Manuscript Monday has moved to our Tumblr! We'll be sharing manuscripts available through the Digital Scriptorium database all summer. Go follow us there, and check out the beautful materials from Special Collections and Archives at Mizzou – and also from other libraries around the world.
Special Collections and Archives
What’s Blooming this Week: Red Valerian
Not far from the false indigo we featured last week, just outside the west entrance to Ellis Library, there's a beautiful red valerian in full bloom. The scientific name for this plant is Centranthus ruber. It's also called Jupiter's Beard or spur valerian.
While red valerian is a member of the family Valerianaceae, it's not really a valerian. True valerian is known scientifically today as Valeriana officinalis. Its roots were used medicinally and were thought to have a sedative effect. Centranthus ruber has no known medicinal uses, although some sources claim it's edible. I didn't try it, and I don't advise you to, either!
In the past, Centranthus ruber and a few other members of its genus were thought to be closer relatives of true valerian than scientists believe they are today. In 1816, the plant was published in Curtis's Botanical Magazine with a list of various other Valeriana species. The plant pictured here, identified as Valeriana montana rotundifolia, is now known as Centranthus calcitrapa. It is a hardy perennial, native to southern Europe.
This post wraps up our weekly series celebrating the connections between our collections and the Mizzou Botanic Garden – for now, at least. I'll continue to use Special Collections to research the plants around us periodically over the summer and fall. Have you seen a plant on campus or elsewhere that you'd like us to feature? If so, let me know!
What’s Blooming this Week: False Indigo
We're visiting the west entrance of Ellis Library again this week to see what's blooming in the Mizzou Botanic Gardens just outside our doors. This week, it's the spiky blooms of false indigo, or Baptisia. We have two different varieties growing here on campus, yellow and blue. Both types of false indigo were once used to make dye, but they aren't related to true indigo, which yields a very dark blue dye.
Baptisia australis, the blue-flowering species, is native to the southeastern and midwestern United States. It was illustrated in Curtis's Botanical Magazine in 1800, and there it was listed under the names Sophora australis and Podalyria australis, along with the following note: "It is a native of Carolina, and an old inhabitant of our gardens, having been cultivated by Mr. Philip Miller in 1758." By the time the white-flowered species was illustrated in 1808, the genus Podalyria had been separated from Sophora. The yellow false indigo we have here is a hybrid cultivar, but Curtis also includes a couple of other Baptisia species native to the Midwest: a yellow false indigo now called Baptisia tinctoria, and a white species, Baptisia alba.
Teaching Spotlight: Nicole Johnston
Nicole Johnston is our guest for this month's Teaching Spotlight. We have looked forward to working with her Textile and Apparel Management students for the last few years, and we're excited to share her thoughts on object-based teaching.
Please tell us a bit about yourself and your interests.
I am Collection Manager of the Missouri Historic Costume and Textile Collection in the Department of Textile and Apparel Management (TAM) and also teach a large Writing Intensive lecture class for TAM titled “Survey of the History of Western Dress.” I have completed two degrees from the University of Missouri, during which time I learned that history, material culture and art are three of my favorite interests. I very much enjoy the hands-on, object-based aspect of material culture and working with the costume collection and in TAM enables me to combine all three of my passions. Teaching, in turn, lets me explore and research these fields in further detail and pass on this knowledge and excitement to my students. Dress, after all, incorporates almost every discipline on the University campus in one way or another, and it’s great to see students make these connections and, in turn, broaden their horizons and stretch their minds.
How do you use Special Collections in your teaching?
As manager of an historic costume collection, I’m a big believer in object-based teaching and learning, and I try to take advantage of as many visual learning opportunities as I can. There is so much more one can learn about an object and its history through seeing and possibly touching the object up close. The object itself, the process of creating the object, it’s use and meaning, all become so much more real through this process, more personal. That’s why my class visits Special Collections every year. This year, in the process of learning about the development of book making and printing technologies, and their impact on dress, we took a closer look at the Collection’s illuminated manuscripts and incunabula. Last year, we looked at the Collection’s primary sources from the 18th century, such as books, journals and fashion magazines, while researching Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, and her social and political uses of dress.
What outcomes resulted from your class visits? What were the effects on your students?
While looking at illuminated manuscripts and incunabula, it was important for students to discover not only how these objects illustrated and reflected dress of multiple periods, but also for students to reflect on the development of these processes and their role in our own modern development. As students become more dependent on the use of technology (and their thumbs) to communicate, and become more anti-social in the process, the value and benefits of the written word – the book – are diminishing. By exposing them to these early methods of communication and their effects on societal development through the dissemination of knowledge and ideas, students develop a deeper appreciation for and understanding of how far we’ve advanced beyond and because of these earlier methods. And, hopefully, even went out and bought a book…
What advice would you give to faculty or instructors interested in using Special Collections in their courses?
Students’ learning experiences are broadened and amplified through the use of objects. Stretching young minds in this manner is a tremendous opportunity that shouldn’t be missed. In the process of discovering and researching history’s rich resources, students learn more about themselves, where they came from and where they’re going, than they ever could without them. The staff at Special Collections will assist in any way they can to create a quality, object-based learning experience for any and all faculty who are interested in incorporating this type of teaching tool into their classroom experience.
