UW-Parkside Archives & Area Research Center

Guest Blogger - Lindsey Faist, MLIS Student, UWM SOIS

Hi everyone. My name is Lindsey Faist and I spent my spring break working in UW-Parkside’s archives. I graduated from UWP in spring 2011 with my B.A. in History. Currently, I’m pursing an MLIS at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. UWM has a program called Alternative Spring Break (ASB) where you can work in institutions. When I saw there was an opening at Parkside, I jumped at the chance.

 During my time here, I worked on digitizing a collection of playbills. During my 30 hours, I digitized the entire Racine/Kenosha, and New York portions of the collection, and digitized about half of the Chicago collection. In all, I digitized over 200 playbills.

These playbills are a very fascinating collection, dating back to the early 1900s. I found myself resisting the urge to plop down and just read them!

For example, one playbill from the Chicago collection (dated 1929) had a short story inserted entitled “Her Unknown Lover.” Of course, I had to read it in between scanning. 

One of the most appealing aspects of the playbills was the ads. It was interesting to see how fashion, food, and even language changes over time. Ads for alcohol and cars were more popular in the earlier playbills, while ads for makeup and hair dye were especially prevalent during the 1960s. The ads also showed how attitudes towards sexuality changed.

During the 1920s, ads were focused on “cover-up” clothing such as overcoats, hats, and gloves.
By the 1960s, this had changed completely with women being encouraged to be “impulsive, unpredictable, uninhibited, always different, never tame” using Tigress perfume “[for] when life gets too civilized.”

One of the things I enjoyed most about the playbills was looking to see when figures, who are well-known to me today, started to pop up. Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman, Woody Allen, and Robert Preston are all characters I have grown up with. It was exciting to see how they have changed over time.

Over all I really enjoyed my experience. I can’t believe how fast time went! I enjoyed myself so much that I may consider volunteering again in the future. 

 

Featured Collection: The Loujon Press

One of the first works featured in our Featured Collections post was a piece by Charles Bukowski, entitled, “It Catches my Heart in its Hands”. It was published by an acclaimed small press in New Orleans known for its elaborate publications and attention to detail.  

The Loujon Press was founded by Jon Edgar and Louise "Gypsy Lou" Webb in 1960 on Royal Street in New Orleans's French Quarter. The Village Voice and the New York Times called the press one of the best of its day.  The Outsider, the press's literary review, 
featured writers Charles Bukowski and Allen Ginsberg among others. The press was a labor of love for this creative couple, with Gypsy Lou selling her paintings by day on the corner of St. Peter and Royal for 19 years to support themselves and the press.

In addition to “It Catches my Heart in its Hands”,  the Loujon published another early poetry collection by Bukowski, Crucifix in a deathhand: new poems 1963-65. 

The press also published two books by Henry Miller: Order and Chaos chez Hans Reichel, and Insomnia, or the Devil at Large. In 1965, the Webbs moved to Santa Fe, El Paso, then settled for a while at in Tucson, Arizona. They later moved the press to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

   

 Jon and Gypsy Lou Webb             

Insomnia, or the Devil at Large

This limited edition artist book includes a portfolio of 12 calligraphic watercolors by Miller, his hand-written introduction detailing his courtship of Hoki Hiroko Tokuda, a young Japanese singer whom he had recently married, and many large photographs of the newlyweds. It is all housed inside the original treated wooden portfolio box  with slide-out front cover and decorative inlay wooden.  One of 385 copies, book signed and dated May 1, 1970 by Miller. 

   

Insomnia, or the Devil at Large, cover and watercolors, 1970

 

The University of Wisconsin-Parkside Special Collections has all four books published by the Loujon Press, and one issue of The Outsider. 

UW-Parkside Library Catalog

For more information on the Loujon Press, please visit:

http://www.loujonpress.com/

 

Aviation History of Racine and Kenosha Digital Collection

Our second digital collection is available for viewing at the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center:

http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/WI/ParksideAviation

This collection is a wonderful set of photographs donated to Parkside by John Sullivan, former pilot and manager of Racine's airport.

Mr. Sullivan learned to fly in 1937 in Kenosha and became a pilot for both Kenosha and Racine's airports. He started managing the Racine airport in 1951 until his retirement in 1983. He collected photographs and biographical histories of many pilots from the area with an interest in documenting and sharing this history.

