Beyond the Reading Room

As part of the ongoing series of events commemorating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death this term, join us on Thursday, April 7th for a lecture by Professor Joseph Loewenstein at 4:00pm in the Hatcher Gallery.

The exhibit Shakespeare on Page and Stage: A Celebration (Audubon Room, January 11-April 27, 2016) showcases both the textual and performance history of Shakespeare’s plays. This post looks in greater detail at the work of costume and set designer Zelma Weisfeld, professor of Theatre and Drama at the University of Michigan from 1960-1988. During those 28 years, Weisfeld contributed to more than 120 theatre and opera productions, including several Shakespeare plays.

Our featured book is a copy of the second edition of the famous sixteenth-century blood-letting treatise for barber-surgeons, Discourses of Pietro Paolo Magni of Piacenza on how to bleed, attach leeches and cups, perform massages and blistering to the human body (Discorsi di Pietro Paolo Magni piacentino sopra il mondo di sanguinare, attaccar le sanguisugue, & le ventose far le fregagione & vessicatorij a corpi humani). It was published in Rome in 1586.

As part of the ongoing series of events commemorating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death this term, join us tonight (March 15th) for a live performance from the School of Music, Theatre & Dance from 5:00-7:00pm in the Hatcher Gallery.

March 14th (3/14) is celebrated around the world as Pi Day because the Greek letter ㄫ or pi, which is used to represent the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, rounds to approximately 3.14. By happy coincidence, Pi is a homophone of Pie, and so 3/14 is also the perfect opportunity to enjoy baking (and eating) sweet and savory circular pastries. Below we share three recipes from the 1866 edition of Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management.

We are very pleased to announce the recent acquisition of an exquisitely illuminated parchment manuscript written in the Southern Netherlands in the sixteenth century. The manuscript is a Lectionary, one of the liturgical books used for the so-called Divine Office of the Church.

As Black History Month comes to a close, we highlight Malinda Russell’s A Domestic Cook Book: Containing a Careful Selection of Useful Receipts for the Kitchen. Published in Paw Paw, Michigan in 1866, A Domestic Cook Book... is the oldest known cookbook authored by an African American, and the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive holds the only known copy. This past year, a digital facsimile of this important work was made available through Hathi Trust.

The late-Soviet-period author's appearance on campus and in our archives are explored in this guest blog post by Caitlin Moriarty, Special Collections Reader Services Assistant.

The exhibit Shakespeare on Page and Stage: A Celebration (Audubon Room, January 11-April 27, 2016) showcases both the textual and performance history of Shakespeare’s plays. With this post, we focus in greater detail on Paul Robeson’s performance as Othello in Ellen Van Volkenburg and Maurice Browne’s 1930 London production at the Savoy Theater.

The Special Collections Library would like to wish Lydia Maria Child a happy 214th birthday! Join us in remembering this 19th-century American treasure whose words sought to enlighten and entertain.