New Collections Added to Digital Commonwealth in March

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Tintype portrait of unknown man from Unidentified People and Places (Granville Public Library)
Tintype portrait of unknown man from Unidentified People and Places (Granville Public Library)

March came in like a lion and then refused to leave like a lamb.  Can we get a refund from Mother Nature?  Perhaps a few extra days of fall?  Digital Commonwealth never sleeps, though; witness the many additions to the collections last month.

My personal favorite proves that bad hair days are not a 21st century phenomenon.  This unidentified gentleman (left) comes from the Granville Public Library’s Unidentified People and Places collection.  I am sure he is happy to be unidentified.  Wouldn’t you be, with this look?

The remaining collections are from some old reliable contributors and some new ones.  Kudos to the newbies who added large collections and the vets who added to existing collections.  I personally know some folks who will be delighted that the Medford Historical Society is adding to its Civil War photo collection.

I admit my taste runs more to the Art Nouveau cover for Beverly’s Balance (see below), a play given by the Waban Women’s Club on May 4th 1917.  Which only goes to show that Digital Commonwealth always strives to provide something for everyone.

I hope to see you at the Annual Conference tomorrow in Worcester – another instance of Digital Commonwealth providing something for everyone!

 

Boston Public Library
Norman B. Leventhal Map Center Collection – 6 items added to existing collection

Granville Public Library
Barlow Album – 110 items
Churches – 6 items
Countryside and Scenes – 47 items
Houses and Other Structures – 29 items
Noble & Cooley – 6 items
People, Portraits and Groups (Identified) – 68 items
Schools and Class Photos – 30 items
Unidentified People and Places – 28 items

Historical Society of Old Yarmouth
Historical Society of Old Yarmouth Archives & Local History Collection – 1,157 items

Jamaica Plain Historical Society
Jamaica Plain Historical Society Photo Gallery – 3 items added to existing collection

Medford Historical Society & Museum
Medford Historical Society Civil War Photograph Collection – 906 items added to existing collection

Beverly's Balance from Waban Historical Collection (Newton Free Library)
Beverly’s Balance from Waban Historical Collection (Newton Free Library)

Needham Free Public Library
Needham Historical House Collection – 2,989 items added to existing collection

Newton Free Library
Frank A. Day Junior High School Class of 1954 – 1 item
Mayor Howard Whitmore, Jr. collection 1929-2008 – 1 item
Meadowbrook Junior High School Class of 1963 – 1 item
Newton Free Library Branches, Auburndale, Newton Centre, Newton Corner, Newton Highlands, 1930-1959 – 24 items
Waban Historical Collection – 470 items

University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries Special Collections and University Archives
32 new collections – 6,771 new items re-harvested

Wayland Historical Society
Wayland Historical Society Collection – 23 items

New Collections Added to Digital Commonwealth in February

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Path of Life I M. C. Escher (1898-1972). Prints and Drawings (BPL)
Path of Life I M. C. Escher (1898-1972). Prints and Drawings (BPL)

This month, the Boston Public Library (BPL) added 36 items from its M.C. Escher prints and drawings collection.  It also happens that this month the Museum of Fine Arts opened an exhibit of M.C. Escher prints.  Great minds really do think alike.

In addition, the BPL added items to six existing collections as well as lithographs, etchings and drawings of James McNeill Whistler, a Commonwealth-born artist most famous for his mother’s portrait.

The Leicester Public Library has uploaded a collection of architectural drawings while the Atwood House Museum of the Chatham Historical Society and the Jamaica Plain Historical Society have added new items to existing collection.

It appears winter is not done with us yet, so let the wonders on Digital Commonwealth warm your day and inspire your spirit.

 

Atwood House Museum of the Chatham Historical Society
Nautical Chart Collection of the Chatham Historical Society – 49 items added to existing collection

Boston Public Library

Boston Printmakers Collection – 110 items added to existing collection

Colonial and Revolutionary Boston (Collection of Distinction) – 7 items added to existing

collection

Incunabula (Collection of Distinction) – 2 items added to existing collection

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903). Lithographs, Etchings, and Drawings – 239 items

M.C. Escher (1898-1972). Prints and Drawings – 87 items

Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts (Collection of Distinction) – 36 items added to existing collection

Paintings and Fine Arts Collection at the Boston Public Library – 1 item added to existing collection

Stereograph Collection – 1 item added to existing collection

Jamaica Plain Historical Society

James Michael Curley Negatives – 71 items added to existing collection

Leicester Public Library

Leicester Public Library Architectural Drawings c. 1895 – 19 items

A Closer Look: Frontal close-up view of two rams

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Written by Patricia Feeley, Interlibrary Loan Librarian, Boston Public Library

Frontal close-up view of two rams from Osborne Library American Textile Museum
Frontal close-up view of two rams from the Osborne Library at the American Textile Museum

When I come upon an image that deserves A Closer Look, I am usually rewarded with a story that deserves telling as well. The giant whale on the beach of Ostende print led to a story of 18th century Europeans encountering strange and wonderful creatures. An 1895 photo of attendees at a rope pull led to a discussion of campus fashion. This photo from the Osborne Library of the American Textile Museum is just what it says it is: a frontal close-up view of two rams. The angle, looking up rather than down at the rams, adds stature to them. They almost seem to be standing at attention to review the herd.

The backstory here is really just the caption on the back. The description on Digital Commonwealth ends, “Written on reverse: ‘His Majesty’ and friend.” Assuming we are meant to read the photo left to right, His Majesty is the first ram on the left. The ram on his right is his nameless friend. I can’t help but feel sorry for his friend. What makes one ram more nameable than another? The nameless friend seems as woolly to me. His horns turn out more than His Majesty’s. His snout seems a little shorter. I really don’t see much to choose between the two. It’s an eternal diss to what seems to me to be a perfectly worthy ram.

I don’t know why the shepherd didn’t name the friend. Or why the photographer didn’t ask. I just know I am naming him “The Heir Apparent”.