Wednesday, February 2nd: Ellis Library will remain closed through Thursday.
“MU will remain closed Thursday, with all classes canceled. The blizzard has made clearing campus streets, walkways and parking lots challenging for maintenance crews, according to the MU News Bureau. It also remains difficult for many faculty, staff and students to get to campus.
Classes are expected to resume Friday, with confirmation reported at 4 p.m.Thursday on MU Alert.” Columbia Missourian
In 1904 the city of St. Louis hosted the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, which became popularly known as the St. Louis World’s Fair. The Exposition, which was held to celebrate the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase, hosted an estimated 20 million visitors. The Fair and the progress it highlighted thrust St. Louis into the global spotlight and became a source of tremendous regional and national pride. The University of Missouri Libraries are now providing searchable online access to the text and illustration of its collection of materials from the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
The materials in the collection range from single-sheet broadsides to multi-volume book sets and lithographic views of the Exposition to the actual photographic view books submitted by the University of Missouri for its exhibit in the Palace of Education and Social Economy. An important item for the history of the Exposition is theWorld’s Fair Bulletin, a monthly publication running from 1900 through 1904 that provided insight into the planning, construction, management and the activities of the Fair. Another highlight of the collection is James Buel’s eleven-volume Louisiana and the Fair: An Exposition of the World, Its People and Their Achievements, which was published in limited edition in 1905 and which gives a detailed history of the fair.
The digitization in 2010 of the resources in this collection was supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the Missouri State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State. The collection is available online and free of charge to the public through the University of Missouri Digital Library at: http://digital.library.umsystem.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?page=home;c=lex. It will become available through the Missouri State Library in 2011.
Dr. Debra L. Mason, Executive Director of The Center on Religions and the Professions, will share findings from research on religious literacy (a survey on religious literacy from the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life). Data was collected via a nationwide poll conducted from May 19 through June 6, 2010, among 3,412 Americans age 18 and older.
This event is sponsored by the MU Libraries’ Faculty Lecture Series and Diversity Action Committee.
Due to bad weather and low registration numbers, the Endnote class scheduled for tonight, January 20th is canceled and will be rescheduled. Details on other Endnote classes may be found at https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/endnote
This past semester, Rare Books and Special Collections librarians and staff held over 20 instruction sessions with students from the University of Missouri and beyond. We’ve compiled a list of subjects that were covered by our materials last semester. We think you’ll see that Rare Books and Special Collections has something for all research interests!
Charles Schulz alternative literature
History of Book Cataloging
Women’s life in the Middle Ages
Men’s life in the Middle Ages
Slavery in the British West Indies
Greek Mythology
Shakespeare and Jews
Beetle Bailey Overview
Perhaps Rare Books and Special Collections could offer your Spring 2011 course a session! Send us an e-mail SpecialCollections(at)missouri.edu!
The Parker Quartet
Jan. 24, 2011
Ellis Library Colonnade
10 am – 11 am
The Parker Quartet, four New England Conservatory graduates, began their professional career in 2002 and have been hailed as “something extraordinary” by the New York Times. Inspired by their own love for music, the Parker Quartet spend time each year with young musicians and work with them through outreach programs to help advance their musical knowledge and abilities.
They will also be performing in Jesse Auditorium on Sunday, January 23, 2011, 2 p.m.
$17 | MU students half-price | BUY ONLINE
Preserved in the Rare Book Collections is a very curious document — a beautiful two-hundred-and twenty year-old charter endorsed by the Russian Empress Catherine the Great that promotes Aleksandr Mukhanov, a young Russian nobleman, from regimental baggage-train driver to Lieutenant-Captain (Secund-Rotmistr) in the Horse-Mounted Guards.
