in a 2004 film, Miracle, starring Kurt Russell. Miracle is available for streaming on Disney+. To read more about this upset and how it played out, visit History.com. 

Jenna Renaud is a Graduate Assistant in Falvey Memorial Library and a Graduate Student in the Communication Department.