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New exhibit on Villanova’s V-12 Navy College Training Program now on view in Vasey Hall

A new exhibit is now on view at the Prince Family Veterans Resource Center in Vasey Hall. The exhibit, titled The V-12 Navy College Training Program: Villanova During World War II, showcases materials related to the V-12 training program hosted by Villanova College from 1943 to 1946.

During the second World War, Villanova’s student population significantly decreased, as numerous young men joined the armed forces. At this time, the US Navy selected Villanova, along with other institutions of higher learning, to house the V-12 Navy College Training Program. This program aimed to quickly increase the number of commissioned officers through an accelerated course of study that combined academic coursework and military training. During the years when the program was offered at Villanova, most of the college’s students were enrolled in it.

Case 1 from the new exhibit on the V-12 program at Villanova. Photo by Shawn Proctor, MFA, Communication and Marketing Program Manager.

Case 1 from the new exhibit on the V-12 program at Villanova. Photo by Shawn Proctor, MFA, Communication and Marketing Program Manager.

The exhibit features reproductions of photographs, drawn from our digitized collections, that depict V-12 students training and studying. The exhibit also includes three letters written by Villanova V-12 graduate James D. Reap, Jr. to his parents during and after his participation in the training program. In his letters, Reap recounts his experience as a V-12 student and how it positively affected his career trajectory. In a letter dated February 5, 1944, Reap writes that other enlisted men “kind of respect us boys from the V-12 Unit.” The digitized letters and their full transcripts are also available through the Villanova Digital Library, along with other digitized materials from the James D. Reap, Jr. Collection. Paired with the letters is a US Navy hat worn by Reap while he participated in the Pacific Theater of World War II. (He served as a radar and communications technician aboard the USS Proteus, which was anchored near the USS Missouri when the Japanese surrender was formally signed in 1945.) Lastly, the exhibit features the 1944 and 1945 Belle Air Villanova yearbooks, which provide further information about the curriculum and leadership of the V-12 program.

Case 2 from the new exhibit on the V-12 program at Villanova. Photo by Shawn Proctor, MFA, Communication and Marketing Program Manager.

Case 2 from the new exhibit on the V-12 program at Villanova. Photo by Shawn Proctor, MFA, Communication and Marketing Program Manager.

These materials come together to highlight the experiences of V-12 students and how their time at Villanova prepared them for leadership roles in the Navy, during one of the most critical moments in world history. You may view the exhibit, The V-12 Navy College Training Program: Villanova During World War II, during the spring and summer 2024 semesters at the Prince Family Veterans Resource Center in Vasey Hall!

If you are interested in additional projects that celebrate and preserve the legacies of Villanova veterans, make sure to also visit Honoring the Fallen: An Interactive Memorial Map, a Geographic Information System (GIS) map that shows where Villanova veterans died in service, as well as The Voices of Villanova’s Veterans oral history site, which includes interviews with Villanova veterans.


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New Exhibit: Smith Map Collection in Old Falvey


Say goodbye to the empty walls in Old Falvey! Falvey Library’s Distinctive Collections and Digital Engagement has newly installed a selection of maps from the John F. Smith, III and Susan B. Smith Antique Map Collection in the study space of Old Falvey’s second floor between the Dugan Polk Family Reading Room and the CAVE. This transformation could not have been possible without the help of Villanova’s Office of Facilities Management, Falvey’s Finance & Administration staff, and especially Jennie Castillo, Curator of the University Art Collection & Gallery Director for all their help with every step of the installation.

 

2nd Floor, Old Falvey: Before!

The sixteen maps on view all show early views of the Americas printed before 1800. Perhaps even more so than providing direction, charting a course, or sharing “new discoveries” in an “Age of Exploration,” maps of the Americas by European cartographers from the 16th through the 18th centuries were about exhibiting political power and control. The acts of claiming and naming, and dividing the land is drawn up on these maps by Dutch, English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German mapmakers.

I selected and wrote accompanying interpretive labels for each of the maps. Thank you also to DCDE staff Meg Piorko, Beaudry Allen, and Michael Foight for their feedback and contributions to the labels; and to John F. Smith, III who provided the basis of the content through the online exhibit,
Projecting the World: An Audio Tour of the John F. Smith, III and Susan B. Smith Antique Map Collection.

