The fifth floor Heritage Room is hosting a reception tonight, Tuesday February 21st 7:30-9, for a Rwandan art exhibit on display this week in the Library. The exhibit showcases paintings from a visiting artist, Emmanuel Nkuranga, and Ivuka Arts. Tonight’s reception will feature a live art demo by Nkuranga. All are welcome.
Sponsored by the Office of Equity and Diversity and CAS Dean’s Office, the exhibit will be on display February 20-27th.
For more information, contact Dr. Sharon Meagher, (570)-941-4075, or check out IvukaArts.com for a bio on the artist and view some of his artwork.
The Heritage Room is currently featuring an eye-catching exhibit of Alphabets from the Zaner-Bloser Collection.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Zaner-Bloser was a leader in penmanship and calligraphy instruction. The Company produced manuals providing examples of elaborate Roman, Medieval, Decorative, and Shaded or Spencerian alphabets. The Company also retained the original large format penwork for the manuals and the exhibit will present approximately 70 examples of this original pen artwork. The exhibit will emphasize the work done by Charles Paxton Zaner (The Zanerian Manual of Alphabets), Daniel Ames (Ames Compendium of Practical and Ornamental Penmanship), Henry Flickinger (Practical Alphabets), and S.C. Malone along with other scribes.
New Year’s flourish, dated 1896, by C. F. Johnston.
It’s December 1st, temperatures are dropping, and the holiday season is in full swing! Take a (brief) break from working on those final projects and browse a few images of festive holiday themed penmanship from our Zaner-Bloser Penmanship Collection.
Haven’t quite decided on a Halloween costume yet? Maybe these archived photos of past U of S theater students will provide inspiration.
Before the U of S became co-ed in 1972, the female roles in University plays were filled by male students.
Cast from "What Happened to Jones" during the mid 1920's. Frank O’Hara ’25, the late administrator who served the University for 53 years and for whom the O’Hara Awards are named, is seated third from the right.Scene from "What Happened to Jones" during mid 1920's
Vote for your favorite “lady.” Who do you think was prettiest?
1. Leonard Fagan, Esq. ’25 as the lovely Amy Spettigue in “Charlie’s Aunt,” mid 1920’s
2. Frank O’Hara ’25 as the leading lady in “The Man from Mexico,” 1923
3. Thomas Knight ’26 as the enchanting Ella Delahay in “Charlie’s Aunt,” mid 1920’s
4. Joseph McGowan ’25 in “The Man from Mexico,” 1923
5. Rev. William Giroux as Donna Lucia D’Alvadorez in “Charlie’s Aunt,” mid 1920’s
The partnership of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart lasted for 24 years and produced “The Lady is a Tramp,” “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered,” “Where or When,” and “My Heart Stood Still,” among other jazz and cabaret standards. Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Courtesy of Photofest.
Ricky Ritzel, internationally renowned raconteur and cabaret artist, will tell tales of “The Genre and its Place in the History of American Music” from his perch at the keyboard. His focus will be on the songwriters featured in the library’s current exhibit, “A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs, 1910-1965.”
To RSVP and for further information, contact Michael Knies at 570-941-6341 or kniesm2@scranton.edu
“A Fine Romance” is visiting 55 sites throughout the U.S. in 2011-2012. It was curated by David Lehman and developed by Nextbook, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting Jewish literature, culture, and ideas, and the American Library Association Public Programs Office. The national tour of the exhibit has been made possible by the Charles H. Revson Foundation, the Righteous Persons Foundation, the David Berg Foundation, an anonymous donor, and Tablet: A New Read on Jewish Life. A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs is also a book by David Lehman, published by Nextbook/Schocken.
Benny Goodman’s band popularized many tunes from the “American Songbook,” including Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies,” and “I Got Rhythm” by George and Ira Gershwin. Goodman integrated the big band era when he invited black musicians to join his group starting in 1936. Courtesy of the Library of Congress
The Swing Set, a New York-based trio, will perform selected favorites by songwriters featured in the library’s current exhibit, “A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs, 1910-1965.”
To RSVP and for further information, contact Michael Knies at 570-941-6341 or kniesm2@scranton.edu
“A Fine Romance” is visiting 55 sites throughout the U.S. in 2011-2012. It was curated by David Lehman and developed by Nextbook, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting Jewish literature, culture, and ideas, and the American Library Association Public Programs Office. The national tour of the exhibit has been made possible by the Charles H. Revson Foundation, the Righteous Persons Foundation, the David Berg Foundation, an anonymous donor, and Tablet: A New Read on Jewish Life. A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs is also a book by David Lehman, published by Nextbook/Schocken.
