New exhibit: The Broadway Melody: Musical Theatre Highlights from the Great White Way 1900-1950
Smathers Library 2nd floor gallery
Through April 30, 2010
At the turn of the 20th century, the Broadway musical theatre was an amalgam of European operettas, minstrelsy and ethnic stereotypes. Eventually this innocent patchwork quilt of entertainment would evolve into a more sophisticated product and, by the second decade, Broadway was the entertainment capital of America, and possibly the world.
The creators, performers and productions of the period are showcased in a series of exhibit cases representing Florenz Ziegfeld (who epitomized the flamboyant Broadway impresario) and a handful of the legendary composers (George, M. Cohan, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein II, Eubie Blake and Thomas “Fats” Waller) who, with their poetic words and lilting music, shaped the modern musical theatre into the taste maker of the nation. Until Broadway was overshadowed by Hollywood as the entertainment of choice, it was the theatre that produced the most fashionable dress styles, the latest dance steps, the snappiest jokes and slang, and the popular hit parade for most of the half century.
The exhibit presents a rare selection of playbills, programs, posters, sheet music, photographs, video images and miscellaneous ephemera from the vast theatre holdings of the Belknap Collection for the Performing Arts and the general Popular Culture Collections of the Department of Special and Area Studies. The exhibit gallery spotlight will fall on many of the giants of theatre history (some still household words and others now forgotten by the general public) including Ethel Merman, Al Jolson, Ray Bolger, Alfred Drake, Paul Robeson, Mary Martin, Helen Morgan, Josephine Baker, Fred and Adele Astaire, Ethel Waters, Eddie Cantor, William Gaxton and Victor Moore, Bert Williams, Bob Hope, The Nicholas Brothers, Marilyn Miller, Fanny Brice, Danny Kaye and Gene Kelly. The annual “Follies” (1907-31) of the master showman, Ziegfeld, is represented by a rich potpourri of comedy, music, beauty and enduring star performances.
The milestones of the era beginning with Cohan’s “Little Johnny Jones” (1904) through the theatrical masterpieces of “Showboat” (1927) and “Porgy and Bess” (1935), the smash hit all-black musicals such as “Shuffle Along” (1921) and “Hot Chocolates” (1929), the audience’s shocked reaction to the antihero of “Pal Joey”(1940) and culminating in the impact of “Oklahoma” (1943), which redefined the Broadway musical and set the stage for the “Golden Age of Musical Comedy” (1943-64), are all displayed in a collection of vibrant and vintage souvenirs from the history of the “street of dreams.”
The Art of Curating an Art Exhibit
A presentation by Barbara Elleman
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 7:00 p.m.
UF Education Library, Norman Hall
Using examples from the Virginia Lee Burton and Tomie dePaola exhibitions that she curated at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Ms. Elleman will discuss the pleasures and challenges of curating an art exhibit.
Barbara Elleman is a writer, critic, scholar, and editor in the field of children’s literature. She created and served as editor-and-chief of Book Links: Connecting Books, Libraries, and Classrooms, a professional journal featuring high-quality children’s books brought together in thematic groupings. She has also published several books, including Tomie dePaola, His Art and His Stories (Putnam, 1999) and Virginia Lee Burton: A Life in Art (Houghton, 2002). She is a trustee for The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, where, in 2009, she was the guest curator for exhibits on Virginia Lee Burton and Tomie dePaola.
Conversations in Children’s Literature is sponsored by the Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature and the Center for Children’s Literature and Culture. For more information about any of the talks or to be added to the Conversations listserv, which will provide information about future speakers, please contact Ramona Caponegro at ramonac@ufl.edu or at (352) 392-6650, ext. 290
Government House-St. Augustine Affiliated Library
Through a partnership between the University of Florida Libraries and the City of St. Augustine’s Department of Heritage Tourism, the inventory of the Government House Research Collection is now accessible through the libraries’ online catalog [ http://uf.catalog.fcla.edu/uf.jsp?ADV=S ] as an “Affiliated Library.” By doing an “Advanced Search” in the catalog, users can limit their search to “Affiliated Libraries: Government House-St. Augustine” and view or search within the catalog records for over 2,100 items.
