University of Tennessee Special Collections Library Acquires Miniature Literature

The Special Collections Library at the University of Tennessee has acquired a copy of the miniature book Orphan Willie, a story of a young boy who grows up to fight in the Union Army during the Civil War. Published in 1862, the book is 64 pages long and measures just over two inches tall and an inch and-a-half wide.

Miniature books, books that are smaller than three inches, are both a curiosity and a subject of serious scholarship. Miniature manuscripts occur throughout the history of human record keeping. Cuneiform tablets in miniature were in use as early as 4000 B.C.

Orphan Willie was published in Buffalo by Breed, Butler and Company and written by Frances Elizabeth Barrow. Barrow published under the pseudonyms “Aunt Laura” and “Aunt Fanny,” and wrote a number of children’s books with moral and religious themes. Nearly all of Barrow’s publications were printed as miniatures. The Special Collections Library purchased the book in the spring of 2007 from eBay.

Printing in miniature is technically challenging, and miniature books were often produced to display the techniques of the bookmakers. In the letterpress era, this ranged from designing type, cutting punches, casting type, and developing paper and inks suitable for use with them.

Miniature books sometimes provided the medium for sensitive subject matter because they are easily concealed. The book will be of interest to scholars of publishing history, children’s literature, the Civil War, and the Victorian era.

Only 11 other institutions own copies of Orphan Willie, including the Indiana University, the University of Virginia, and the University of Texas-Austin libraries. This portable treasure is now cataloged and available for use at the Special Collections Library, in the historic James D. Hoskins Library at the University of Tennessee. Visit www.lib.utk.edu/spcoll/ for more information.

Contacts:
Aaron Purcell, Special Collections Library, (865) 974-3674
Nick Wyman, Special Collections Library, (865) 974-4480

(image courtesy Bill Britten)

The UT Libraries offers a service that provides individualized help to students with research projects. So whether you have a paper due for English class or a project in business, a librarian can help you plan your research process and identify sources.

“Doing library research can be very challenging,” Jeanine Williamson, a reference librarian who founded Research Assist, said. “With Research Assist, you can get one-on-one help finding, selecting and locating other sources that make a research project complete.”

Students often rely too heavily on Internet resources that may not be reliable. Some universities, such as the history department at Middlebury College in Vermont, have limited students’ use of sites like Wikipedia.

“Whereas Wikipedia is extraordinarily convenient and, for some general purposes, extremely useful, it nonetheless suffers inevitably from inaccuracies deriving in large measure from its unique manner of compilation,” a statement from the Middlebury College department reads. “Students are responsible for the accuracy of information they provide, and they cannot point to Wikipedia or any similar source that may appear in the future to escape the consequences of errors.”

Librarians at UT look forward to helping students identify appropriate scholarly sources for their research. “Internet sites like Wikipedia can be a great place to start, but it isn’t the place to do real research,” Rita Smith, associate dean of libraries, said. “We look forward to helping students broaden their information-gathering skills, and to teaching them how to analyze the accuracy of the information they use. Information literacy is one of the best ways to get ready for the world,” Smith said.

Students can make an appointment for Research Assist by filling out the form at www.lib.utk.edu/refs/researchassist/. There are also drop-in hours described on the web page.

From Pi Beta Phi to Arrowmont: Bringing Education and Economic Development tothe Great Smoky Mountains, 1910-2004

KNOXVILLE — With help from a nearly $250,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the University of Tennessee Libraries recently completed a project that preserves the history of education and arts literacy in the Great Smoky Mountains.

“From Pi Beta Phi to Arrowmont: Bringing Education and Economic Development to the Great Smoky Mountains, 1910-2004,” is a digital project with a fully searchable Web site that includes almost 4,000 images of articles, photos, scrapbooks and letters. The site also has a 360-degree interactive gallery of art pieces from the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, historical essays and curriculum for K-8 students.

The Web site is www.lib.utk.edu/arrowmont.

The Pi Beta Phi fraternity for women opened the Pi Beta Phi Settlement School in Gatlinburg in 1912, beginning the fraternity’s involvement in education, health care, arts and crafts literacy and commerce in the Smokies. It later became the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts.

“This project chronicles the history of Gatlinburg, but it also tells a very important story about the history of women,” said Anne Bridges, history librarian and co-principal investigator for the project. “The Pi Phis created professional opportunities for themselves when there were limited prospects for bright, highly educated, highly motivated women.”

