home Special Collections and Archives Special Collections at the Movies: Planet of the Apes

Special Collections at the Movies: Planet of the Apes

Released today is the eighth film in the Planet of the Apes franchise, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.”  Set ten years after its predecessor “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” this film promises a darker, more engaging science-fiction world than any other Apes film before it.  In honor of the new movie, Special Collections is proud to bring you “Books of the Planet of the Apes”!  If you’ve got a monkey on your back, swing in to Special Collections and check out some of our simian stuff!

Gorilla-Hunter

This is a scan from one of the opening pages of “Paul Du Chaillu: Gorilla Hunter,” the noted French-American explorer and zoologist.  Du Chaillu is credited with confirming the existence of gorillas, and worked extensively with indigenous Pygmy tribes in Africa.  His exciting life of adventure and discovery is chronicled in “Gorilla Hunter,” and while some today might find the subject matter offensive, Du Chaillu’s legacy in ape history is unquestionable.

Tarzan

Up next we have a graphic novel adaptation of one of the most famous apperances of apes in popular culture, Tarzan the Ape Man.  Tarzan was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs and introduced in the 1912 short story, “Tarzan of the Apes.”  In Burroughs’ origin story, a family is marooned on the African coast and only their young son survives.  He’s adopted by a tribe of apes and raised as their own.  Burroughs continued to publish stories about Tarzan until his death in 1950.  Since then, Tarzan has been adopted once again, this time into popular culture.  Over 200 movies have been released that feature the Ape Man. 

Jungle-Book

Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” introduced the character of Mowgli, an inspiration for Burrough’s Tarzan.  It also inspired this graphic novel by Harvey Kurtzman, also called “The Jungle Book.”  Kurtzman’s work is a social commentary on the nature of man in society, and how quickly humanity can descend back into its more primitive forms.  Kurtzman satirically dedicates his novel to a half-man, half-ape creature. 

Classification

Lastly, and perhaps slightly less aesthetically pleasing, is a chart from former University of Missouri professor James Gavan’s “A Classification of the Order Primates,” which details the line of descent of different species of apes.  It’s interesting to note which species Gavan cites as being nearest to man – according to his work, gorillas, orangutans and chimpanzees are just one evolutionary step away from us.  Published in 1975, more than a century after Charles Darwin pioneered his Theory of Evolution, Gavan’s work still caused controversies.  He participated in a creationism/evolution debate in October, 1975, against a famous creation scientist called Duane Gish, author of several anti-evolution books, including 1972’s “Evidence Against Evolution” and 1986’s “Evolution: The Fossils Say No!”  According to audience reaction, Gish outperformed Gavan in the debate.  A “rematch” was scheduled, but never occurred.  Professor Gavan passed away in 1994, and Gish in 2013.

That’s just a small sample of our simian stockpile.  Don’t wait for the apes to take over – take a look at these (and other great monkey materials) today!

 

home Resources and Services, Special Collections and Archives Books with Personality-Sneak Peek 3

Books with Personality-Sneak Peek 3

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Girolamo Mercuriale

De arte gymnastica…, 1577

This title loosely translates to “Of Jerome Mercvrialis the Art of gymnastics of book six: in which exercises of all kinds of ancient, places, modes, faculties. In short, whatever pertains to the exercises of the human body, carefully explained.”

Six books on the art of gymnastics is the oldest known book on physical culture and sports medicine. This particular book has survived 437 years and has a story to tell. Throughout the book there are many bookworm trails, brown foxing, tears, and a broken spine. By the looks of it, the life of the book seems to have been pretty rough, but useful. There are notes and underlining by a reader, possibly used as a study tool, but what is most interesting are the images. Classically inspired plates show images of men wrestling, fighting, bathing and exercising throughout the volume. It appears someone with access to the book took ink to paper, covering many of the male figures’ pelvic areas. We can only speculate why this was done. Could it be someone felt the images were not modest enough and were compelled to censor the images? Is the defacing akin to a more modern prank, such as drawing a mustache on a photograph? Was someone just plain bored? The reason may remain a mystery.

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home Resources and Services, Special Collections and Archives Books with Personality-Sneak Peek 2

Books with Personality-Sneak Peek 2

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Artemus Ward

Artemus Ward; his travels …, 1865

Charles Farrar Browne, who wrote under the pen name “Artemus Ward”, was an acclaimed American writer, lecturer, and humorist in the 19th century. Ward was a favorite of many notable men, including President Lincoln and Mark Twain and contributed writings to popular magazines such as Punch and Vanity Fair. This copy of “Artemus Ward; his travels.” contains a signed photo vignette fastened to the flyleaf with a straight pin. Also included is a signed theater program from a performance of, “Artemus Ward, among the Mormons” at the Melodeon in Boston, MA. Both pieces are signed “Yours Trooly, Artemus Ward” with an intentional misspelling of “truly” as was consistent Ward’s writing style.

