Thanks for the interest in our first Unsolved Mystery post! We're presenting these items as great opportunities for students or faculty to do some original research – so if you'd like to work on any of these materials, let us know.
The next item in the series is a small Hebrew scroll with a wooden handle. We refer to it as the Book of Ruth, since that's the identification of the text on its label. But since none of us reads Hebrew, we haven't verified whether Ruth is actually the text. Mr. David Birnbaum, a Hebrew Biblical text scholar from the University of Chicago Law School, confirms that our scroll manuscript is indeed the Book of Ruth. [added 10/31/2013]
This Hebrew text is manuscript on parchment and is clearly the work of two scribes. The entire piece measures about 7 inches tall, including the handle. We assume that its small size and humble materials indicate that it was used for personal study, but that's just our conjecture.
Where was the scroll produced? How old is it? And how did it get here?
As always, feel free to email us at SpecialCollections@missouri.edu with any information – and stay tuned next week for another Unsolved Mystery from the Special Collections vault.
They’ve come to us across four thousand years of history, from at least three different continents, representing many cultural traditions. We know just enough about them to tantalize us – and we’d like to know more. Each week we'll be sharing a new mystery from our collections. Can you solve the Unsolved Mysteries of Special Collections?
Sorry, not those Unsolved Mysteries. We’re talking about Special Collections materials we’d like to know more about.
Unsolved Mystery #1: Cuneiform Tablets
Special Collections holds eight cuneiform tablets whose exact provenance is unknown. Seven of the tablets were donated to MU Libraries by the now-defunct Ernest McClary Todd Museum, formerly a part of the School of Journalism. They may have come to the University in the early twentieth century.
Tablet MULC 8 (Z113 .P3 1#1 item 1a) was acquired as part of the Pages from the Past collection, which was a portfolio of leaves and artifacts sold by Foliophiles in the 1960s.
Six of the tablets were recently published by a researcher at the University of Heidelberg. The remaining two tablets are thought to be from the Old Babylonian period (1900-1600 BCE) and are currently unedited.
Where did the tablets come from? What information do the two unpublished tablets contain? What, if anything, is known about the Ernest McClary Todd Museum?
If you have information about this or any other of our unsolved mysteries, email us at SpecialCollections@missouri.edu. Stay tuned next week for another Unsolved Mystery from the Special Collections vault.
On September 1, 1963, fifty years ago this week, youngsters were greeted by a new comic book series on the shelves. Marvel Comics, after finding success in creating individual characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, decided to take a chance on telling the story of a group of heroes. These heroes were teenagers who, through no action of their own, developed powers through genetic mutations. After being ostracized from society for merely being different, they banded together under the leadership of Professor Charles Xavier and became…
…The Uncanny X-Men! To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the mutant menagerie, Special Collections has put together a list of fun facts and trivia about the superhero squad, both in print and on film.
Did you know that…
…the original five X-Men were Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Iceman and Marvel Girl? Only Beast was in X-Men: First Class, the film adaptation about the formation of the X-Men.
…Professor Xavier named his students “X-Men” because of the “extra power” their mutation gave them?
…because of the way the X-Men are shunned for being different, mutants have been used as an ongoing allegory of minorities in society, such as African Americans and homosexuals?
…the character Wolverine first appeared in a 1974 issue of The Incredible Hulk?
…the entertainment website IGN lists X-Men arch nemesis Magneto as the greatest comic book villain of all time? He ranks above (or below, depending on your perspective) the Joker, Lex Luthor and Loki.
…Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine has appeared in six movies (X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class, The Wolverine), and he will make his seventh appearance in next year’s X-Men: Days of Future Past? He holds the record for most film appearances as the same comic book character, followed by Robert Downey, Jr.’s five appearances as Tony Stark (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Iron Man 3).
…X-Men Origins: Wolverine star Ryan Reynolds has appeared on film as three different comic book characters? He’s portrayed Wade Wilson (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) and Hannibal King (Blade: Trinity).
…the X-Men film franchise has grossed $2.2 billion worldwide, beating out the Indiana Jones, Superman and Star Trek franchises?