The holdings include government documents and books on historic preservation, planning, Spanish colonial history, anthropology, historic archaeology, architecture, cultural resource management, decorative arts and other subjects pertinent to the history of St. Augustine. The collection was built and maintained by the State of Florida’s Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board during its existence from 1959 to 1997 and has since been overseen by the City of St. Augustine’s Department of Heritage Tourism. Access to the collection is for pre-approved researchers and by appointment only through the Department of Heritage Tourism at 904-825-5033.
ARTstor Sessions
ARTstor is a nonprofit digital library of more than one million images in the arts, architecture, humanities and social sciences with a suite of software tools to view, present and manage images for research and teaching purposes. The collections comprise contributions from outstanding museums, photographers, libraries, scholars, photo archives and artists and artists’ Estates.
A representative from ARTstor, Elizabeth Berenz (Outreach and Instruction Librarian), will provide onsite instructional workshops at the UF Libraries on Monday and Tuesday, March 15 and 16, right after Spring Break (see schedule below):
The “Introduction” demo-type sessions are open to everyone and will familiarize users with what ARTstor is and how to find, use and organize images.
“Introduction to ARTstor”: [60 minutes]
No registration needed.
Location: Smathers Library (Library East), Room 1A
Monday, March 15th, Noon – 1:00 pm -OR-
Tuesday, March 16th, 2:00 – 3:00 pm
The “Teaching” sessions are for UF teaching faculty and graduate students who are interested in learning how to build lectures and give/share presentations with ARTstor. These are hands-on, computer lab sessions so seating is limited and registration is REQUIRED.
“Teaching with ARTstor”: [90 minutes]
Registration REQUIRED via email at: tcaswell@ufl.edu
Location: Library West, Room 211
Monday, March 15th, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm -OR-
Tuesday, March 16th, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm
If you have any questions about these workshops, please e-mail Tom Caswell at tcaswell@ufl.edu
Grace’s Daughter: Bea Nettles reading and discussion
March 15, 2010, 2:00–3:30 p.m., Smathers Library, Room 1A
Bea Nettles, renowned photographer, artist and alumna of the University of Florida, will, in conjunction with her exhibition at The Harn Museum of Art, give a reading of her mother’s poetry from their collaborative works. Grace Noble Nettles (1919–2007) was a wife, mother, teacher and writer of poetry which was published in collaboration with Bea in four books, “The Elsewhere Bird,” “Of Love and Loss,” “The Imaginary Blowtorch,” and “Corners” represented in the holdings of the Hanson Rare Book Collection at UF. Bea Nettles will trace this collaboration from its beginning in 1972 with a unique book of collages, to the most recent manifestation as a publish-on-demand edition of “Corners” available from LULU.
The Harn exhibition of Bea Nettles’ photographs, “Life’s Lessons: A Mother’s Journal,” will be on view March 16 to September 26, 2010.
A Puppets Perspective on Children’s Literature: Using Music, Dance, Puppetry, and Story-telling to Promote Children’s Literacy
Presentation by Dr. Rachel Schipper
Tuesday February 16, 2010
7:00 p.m.
Education Library, Norman Hall, UF Campus
During this program, presented by the Baldwin Library and the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature and Culture, participants will exchange ideas and creative ways to promote children’s literacy. The audience will have hands-on experience using a variety of puppets in support of a wider curriculum (geography, music, art, science, etc.).
Dr. Rachel A. Schipper has 24 years of experience in higher education, including work at Penn State and Georgia College & State University. While at Penn State, she took coursework in puppetry, taught children the art of puppet making, and gave shows at Centre County Public Library. In Georgia she continued her interest in literacy, visiting local elementary schools to promote reading and literacy. Dr. Shipper, currently the Associate Dean for Technology and Support Services in the UF Libraries, believes every child should have the opportunity to be engaged in reading and continues to encourage creativity in young minds through the use of puppetry.
