The items featured in this post were originally intended to be on display in the Reading Room of Antiquarian Hall by way of noting the Super Bowl. But the Curator of Graphic Arts instead installed archival items relating to the upcoming Leap Year in February. This is probably more fitting as, statistically speaking, Leap Year ...
Of all the artifacts AAS has held on to over two centuries, the hardest one to explain is the collection of Staffordshire pottery. It's not because it is a stretch really, but more because of the never-ending layers to unpack when the question comes up. How is it that a library that is devoted unwaveringly ...
As the Prints in the Parlor (PIP) Project begins its last leg of digitization and access to images generated, those of us involved with it find ourselves itching to pull together some of the results into conversation with one another. The reason for this is to show how these book illustrations, sometimes independent of the ...
In August and December of 2010, the AAS received additional gifts to supplement the already delectable David Claypoole Johnston Family Collection. (You can see a portrait of the artist and read a short bio as part of the online exhibition of Portraits at the American Antiquarian Society.) Of the material which came (in the form of ...
Past is Present is taking a short break from our series of Adopt-a-Book posts to tell you about our favorite new resource on the AAS website. Some of us at AAS embark upon irrevocable and unusual quests – like creating the “perfect” inventory. While, arguably, it is an impossible task to encompass everyone’s inventory-needs, the Graphic Arts ...
Luckily, the American Antiquarian Society does not collect in all areas of human condition and experience. An example of such an area? Internal organs. What we do have, however, is a rich collection around this object of study. And whereas February was American Heart Month, an opportunity in the calendar year to focus on the well-being of what ...
As it says on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired…your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” and the newly-found abandoned line “…your unwanted editions, pages uncut, spines unopened, loathed by your authors and deemed unworthy cultural capital by your countrymen…” Okay, maybe that isn’t exactly what it says. Perhaps the line’s lack of poetic ...
When I first told people I'd decided to nurse my twins I was asked jokingly, "So you're going to hire a wet nurse?" followed by "too bad they're not around anymore." Of course they are, I thought - just ask Salma Hayek. For awhile I didn't think about nursing history, until I recently saw ...