Mr. Sullivan donated his collection of over 400 photographs, newspaper clippings, and aviator biographies to UW-Parkside in 2009.

American History Through Christmas Cards at the Wisconsin Historical Society website

Some of my favorite things about Christmas are the wonderful vintage images of holiday traditions that appear on decorations and cards.

Right now, the Wisconsin Historical Society has a great collection of these cards digitized and accessible in an online gallery which can be found here:

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/highlights/archives/2011/12/christmas_cards.asp

Make sure to take a moment and view these historical exchanges of Christmas through the years.

Featured Collection: Yearbooks from Kenosha and Racine High Schools

A tradition among schools, both public and private, is the publication of the school yearbook or annual.  An early annual might consist of newspaper clippings, locks of hair, and autographs.  Improved printing techniques and photography allowed students and staff to include photographs, art, and a more detailed history of the year’s events.  The yearbooks from Racine and Kenosha High Schools not only detail the academic and social lives of students but record the evolution of education and the public school system established by Colonel Michael Frank. 

The first annual for Racine High School was produced in 1909, and in 1912 the Senior Class dubbed the publication, “The Kipi Kawi”. Kenosha High School created the first version of its annual in 1903 and included an informal history of the Kenosha Public Schools, providing information on graduates from preceding years.

 

  

UW-Parkside Archives & Area Research holds several volumes from both schools. For more information, please visit our website:

http://www.uwp.edu/departments/library/archives/

Featured Collection: Mérida en el año de mil novecientos cuarenta y dos by Enrique A Cervantes

    This month's Featured Collection is a single volume which contains numerous photographs of one of Mexico's oldest and most interesting cities. One of my first assignments at the Parkside Archive was to perform a shelf-read, which is basically comparing the materials on the shelf to a catalog listing to confirm that everything is in order. I’ll admit that the job took longer than it should have, as I often paused to page through the materials which piqued my curiosity. One of these articles was Mérida en el año de mil novecientos cuarenta y dos (Mérida in 1942), a collection of photographs by Enrique A. Cervantes, who self-published the work in 1943. I visited Merida many years ago, and I was curious to see if I recognized any of the locations.

Mérida is a beautiful colonial city, the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Yucatán and the Yucatán Peninsula. It was founded in 1542 by Francisco de Montejo. Mérida was built on the site of the Maya city of T’ho which had been a center of Mayan culture and activity for centuries. Because ofthis, it is believed that Mérida may be the oldest continually occupied city in the Americas.           

         Mérida en el año de mil novecientos cuarenta y dos is handsomely bound in fabric with cloth ties, and includes original black and white photographs mounted on cardstock. Cervantes includes a history of the city and details on the architecture represented in the images.

One photograph depicts the Catedral, which was completed near the end of the Sixteenth century, and another the Palacio Municipal, a more recent construction. I remember visiting both buildings, and how impressed I was by the structures. It is easy to see why Cervantes loved this city enough to create this homage.

 

 

Sacristía del templo de San Juan Bautista

           La Catedral, 1942         

 

Palacio Municipal, 1942

Featured Collection: Thomas Bird Mosher Press

The American publisher Thomas Bird Mosher (1852-1923) published his first book in 1891, a poem titled Modern Love by George Meredith, without the author's knowledge or permission. The next year he published James Thomson's The City of Dreadful Night, and the year after that, 1893, he published two books, including his first anthology, Songs of Adieu. By 1895, he had published 16 books, and decided to publish full-time.

Mosher believed that everyone should have access to good literary works, and produced small, beautifully printed books at a reasonable price, rendering them affordable to the middle class. Mosher himself became notorious as the impassioned “Portland Pirate” of the turn-of-the-century printing world. The international copyright laws of 1891 were widely misunderstood and commonly flouted. The United States only protected works from foreign publishers if the book was published in America. Any material not published in the States was fair game. Mosher’s books were banned in England, but some authors defended Mosher for giving them an American audience they wouldn’t have otherwise had.

   Thomas Mosher chose quality materials for his publications and often used handmade paper from Holland or vellum imported from Japan. Forty seven of Mosher Press books were entirely printed on vellum made from sheep or calf skin.

The Special Collections Department at the UW-Parkside Archives & Area Research Center owns several editions of Mosher Press publications, including Underwoods by Robert Louis Stevenson, and Danted at Verona, by Dante Gabriel Rosetti.

