Libraries As Cabinets of Curiosities

 

   I have not said much about libraries lately, largely because there has not been much to say, especially about the university variety. The one in which I used to work is being emptied of books to make room for students and for other activities. There are many places to see active students on campus, but for books you may be better off going to the bookstore. Years ago the main library used to be full of both books and things and I think it was a more interesting place to visit, even for the students. 

  I thought about this at year's end and you will easily see why, from reading the headline and the few paragraphs provided:

"A Cabinet of Wonders Opens Wide: A Coco Chanel Ballet Slipper, Beethoven's Hair, Andy Warhol's Painted Ticket: Treasures at the New York Public Library Showcases Delights From Its Collections," NYT, Dec. 28, 2021. If you are not enticed by those objects, there are more:

"The exhibition, supported by a $12 million gift from the philanthropist Leonard Polonsky, is the culmination of more than three years of shopping the library’s epic closets, which hold more than 45 million manuscripts, rare books, prints, photographs, audio and film clips and other artifacts. Covering 4,000 years of history, it mixes big-ticket items (a Gutenberg Bible, Shakespeare’s First Folio) and who-knew delights, like Andy Warhol’s painting of a Studio 54 ticket (inscribed “To Truman,” as in Capote).
Look through a display of the conductor Arturo Toscanini’s batons, suspended in space, and you catch a glimpse of a spotlighted case across the room holding “Political Prisoner,” a 1971 cedar sculpture by the African American artist Elizabeth Catlett. From the front, the figure — a woman with a Pan-African flag cut into her torso — looks exhilarated, regal. From behind, you see that her hands are chained.
The library, Kiely said, is really a “collections of collections,” whose own history is traced through the show. The core sections are heavy on treasures donated by the 19th-century philanthropist James Lenox, like an early 16th-century copper globe that includes one of the earliest cartographic representations of the Americas. (It’s also one of only two surviving Renaissance or medieval maps with the inscription “Here be dragons.”) 

UC DAVIS - Wine

  Some university libraries continue to collect and store and I was pleased that the Library at the University of California (Davis) is aspiring to be the "Greatest Wine Library in the World." The image above is from their "Amerine (Maynard) Wine Label Collection."

UC DAVIS - Food

  To choose the proper food to go with the wine there is now the "Chef Martin Yan Legacy Archive" at UC Davis. The archive "will include World-renowned celebrity chef Martin Yan’s collection of nearly 3,000 cookbooks, his first wok, thousands of photographs and other media." As well, there was a monetary donation to digitize and preserve the collection." Lest you think that UC Davis is only concerned with eating and drinking, you should know that it also has a well-ranked School of Veterinary Medicine. The daughter of a neighbour of ours went to the Equine Performance and Rehabilitation Center after graduating from Guelph. 

   If you are interested in research collections related to food and drink, revisit my long FOOD HISTORY post where you will find menus, recipes, cookbooks, etc. some of which are housed in Canadian university libraries (e.g. UBC and Guelph.) 

Some Canadian Content:

   The Ubyssey (the student newspaper at UBC) often runs stories about "Hidden Treasures" and the picture above is from one of them.  It is from the Chung Collection in one of the UBC Libraries: 

In the basement of the Irving K. Barber (IKB) Learning Centre, tucked in a corner behind multiple glass doors and a security desk, is a dim backroom that is curiously colder than the rest of the building. This is the Chung Collection, just one small portion of UBC’s vast Rare Books collection. With more than 25,000 items in this room alone, the Chung Collection fits more than a century of Canadian history into its tightly packed drawers and display cases.The walls of the Chung Collection gallery are lined with Canadian Pacific Rail advertisements ranging 1924 to the mid-1950s, most of which are the work of Saskatchewan-born Peter Ewert. Ewert’s stylized paintings of iconic Canadian sites, like this one of Lake Louise, gave tourists an idyllic image of the Canadian adventure they could embark one with CP rail. This 1942 ad for the Chateau Lake Louise depicts bathers lounging lakeside, in the shadow of the blue-tinted mountains.

Post Script: 
  There may still be a few items of interest to be found in the few remaining libraries up at Western, most likely in the "Archives and Special Collections" in the D. B. Weldon Library. I recall there were displays, in massive cabinets,  of the large "Jeffrey Stamp Collection", which still may be there and I did do a post about the "Gregory Clark Piscatorial Collection" which is in the Archives. See: Angling Books. Otherwise, you will now see mostly students when you visit the libraries, or empty spaces during the summer months.

The Bonus: Libraries as Kindergartens

   The situation could be worse. In one of the libraries at the U of T, you might see mainly kids. Providing "childminding" and space for students are not bad things, but they can be provided by others. This is what is going on in Toronto according to College and Research Libraries News:

"Time of one’s own: Piloting free childminding at the University of Toronto Libraries,"Jesse Carliner, Kyla Everall
Abstract
In March 2018, the University of Toronto (UT) Libraries opened its first family study space, which was very well received. In the years since the family study space opened, there has been a growth in research about student parents and how academic libraries can best serve them.In response to an increased awareness about the student parent population and their needs, the libraries piloted programming for student parents during the 2019-20 academic year, including free childminding sessions. We will discuss how we developed and launched the service, areas for improvement, and other considerations for libraries planning a similar program. Although in-person programming is currently paused at UT due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we anticipate further growth in services for student parents once we can resume regular operations."