John Henry Adams

John Henry Adams is a librarian in the Special Collections and Rare Books department. He provides instruction and reference for the history of the book in general, but especially for medieval manuscripts, early European printing, the history of cartography, and English and German literature.
home Ellis Library, Events and Exhibits, Special Collections and Archives, Staff news New and improved exhibit in Special Collections: Fine Press Materials

New and improved exhibit in Special Collections: Fine Press Materials

By John Henry Adams   Posted in Ellis Library Events and Exhibits Special Collections and Archives Staff news
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Fall semester is just around the corner and with new faces comes a new digital exhibit! The exhibit is an updated version of our past “Fine Press Materials” LibGuide: https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/exhibits/show/finepress/. The original LibGuide was curated by Tim Perry and has since been reworked as an exhibit and updated by Clare Starkey. The exhibit features examples from fine press publishers held within our collection, showcasing traditional printing technologies and techniques from the modern fine press movement. This exhibit concentrates on presses associated with the fine press movement but also covers a selection of precursors to the movement. Presses founded after 1939 are excluded, except presses founded as continuations of earlier presses, presses founded by printers whose careers were well established by 1939, and prominent Midwestern Presses. Notable examples from the exhibit include items from the Kelmscott Press, Harbor Press, and the Limited Editions Club.

John Henry Adams

John Henry Adams is a librarian in the Special Collections and Rare Books department. He provides instruction and reference for the history of the book in general, but especially for medieval manuscripts, early European printing, the history of cartography, and English and German literature.

home Ellis Library, Events and Exhibits, Special Collections and Archives New exhibit in Special Collections: Reduce, reuse, recycle

New exhibit in Special Collections: Reduce, reuse, recycle

By John Henry Adams   Posted in Ellis Library Events and Exhibits Special Collections and Archives
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Three books in an exhibit case with labels describing them.

Today, an old book often lands in the trash can, but before the industrial revolution, they were often used as sources of paper and parchment. Fragments of old books were often used to provide covers for new books, or to reinforce their spines and hinges. Some texts only survive today because they became part of other books. For this exhibit in the Special Collections reading room, we show off some books in our collection that incorporate print and manuscript waste as part of their covers.

The exhibit will last through the end of July and shows a book with a medieval manuscript used to reinforce its spine, a book with a wrapper made of a fifteenth-century page, and a book with a parchment pastedown from a medieval manuscript.

John Henry Adams

John Henry Adams is a librarian in the Special Collections and Rare Books department. He provides instruction and reference for the history of the book in general, but especially for medieval manuscripts, early European printing, the history of cartography, and English and German literature.

home Ellis Library, Events and Exhibits, Special Collections and Archives New online exhibit: “Fancy Magazines for Pet Fanciers”

New online exhibit: “Fancy Magazines for Pet Fanciers”

By John Henry Adams   Posted in Ellis Library Events and Exhibits Special Collections and Archives
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Finals week is here and so are we with another digital exhibit! The exhibit is called “Fancy Magazines for Pet Fanciers”, curated by John Henry Adams and Haley Lykins. The exhibit features fourteen magazines about pets, the animals that we keep around not just because they are useful but because they are fun. Magazines about birds, cats, dogs, and ferrets are all on display in the exhibit. (The animal types are in alphabetical order, so please don’t think that the order of the pets in any way indicates our preference!) So, if you need to de-stress with some pictures of animals as you prepare for or recover from your exams, come check out the exhibit!

The exhibit features magazines from a recent acquisition, the Samir Husni Magazine Collection. The collection features magazines on topics ranging from beauty and fashion magazines to news and lifestyle magazines.

