Preservation Matters

preservation_bookcradle

Riding the wave of our recent James Russell Wiggins lecture’s Franklin-iana and the American Library Association’s 2014 Preservation Week: Pass it On (which takes place April 27-May 4, 2014), we found ourselves struck by the Benjamin Franklin quotation, “An ounce of preservation is worth a pound of cure.” Although Franklin was speaking about fire safety ...

Recent Arrivals Shelf – Modern Scholarship

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Living in the stacks amongst the vast collections of historical primary source material at AAS, one will find books of a much younger age.  AAS does not only seek to collect one copy of every thing printed in the United States up until about 1876; we also strive to add recent scholarship written about topics ...

AAS to Participate in Greater Worcester GIVES, May 6th

GWG_400x300px_R-1

On Tuesday, May 6, 2014, the American Antiquarian Society will be part of Worcester County’s first-ever online giving challenge, Greater Worcester GIVES. Organized and hosted by the Greater Worcester Community Foundation, Greater Worcester GIVES seeks to inspire people to support local nonprofits within that 24-hour period, for a collective impact that will benefit the region ...

2014 Spring Public Programs Now in Full Swing

buell (3)

Now that the spring weather seems to have (finally) reached us here in Worcester, everyone is beginning to get out and partake in all of those activities they put off during the winter, including cultural events. We hope that our spring lineup of public programs at Antiquarian Hall—including the one tonight—will be among those that ...

The Acquisitions Table: The Bookbinders Shop

The Bookbinders Shop. Philadelphia: P.S. Duval for the American Sunday School Union, ca. 1850. This image of the interior of the British bookbinding establishment of Westleys & Clark was issued by the Philadelphia lithographer P.S. Duval sometime between 1842 and 1850. A second, related print showing a ship and its furniture was printed by Duval using the same bordered ...

Adopt-a-Book 2014

coveradoptabook

This year the American Antiquarian Society will be holding its 7th annual Adopt-a-Book event on Tuesday, May 6th, from 6:00 to 8:00pm.  This event has been an entertaining and successful fundraiser for the library’s continued acquisitions of historic material. The money raised helps curators buy more books, pamphlets, prints, newspapers, and manuscripts.  On May 6th, participants ...

The Acquisitions Table: Samuel Dickinson Barton Lecture Notes

Barton notebooks

Barton, Samuel Dickinson. Lecture Notes (Amherst College), 1827 and undated. Samuel Dickinson Barton was a student in the class of 1831 at Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts.  These two volumes contain notes written by Barton while attending lectures at Amherst.  One is dated 1827, the other is undated.  The lectures he attended cover a variety of ...

Adventures in Cataloging: Some Sleuthing Required (Part III)

Dr. Asa M. Stackhouse’s notes about Dr. Samuel Jackson, which proved to be the key to disentangling the identities of the doctors Jackson.

This week, the series ends by correcting a case of mistaken identity. And if you missed the first two parts, be sure to check them out: Part I, Part II. 3. The Doctors Jackson We like to trace provenance information in our records when we can. This allows one to find former owners, virtually reconstruct an ...

A Young Reader’s Appreciation for Johnny Tremain

Tremain 1998

Editor’s note: In a twist that follows up on Jackie Penny’s account of reading pre-1900 fiction to her children, retired AAS director of book publication Caroline F. Sloat turned to her ten-year-old grandson for an enthusiastic recommendation of Esther Forbes’s Johnny Tremain. Our bags were packed and we were ready to leave for the airport ...