Walking around campus, you can see preparations are in full swing for tomorrow’s inauguration of the twenty-fifth president of the University of Scranton, Reverend Kevin P. Quinn, S.J., J.D., Ph.D. As part of the festivities welcoming Fr. Quinn to the university community, we’d like to share a few images from some of the past presidential inaugurations.
Recently appointed as the eleventh university president, Bro. Eliseus Leonard, F.S.C. (1940-42), shakes hands with his predecessor, Bro. Denis Edward F.S.C. (1931-40).
At his inauguration ceremony, Rev. J. Eugene Gallery, S.J. (1947-53), fourteenth university president, receives a copy of the university’s original charter from Rev. Edward G. Jacklin, vice president of the university and dean of students. Seated at the far left is Orphans’ Court Judge, James F. Brady.
Diamond anniversary convocation and inauguration of the sixteenth university president, Rev. Edward J. Sponga, S.J. (1963-56). He stands with Rev. William G. Kelly, S.J. (right).
The seventeenth university president, Rev. Aloysius C. Galvin, S.J. (1965-70) along with family members present at his inauguration. From left to right, John T. Galvin (brother), Sister Helen Mercedes, SND (sister), Fr. Galvin, and Mrs. Herbert O’Connor, Jr. (sister).
Inauguration of Rev. William J. Byron, S.J. (right), twenty-first university president (1975-82). He shakes hands with Rev. Edwin A. Quain, S.J., who served as acting president in 1975.
Rev. J.A. Panuska, S.J. (1982-98) (right), twenty-second university president, receives the University Mace, a symbol of educational authority and institutional identity, from Fr. Byron.
The library invites you to view the traveling exhibit “A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs” on display in the Heritage Room until October 21st. “A Fine Romance” tells the story of the many Jewish composers, such as Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, and George Gershwin, who helped create the great American songbook from 1910-1965.
The best composers of this period combined a genius for melody, a talent for finding the perfect words, and an ability to connect with a wide audience. A large number of them were Jewish—from families that had immigrated to America in the 1800s or had fled persecution in Europe. “A Fine Romance” tells their story.
The exhibit was developed by Nextbook, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting Jewish literature, culture, and ideas, and the American Library Association Public Programs Office. The national tour of the exhibit has been made possible by grants from the Charles H. Revson Foundation, the Righteous Persons Foundation, the David Berg Foundation, and an anonymous donor, with additional support from Tablet Magazine: A New Read on Jewish Life.
One of last spring’s Schemel Forum courses, The Bible As a Book, taught by Special Collections Librarian Michael Knies, explored the physical development of the Bible from Hebrew Scroll through Victorian Family Bible. The course was positively reviewed in an article about upcoming Schemel Forum programming in the June issue of the Northeast Pennsylvania Business Journal.
A photograph of the Zaner-Bloser Penmanship Collection exhibit, images from the collection, and information about the collection were included in an article on penmanship titled “The Handwriting on the Wall” by Nate Pedersen in the summer issue of the magazine, Fine Books & Collections. Pedersen mentions the variety of materials within collection, which includes “examples of astonishing large-form penmanship, handwriting manuals, professional journals, teaching materials for schools, and printing blocks made from original engrossings.”
Image courtesy of goXunoReviews, under a Creative Commons license
Winter weather keeping you indoors? Well the e-book is celebrating its 40th birthday this year! Why not download a free e-book to your device (Nook, Kindle, Sony Reader, smartphone), or just download and read one right on your computer. You’ll first need to check to see which of the different available text formats are compatible with your device.
To help you get started, check out this list of some of the sites where you can download free e-books, along with an informational quote from each website:
“Its purposes include offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format.”
“PublicLiterature.org provides a user-friendly interface to read books online. Many tools are provided to explore and utilize this collection of public domain books, poetry, tutorials and audio.”
“Bookyards has a total of 17,008 books, 41,784 external web links, 4,197 news & blogs links, 384 videos, 32,963 Ebook links and access to hundreds of online libraries (800,000 Ebooks) for your reading pleasure.”
“We format and package books so that you can read them on a java enabled phone. Most phones sold today are java enabled – you probably have one in your pocket right now.”
“Standard memberships are FREE and allow members unlimited access to eBooks in the HTML format or access to 5 eBooks each and every month in the PDF and/or TXT formats.”