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home Special Collections and Archives Special Collections at the Movies: Days of Future Past

Special Collections at the Movies: Days of Future Past

Marvel Comics' winning streak continued in 1963 when they debuted the X-Men, a group of teenage superheroes who received their powers through mutation.  Originally going to be called the “Merry Mutants,” creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby settled on the title “X-Men” since their characters had “EX-tra power.” 

However, this group of mutants isn’t the only one to ever call themselves X-Men.  As we’ve seen in “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” sometimes completely different generations of mutants must band together under the same moniker.  To start of our Special Collections at the Movies blog series, we’ll highlight several different incarnations of those Merry Mutants that we have in our collection.

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This is a reprint of the first X-Men issue, published in September, 1963.  It introduces the original five-man team – Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman and Marvel Girl – and the X-Men’s most hated archenemy, Magneto.  We can see the team meeting Jean Grey, their newest member, and her amazing power of telekinesis.  Hardcore comic fans might notice something strange about this image – Cyclops’ name is Slim Summers, but we know him better as Scott Summers.  It wasn’t until the third issue of X-Men that Cyclops points out that Slim is just a nickname.

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Next we have an updated version of the same group of mutants, called the First Class.  We can see by the illustration on the cover that the lineup hasn’t changed, but the stories and events have been redesigned for modern readers.  It was this comic book line that was partially adapted into 2011’s “X-Men: First Class.”

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Our third incarnation is also an origin story.  A young Scott Summers is shown receiving his ruby visor, which holds in his optic blasts.  This series is meant to tie in with the animated TV show “X-Men: Evolution,” which focused on the very early years of the team.

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Finally, we have a collection of issues from the Generation X storyline.  Generation X ran from 1994 through 2001, and focused on an entirely different group of mutants.  This group, made of up primarily of Jubilee, Chamber, Husk, Gaia and Synch, often found itself in a moral grey area, often fighting for and against the X-Men. 

These four titles are just a sampling of the various X-Men series we have in Special Collections.  If “Days of Future Past” got you itching for more than the run-of-the-mill mutants, stop on by and check us out!

 

home Resources and Services, Special Collections and Archives Books with Personality-A sneak peek!

Books with Personality-A sneak peek!

In August 2014, Special Collections will mount a display entitled, “Books with Personality” in the Ellis Library Colonnade.  Over the next few weeks, we will give you a sneak peek to see what’s coming.  We hope you enjoy!

Poor Richard's Almanack

Benjamin Franklin

Poor Richard, 1747 : an almanack for the year of Christ, 1747, it being the third after leap-year …

This copy of Poor Richard’s Almanack was published in 1746 during the years Benjamin Franklin superintended the printing himself. The almanac includes calendars, weather predictions, astronomical calculations and astrological information. Franklin also shared poems, jokes, and offered wisdom to share with young persons. This copy bears evidence of the value someone has placed on the almanac. There are tears in four leaves which have been very carefully hand sewn. Although we cannot date the time of repair, the mending must have been made over a century ago.

Poor Richard's Almanac

Poor Richard's Almanac

Poor Richard's Almanack

Poor Richard's Almanack

Poor Richard's Almanack

Phrenology

spurzheim-headPhrenology is "a system of Philosophy of the human Mind; it is founded on facts, and the inductive is the only species of reasoning it admits."  So states Dr. Johann Spurzheim in his outlines on the subject.  Spurzheim, collaborator with Dr. Franz Joseph Gall, the founder of modern phrenology, was instrumental in bringing the science to the attention of the public in the U.K. and the United States.  Today, phrenology is known as a pseudoscience that studies the relationship between a person's character and the physical properties of their skull.  Phrenology can trace its roots way back to the ancient philosopher Aristotle, who wrote on the locations of the mental faculties.  Around the 1800s, Gall was the first to posit a direct link between the formation of the skull and the character of the owner, calling his theory crainiology.  Spurzheim was the one who popularized the term phrenology.  Other power players of the field in the 19th century include the Combe brothers and the Fowler brothers, all of whom wrote extensively on the subject.

phrenology1430000001032Phrenology looked at the development of the skull in relation to the development of certain faculties or temperaments in the person it belonged to.  An example would be the faculty of Parental Love, or "Philoprogenitiveness," which is the faculty that people demonstrate in their love of children.  One could discern the prominence of such a person's love of children by observing the back of the head.  According to Spurzheim and illustrated in a book by O.S. Fowler, "When this organ is large … it gives a drooping appearance to the hind part of the head."

