home Cycle of Success, Resources and Services, Special Collections and Archives Celebrating Teaching

Celebrating Teaching

By Kelli Hansen Posted in Cycle of Success Resources and Services Special Collections and Archives

Posted on May 16, 2012November 13, 2017

Students from Sean Franzel's class doing research in Special Collections Today and yesterday, participants from across campus gathered for the annual Celebration of Teaching in recognition of faculty innovation and achievements. We’re celebrating another record-breaking year for classes and groups in Special Collections, and we count ourselves lucky to work with such dedicated and creative instructors. Here’s just a sampling of the classes we taught this past year:

History of Modern Engineering
Jane Austen and Her Contemporaries
Theatre Scholarship
Italian Civilization
Letterpress and Book Arts
Historiography of Medieval and Early Modern Convents
The Inhuman Subject (English honors seminar)
Information and Student Success
History of Typography
Introduction to Visual Culture
Introduction to German Literature
History of Western Dress
Beginning Latin
Color Theory
Monstrous Births: Tales of Creation in 19th Century Literature

Graduate student Amy Jones shows ancient Asian artifacts to Smithton Middle School students You can find out more about some of our student and faculty patrons in our Spotlight posts, and we look forward to adding even more profiles and interviews once the fall semester begins.

Wondering if Special Collections can support your next course? Contact us at SpecialCollections@missouri.edu, or check out the Resources for Instructors section on our web site.

home Resources and Services New at the Library – Health Literacy Advisor

New at the Library – Health Literacy Advisor

By Shannon Cary Posted in Resources and Services

Posted on May 16, 2012March 30, 2016

The J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library has been awarded a 1-year license for the English/Spanish software Package, Health Literacy Advisor from Health Literacy Innovations, Inc. The National Network of Libraries of Medicine /Midcontinental Region awarded licenses to regional libraries to improve health information literacy. Described on the HLA website “[a]s a health literacy checker, the HLA streamlines the review and simplification process by allowing users to assess the health of their documents and then fix it using plain language principles.”

Documents can be reviewed for readability level and stamp the results in the footer. The software will scan the document and highlight words that compromise the readability. It will then suggest easier to read alternatives. Spanish documents can also be checked.

The Health Literacy Advisor program will run for 1 year from the end of April 2012 through the end of April 2013. This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, under Contract No. HHS-N-276-2011-00006-C with the University of Utah Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library.

For more information about how to have your materials checked, feel free to contact Darell Schmick at the Health Sciences Library at 884-3575 or SchmickD@health.missouri.edu.

home Resources and Services, Special Collections and Archives Ten Etchings on the Theme of Mothers

Ten Etchings on the Theme of Mothers

By Kelli Hansen Posted in Resources and Services Special Collections and Archives

Posted on May 13, 2012May 6, 2016

In honor of Mother’s Day, we’re highlighting a portfolio of prints and poetry by artist Michel Fingesten. This collection, 10 Radierungen über das Thema Mütter (10 Etchings on the Theme of Mothers) was released in 1920 in an edition of 100 copies. The Libraries’ copy is one of ten that also included an original pen and ink drawing by Fingesten, and each page is signed by the artist. The etchings depict the tenderness and sweetness of motherhood, but at the same time, Fingesten’s figures tend to be solid, monumental and immovable.

Although he is virtually unknown today, Fingesten was a prominent graphic artist and bookplate designer in Germany during the interwar period. He studied art briefly in Vienna and Munich, but was largely self-taught. Known for the Cubist and surrealist currents in his work, he was a member of the Berlin Secession, produced several well-received portfolios of prints, contributed to numerous art publications, and was himself the subject of a scholarly monograph.

During World War I, Fingesten explored the nature of violence and peace through his work, themes that would stay with him for the rest of his life. He was persecuted by the Nazis in the early 1930s, both for his Jewish ancestry and for practicing “degenerate” modern art. He died in an internment camp in Italy in 1943.

home Resources and Services PubMed: “Limits” are now “Filters”

PubMed: “Limits” are now “Filters”

By Kate Anderson Posted in Resources and Services

Posted on May 11, 2012

Where did the PubMed Limits go? The Limits page has been replaced by a Filters sidebar.

Information on the change

Questions? Ask Kate

home Resources and Services Campus Authors Exhibit

Campus Authors Exhibit

By Shannon Cary Posted in Resources and Services

Posted on May 7, 2012March 29, 2016

home Resources and Services Bookmark Cafe Hours

Bookmark Cafe Hours

By Shannon Cary Posted in Resources and Services

Posted on May 1, 2012March 29, 2016

home Resources and Services, Special Collections and Archives Earth Day, 1648

Earth Day, 1648

By Super Admin Posted in Resources and Services Special Collections and Archives

Posted on April 26, 2012October 14, 2016

Happy Earth Day!

April 22, 2012 marked the 42^nd celebration of Earth Day. The first celebration was a grass roots event focusing on education and legislative responses to pollution and ecological concerns.

titlepg_lg Earth Day gives us a chance to appreciate our planet. In 2012, amazing photos are available from every corner of the globe (and beyond). But what if you lived over 500 years ago? The Americas were full of flora and fauna unknown to Western eyes. Special Collections is home to many volumes that recorded these new discoveries.

Published in 1648, Historia naturalis Brasiliae records the botany and zoology of Brazil. With sections on animals, plants, fish, insects, and tropical medicine, the book introduced a wealth of information about the natural world.

Willem Piso was sent by the West India Company as physician to the governor of the Dutch colony in Brazil. While there, he learned about herbal medicines used by the indigenous people. His knowledge of medicinal plants, local poisons and tropical illnesses is recorded in Historia naturalis Brasiliae.

In addition to Piso’s contributions, the Historia contains information gathered by Georg Markgraf on plants, fish, birds, animals, snakes, and insects. Markgraf died before the book’s publication. Johannes de Laet edited his notes and illustrations for final publication.

The Historia naturalis Brasiliae is full of illustrations, and many of these were the first representation of animals and plants from the new world seen in the Old World. While some of the volumes were hand colored, Special Collections copy is not.

See the full text of a hand colored copy. This volume is from the collection of the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Click on an image below to see a gallery of selected pages from Historia naturalis Brasiliae.

home Resources and Services FDLP Anniversary

FDLP Anniversary

By Shannon Cary Posted in Resources and Services

Posted on April 20, 2012March 29, 2016

Of over 1,200 participating libraries, MU is the 15th oldest in the nation
We are the 6th oldest academic library in the FDLP
U.S. Superintendent of Documents/Assistant Public Printer Mary Alice Baish will be flying in from Washington to present our library with a150-year certificate
U.S. Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer willpersonally deliver a message of congratulation
Refreshments will be served
A display of historic government documents willbe exhibited in Special Collections

Thursday, May 3
1:30-2:30
Ellis Library Colonnade