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John Henry Adams

John Henry Adams is a librarian in the Special Collections and Rare Books department. He provides instruction and reference for the history of the book in general, but especially for medieval manuscripts, early European printing, the history of cartography, and English and German literature.

home Ellis Library, Events and Exhibits, Special Collections and Archives Black History Month: “Life in America” Online Exhibit

Black History Month: “Life in America” Online Exhibit

By John Henry Adams   Posted in Ellis Library Events and Exhibits Special Collections and Archives
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Special Collections has a new digital exhibit in honor of Black History Month: Life in America: Sixteen Black Magazines from 1953 to 1998, curated by John Henry Adams. Magazines offer a snapshot of everyday life, both as it was and how some people might have wished it to be. What makes someone beautiful? What should people be wearing? Who are the important entertainers? What is the best music? What is happening in the world? What should children and teenagers be interested in? All of these are questions that magazines give answers to, and that is before we take into account what is being advertised in the magazines themselves. What is for sale? Who is expected to buy it? Taken together, magazines give us a chance to approach the culture of the past, but also to consider the present through the same lens.

The exhibit features magazines from a recent acquisition, the Samir Husni Magazine Collection, on topics ranging from beauty and fashion magazines to news and lifestyle magazines.

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John Henry Adams

John Henry Adams is a librarian in the Special Collections and Rare Books department. He provides instruction and reference for the history of the book in general, but especially for medieval manuscripts, early European printing, the history of cartography, and English and German literature.

home Ellis Library, Special Collections and Archives, Staff news New Resource: Attack of the Collational Formula

New Resource: Attack of the Collational Formula

By John Henry Adams   Posted in Ellis Library Special Collections and Archives Staff news
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When librarians and booksellers describe books, they often include a collational formula, a nightmarish collection of Roman and Greek letters, Arabic numerals, and all manner of subscript and superscripts. If you are interested in learning how to decipher collational formulas, then you may be interested in watching The Attack of the Collational Formula, a series of five videos produced by John Henry Adams, Joseph Sabo, and Caleb Ashlock in a joint project between Special Collections and the Digital Media and Innovation Lab. The project was funded by the Bibliographical Society of America.

The video series includes a basic introduction to bibliographic terms before covering format, collation, and signing in greater detail. Whether you want a refresher or are just getting started, why not check it out? You can find all five videos as a playlist at the BSA’s YouTube channel or you can follow the links below:

John Henry Adams

John Henry Adams is a librarian in the Special Collections and Rare Books department. He provides instruction and reference for the history of the book in general, but especially for medieval manuscripts, early European printing, the history of cartography, and English and German literature.

home Ellis Library, Events and Exhibits, Special Collections and Archives New online exhibit: No Bones About It

New online exhibit: No Bones About It

By John Henry Adams   Posted in Ellis Library Events and Exhibits Special Collections and Archives
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On October 24, 2023, Special Collections held a spooky exhibit! From 11am until 2pm, we were in Ellis 114A with as many skeletons as we could find in our collections! That exhibit is now available online for your viewing pleasure.

The exhibit includes books in five different languages, from the 15th century to the 20th century, all linked by their shared interest in skeletons. From a book of hours to Vesalius’ anatomy textbooks, from a proto-novel with Death as the main character to art history, these books are full of insights as well as bones. Modern medicine wouldn’t be where it is today if it hadn’t been for anatomists dissecting bodies to see how they worked, and the dances of the dead are an important reminder of our shared humanity, no matter where we live or what we do for a living.

Whether you missed the exhibit while it was down in 114A or whether you just want to take a second look at some of the books, we hope you enjoy the exhibit in its online form!

John Henry Adams

John Henry Adams is a librarian in the Special Collections and Rare Books department. He provides instruction and reference for the history of the book in general, but especially for medieval manuscripts, early European printing, the history of cartography, and English and German literature.

home Newsletter, Resources and Services, Special Collections and Archives Special Collections Lesson Plans Now Available Online

Special Collections Lesson Plans Now Available Online

By John Henry Adams   Posted in Newsletter Resources and Services Special Collections and Archives
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Special Collections staff have compiled a number of past lesson plans and handouts on our website for instructors and students alike to peruse. We invite you to download them and adapt them for your own teaching or research, or to contact us to discuss help in customizing them.

Links to our lesson plans and handouts can be found by following the links below:

Other materials can be found on our Teaching Resources page at https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/teaching-resources.