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This new science rapidly gained popularity in the early 19th century, inspiring phrenology parlors where you could have your head read for a fee.  Unfortunately, many of these gained a bad reputation for being scam parlors set to cheat people out of their money, and this bad reputation still tinges thoughts of phrenology today.  Also stemming from the popularity of phrenology during this time were galleries where people could go to see casts, molds, and busts that illustrated each of the faculties and served to educate the general public.  A renowned phrenologist and maker of the "phrenology heads" that have become iconic of the science today was Frederick Bridges, who had such a gallery in Leeds.  Visitors could walk the gallery (using helpful catalogues such as this one) and see such things as a cast from the head of Lord Byron in which, "Ideality is very large.  Wit, and Language, are also large" next to a cast of Shakespeare's head with "Imitation, Ideality, Benevolence, Individuality and Language large."

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phrenology1430000001024Some of the more practical applications of phrenology in the 1800s included using it to defend and/or treat convicted criminals and also to determine the compatibility of two people in a marriage.  In his writing on phrenology and matrimony, Fowler imparts this wisdom upon his unmarried readers, "in the name of nature and of nature's God, marry congenial spirits or none- congenial not in one or two material points, but in all the leading elements of character […] marry one whose Temperament and Phrenological developments are similar to your own!  Do this, and you are safe, you are happy:  fail to do this, and you marry sorrow and regret."

As phrenology's popularity grew, and also likely owing in part to the many scam phrenology parlors, there were some who became skeptical about this practice, likening phrenology to a form of mysticism.  In his reply to an article published by a Dr. Ashburner about phrenology, mesmerism, and clairvoyance, George Corfe asks, "What parent would deliberately wish to educate a child to become a disciple in such antichristian and immoral principles?"

Outsiders weren't the only ones with criticism for phrenologists.  As with any scientific field, phrenologists would write about the work of their contemporaries, as seen in this pamphlet where the author, George Combe, criticizes another work he has read, eloquently calling its author out on several important points and stating that "This is the second time that Mr. Stone has charged 'dishonesty' against Phrenologists, founded solely on gross mistakes of his own," here also referencing a previous article criticizing phrenological practices.

phrenology1430000001025Phrenology experienced a sort of revival in the early 20th century when scientists began to apply it to other areas of study, such as anthropology, psychology, and pedagogy.  On the negative side, the Nazis and other fascist ideologies have historically misapplied the principles of sciences like phrenology and eugenics to advance their own ways of thinking.  Though not nearly as popular today, studiers of this science remain, active in the pursuit of knowledge and the quest to fulfill the charge of the age-old adage to "Know Thyself."  To learn more about this fascinating branch of science (and maybe more about yourself in the process!), check out the links below and stop in to see us here at Special Collections.

 

All print sources come from our collection.  See links to catalog records in post above for more information.

Online Sources Used:

"Phrenology in the 20th Century." The History of Phrenology. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. <http://www.phrenology.org/intro20.html>.

"What Is Phrenology?" Phrenology Lab. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. <http://med.stanford.edu/medwebtraining/shc-class/student5/treatments/phrenology-lab.html>.

 

home Resources and Services Scanners in the Engineering Library

Scanners in the Engineering Library

The scanners are working again.  Please carefully read and follow directions on the scanners to keep them working properly.  Thanks for your cooperation.

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Food in the Library

This is just a friendly reminder to help keep the library safe and clean by following our food policy.

You may bring drinks and snacks like chips and granola bars from the vending machines into the Engineering Library.  However, things like fruit, yogurt, pizza, sandwiches and other foods attract bugs.  Please eat these foods out in the hall before you come into the library to help protect our materials.

Thank you!

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Graduate Student Research Workshops

Join MU Libraries for the Graduate Student Research Workshops March 18-21 and you'll be on your way to better research.  You will learn about tools that help you save time, organize your research, stay current in your field, and even maximize your research impact.  Sessions are offered both in person at Ellis Library or online through Blackboard Collaborate.  Find full details and register at https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/gradworkshops.

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Engineering Library Study Rooms

The semester is well under way and our study rooms are becoming very busy.  Please remember to be courteous to your fellow students as you all must share in the use of these rooms.  A group is allowed to reserve a room for two hours at a time.  After the two hours, and if no one else needs to use the room, your group may reserve another two hours.  Read the full engineering study room policy at the bottom of this page.