Early Drawings, Photos, Prints of Notre Dame Cathedral

April 18, 2019 at 8:27 am · Filed under Images

The Library of Congress has a collection of the above while the Bibliotheque national de France possess thousands of images, some from the 17th century. And please consult this most informative piece – The Notre-Dame Cathedral in Art (1460-1921) from The Public Domain Review.

Here is an 1853(?) French monograph liberally supplied with drawings and photos – Monographie de Notre-Dame de Paris, et de la nouvelle sacristie de MM. Lassus et Viollet-Le-Duc : contenant 63 planches, gravées par MM. Hibon, Ribault, Normand, etc., 12 planches photographiques, de MM. Bisson frères, 5 planches chromolithographiques, de M. Lemercier / précédée d’une notice historique et archéologique par M. Celtibère, architecte-archéologue.

Also, visit Google Arts & Culture for additional images.

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OAH Distinguished Lectures

April 17, 2019 at 4:58 am · Filed under History, Speeches

The Organization of American Historians has a YouTube channel featuring eminent historians discussing certain topics ranging from the War of 1812 to the 1960s. Each lecture runs between about an hour and an hour and a half. Well worth a visit. And let’s not forget the OAH’s podcast series.

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Book Lovers Discuss Their Collections

April 15, 2019 at 3:31 am · Filed under Books, Interviews

A point of transparency here – I label myself a book lover; my collection is north of 8,000 volumes. This delightful piece in The Washington Post interviews several people, including the Librarian of Congress, on their collections and their attitudes to the tomes they possess.

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First Photos of a Black Hole

April 12, 2019 at 11:51 am · Filed under Science

The announcement of this scientific discovery was made public through a series of six brief papers presented in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, 875(#1, April 10, 2019). These articles are rather dense and not meant for the layperson (at least not this layperson). More accessible information can be gleaned from the Event Horizon Telescope site as well as from NASA.

For those who do not know what a black hole is, this explanation is for you. Black holes are featured prominently in science fiction literature as well as films.

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Who’s Speaking Where? 2019 Commencement Speakers

April 12, 2019 at 5:38 am · Filed under Education, Speeches

This is not a comprehensive list, but it does indeed give quite a number of speakers; see how many of them are speaking at more than one event. I found three.

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Projections for Library Occupations

April 11, 2019 at 3:20 am · Filed under Libraries, Statistics

Did you know that there are only 25,900 college/university librarians in the country? And that the number who will be leaving the profession in the next few years exceeds the average exit rate for other occupations? These and other data points, along with links for additional information, can be found here.

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Historic Music Recordings

April 10, 2019 at 10:59 am · Filed under Music

Before Spotify, streaming services,  MTV, CDs, cassettes, 8-track tapes, vinyl albums, or 45 records, there were 78rpm records and cylinders. This musical heritage dates back to the 1880s and is close to extinction. However, preservationists are protecting these fragile artifacts while simultaneously digitizing them with all their glorious imperfections. A collection of more than 150,000 is available courtesy of the Internet Archive for your listening pleasure. There are various filters that allow you to modify your search of this special repository.

Another collection worth investigating is the Cylinder Audio Archive housed at the University of California, Santa Barbara. You can browse by genre, instrument, topical subject, or foreign/ethnic nationalities.

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