What’s Blooming this Week: Iris
It's been unseasonably chilly here in Columbia this week, but that means the irises blooming all over town have been an even more welcome sight. There's a beautiful planting of Iris pallida 'Argentea Variegata' near the west entrance to the library, and I captured it on my walk into the building this morning. There are many different species of iris growing across the northern hemisphere. According to the Missouri Botanical Garden, Iris pallida is native to Croatia and the southern Alps, and it has a sweet fragrance. The variegated subspecies growing on campus here has striped leaves of pale green and cream.
In 1542, the physician and botanist Leonhart Fuchs included a different iris species in his herbal, De Historia Stirpium Commentarii Insignes, which is part of a long tradition of books that describe plants and their medicinal uses. Although Fuchs wasn't interested in the plants' ornamental value, he hired three professional artists to illustrate the herbal to the highest degree of naturalism. Fuchs wanted physicians to be able to use the book to identify medicinal plants, and the resulting publication is filled with detailed, hand-colored illustrations that depict species both familiar and exotic. Iris germanica, illustrated below, is probably native to southern Europe, and it is the ancestor of most garden irises today.
Monday Manuscript: Bertrand Russell tells you how to be a philosopher
The semester's last manuscript of the week is from philosopher Bertrand Russell, whose birthday is on the 18th. These three original manuscripts contain the text of "How to become a philosopher," "How to become a logician," and "How to become a mathematician." They were later published in one volume by Haldeman-Julius Publications as nos. 7, 8, and 9 of The How-to series in 1942. E. Haldeman-Julius donated them to the Philosophy Section of the Missouri Academy of Science in March 1943. Find it in the MERLIN catalog.
What’s Blooming this Week: Columbine
Right across Lowry Mall from the tulips I posted a couple of weeks ago, and under the magnolias that kicked off this series, there's a beautiful bed of columbine in full bloom.
Columbines are part of the genus Aquilegia and grow wild throughout the nothern hemisphere. The ones in the Mizzou Botanic Garden are derived from the species Aquilegia vulgaris, also known as European Columbine. This week's illustration is from Johann Theodor de Bry's Florilegium renovatum et auctum (1641), an updated version of his Florilegium novum with engravings by his son-in-law, Matthäus Merian. Some of the flowers on this page have double blossoms, and you can still find this type of hybrid columbine under cultivation. The recognizable spurred bloom of the columbine appears right in the middle of the page.
Merian's daughter, Maria Sybilla Merian, would go on to become an accompished artist and naturalist herself. Check out Julie Christenson's blog post about her for more information and some beautiful images.
Phrenology
Phrenology 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.
Phrenology 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."
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."
Some 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.
Phrenology 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>.
What’s Blooming this Week: Flowering Tree Extravaganza
One of the great things about Ellis Library, apart from the fact that it's the largest research library in the state, is that it's surrounded by beautiful flowering trees courtesy of the Mizzou Botanic Garden. This week we're featuring the weeping crabapples next to the north entrance of Ellis Library, the redbuds in the lawn in front of the State Historical Society, and the dogwoods across from the northwest corner (just adjacent to that bed of tulips I wrote about last week).*
Two of the featured trees this week are native to Missouri. Cornus florida, or flowering dogwood, and Cercis canadensis, or Eastern redbud, grow wild throughout the eastern United States. The dogwood is also our Missouri state tree. Crabapples are members of the genus Malus, along with their cousins the domestic apple; various species are native to North America and Europe. While the fruit is edible, its bitter taste and woody texture mean you probably wouldn't want to eat it.
The illustrations featured here are by Mary Vaux Walcott, an artist who specialized in botanical illustration. In 1925, the Smithsonian published reproductions of her watercolors of American plants in five portfolios entitled North American Wild Flowers. Our copy was originally part of the government documents collection and is now in the closed shelf collection. Of the dogwood, Walcott writes,
Dogwood grows abundantly in the favored regions which it inhabits. When the tree is in bloom in early spring, the profuse blossoms appear like a crowd of great snowflakes falling through the interlaced branches.
*While the photos of the redbuds and dogwoods are from this week, I'll admit it: the photos of the flowering crabapples were taken over a week ago. Some years, the flowers don't last long.
Teaching Spotlight: Mark Langeneckert
For the next installment in our Teaching Spotlight feature, we're featuring Mark Langeneckert. Mark and his students visit our reading room each semester to work with our bookplate collection. His use of the collections in teaching is a model for those looking to historical collections for creative inspiration.
I’m an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Art Department. Drawing is my passion and the focus of my teaching. I’m responsible for coordinating the drawing area and leading the study abroad in art to the Netherlands (on even years) and Italy (on odd years).
One of the drawing courses I teach is Illustration. This course requires students to create an original work for a specific visual problem. One assignment is to create a bookplate design that incorporates the students name and the text, Ex Libris, into their work. The assignment is introduced by a visit to Special Collections to view their extensive assortment of historical bookplates. In many cases, this is their first visit to Special Collections.
The impact of this first-hand experience for students has resulted in some of their best work.
In the fall of 2014, I will be teaching a Drawing III course with an emphasis on the Graphic Novel. I look forward to accessing Special Collections resources in developing this new course.
The staff at Special Collections are extremely helpful with gathering materials, offering support and promoting their collection. I would encourage all faculty to consider using this resource in their classroom.