Carroll’s Wonderland Menagerie

"And as in uffish thought he stood,

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,

And burbled as it came!"

With an imagination as great as Lewis Carroll's was, it's no wonder he was able to create such a range of creatures to inhabit the appropriately named Wonderland.  In addition to the Jabberwock above,  Wonderland is home to a host of bizzare beings.  Most famously, perhaps, is the Cheshire Cat, who appears and disappears to give Alice some cryptic advice from time to time.

Other denizens of Wonderland are the toves, mome raths, and borogroves; talking flowers, a mock turtle, and even a caterpillar that smokes a hookah while dispensing even more crytpic advice to poor Alice.

More fabulous beasts from the mind of Lewis Carroll can be found by visiting us at Special Collections!  (Perhaps you might stop by on a hunt for the elusive Snark?)

home Resources and Services, Special Collections and Archives Theodore Roosevelt-Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter

Theodore Roosevelt-Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter

This limited edition was signed by Theodore Roosevelt!

Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter by Theodore Roosevelt

Published 1905, New York

 

home Resources and Services Digital preservation: Why is this important to me?

Digital preservation: Why is this important to me?

Journalists are dependent upon access to back files for research and context, but those back files may no longer be there. Almost all news content created in the U.S. today is digital, but digital content is even more fragile than print.

Read more at the Reynolds Journalism Institute blog: Digital preservation: Why is this important to me?

Here There Be Dragons

How do you make a dragon student angry?  You send it to knight school!

Bad jokes aside, our fabulous beasts series continues with this week's feature creature – the dragon.  From our 13th century manuscripts to modern day joke books, dragons are running rampant through our collections.

Like this little guy, a favorite of the librarians here, curled around a letter "p" in our illuminated manuscript leaf of the Acts of the Apostles.

Another dragon drawn from a religious text is this take on the story of Moses and the Serpent.  Instead of his staff turning into a snake as the story usually goes, here we see Moses leap back in fright from the dragon that has sprung forth instead.

A bit of visual humor here, from the same volume as the pun that opened this post.

And for all the latest information on dragons, try Dr. Ernest Drake's Dragonology, found in our Closed Collection.

To see more of these dragons, and others, stop in at Special Collections!

home Resources and Services Don’t Leave Belongings Unattended in the Library

Don’t Leave Belongings Unattended in the Library

Remember that the library is open to the public and you need to keep valuables with you at all times!  We have had reports of laptops, calculators, phones, purses, and other items stolen.

Whiteboard drawing of bandit

The Bibliophile

crazy-faces-AY-19-.a40058---Copy-MEME-Blog

Original image taken from Album Lokner : artes y letras published 1898, Madrid.

home Engineering Library Fridays @ the Library

Fridays @ the Library

Every Friday this semester, Ellis Library is holding workshops on various topics to improve your research skills.  Learn tips to research smarter not harder.  Check out the topics and register for these and other library workshops.

If you can't make it to the classes, you can find workshop recordings and tutorials online.

home Resources and Services, Special Collections and Archives New series: Fantastic Beasts of Special Collections

New series: Fantastic Beasts of Special Collections

What does Special Collections have in common with Rubeus Hagrid of the Harry Potter novels?

We both take care of multitudes of fantastic beasts! Though unlike Hagrid with his forest full of creatures, ours live on the shelves in books called bestiaries.

In the spirit of the first week back at classes here at Mizzou, we'll kick off our new series of fantastic beasts and where to find them in Special Collections with The Academic Bestiary by Richard Armour.  In this book, which combines the style of medieval bestiaries with humorous depictions of the modern residents of Academia, you'll find creatures such as the Dean, R.A., Artist, Historian, and (of course) the Librarian.  Can you tell which of these names belong to each of the pictures above?

 

home Resources and Services, Special Collections and Archives Mushrooms in Their Natural Habitats

Mushrooms in Their Natural Habitats

Here's another fun discovery from our closed stacks!  Who doesn't love a View-Master?

Mushrooms in Their Natural Habitats by Alexander Hanchett Smith

Published 1949

 

Doctor Whoot

BCS2_0084

Image from: Nests and Eggs of Birds of the United States by Thomas G. Gentry, 1882.