Anecdotes and other notes from the U-M Special Collections Research Center.
Beyond the Reading Room

Posts in Beyond the Reading Room
Showing 1 - 10 of 383 items

- Jamie Lausch Vander Broek
Join us this Thursday, September 18th, between 4-6p for our first Third Thursdays at the Library event of the semester!

- Pablo Alvarez
We are delighted to announce the upcoming opening of a new exhibit highlighting a selection of rare books from the University of Michigan's collections, each of which illustrates binding topics featured in "Suave Mechanicals," the acclaimed nine-volume series dedicated to the study of the art and history of bookbinding.

- Juli McLoone
Popular culture depictions of the “roaring twenties” often focus on speakeasies and illicit cocktail consumption. However, as prohibition (1920-1933) pushed alcoholic beverages into shadowy corners, soft drinks took center stage in cookbooks for home cooks and party hostesses. This month’s recipe comes from Add-a-Leaf Hostess Book (1926) by Betty Beldon, in collaboration with Ida Bailey Allen.

- Martha O'Hara Conway
In this video, Dr. Cathleen A. Baker (U-M Conservation Librarian Emerita) takes us through her years-long research into the earliest Western-made wove paper, including papermaking experiments to replicate the paper that first appeared in John Baskerville’s Virgil, published in Birmingham, England, in 1757.

- Jamie Lausch Vander Broek
Read a bit about curator Jamie Vander Broek's journey toward developing the exhibit Behind the Curve: Rainbows and the Science and Culture of Color, on view through 4 September in the Hatcher Gallery Exhibit Room!

- Gabriel Mordoch
Curated by Helmut Puff and Pablo Alvarez in 2017, the exhibit "Reforming the Word: Martin Luther in Context" prompted an intriguing discovery: the presence in our collection of twelve books that once belonged to the Jewish Community Library of Berlin. This blog post delves into the circumstances that brought these books to our library.

- Juli McLoone
Join us next Thursday, 20 March, between 4-6p for our next "Third Thursdays at the Library" event of the semester!

- Juli McLoone
In 1866, Malinda Russell published "A Domestic Cook Book" in Paw Paw, Michigan. As the oldest known cookbook by an African American woman, this slim volume is a landmark in American culinary history. Join us for a reception and panel discussion celebrating a new edition released by the University of Michigan Press. The reception will begin at 5:15pm, with the conversation to follow at 5:45pm.

- Juli McLoone
Join us next Thursday, 20 February, between 4-6p for our next Third Thursdays at the Library event of the semester!

- Pablo Alvarez
Join us next Thursday, 16 January between 4-6p for our first Third Thursdays at the Library event of the semester!