John Henry Adams

John Henry Adams is a librarian in the Special Collections and Rare Books department. He provides instruction and reference for the history of the book in general, but especially for medieval manuscripts, early European printing, the history of cartography, and English and German literature.

home Ellis Library, Events and Exhibits, Special Collections and Archives New Exhibit: The University of Missouri Press

New Exhibit: The University of Missouri Press

By John Henry Adams   Posted in Ellis Library Events and Exhibits Special Collections and Archives
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A display case with letters and books.

A new display by University Archives in Ellis 401 provides a glimpse into the 65-year history of the University of Missouri Press through archival records from University Librarian Ralph Parker, Professor of English William Peden, and author Upton Sinclair.

The exhibit will last through September 30, 2023.

John Henry Adams

John Henry Adams is a librarian in the Special Collections and Rare Books department. He provides instruction and reference for the history of the book in general, but especially for medieval manuscripts, early European printing, the history of cartography, and English and German literature.

home Events and Exhibits, Special Collections and Archives New Digital Exhibit: Masks, Hells, and Books

New Digital Exhibit: Masks, Hells, and Books

By John Henry Adams   Posted in Events and Exhibits Special Collections and Archives
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A masked man holding a lance in one hand and a green bushel of branches in the other.

Special Collections has a new digital exhibit: Masks, Hells, and Books: The Nuremberg Schembartlauf (1449-1539), curated by John Henry Adams. The Schembartlauf (literally, “the running of the masked men”) was a traditional Carnival parade held in Nuremberg, Germany. It started as a small honor guard for a troop of dancers but rapidly grew to include giant mechanical parade floats, political commentary, and dozens or hundreds of masked participants. Unfortunately, sometimes the exuberance would also spill over into riots. The most memorable of these riots was probably the one in 1539, when the Schembartlauf was banned, a ban that has yet to be officially revoked.

Masks, Hells, and Books takes the reader through the different aspects of the Schembartlauf: the origins of the parade, the costumes of the runners, the parade floats, the 1539 disaster that resulted in the Schembart’s ban, and the manuscripts that have preserved the memory of this strange festivity. We hope that it inspires you to think about some of our own traditions and how strange they might seem after several centuries of inactivity, though we would like to ask that you not follow the example set by the Schembart in 1507 and 1539. No riots, please!

The exhibit is made possible by the generosity of a private collector who has loaned three medieval manuscripts to Special Collections.

John Henry Adams

John Henry Adams is a librarian in the Special Collections and Rare Books department. He provides instruction and reference for the history of the book in general, but especially for medieval manuscripts, early European printing, the history of cartography, and English and German literature.

home Events and Exhibits, Special Collections and Archives, Staff news New Digital Exhibit: Leaders and Heroes 2

New Digital Exhibit: Leaders and Heroes 2

By John Henry Adams   Posted in Events and Exhibits Special Collections and Archives Staff news
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Black and white photograph of a ceremonial dance

Leaders and Heroes 2: The Arts is Special Collections’ newest digital exhibit, curated by Courtney Gillie and John Henry Adams. A continuation of the 2020 exhibit Leaders and Heroes, we continue to spotlight art, articles, and monographs by historically excluded people. Starting with the LGBTQIA icon Sappho, the exhibit was created to reflect the openly diverse world we live in now. Explore beautiful, hand-crafted wood engravings in Shall we join the ladies? and then dive into the community and culture that expelled Japanese American families built in Tanforan Racetrack horse stalls in Citizen 13660.

Leaders and Heroes exist in good times and bad. Pulling from Mizzou’s many libraries on campus, our further reading section is full of primary and secondary sources for additional contextual information on the history and identity of each fascinating creator featured in Leaders & Heroes 2. We hope you will be entertained by the wit of William Woo and Zora Neale Hurston, moved by the art of Miné Okubo and the Kiowa 5, then inspired by the poetry of Sappho and relentless writings of Lydia Maria Child to advocate yourself.

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John Henry Adams

John Henry Adams is a librarian in the Special Collections and Rare Books department. He provides instruction and reference for the history of the book in general, but especially for medieval manuscripts, early European printing, the history of cartography, and English and German literature.