See the full transformation and spend some time reading the maps and the labels next time you pass through the space!

 


Rebecca Oviedo is Distinctive Collections Librarian/Archivist at Falvey Memorial Library.

 


 


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Poetic License: Weird and Fantastical Poetry

My case in the exhibit, “Poetic License: Seven Curators’ Poetry Selections from Distinctive Collections,” showcases examples of weird and fantastical poetry from Falvey Library’s holdings. Here, the term “weird” is used not colloquially, but rather in reference to the genre of weird fiction, which emerged in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Owing much to Gothic horror, weird fiction reinvented the creatures and themes of Gothic horror and other forms of speculative fiction, as portrayed by writers such as Edgar Allan Poe. In fact, H. P. Lovecraft, the most widely known practitioner of weird fiction, considered Poe’s writings the origin of the genre. While writers like Lovecraft are now remembered largely for their contributions to prose, my exhibit case highlights their lesser known, but equally interesting, poetic works. Examples are drawn from Weird Tales, arguably the most popular periodical to ever publish weird fiction and poetry. These poems explore themes that are central to the genre, including the supernatural, the passage of time, and the futility of human pursuits in an indifferent cosmos. Formally, the poems tend to implement consistent rhyme and meter, which amplify the haunting quality of these works.

Case on Weird and Fantastical Poetry from Spring 2023 Falvey Library Exhibit

Case on “Weird and Fantastical Poetry” from “Poetic License” exhibit, on the first floor of Falvey Library

Some poems in the case are quite literally fantastical, like Lovecraft’s “Night Gaunts,” which describes the dreadful flying creatures that first appeared in the author’s posthumously published novella, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kaddath (1943). Other poems adopt a more grounded approach, such as Sudie Stuart Hager’s “Inheritance,” which examines how folklore can pass fantastical notions from one generation to the next. Meanwhile, Leah Bodine Drake’s “The Steps in the Field” uses fantastical motifs to develop a resonant metaphor about the afterlife, but also emphasizes the idea that some knowledge is dangerous and best left undiscovered—a popular theme in weird fiction and poetry. Together, these and other poems in the case paint a vivid picture of weird and fantastical poetry, its primary thematic concerns, and its formal techniques in the first half of the twentieth century.

Sudie Stuart Hager, 1895-1982. “Inheritance” in Weird Tales, v. 35, no. 4, p. 111. New York: Weird Tales, July 1940.

First stanza of: Sudie Stuart Hager, 1895-1982. “Inheritance” in Weird Tales, v. 35, no. 4, p. 111. New York: Weird Tales, July 1940.

The case also displays four covers of Weird Tales issues, illustrated by Margeret Brundage, Matt Fox, and Virgil Finlay. These expressive, colorful images, which depict eerie and otherworldly scenes, nicely complement the similarly evocative poetic works that accompany them.

Lastly, the case includes two works by authors who influenced the poetry in Weird Tales. First and foremost, Poe’s 1845 narrative poem “The Raven,” with its exploration of a depressed man’s desperate attempt to derive meaning from a bird’s repetitive sounds, lays the groundwork for numerous character arcs in weird fiction and poetry. The edition of this poem that is displayed in my case has been digitized and made available on the Villanova Digital Library, and may be read in full here. Furthermore, the case includes the Anglo-Irish author Lord Dunsany’s “A Walk in the Wastes of Time,” a metaphorical poem about communal memory, which was published in The Smart Set in 1917. This title has also been digitized and is available here. (A couple of years after this poem’s publication, Lovecraft would attend a talk by Dunsany in Boston; Dunsany’s influence on Lovecraft’s writings during this period is evident in many of Lovecraft’s works. Comic-book writer Alan Moore portrays the Boston talk in his Lovecraftian series Providence, which serves as both sequel and prequel to Moore’s Neonomicon.)

For more content related to weird fiction and poetry, read our digitized copy of Lovecraft’s personal journal of astronomical observations from 1909 to 1915, as well as this blog article that explains the significance of this rare manuscript. The Digital Library also includes other nineteenth- and twentieth-century texts that explore the occult, including several issues of The Paragon Monthly, a handbook on spiritualism, and other examples.