Provenance of this document is unknown. On the verso there is an inscription: “При запечатанiи въ коллегiи иностранныхъ д ѣлъ но. 424” (When as applying a seal at the Office of Foreign Affairs. No.424
This unique document–likely acquired “somewhere in the 1920s” within a large and important collection of books and documents purchased for the University Library–is printed on parchment with a hand-painted border of cobalt-blue. There is a monogram of Catherine the Great at the center of the top border, surrounded by double-headed crowned birds, banners, fire arms and cold steel, armor, and bows and quivers.
In each corner there is a helmet with a plume decorated with oriental ornaments and an allegorical figure of Minerva on the left hand side and one of Mars on the right. At the bottom of the border, in a medallion, one can see a military camp and transport with two pairs of horses, surrounded by banners, cannons, cartridge pouches and drums.
The text itself starts with a six-line ornamental initial. The document carries traces of the Russian Imperial wax seal.
Literal Translation of the Charter:
By the Grace of God, We, Catherine the Second, Empress and Autocratrix of All the Russians, &c, &c, &c.
Let it be known and recognized by all that as of the first day of the month of January, in the year of Our Lord one thousand-seven hundred-and-ninetieth, We have Most Graciously bestowed and conferred upon Aleksandr Mukhanov who had served Us as regiment baggage-train driver in the Horse-Mounted regiment of Our Guards, and in acknowledgement of the zeal and diligence with which he disposed of his duty in Our service, — the rank of Lieutenant-Captain in the self-same regiment; and whereas We bestow and confer this upon him, commanding all Our men to pay the said Mukhanov the honors and respect befitting the rank of Our Lieutenant-Captain in the Guards, are accordingly trustful that in this rank, most Graciously granted him by Us, he will deport himself in a manner that behooves a loyal Officer of the Guards. In testimony thereof We have signed this with Our own Hand and commanded that it be confirmed by Our State Seal.
Given in Saint Petersburg, in the year 1790, {on the 24th Day of December}
Signed
Catherine.
On the lower line there is a signature, by a different hand: Lieutenant-Colonel {Saltykov} of the Guards Horse Mounted Regiment.
Almost everything in this document raises questions: Who was Mukhanov, and why was he so abruptly promoted from the lowest ranks to a position of high prestige? If the promotion was effective as of January 1st 1790, why was the order signed almost a year later, on Christmas Eve of 1790? What happened to Mukhanov later? How did the original document find its way to mid-Missouri? These are among the many baffling questions to which we may never have a definite answer, but a bit of detective work can cast some light upon the mysteries of the past.
II. Our hero – Mukhanov
Aleksandr Il’ich Mukhanov was born on January 8, 1766 into a noble family. He had six brothers and one sister. His father, Il’ia Mukhanov, was a Colonel in the Horse-Mounted Regiment, from which he retired in 1764, and he was personally known to the Empress. On the day of her ascension to the throne in a coup — July 28th 1762 — Il’ia Mukhanov was among the officers in her convoy on the way to St. Petersburg.
When the future Empress felt cold, Il’ia Mukhanov gave her his officer’s overcoat. She always remembered this gesture with gratitude.
According to the memoirs of Aleksandr Mukhanov’s niece, five older brothers were educated at home, and the youngest one, Michael, at the Military School. All of them served at the same Life-Guards regiment. And as a contemporary anecdote has it, some pupils of the convent school for young noble ladies thought that all Life-Guards were named Mukhanov. Honesty, piety and brotherly love for each other and to the family, according to Mukhanov’s niece, were their most characteristic virtues.
Aleksandr Mukhanov joined the regiment in 1775, at the age of 9. It was customary in 18th century Russia to enlist a boy of noble birth in a regiment as a soldier, so that when he came of age he would be ready to receive his first officer’s commission and to begin his real service in a regiment as an officer.
If we look at the list of his promotions, we can see that he was first promoted in 1784, when he was 18 to a cornet. He was promoted again in 1792 to a captain (rotmistr), and on November 15, 1796, only nine days after Catherine’s death, he became colonel and was decorated with the Order of St. Anne.