…Hugh Jackman has expressed interest in Wolverine joining The Avengers in an upcoming movie? Unfortunately, that’s unlikely to happen, as Fox owns the film rights to Wolverine and the X-Men, while Disney owns the film rights to The Avengers. However, Fox also owns the rights to the Fantastic Four, and comic book author and screenwriter Mark Millar has hinted at a Fantastic Four/X-Men crossover film.
…the cast of X-Men: Days of Future Past contains three Academy Award-winning actresses? Jennifer Lawrence, Anna Paquin and Halley Berry have all taken home an Oscar.
…when Patrick Stewart (Professor Xavier) was married in 2013, he asked his friend Ian McKellen (Magneto) to officiate the ceremony? McKellen obliged.
…all of the pictures on this page were taken from comics and graphic novels contained in Special Collections? We encourage everyone, mutant and human alike, to come in and take a peek at what we have to offer!
Fifty years ago last week, on a pleasant Wednesday afternoon, Washington, D.C. was buzzing. Throngs of people, numbering well into the hundreds of thousands, were gathered around the Lincoln Memorial, hugging the sides of the famed reflecting pool. The activists were demonstrating for racial equality – not only in the classroom, not only in the workplace, but throughout the entire nation. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was not merely a rally, it was a cultural event that forever changed our history.
Many speakers addressed the crowd that day, but one speech stood out above the rest. One speech has lived on for fifty years and is now considered by Time magazine to be one of the top ten speeches ever given, listed alongside Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and John Kennedy’s Inaugural Address.
Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech has become the civil rights activist’s most memorable moment, highlighting a lifetime of dedication to racial equality. Dr. King’s legacy of protests through nonviolence and civil disobedience continued after his assassination in 1968, and still lives on to this day.
Newspaper headlines from around the nation report the event.
All of these articles are available at any time to any patron during Ellis Library’s hours of operation. March into Special Collections and reflect on the way the country has changed, and the ways it hasn’t, in fifty short years.
Thanks to our generous donors, the Friends of the Libraries, and conservator Jim Downey, we have been able to do much-needed repair work on many of the fragile, valuable, and irreplaceable books in our collections. Below are just a few of the most recent examples of the amazing work the Adopt a Book Program accomplishes. As always, there are new books available for adoption as well. Click over to our Adopt a Book page and take a look!
Cover from an ice cream freezer manualWe all scream for ice cream! With 90% of Americans enjoying the cold dessert, it's no wonder that Ronald Reagan declared July National Ice Cream Month back in 1984. In addition, the third Sunday of July was proclaimed National Ice Cream Day to be celebrated "with appropriate ceremonies and activities." So today, get out and cool off with some of America's favorite dessert and learn more about the history of ice cream with us here at Special Collections.
Depiction of a Roman snow runnerThe history of ice cream can be traced as far back as the 4th century B.C., where legend has it that Alexander the Great, the famous conqueror and ruler of one of the largest empires in history, enjoyed iced beverages made of snow, honey, and nectar that were the predecessor to the ice cream we enjoy today. These earlier forms of ice cream were mostly enjoyed by the noble class, with recipes being closely guarded secrets. Iced desserts developed independently of each other in the Roman Empire and the Orient. Nero, the emperor of Rome from 54-68 A.D., had snow for these treats carried by runners from the Alps to Rome with severe punishments for those who failed to make it back before the snow melted.
Marco Polo is often credited with bringing sherbet and ice recipes to Europe after having learned them on his famous voyages. These were again kept mostly by the royals and others in the higher tiers of nobility. Some of these recipes may have been known to the English royalty earlier, as there are reports of Richard the Lionhearted eating sherbets in 1191 while on a Holy Crusade.
When people realized that adding salt to snow and ice helped to increase the coldness and help keep it, clever chefs now had more freedom than ever to experiment with different flavors and mixtures. The French chef Jacques, from the court of Charles of England and Vatel, the chef of King Louis XVI have both been cited among the inventors of cream ice which, with the help of the Germans, Spanish, Italians, and possibly the Scandinavians, contributed to what became known as ice cream when these recipes came to America, where it was further influenced mostly by English and French methods.