Cover for "Finding a Fortune, or, The Mystery of the Old Bell Tower / by a Self-Made Man," 1921. Click on image for full text.

Cover for “Finding a Fortune, or, The Mystery of the Old Bell Tower / by a Self-Made Man,” 1921. Click on image for full text.

Cover for "The Paragon monthly", October 1907. Click on image for full text.

Cover for “The Paragon Monthly”, October 1907. Click on image for full text.

Cover for "Saved by a Phantom," [1800s]. Click on image for full text.

Cover for “Saved by a Phantom,” [1800s]. Click on image for full text.

Please join us on Thursday, April 20, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in Speakers’ Corner, Falvey Library, for the official launch and introduction of “Poetic License: Seven Curators’ Poetry Selections from Distinctive Collections,” followed by an open-mic poetry reading. This ACS-approved event is free and open to the public. In the meantime, make sure to view the full exhibit on the first floor of Falvey, and check the library’s blog for additional articles on individual curators’ cases!


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Poetic License: Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt

My case in “Poetic License: Seven Curators’ Poetry Selections from Distinctive Collections” highlights an unexpected interconnection between two different parts of Falvey Library’s Special Collections by featuring a poet whose work appears in both our Popular Literature and Irish Literature collections.

Mrs. S. M. B. Piatt.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. From Poets’ Homes: Pen and Pencil Sketches of American Poets and Their Homes, edited by Richard Henry Stoddard. Boston: D. Lothrop and Company, 1877: p. 66.

Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt (1836-1919)

Sarah M. B. Piatt was an American poet whose long career began in the mid-19th century and lasted into the early 20th century. She gained prominence in her late teens, with her early work appearing in widely circulated newspapers and story papers under the name Sallie M. Bryan. After her marriage in 1861 to fellow poet John James Piatt, she published more than a dozen volumes of poetry in book form. Although she was well-known during her own lifetime, she sank into obscurity for most of the 20th century as poetic tastes changed, only resurfacing in the 1990’s when she was rediscovered as part of the growing movement to reassess the scope of the literary canon and recover forgotten women writers.

Piatt demonstrated great flexibility as a poet, writing poems that could appeal equally to multiple audiences, including children as well as adults. Her lasting success during her lifetime demonstrates her accessibility to casual readers of popular periodicals, but her work also rewards re-reading and careful analysis. Her poems, which often incorporate multiple voices and perspectives, comment directly or indirectly on social and poetic conventions. Her use of irony to contrast surface meanings with deeper intentions makes many of her poems particularly appealing to modern readers, who may be more attuned to this mode of expression than her 19th century contemporaries were. For one particularly striking example from Piatt’s work, take a look at “Giving Back the Flower.”

The New York Ledger, v. XVII, no. 4. New York: Robert Bonner, March 30, 1861.

The New York Ledger

Story papers were one of the leading forms of home entertainment for much of the 19th century. Resembling a newspaper but containing a mix of serial installments of novels, short stories, poems, household advice, humor, and sometimes even games or puzzles, these publications provided weekly or monthly doses of entertainment for millions of American readers. One of the most successful and influential story papers was Robert Bonner’s New York Ledger, which began publication in 1855 and ran for almost fifty years.

The New York Ledger relied heavily on recurring contributors to fill its pages every week, and these writers gained celebrity as a result of their frequent appearances in the widely-circulated paper. Sallie M. Bryan was one such celebrity poet, contributing works frequently during the early years of the Ledger. Several issues containing her work can be found in Villanova’s collection of New York Ledger issues, available online.

The Sarah Piatt Recovery Project at Ohio State University has collected many of Piatt’s New York Ledger poems in an online archive. The process of preparing this exhibit led to the rediscovery of a Piatt poem, “The Dove and the Angel,” in the March 30, 1861 issue, which had not been previously identified by OSU’s project.

