archivistrising321.blogspot.com

  This is a miniature encyclopedia set, published in London in 1800. It has 7 miniature volumes. This was created by a noble man from his knowledge and experience to educate noble children, particularly boys, about life lessons with the alphabet, manners, how to behave when traveling internationally-to recognize people from different nations and kingdoms by their clothes and key points about their homeland, and court etiquette. For example, how to wear your sword when bowing before a queen or king. It is  all contained in a little purple velveteen box, which has seen better days. You could carry it with you as you traveled for ready reference. The Infant's Own is the alphabet book, but it is not like children's books today. The stories with these letters impart critical life lessons, for example A is for axe. The book notes: "An axe is a tool made of iron, or steel: it is very useful for cutting down trees, and taking off the branches. It has been used in England to punish...

Beginning July 5, 2021 all CMU Libraries staff and faculty return to work in the Park Library building 5 days/week. This is part of a national change as employers figure out when, how, how often, if at all, and how many of their employees are returning to work and where. For some this is a gradual shift, for others it is rapid.  I really enjoyed telecommuting and am sad to see it end.  Telecommuting overall greatly reduced my stress levels, saved me travel time and gas, and allowed me to experience uninterrupted time for the first time in my CMU career to concentrate on publications and presentations, allowing me to be incredibly productive during COVID. I hope someday telecommuting will be allowed at CMU again. Learning all the necessary tech to function and figuring out how to transform my classes remotely during the start of COVID-19 was initially stressful. But within days I realized that I could successfully accomplish most of my duties telecommuting and that I could tran...

  Katie recently finished processing and I cataloging a reel of 1975 CBS Sports Special Olympics Michigan film. Here is the description: CBS Sports Special, a 16 mm polyester color film with magnetic sound  of the national meeting of the fourth international summer  Special Olympics hosted by and on the campus of Central Michigan University (CMU) in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, 1975. This film, Film ID No. 77200-1, is housed in an archival film canister on an archival core. Special Olympics had the film digitized at an unidentified time. The footage and a description with context can be accessed at https://www.specialolympics.org/stories/impact/1975-intl-special-olympics-games-in-the-spotlight The film, 1000 ft., plays for 11 minutes, 15 seconds. The text there notes: "Nearly 3,200 athletes took part in the 4th Special Olympics International Summer Games, held in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. Athletes from 10 nations competed in basketball, bowling, floor hockey, gymnastics, the penta...

  Besides the removal of parking lot fences and sodding of what had been flowers around the libraries' parking lot, Finch bricks are being repointed, although it looks like perhaps a band of new bricks or color, some design, might be added in the future, for decoration. Also, the entrance to the libraries parking lot is being changed. Here's a new photo of how the nice, new entrance to the library parking lot looks.  It was completed last night. No more bumps.

The chemical poisoning of the Pine River in  St. Louis, Michigan, from the Michigan Chemical Company, later Velsicol, the manufacturer of "forever" chemicals including a fire retardant containing PBB, resulted in long-term poisoning of land, water and people. For more information about this and the Pine River Citizens Action Group's response as documented in oral histories and other sources, click on this link to a wonderful ongoing student project  led by Prof. Brit Fremion of CMU  at https://pineriverproject.wordpress.com/project-components/ .

Above are Ruth's 1961 commencement tassel, program, invitation and CMU directional materials.  I am processing 2 folders of the materials of CMU student Ruth Ann Sweeney, later Van Erp, (1939-1999) who attended CMU, 1957-1961. Ruth was from Ubly, Michigan. She received a scholarship, and studied Home Economics, becoming president of the CMU Home Economics Club in 1960 and attended a national meeting as part of her duties. In her collection there are many cards and forms used to register for classes, receipts, official and personal letters and notices, some of which are familiar to today's students, and others which are obsolete or their formats have changed from paper to digital. Ruth also received a 1957 CMU Etiquette Book on proper behavior of  male and female students. While at CMU she lived in Larzelere hall. This is very typical female student collection for 1950s-mid-1960s. Ruth later married and had two daughters and two sons. Her obituary recalls that she was "an i...

  Sometimes I find matches in the collections while processing them. This has become my method for dealing with them. I leave them in the sink overnight. Then I throw them out. Sometimes the matchbook covers are historically related to the collection. In that case, I first remove the staple attaching all the matches and keep the cover. Then I soak the matches. The New Yorker is outside my collecting scope, so this will soon be a sodden heap in a garbage can. I found that ripping out the matches and soaking them separately was too messy and time-consuming.