The first written evidence of ice cream in America comes from a letter written May 17, 1744 by a guest of Governor Bladen of Maryland that describes this curious ice cream treat. In the latter half of the 18th century, ice cream's popularity really picked up with those that could afford it, including such well-known figures as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
The ‘Wonder’ Freezer, with improved covered gearIce cream continued to gain popularity in the early 1800s with the invention of better ice cream freezers and improved ice harvesting and storing techniques. Commercial ice cream really took off after Jacob Fussell established the first wholesale ice cream factory in Baltimore in 1851, also making the U.S. the leading country in the manufacture and consumption of ice cream, which it still is today. Inventions such as the ice cream cone at the 1904 World's Fair continued to help ice cream become the immensely popular treat it is today.
The effect of varying the sugar and chocolate liquor content on the stability of chocolate ice creamHere at Mizzou, the College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources has long been a big name in ice cream research. With noted researchers Professor William Henry Eddie Reid, Wendell Arbuckle, and Robert T. Marshall all contributing at some point to the research done here on campus on things such as the freezing properties, stability, and physical qualities of chocolate ice cream and modern trends in retail ice cream stores. Reid went on to consult with Baskin Robbins while Arbuckle and Marshall literally wrote the book on ice cream (Ice Cream by Arbuckle and Marshall and The Little Ice Cream Book by Arbuckle can both be found in our stacks). With all this research going on it was eventually decided that it was high time Mizzou had its own flavor of ice cream, which it now does. Tiger Stripe Ice Cream, which looks exactly as the name suggests, remains popular today among students, faculty, and alumni alike and is served at a number of school and alumni events. (To find out more about the history and development of ice cream research at Mizzou visit the website of Mizzou's ice cream shop, Buck's Ice Cream Place, here.)
A recipe from the Ladie’s Own Home Cook-BookTo learn more about any of the topics mentioned here, or if you want to check out some recipes for ice cream from our selection of old cookbooks, come by and pay us a visit here in Special Collections (just leave your ice cream at home).
Have a happy National Ice Cream Day!
Arbuckle, W. S. The Little Ice Cream Book. [S.l.]: W.S. Arbuckle, 1981. Print.
"International Dairy Foods Association." July Is National Ice Cream Month. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 July 2013. http://www.idfa.org/news–views/media-kits/ice-cream/july-is-national-ice-cream-mon/.
Mertens, Randy. "About Us." Buck's Ice Cream Place:. N.p., 12 Mar. 2010. Web. 17 July 2013. http://bucks.missouri.edu/about/history.php.
While we’re feeling the heat as truly summer-like temperatures in the 90s are making themselves known, the risk of wildfire increases throughout the country.
At the time this was written, 24 wildfires were burning throughout the country. Maps put out by the National Interagency Fire Center (like this one) show the location of “large incidents,” or large uncontrollable fires that were currently burning at the time of map-making. Other maps (like this one) can help you determine the likelihood of a wildfire starting in your area.
As a wise bear has said, we all have the power to prevent wildfires and forest fires. Here at Special Collections, anyone looking through our poster collection will find several 1940s-era posters reminding us of this fact.
A somewhat menacing-looking Smokey reminds us to take care.
Smokey Bear, the bear who has such confidence in us humans to prevent forest fires, is the longest running PSA campaign in United States history. In 1950, a bear cub was orphaned by a forest fire in New Mexico. Rangers rescued him from the fire and nursed him back to health until he eventually left for a zoo in Washington, D.C. where he became the living symbol for the Smokey Bear fire prevention campaign that is still popular today.
As the poster to the left suggests, the importance of preventing wildfires was felt very strongly in the forties, due to the war-effort. In fact, the first half of that decade was when this awareness/prevention campaign really started to spread like wildfire (pun intended). Large, uncontained fires would take attention and supplies away from the troops that were in need of them, making forest fires not only a danger to those near them, but also to those overseas. Luckily for all of us, there are several easy steps to take to prevent uncontained fires conveniently recorded on this poster, such as making sure your campfire has been put out thoroughly before breaking camp.