An Irish Garland

Long after she had moved on from story paper contributions, Sarah Piatt and her family lived in Ireland for well over a decade (1882-1893) as a consequence of her husband’s appointment as a United States consul. During this time, she had opportunities for travel and to become part of the local literary community. Piatt’s Irish years produced a significant number of new poems. Most of her published volumes saw first printings published abroad. One such volume was An Irish Garland, first published by David Douglas in Edinburgh in 1884, then reprinted for American audiences in an edition found in Falvey Library’s Joseph McGarrity Collection of works about and associated with Ireland. The full book has been digitized and can be read online in its entirety.

Further Resources

If you would like to take a deeper dive into the life and work of Sarah Piatt, you might enjoy the Discovering Sarah Piatt: America’s Lost Great Writer podcast, hosted by Ohio State University’s Elizabeth Renker, to whom this exhibit and blog post owe a debt of gratitude for valuable input provided.


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Poetic License: Building a Voice at Villanova and the Power of Poetry

The section of the spring exhibit, “Poetic License: Seven Curators’ Poetry Selections from Distinctive Collections” titled “Building a Voice at Villanova and the Power of Poetry,” was initially influenced by Rita Dove’s quote, “poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful” and pondering how to exemplify that through the poems of our community. From the earliest curriculum at Villanova, poetry has been a mainstay in many courses of study. In the classroom, the study of the art and structure of a verse can expand one’s own voice to express identity and experience; strength and vulnerability; and bring a community together or provide a lens to a community experience. It is with those tools of expression the poems chosen for the exhibit are a reflection of the different ways poetry has been expressed on campus and insight to the many different incarnations of poetry societies, student publications, and poetry groups of Villanova. The poems traverse between personal reflections, politics, and religion. Ultimately, to showcase the power of the voices of our community through poetry.

The display was curated by Beaudry Allen, Digital and Preservation Archivist, and material found in the Villanova University Archives.

Cover of Lynx publication

Cover of Lynx publication, 1970

You can read more poetry by students in our digitized collection of Lynx, student run biannual literary publication.


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New Exhibit on the Korean War Now in Vasey Hall

A new exhibit, Korean War: American Forces in Korea, is now available to view in the Prince Family Veterans Resource Center on the ground floor of Vasey Hall. The exhibit focuses on the Korean War, which was fought in 1950-1953 between North Korea, supported by China and the Soviet Union, and South Korea, supported by the United States. Following three years of conflict, the two sides agreed to an Armistice, resulting in a Demilitarized Zone along the 38th parallel north, which divides the Korean peninsula to this day. Korean War: American Forces in Korea was curated by Director of Distinctive Collections and Digital Engagement Michael Foight and Distinctive Collections Coordinator Christoforos Sassaris. It includes a range of materials covering the war, from 1950s comic books to a letter signed by President Harry S. Truman.

Korean War exhibit case

Korean War exhibit case 1

The first case, pictured above, includes two US military publications that shed light on the experiences of US troops stationed in Korea. The Hour Glass was a newspaper that chronicled the activities of the 7th Infantry Division; it provided US troops with information about Korean history, culture, and language. The Stethoscope served as a newsletter for the 7th Division’s 7th Medical Battalion; it includes illustrations drawn by members of the Battalion.

Plaque commemorating Villanova veteran Lt. Robert T. Munday outside John Barry Hall

Plaque commemorating Villanova veteran Lt. Robert T. Munday outside John Barry Hall

The exhibit also commemorates Villanova alumnus Lt. Robert Munday, who was killed in action while serving as an officer in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. In the first exhibit case, you may view a letter of condolence following Munday’s death signed by President Harry S. Truman, as well as an article on Munday published in a 1951 issue of the Lynx, a literary magazine published by Villanova College from 1948 to 1983. A plaque dedicated to the memory of Munday is found outside of John Barry Hall on the Villanova campus. Moreover, an entry on Munday is found on Honoring the Fallen: An Interactive Memorial Map, a Geographic Information System (GIS) map showing the locations where numerous Villanova veterans died in service. Another Villanova alumnus who died in Korea while serving in the Marine Corps is William Gaul, who is likewise commemorated with an entry on the GIS mapping project. A similar resource is the oral history project The Voices of Villanova’s Veterans, which includes interviews with numerous Villanovans who served in the armed forces.

