Beyond the Reading Room

The University of Michigan Library’s first acquisition was John James Audubon's The Birds of America . After a brief interval of 175 years, it has been joined by Audubon's final work. In August, we acquired the only known complete copy of his Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, which includes the long-rumored but never before seen 151st lithographic plate, depicting the Lepus antilooapra of North America. This image is lacking in all other known copies of the work.

"Utterly stunned, I walked down Broadway with a frie[n]d, repeating over and over to him, “Do you realize there are some things I will not be able to do simply because I am a woman? Do you realize…” I could not stop recounting the incident." In these words, anthropologist Eleanor Leacock recalls the moment in 1943 when she was denied an Assistantship solely because of her gender and she realized the full extent of discrimination that she would face as a female academic.

American Culinary History materials are full of representations of women and femininity These images are occasionally realistic, often absolute fantasy, and and sometimes somewhere in between.

We are always delighted to support learning and engagement with our materials, especially as they inspire new scholarship and research. Read this guest blog post from local high school student, Dale (Trip) Apley III, who visited our library to analyze the Galileo Manuscript for a scientific experiment he recently conducted.

Hans Christian Andersen's “The Red Shoes” tells the story of an orphan girl whose uncontrolled desire for material pleasures and social status leads to her downfall.

Curator JJ Jacobson's guest lecture in undergraduate seminar Race and Culture in the American South (History 262/AmCult 263) introduces students to Special Collection materials at U-M while also demonstrating how to use cookbooks as primary sources.

Every year, March the 14th, 3/14 or 3.14, is Pi Day. Once century, however, the date is 3/14/15, making it an extra special Pi Day. Tomorrow is such a day. In celebration, we present a Suffragist pie recipe from a 1915 suffrage charity cook book.

A long-desired recon project finally gets attention.

One thread that runs through Southern cookbooks is the figure of the African American in the kitchen.

Mark your calendars for a free screening of FOOD CHAIN$: The Revolution in America's Fields documentary.

March 3, 2015 | 4pm to 6pm | Hatcher Graduate Library Gallery