Original image taken from Album Lokner : artes y letras 1898, Madrid.
Special Collections and Archives
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?)
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
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!
Special Collections contributes to the Missouri Over There digitization project
Special Collections and Rare Books recently contributed several World War I posters to the Missouri Over There digitization project. Coordinated by the Missouri State Library, the Missouri Over There project explores the state's involvement in the first World War. The posters selected for digitization deal with military recruiting and home front efforts such as food conservation, savings programs, and civic organizations. Many pertain to the St. Louis area, but a few are specific to Columbia and mid-Missouri.
Take a look at the project blog, and browse the entire selection of posters in the Missouri Digital Heritage database. Special Collections has a collection of over 900 World War I posters, including examples from France, Germany, and Belgium. You can find a description of the entire World War I poster collection on the Special Collections website.
The Bibliophile
Original image taken from Album Lokner : artes y letras published 1898, Madrid.
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?
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
Reader Request: The Magic of MERLIN
Last week we posted the first in an occasional reader request series, focusing on what you want to see from the University of Missouri Libraries Special Collections. This week, I'm going to show you exactly how to find what you're looking for using our catalog, the Missouri Education and Research Libraries Information Network. Or, you know, MERLIN.
Since you are interested in Special Collections, we're going to do an advanced search. Starting from the main MERLIN screen, click on the Advanced tab.
On the Advanced Search page, enter your keywords at the top. You can use the dropdown menu to search within Author, Title, or Subject (Table of Contents and Notes are not advised for Special Collections materials). Or you can leave it open to search all available fields.
Scroll down to Add Limits. Under Specific Library Location, choose MU Ellis Special Coll.
You can use additional limits such as language or year of publication. Because Special Collections holdings include lots of microfilms (about 8 million titles, in fact), it's useful to limit by Material Type.
Hold down the CTRL key to make multiple selections.
- Looking for books, pamphlets, journals, etc.? Limit to Books and Journals/Newspapers.
- Posters – limit to Images
- Maps – limit to Maps
- If you ARE looking for microfilm/fiche, limit to Microforms
But Wait! Not Everything is in MERLIN!
That's true; not everything is in MERLIN. That's where the Special Collections website comes in. It contains collection descriptions and finding aids that can also help you track down the resources you need. A finding aid contains a detailed description of a collection and its organization. It doesn't have an inventory of particular items (usually), but it will lead you to the right places to look. Here's a complete list of collection descriptions and finding aids on the Special Collections site.
Now you're all set to search! Have fun, and let us know via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or email if you find anything you want to see!
Doctor Whoot
Image from: Nests and Eggs of Birds of the United States by Thomas G. Gentry, 1882.