Korean War exhibit case on popular culture

Korean War exhibit case 2

The second exhibit case, pictured above, includes representations of the Korean War in the popular culture of the 1950s, including an issue of Collier’s magazine and four comic books depicting fictional scenes from the war. The page of Collier’s displayed in the exhibit showcases illustrations of US troops in Korea by artist Howard Brodie (1915-2010), who had previously become known for his sketches of World War II combat. These drawings demonstrate the heavy toll that continuous fighting took on US troops. The comics not only seek to engender sympathy toward troops, but also reflect several widespread attitudes, including McCarthyism, that would persist after the Armistice of 1953. These comics were all published shortly before the creation of the Comics Code Authority, which censored comics for decades, so Korean War-era comics were free to draw on the conventions of horror and similar genres in their depiction of wartime suffering.

Cover for Joe Yank, no. 10. New York: Standard Comics, February 1953.

Cover for Joe Yank, no. 10. New York: Standard Comics, February 1953.

Interestingly, one of the comic-book stories on display (“That’s What I Call Shooting,” found in Soldier Comics no. 11) emphasizes the importance of mapping technologies in war. For more information on this subject, read this article on Art of War: Illustrated and Military Maps of the Twentieth Century, an exhibit that was viewable in both Falvey Library and the Prince Family Veterans Resource Center during fall 2022.

You can see the full Korean War: American Forces in Korea exhibit during the spring 2023 semester at the Prince Family Veterans Resource Center in Vasey Hall!

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Poetic License: American Dialect Poetry

My case for DCDE’s spring exhibit, “Poetic License: Seven Curators’ Poetry Selections from Distinctive Collections” focuses on American dialect poetry in our collections. Dialect poetry is a style of writing that attempts to replicate the sound and speech patterns of people from a particular region or social group. It has often been regarded with mixed feelings – enjoying immense popularity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but existing mostly outside of the literary canon. When we read these depictions of speech today our initial reaction is likely one of cringe-inducing disgust or dismissal. Yet these examples can be used by students, faculty, and researchers to think critically and open discourse on topics such as racism, stereotypes and bias, the immigrant experience (historically, as well as today), cultural appropriation and authenticity, and to promote cultural awareness and sensitivity.

The case highlights three particular poets writing in this style:

 

T. A. (Thomas Augustine) Daly, 1871-1948:

Daly attended Villanova College from 1880-1887 and went on to enjoy a prolific career in publishing and newspapers. Villanova holds several copies of his volumes, which sold widely, reaching numerous editions. Daly was best known for his humorous verse written primarily in Italian-American or Irish-American dialect. Critics and reviews in his day generally noted his portrayals of immigrant characters as distinguished by sympathy and understanding rather than as harmful or offensive.

Learn more about T.A. Daly in a previous online exhibit here: https://exhibits.library.villanova.edu/t-a-daly

 

Paul Laurence Dunbar, 1872-1906:

During his short life, Paul Laurence Dunbar published twelve books of poetry, four novels, and four books of short stories. He is regarded as one of the first African American literary figures to gain national and international recognition. Briefly married to Alice Moore Dunbar Nelson (1874-1935), a fellow writer later known for her activism in women’s rights, he died of tuberculosis at age thirty-three.

To a largely white audience, Dunbar’s dialect poetry, written in a style associated with Black speech of the antebellum American South, was seen as “authentic,” though he was born and educated in Dayton, Ohio. For Dunbar, this style of dialect was no more natural than it was for other popular writers also known for the style, such as Mark Twain, Joel Chandler Harris, and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Distinctive Collections holds several copies of illustrated volumes of Dunbar’s poetry first published by Dodd, Mead, and Co. between 1899 and 1904. These lovely editions are illustrated with photographs by the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (now Hampton University) Camera Club, with book cover and interior decorations by noted book designers Alice Morse (1863-1961) and Margaret Armstrong (1867-1944).

Dunbar’s poem “Sympathy,” from Lyrics of the Hearthside (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1899) later inspired the title to Maya Angelou’s autobiography, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings (1969).

 

James Whitcomb Riley, 1849-1916:

One of the most well-known and best-selling poets at the time of dialect poetry’s height of popularity was James Whitcomb Riley. Known as the “National Poet,” the “Hoosier Poet,” or “Children’s Poet,” for his Indiana-based Midwest regional dialect, his homespun poetry was often humorous and sentimental. Riley began his career writing for newspapers and gained fame performing and reading his poetry on traveling public speaking circuits. Two of his best loved poems are “The Raggedy Man” and “Little Orphant Annie.”