May Lansfield Keller, grand president of the fraternity, was sent to East Tennessee in 1910 to find a location for a settlement school as a philanthropic outreach project by the fraternity to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

At the time, the U.S. Bureau of Education had designated Southern Appalachia as “most in need of education,” and the state of Tennessee was open to support and assistance from benevolent organizations.

The Pi Beta Phi Settlement School began integrating arts education into the curriculum in 1945. In the 1960s when the Sevier County Board of Education took control of education in the area, the fraternity changed the focus of the school to fine arts and crafts education. Today, Arrowmont attracts a diverse group of students, including professional artists, from all over the country.

The digital project began in 2005 and was supported by matching funds from UT.

Bridges and co-principal investigator Ken Wise, UT Libraries associate professor, were joined in the project by the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and the Pi Beta Phi Elementary School in Gatlinburg.

The project complements the UT Libraries’ Digital Library Center and the Great Smoky Mountains Regional Project.

“This project not only tells an important story, but it illustrates the role of the emerging virtual library,” said Barbara Dewey, dean of UT Libraries. “The collaborative work that made this project possible is an amazing example of sharing unique resources and expertise.”

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is an independent federal grant-making agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners by helping libraries and museums serve their communities.

Other staff on the grant were Steve Davis, research coordinator; Tim Lepczyk, digital coordinator; Melanie Feltner-Reichert, metadata librarian; Anthony Smith, Digital Library Center coordinator; Bridger Dyson-Smith, student digitization assistant; Kate Stepp, digital coordinator; Aaron Purcell, university archivist; and Jody de Ridder, Digital Library Center programmer.

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Contacts:

Elizabeth Davis, UT Media Relations, (865) 974-5179, elizabeth.davis@tennessee.edu

Anne Bridges, (865) 974-0017, abridges@utk.edu

Ken Wise, (865) 974-2359, kwise@utk.edu

The UT Libraries offers a service that provides individualized help to students with research projects. So whether you have a paper due for English class or a project in business, a librarian can help you plan your research process and identify sources.

“Doing library research can be very challenging,” Jeanine Williamson, a reference librarian who founded Research Assist, said. “With Research Assist, you can get one-on-one help finding, selecting and locating other sources that make a research project complete.”

Students often rely too heavily on Internet resources that may not be reliable. Some universities, such as the history department at Middlebury College in Vermont, have limited students’ use of sites like Wikipedia.

“Whereas Wikipedia is extraordinarily convenient and, for some general purposes, extremely useful, it nonetheless suffers inevitably from inaccuracies deriving in large measure from its unique manner of compilation,” a statement from the Middlebury College department reads. “Students are responsible for the accuracy of information they provide, and they cannot point to Wikipedia or any similar source that may appear in the future to escape the consequences of errors.”

Librarians at UT look forward to helping students identify appropriate scholarly sources for their research. “Internet sites like Wikipedia can be a great place to start, but it isn’t the place to do real research,” Rita Smith, head of reference services, said. “We look forward to helping students broaden their information-gathering skills, and to teaching them how to analyze the accuracy of the information they use. Information literacy is one of the best ways to get ready for the world,” Smith said.

Students can make a Research Assist appointment by calling 974-4171 or emailing Jeanine Williamson at researchassist.jeanine@gmail.com. More information is available at www.lib.utk.edu/refs/researchassist/.

The UT Libraries offers a service that provides individualized help to students with research projects. So whether you have a paper due for English class or a project in business, a librarian can help you plan your research process and identify sources.

“Doing library research can be very challenging,” Jeanine Williamson, a reference librarian who founded Research Assist, said. “With Research Assist, you can get one-on-one help finding, selecting and locating other sources that make a research project complete.”

Students often rely too heavily on Internet resources that may not be reliable. Some universities, such as the history department at Middlebury College in Vermont, have limited students’ use of sites like Wikipedia.

“Whereas Wikipedia is extraordinarily convenient and, for some general purposes, extremely useful, it nonetheless suffers inevitably from inaccuracies deriving in large measure from its unique manner of compilation,” a statement from the Middlebury College department reads. “Students are responsible for the accuracy of information they provide, and they cannot point to Wikipedia or any similar source that may appear in the future to escape the consequences of errors.”

Librarians at UT look forward to helping students identify appropriate scholarly sources for their research. “Internet sites like Wikipedia can be a great place to start, but it isn’t the place to do real research,” Rita Smith, head of reference services, said. “We look forward to helping students broaden their information-gathering skills, and to teaching them how to analyze the accuracy of the information they use. Information literacy is one of the best ways to get ready for the world,” Smith said.

