Library Blogs

In previous weeks, we’ve showcased manuscripts from the Kamada Collection related to Japanese performance arts and warrior history. Here we introduce texts related to traditional Japanese poetry, specifically the famous anthology Hyakunin isshu 百人一首, or One Hundred People, One Poem Each.

In this entry in Camilleri's mystery series set in Sicily, Inspector Montalbano investigates two cases. In one, the young wife of a much-older merchant is robbed and sexually assaulted while depositing money at a bank. In the other, an abandoned building on a farm is used to store weapons, and two Tunisian farm workers are the prime suspects. Meanwhile, Montalbano is undergoing a crisis in his personal life, as he is torn between two women: his long-time girlfriend and a beautiful art gallery owner.

When searching for manuscripts of Hrabanus Maurus' medieval encyclopedia De rerum naturis (On the Natures of Things) in the database Digital Scriptorium, I came across a leaf fragment held at Columbia University Libraries (Plimpton MS 128 ) which, in terms of its handwriting and style of illumination, was clearly connected to a leaf fragment held at the University of Michigan Library (Mich. Ms. f. 14).

In early April, we welcomed conservator and researcher Cheryl Porter to campus for a lecture and 3-day workshop. In this post, Marieka Kaye (U-M Library Head of Conservation & Book Repair) offers us an overview of the workshop which explored the colors used by artists working in the Islamic and European traditions of the medieval era.

In our last post on the Kamada Collection, we showcased nineteenth-century images related to warriors of the fourteenth century. This week, we will continue with an earlier manuscript of a more practical sort. The following illustrations come from the two-volume Heihō yūkan 兵法雄鑑, sometimes translated as The Paragon of Military Strategy.

The July display of Undergraduate Library books in the Shapiro Lobby explores American history through a collection of graphic novels and historical fiction.

For the first week of the month after Pride month(aka July) I am posting video media about LGBTQIA+ folks. I've tried to include a little bit of everything from streaming sites, feature films, indie films, and documentaries. I hope you've enjoyed this Pride Recommendation series!

The Spring semester has kicked off and orientation season is in full swing, so we thought it would be a good time to showcase our collection of games here at the CVGA. Here are a few visualizations for our collection of more than 8,000 video games, board games, game soundtracks, and more.

In honor of Pride Month I decided to do a series of fiction and film recommendation list to the blog. This week I've created a list of science fiction/fantasy, romance, and poetry/short story anthologies. Two weeks ago I did adult fiction, young adult fiction, and graphic novels. Next week will be the final post about video media.

This week and next we are featuring images from a Kamada Collection text related to warriors.