After Catherine’s son Paul ascended to the throne, Mukhanov’s career took a sharp upswing. In March of 1798, two month after his first son Paul was born, Mukhanov retired from the Guards and was given a civil rank of State Councilor (slightly higher than colonel), became a Knight Commander of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and on September 5th, was appointed Vice Governor of the city of Novgorod. He was advanced to an Actual State Councilor (corresponds to a Major General) and then appointed Governor of Kazan, the capital of an important province, on April 4, 1799. After Emperor Paul’s assassination in 1801, Aleksandr Mukhanov was relieved of his governorship and brought before the Senate for trial on charges of cruelties committed while governor of Kazan. He was 35 years old then.
But it was not the end of his career. On May 6, 1805, he was sent to the south of Russia to be a civil governor of Poltava, and in the following year he became a civil governor of Riazan. Later he returned to St. Petersburg, and received a rank of Stalmeister at the Imperial Court (Master of the Horse), which, according to the Russian Table of Ranks, corresponded to the rank of Lieutenant General. He spent the last years of his life in Moscow, where he died, and was buried in the cemetery of Novodevichii Convent on 22, October 1815.
III. Christmas Gift
It can only be conjectured that at the end of 1789 Mukhanov was ready for the promotion to the rank of second-lieutenant, when something happened that impeded his rising through the ranks of the regiment.
V. Ericksen. Equestrian portrait of Catherine the Great, 1762.
These and other considerations lead to the supposition that the whole matter of the demotion and promotion of Aleksandr Mukhanov could be to a certain extent a domestic affair for Catherine, who could be moralistic but was more-or-less good-natured.
In case of Aleksandr Mukhanov it looks as if he was punished by a firm but benevolent, almost motherly hand, and when he showed (perhaps?) genuine regret, or maybe demonstrated extraordinary courage on the battlefield, he was generously rewarded: promoted not to the next higher rank, but over two ranks, and evidently receiving the yearly salary of a Lieutenant-Captain in back pay to boot! Above all it was a nice Christmas gift.
Selected bibliography:
Iz zapisok M.S. Mukhanovoi. Russkii Arkhiv, 1878, kn. 1
May 10–19 (Finals Week)
May 10 (Fri) ……………………………………………………………………………………..7:30am–2am
May 11 (Sat)…………………………………………………………………………………………..9am–2am
May 12 (Sun)………………………………………………………………………………………….9am-4am
May 13-16 (Mon-Thu) ……………………………………………………………………………7am–4am
May 17 (Fri)…………………………………………………………………………………………7am–6pm
May 18 (Sat)…………………………………………………………………………………………9am–5pm
May 19 (Sun)…………………………………………………………………………………………Noon–5pm
STM publisher Elsevier, Netherlands, has announced the availability of Image Search, a new SciVerse ScienceDirect feature that enables users to quickly and efficiently find images and figures relevant to their specific research objectives.
The new feature allows researchers to search across more than 15 million images contained within SciVerse ScienceDirect. Results include tables, photos, figures, graphs and videos from trusted peer-reviewed full text sources. Saving researchers significant time, Image Search ensures increased efficiency in finding the relevant visuals.
Search results can be refined by image type and contain links to the location within the original source article, allowing researchers to verify image in context. Researchers can take advantage of Image Search to learn new concepts, prepare manuscripts or visually convey ideas in presentations and lectures. The new feature is available to SciVerse ScienceDirect subscribed users at no additional cost.
SciVerse ScienceDirect(www.sciverse.com) contains over a quarter of the world’s full text scientific, technical and medical (STM) peer-reviewed articles. Elsevier’s extensive full-text collection covers authoritative titles from the core scientific literature with more than ten million articles available online. Coverage includes over 2,500 journal titles published by Elsevier with linking to journals from approximately 2,000 STM publishers through CrossRef.
Additionally, SciVerse ScienceDirect contains an expanding library of online major reference works, handbooks, book series and over 10,000 eBooks in all fields of science seamlessly interlinked with primary research referenced in journal articles.