In addition to putting forth practical reasons for being careful with fire, the forestry service around this time also tugged at the heartstrings of Americans by issuing posters with Bambi and friends, imploring those that look upon them to not burn down their homes. As the Disney movie had just debuted the previous year, this poster would have been particularly effective in its message of reminding people of the devastating effects fires have on forest wildlife.
So remember:
“only you can prevent wildfires”
to see these posters (and others) all you need to do is visit us at Special Collections!
The dog days of summer are finally upon us after a long and snowy winter. As the mercury rises, we all begin to hear (and ask) that famous age-old, sarcastic question: “Can it possibly get any hotter?” Special Collections is here to forever lay that question to rest by providing the answer.
Yes. Much hotter.
One hundred years ago today, on July 10, 1913, the hottest temperature ever was recorded, right here in the USA. The appropriately named Furnace Creek Ranch in Death Valley, California reported a sizzling 134 °F (56.7 °C). According to the National Park Service, summer temperatures in Death Valley average 120 °F throughout the day, before dropping into the nineties at night.
A century-old Washington Post headline shows off the new world record.
Swing on in to Special Collections to escape our own summer heat wave. Access to any of our books, microfilms or comics (along with our air conditioning) is, of course, free of charge.
“Terrific Tales: From Fairies to Fables” on exhibit in the Library Colonnade. The exhibit is brought to you by Special Collections and will be on display July 1st – August 15th.
Happy Independence Day! While we celebrate with fireworks, picnics, and other festivities, nineteenth-century Americans often attended public speeches by popular religious and political figures. The Fourth of July Orations Collection, made up of over 450 sermons and addresses, documents the issues that mattered to the American people from 1791 to 1925, and allows us to recapture some of the spirit of Independence Days Past.
On Independence Day* 200 years ago, the United States was 13 months into the War of 1812, and the outlook wasn’t good. The American military, cobbled together from state militias and lacking professional leadership, lost battle after battle to smaller but better trained and equipped British forces. By the end of the summer of 1813, the Americans would be forced to flee in disarray from the advancing British. Public sentiment had never been in favor of the war (as we saw in last year’s Independence Day address); heavy losses and the looming possibility of defeat made the war even less popular, especially in New England.
This year’s featured speech comes to us from Abiel Holmes, a clergyman and author from Cambridge, Massachusetts, who is perhaps best known to us today as the father of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (the author) and the grandfather of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (the Supreme Court justice).
Holmes presented his speech before the Washington Benevolent Society in Washington, D.C. As was common in his time, the first half of the speech is a lengthy panegyric on the virtues George Washington. However, midway through the address, Holmes changes direction. He condemns the current war and calls for a return to Washingtonian values, principles and policies, particularly that of neutrality.
That most wars are unnecessary, and therefore unjustifiable, the history of the world plainly shows us. … Republics, no less than despotic governments, have been addicted to war, from the lust of gain, a passion for glory, or some unhallowed motives, equally hostile to their prosperity, and dangerous to their liberties. (21)
Holmes goes on to draw a parallel between warlike Sparta and the United States, suggesting that the new republic would be pulled apart by foreign and civil conflict. He adds, “Whether he [Washington] would ever have sacrificed our peace, or hazarded our liberties, from any considerations, not far more imperious than those alleged as the grounds of the present war, you may conclude, with moral certainty, from his avowed principles, and his pacific administration” (22).
*July 4, 1813, was a Sunday. To avoid conflict with religious observances, Independence Day festivities in many communities were moved to July 5, the following Monday.
Thanks for the interest in our first Unsolved Mystery post! We're presenting these items as great opportunities for students or faculty to do some original research – so if you'd like to work on any of these materials, let us know.
This Hebrew text is manuscript on parchment and is clearly the work of two scribes. The entire piece measures about 7 inches tall, including the handle. We assume that its small size and humble materials indicate that it was used for personal study, but that's just our conjecture.