“Conversations in Children’s Literature” is a series of presentations and discussions about various aspects of children’s literature and culture. The series is aimed at teachers, librarians, academics, writers, and all adults who value the books and cultural materials that are produced for children. Reflecting our desire for an inclusive, multidisciplinary look at children’s literature, the series approaches the creation, distribution, and uses of children’s books from a multitude of perspectives.
A talk, followed by discussion, takes place on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:00 PM at the Education Library in Norman Hall on the University of Florida Campus. Parking is available for free in the parking garage at Norman Hall and on the street.
“Conversations in Children’s Literature” is sponsored by the Center for Children’s Literature and Culture and the Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature. For more information about any of the talks or to be added to the Conversations listserv, which will provide information about future speakers, please contact Ramona Caponegro at ramonac@ufl.edu or at (352) 392-6650, ext. 290.
EndNote Web Workshop @ MSL for Graduate Students
Learn how to collect, organize and format citations using EndNote Web. Michael Flowers, the EndNote Web support specialist for IFAS will demonstrate how to quickly export citations from a variety of science & engineering databases to create a bibliography. All classes will be in Marston Science Library, room L308. No registration required. For more information contact the instruction coordinator for Marston, Margeaux Johnson, at margeaux@ufl.edu.
Friday Feb. 26, 3-4pm (Graduate Students)
Monday Mar. 1, 3-4pm (Graduate Students)
The Elegance of Science Reception & Awards Ceremony
The Elegance of Science Art Contest reception and awards ceremony will be Thursday, February 25, 2010 from 4:30-6:00 p.m. at Marston Science Library, 2nd floor. All entries will be displayed and the winners announced. The reception is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
For more information on the contest, please see http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/msl/art
Places&Spaces — Mapping Science on display
The Places&Spaces — Mapping Science exhibit is on display in the Marston Science Library on the second floor through April 30, 2010.
Are you interested in seeing science from above? Curious to see what impact one single person or invention can have? Keen to find pockets of innovation? Desperate for better tools to manage the information flood? Or are you simply fascinated by maps? Then visit the exhibit. See all 54 maps including the interactive illuminated Diagrams, Puzzle Maps and Worldprocessor Globes. Visit http://scimaps.org for more information about each map, future venues and to purchase maps of science.
A reception will be held on March 18 from 3:15-6:00 p.m. in the Marston Science Library. Free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
Speakers:
Dr. Katy Borner, curator of P&S exhibit; Professor, School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University, Bloomington
Dr. Robert Hatch, Associate Professor, History of Science, UF
UF Libraries Forms Partnership with Chestnut Funeral Home
The University of Florida’s George A. Smathers Libraries announces a new community outreach partnership with the Chestnut Funeral Home, 18 NW 8th Avenue in Gainesville with the Books of Honor project.
In partnership with the UF Libraries, Chestnut Funeral Home encourages books in lieu of flowers. A lasting tribute can be made to honor of a loved one by providing the libraries with the gift of new books in the subject area of choice (humanities, science and engineering or social sciences). A bookplate will be placed inside of each new book and in the online catalog with the donors name and the name of a special person in whose honor the book has been purchased.
The Books of Honor project is the brainchild of Samuel Huang, associate dean of advancement and development, at the Smathers Libraries. Huang said “Books change people. People change the world.” A veteran librarian and fundraiser, Huang recognized the increasing costs of books coupled with shrinking budgets poses a huge problem for the University of Florida Libraries. The Books of Honor Fund was created to ensure that students and faculty have the library resources that are crucial to their studies and teaching.
The partnership with the Chestnut Funeral Home is the first of many community partnerships with the UF Libraries. “We are excited to have this opportunity to partner with the University of Florida Libraries on this endeavor,” said Charles Chestnut, owner of the Chestnut Funeral Home. Chestnut is highly respected for his community leadership and sees this collaboration as an extension of his service by offering family and friends an alternative to honor their loved one.
To learn more about the Books of Honor project, please call the George A. Smathers Libraries Development Office at 352- 273-2505 or go online to http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/giving/books_honor.html