 

 

Be sure to stop by Falvey’s first floor to see the entire exhibit in person this spring and watch the blog for most posts from the curators!

 


Rebecca Oviedo is Distinctive Collections Archivist at Falvey Memorial Library.

 


 

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Poetic License: Seven Curators’ Poetry Selections from Distinctive Collections

In this exhibit 7 curators (Beaudry Allen, Michael Foight, Demian Katz, Rebecca Oviedo, Megan Piorko, Christoforos Sassaris, Mike Sgier) have identified poems from Falvey Library’s Distinctive Collections that moved them to share with others. Each curator has had “poetic license” to select and curate an individual exhibit case or shelf of poetry – and then – author a text to tell a tale about their choices.  Over the coming weeks and months, be on the lookout for additional blog posts by other curators highlighting different parts of the collections.   We are also digitizing additional  materials to showcase all things poetic this spring of 2023, and for manuscript poetry we are focusing on transcribing already digitized texts to make them easier to read and reference.

These selections are but individual picks from a wealth of additional poetry from Distinctive Collections – much of which is available online in the Digital Library.   Especially strong are the poetry collections by Irish and Irish-American authors and the poems that appear in popular cultural materials such as story papers, magazines, and newspapers. For my part, I  highlighted two important parts of the collections: manuscript poetry and limited editions. Often the poetry manuscript will display signs of revision and editing especially for poems authored by the writer of the manuscript – sometimes not the same person! Manuscript poems are regularly signed or initialed by the author. As well poems of significance to an individual are sometimes copied into a commonplace book or embellished with highly ornate and decorated calligraphy, see The Hound of Heaven manuscript as one example. Some manuscripts contain both original as well as copied poems and again sometimes the text is embellished with illustrations – either drawn by the author or from another source and then glued or tipped-in as can be seen in the manuscript poems “The Lobo” and in “The Frontier School” from Horace Tussey.

p. 15, Poem, “The Lobo” / Horace F. Tussey

6, recto, Poem, “The Frontier School” / Horace F. Tussey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I highlighted three manuscript poetry collections for this exhibit:

Horace F. Tussey papers

Manuscript poetry collection from Horace F. Tussey of Sapulpa, Oklahoma from 1910- 1920: including titled poems: The Lobo; The Frontier School; Hospitality; The Lawrence Massacre; Bob White; Autumn; The Gardener; The Humming Bird; The Frontier Garden; The Prospector’s Dream; The Rescue of Olive Oatman from the Apache Indian; The Grey Marauder; Country Dance; The Wild Turkey Pet; The Eagle; The Story of a Fierce Wolf and a Great Dog. Some poems are illustrated by Tussey.

James Roger Personal Papers

The James Roger Personal Paper Collection, 1860-1915 contains the poetry, diaries, and accounts of James Roger (1841-1916) who was a prolific poet and diarist, and career railwayman; later in life, an immigrant to the United States, to become a gentleman farmer in rural New Hampshire. He began his 31-year career with the North British Railway Co. in 1866, ultimately serving as the Station Master at Rosslyn Castle, outside Edinburgh.

p. 1, Album, Essays and Poems, James Roger

51 p., Manuscript, Essays and Poems, James Roger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annie L. Tuttle Personal Papers

A collection of 13 notebooks filled with the manuscript writings of Annie L. Tuttle (nee Gribus), of New Haven, Connecticut dated between 1912-1920, filled with her poetry, short stories, songs, and recipes, along with a copy of sheet music for “The Quinnipiac River,” a song she composed the lyrics to, and was published in 1912.  The subjects are largely domestic (nature, love, and children) but with timely references to automobiles, “aeroplanes,” and suffragettes.

Notebook, “Mile A Minute Composition Book” / Annie L.Tuttle.

