Stop by the front desk to learn about our resources and services!
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Stop by the front desk to learn about our resources and services!
Resources and Services
Germania Kalender and the Academic Hall Fire of 1892
Academic Hall burned 122 years ago today, leaving the Columns to become a Mizzou icon. Before the fire, the building housed classrooms, offices, libraries, and museums – almost the entire university. Although parts of the Law Library were salvaged, the main library was a total loss. Almost.
Germania Kalender survived because it was checked out during the fire. However, it wasn't returned to the University until 1937, forty-five years later. After it came back, it was placed in the Rare Book Room. It's in rough condition – who knows what it went through over at least 45 years of being checked out? – but it's been here ever since.
The book was returned by Henry Gerling of St. Louis. The date, September 24, 1884, and the library stamp for Missouri State University (which was one of the names used by the University of Missouri at the time) alerted him to the book's history.
When the book was returned, the story made the news. These are clippings from the Kansas City Star (left) and the Columbia Missourian (right) from April 14, 1937.
Germania Kalender has calendars and an almanac, as you'd expect from the title, but it also contains pictures and readings on various subjects for the entire family.
It even includes some early comics!
2013 Tax Information Is Now Available
2013 Tax Information is now available at https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/tax. The deadline for filing is April 15, 2014.
You asked, we listened: Email “book due” reminders
In the latest library survey, people asked if they could get email reminders before their books came due. We’re pleased to report that courtesy reminders are now up and running.
Three days before your book is due, you’ll get an email courtesy reminder, with a link to login and renew it. Books can be renewed online two times as long as nobody else needs it.
Thank you for this suggestion!
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chinese Newspapers Trial: Available until Feb. 6:
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chinese Newspapers Collection (1832-1953) – Trial
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http://proxy.mul.missouri.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/trials/trialSummary.action?view=subject&trialBean.token=720DQ1V8QIGDM98CYJO7 Searchable collection of 12 English-language Chinese newspapers from 1832-1953. Includes article content, editorials, cartoons, advertisements and classified ads. Titles include North China Herald (1850-1941), Canton Times (1919-1920), China Critic (1939-1945), The China Press (1925-1938), China Weekly Review (1917-1953), Chinese Recorder (1868-1940), Chinese Repository (1832-1851), Peking Daily News (1914-1917), Peking Gazette (1915-1917), Peking Leader (1918-1919), Shanghai Gazette (1919-1921) and Shanghai Times (1914-1921). Trial ends Feb. 6, 2014.
Veterinary Toxicology Research Guide
Looking for veterinary toxicology resources? Check out our new guide: https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/vettox
Winter meditations
Here in Columbia, we were greeted by temps of -10 (with wind chills of -25) during our morning commute. A meditation on winter somehow seems appropriate today.
John Shower (1657-1715) was a Presbyterian minister who published several works during his lifetime, mostly funeral sermons. His Winter Meditations was first published in 1695, and was fairly popular – this is the third edition. In this sermon, Shower sets out to illustrate the ways his parishioners could see winter as a blessing.
For instance, "In some Countreys, as in Lapland, not only doth the Snow abide all the Year on the Mountains, but durign the whole Winter the Earth is cover'd with Snow. And considering that for some Months of Winter, the Sun riseth not above their Horizon, or not much above it, this is rather an Advantage than an Inconvenience. For by the Light of the Snow they are enabl'd to work by Day, and to travel safely by Night."
"The good Effect of the Winter's Frost and Snow is perceiv'd very often the following Summer… As when a Gardner is seen to pull up some delightful Flowers by the Roots, to dig up the Earth, and cover it with Dung, some ignorant Person may be ready to charge him with spoiling the Garden; but when Spring is arriv'd, there will be sufficient Ground to acknowledge his Wisdom in what he did."
And it could be a lot worse.
Our temperature should climb into the 20s tomorrow. Perhaps winter really isn't so bad. As Garrison Keillor put it, more than 300 years after Shower, "Winter is what we were meant for and we welcome it. We thrive on adversity and that’s just the truth. The snow shovel is the secret of happiness."
Finding and Using Images, Maps and Video Research Guide
The new Finding and Using Images, Maps and Video research guide can assist you in locating rights-free images, maps and video. It can provide guidance on copyright, fair use and how to properly cite images, maps and videos. The guide can be found at: https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/findingimages.
New! Media Equipment Check-Out Agreement Form.
Beginning January 1, 2014, the journalism library will ask all students wishing to check out media equipment to read and sign a form indicating that they understand their responsibility for returning equipment on time and in good working condition. Forms can be found at the journalism library public services desk or online at: http://library.missouri.edu/journalism/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2014/01/Journalism-Library-Equipment-Agreement-form-ALL.pdf
Some new thoughts for the new year
Here are some New Thoughts for your New Year, courtesy of our extensive collections of seventeenth- through nineteenth-century British pamphlets. This one was printed in 1796.
The Cheap Repository Tracts series was created by the British poet, playwright, and philanthropist Hannah More, whose writings often dealt with religious themes. They were printed in large quantities for distribution to the poor. Although there must have been thousands of original copies, they were ephemera – not meant to be preserved. Only six copies of this tract are recorded in libraries around the world.
Many of the tracts deal with people in trades or in domestic service. This one shows "How Mr. Thrifty the great Mercer succeeded in his Trade, by always examining his Books soon after Christmas, and how Mr. Careless, by neglecting this rule, let all his affairs run to ruin before he was aware of it." The pamphlet ends with a hymn for the new year.