   

For more information on the Thomas Bird Mosher Press, including a  biography of Thomas Bird Mosher, history of the press and links to related sites, please visit www.ThomasBirdMosher.net

Featured Collection: Perishable Press

Perishable Press was founded in 1962 by book artist Walter Hamady, Professor Emeritus at the Art Department of UW-Madison. Located in Hamady’s barn in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, Perishable Press has produced works by such noted artists as Joel Oppenheimer, Norman H. Russell, Diane Wakoski, and Michael Heller. Hamady’s work has won numerous awards, including the American Institute of Graphic Arts yearly selection of the 50 best designed books. 

Hamady creates his own paper and calls it Shadwell after the birthplace of Thomas Jefferson. Shadwell paper is crafted in small batches, taking approximately one day to produce 50 sheets. Hamady often incorporates threads from old clothing, dried flowers, and leaves to create a distinctive medium for his work.

  Walter Hamady  

 

Ephemeral Genesis: difficult meanderings in quest of that that is called grand paradise

Perishable Press Ltd., 1964

                              

 

Michael Heller (pictured above)

Figures of Speaking

Perishable Press Ltd., 1977                    

 

 

 

"There are many reasons for making a book and probably the best one, as the only reason for making Art, is because you can’t stop."  Walter Hamady

Featured Collection: Charles Bukowski

As a way to share some of our most valued collections (and to encourage more regular posting), we are starting a Featured Collection series on the Archives Blog. The first such collection is one of my favorites.

Charles Bukowski  

Henry Charles Bukowski (1920 –1994) was an American poet and novelist. Once dubbed “the Los Angeles-based laureate of American lowlife”, by Time Magazine,[1] Bukowski wrote poems and stories about love and deception, drunken hysterics and abject loneliness. His works reflect the beauty he saw in the debased, and expose the ugliness hidden just beneath the surface of glamour. Bukowski found success later in life, first in Europe and later gained a cult following in the United States that grows still.

UW-Parkside is fortunate to have over twenty signed works by Charles Bukowski  in its Special Collections Department, including  It Catches my Heart in its Hands: new and selected poems, 1955-63 and Crucifix in a Deathhand: new poems, 1963-65.

(Above and Below)

Crucifix in a Deathhand: new poems, 1963-65

                       

Etching by Noel Rockmore

 

  

It Catches my Heart in its Hands: new and selected poems, 1955-63

 

"I wasn't a misanthrope and I wasn't a misogynist but I liked being alone. It felt good to sit alone in a small space and smoke and drink. I had always been good company for myself."
Charles Bukowski 

---

[1] Iyer, Pico. Time. New York: Jun 16, 1986. Vol. 127, Iss. 24; p. 78

Driving Home One Night

I don’t want to contribute to the myth that archivists know everything. Sometimes students or other patrons will ask me what is in a particular box of a large collection assuming that I have read or at least looked over each of the millions of pages of manuscript and public records in the UW-P Archives and memorized their contents.

All of the librarians have read all of the books in the library, too.

Of course, I do know everything, but being an archivist is only part of the reason why. The following is one instance where it helped.

Last night as I drove home with a carful of friends, one of our number gave directions to the other: “turn left when you see the house that looks like a planetarium.”
She was referring to the circular home on the corner of Rapids Dr. and Mount Pleasant St.  Another rider added that the several circular homes there and elsewhere seem to be converted pump houses.

However, because a patron—a journalist writing a piece on interesting area architecture—contacted me recently about the circular homes in Racine, I knew that these were not pump houses but circular homes built on purpose, in the 1940’s and 50’s, and advertised thoroughly in the local papers.

The architect Anton Kratochvil designed the homes and sold the finished product as well as do-it-yourself plans. The round houses—some of which were conceived as duplexes—were touted in ads as “the greatest contribution to mankind in the housing industry in the past 100 years.” While they have greater floor space for the same amount of outside wall, I don’t know. Running water, central heating, and insulation all come to mind as genuine contenders. I guess it’s a matter of opinion.

At least six of these homes exist in Racine—they were to be built for only $14,000 per two-unit building—which would translate into about $125,000 in today’s dollars. I am not sure if two families live in each, but a look through the Racine city directory would tell me.

None of this information greatly impressed my friends. Their biggest concern about the circular homes: Where do you put the couch?