Sheet music, “The Quinnipiac River”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The market for many poetry collections, especially for little known poets, is often small.  Publishers reduce the risk of creating large numbers of un-sellable copies by producing limited editions until an author achieves market recognition warranting larger print runs.  As well some well-known and established poets will be desirous of creating a more beautiful edition of a work – often these are illustrated with commissioned artwork or produced by a hand-press or both.  Of note works by William Butler Yeats were printed by the Cuala Press (formerly the Dun Emer Press) in Limited editions.  The Second Coming – a poem frequently cited – was published in such an edition in Michael Robartes and the dancer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Illuminated manuscript, The Hound of Heaven / Francis Thompson


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Peek at the Week: February 14

By Jenna Renaud

""

Word of the Week: Wordle 

(n) a name for an electronic image that shows words used in a particular piece of electronic text or series of texts. The words are different sizes according to how often they are used in the text. 

Before Wordle was the game that causes us to forget the English language every morning, it was the name for the word clouds that you’ve probably made at some point in your life. In addition, a wide variety of games with the same moniker have been released over the years although the trademark situation is a bit up in the air at the moment.  

Below is a wordle of the words in a blog post Ethan did about the game Wordle! Wordle-ception!  

word cloud of a blog post


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. 14th  

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

Tuesday, Feb. 15th  

The Bible in Black, Part 2 on the New Testament | 12–1 p.m. | Room 205 | More info here 

Tuesday, Feb. 15th  

Robbie Richardson, PhD, on “Death, Bones, and the Rise of the Museum in the Eighteenth Century” | 5:30 p.m. | Room 205 or Virtual| More info here 

Friday, Feb. 18th  

Villanova Gaming Society Meeting | 2:30–4:30 p.m. | Speakers’ Corner | Free & Open to the Public  


This Week in History 

February 14th, 270 A.D. – St. Valentine beheaded 

At the time, Rome was under the rule of Claudius II, also known as Claudius the Cruel, and was involved in many bloody campaigns. Because of the many campaigns, it was imperative that the emperor maintained a strong army; however, he struggled to recruit men. He attributed this difficulty to marriage and the strong attachment men had to their wives and families. In response to this, Claudius banned all marriages in Rome. 

Valentine, a holy priest, saw this decree as unjust and continued to perform marriages in secret. When he was found out, he was put in prison until his execution on February 14. Legend has it that right before his beheading, he wrote a letter to the jailor’s daughter signing it “Love your Valentine.” Following his death, he was made a saint. 

This is just one of the stories that potentially account for the life of St. Valentine and the origins of the holiday. To read more about the theories surrounding Valentine’s Day and St. Valentine, visit History.com.  


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

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Peek at the Week: January 31

By Jenna Renaud

""

Word of the Week: Hiemal  

(adj) of or related to winter; wintry  

With the heimel temperatures we have been experiencing, it does not surprise me that February is here. If your friends or family are tired of hearing you complain about how cold the weather is, up your cold-weather vocabulary and change it up on them. Here you can find a whole list of synonyms for “extremely cold.” 


This Week at Falvey  

NOW–Wednesday, Jan. 15 

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

Monday, Jan. 31

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

Friday, Feb. 4

Villanova Gaming Society Meeting / 2:30–4:30 p.m. / Speakers’ Corner / Free & Open to the Public  


This Week in History 

Feb. 1, 1884– Oxford Dictionary debuts 

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is considered the most comprehensive and accurate dictionary of the English language, including not only present-day, common meanings, but also the histories of words included.  

In 1857 members of London’s Philological Society set out to produce an English dictionary covering all words starting during the Anglo-Saxon period (1150 A.D.). Although planned to be 6,400 pages in four volumes, the Dictionary was published under the imposing name A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles – contained over 400,000 words and phrases in ten volumes. 

In 1984, Oxford University Press began the five-year journey to electronically publish the OED. The project required the power of 170 people – 120 people to type up the pages from the print edition and another 50 people to proofread. The online dictionary has been active since 2000.  

To learn more about the development and history of the OED, read the full History.com article here. 

History.com Editors. (2009, November 24). Oxford dictionary debuts. History.com. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/oxford-dictionary-debuts 


jenna newman headshotJenna Renaud is a Graduate Assistant in Falvey Memorial Library and a Graduate Student in the Communication Department.

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Last Modified: January 31, 2022

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