Students can make a Research Assist appointment by calling 974-4171 or emailing Jeanine Williamson at researchassist.jeanine@gmail.com. More information is available at www.lib.utk.edu/refs/researchassist/.

The Special Collections Library at the University of Tennessee recently purchased a copy of an invitation to the sudden January 1829 wedding of then-Tennessee governor Sam Houston and Eliza Allen. This rare item may be only one of its kind.

Aaron Purcell, university archivist, discovered the piece on eBay.com and purchased the invitation on February 14, 2007, just over 178 years after the wedding date. The invitation was kept by descendants of one of the wedding guests for five generations.

Sam Houston is an important figure in Tennessee’s history, serving as governor from 1827-1829 and representing the state in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1823-1827. Born in Lexington, Virginia, in 1793, his family moved to Maryville, Tennessee, in 1806. Houston joined the army in 1813 and fought at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. There he caught the attention of Andrew Jackson. Jackson became Houston’s mentor and helped guide his political career.

While governor, Houston briefly courted 18-year-old Eliza Allen, daughter of a wealthy Gallatin, Tennessee, businessman. On January 15, 1829, the couple mailed a handful of invitations to a small January 22nd wedding at the Allen family home. It is one of these few invitations that UT was able to purchase.

The invitation UT acquired is addressed to Miss Harriet Roulstone, the daughter of George Roulstone, who in 1791 founded the Knoxville Gazette, the state’s first newspaper.

Shortly after the ceremony, the newlyweds were at odds. After 11 weeks, Eliza Allen left her husband and returned to her family’s home in Gallatin. There are many theories as to why the marriage was so short-lived, but none are substantiated. Allen burned all of her letters regarding the relationship and Houston was reluctant to speak about his brief marriage.

The invitation gives few details about the wedding, but the piece remained in the Roulstone family for many years, tucked in a trunk with other important family papers.

Shortly after his marriage dissolved, Houston resigned his position as governor and fled to Indian Territory. He married a Cherokee woman and became a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Houston returned to public service in Texas, serving as president of the Republic of Texas, U.S. senator, and making several failed presidential runs. He died in 1863, leaving behind a complex legacy.

“Sam Houston materials are exceedingly rare and expensive,” Purcell said. UT holds only one other Houston item in its collections, a letter to Colonel Ramsey, dated February 1829. Both items are available for research use in the Special Collections Library at 1401 Cumberland Avenue.

About the Special Collections Library
The University of Tennessee Special Collections Library was founded in 1960 and resides in the historic James D. Hoskins Library building. Materials in special collections include manuscripts, books and other rare materials for research use. For more information, contact the library at (865) 974-4480 or visit www.lib.utk.edu/spcoll/.

<a href=”http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php” onclick=”window.open(‘http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?wt=nw&pub=laura purcell&url=’+encodeURIComponent()+’&title=’+encodeURIComponent(), ‘addthis’, ‘scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100′); return false;” title=”Bookmark using any bookmark manager!” target=”_blank”>

The Special Collections Library at the University of Tennessee recently purchased a copy of an invitation to the sudden January 1829 wedding of then-Tennessee governor Sam Houston and Eliza Allen. This rare item may be only one of its kind.

Aaron Purcell, university archivist, discovered the piece on eBay.com and purchased the invitation on February 14, 2007, just over 178 years after the wedding date. The invitation was kept by descendants of one of the wedding guests for five generations.

Sam Houston is an important figure in Tennessee’s history, serving as governor from 1827-1829 and representing the state in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1823-1827. Born in Lexington, Virginia, in 1793, his family moved to Maryville, Tennessee, in 1806. Houston joined the army in 1813 and fought at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. There he caught the attention of Andrew Jackson. Jackson became Houston’s mentor and helped guide his political career.

While governor, Houston briefly courted 18-year-old Eliza Allen, daughter of a wealthy Gallatin, Tennessee, businessman. On January 15, 1829, the couple mailed a handful of invitations to a small January 22nd wedding at the Allen family home. It is one of these few invitations that UT was able to purchase.

The invitation UT acquired is addressed to Miss Harriet Roulstone, the daughter of George Roulstone, who in 1791 founded the Knoxville Gazette, the state’s first newspaper.

Shortly after the ceremony, the newlyweds were at odds. After 11 weeks, Eliza Allen left her husband and returned to her family’s home in Gallatin. There are many theories as to why the marriage was so short-lived, but none are substantiated. Allen burned all of her letters regarding the relationship and Houston was reluctant to speak about his brief marriage.

The invitation gives few details about the wedding, but the piece remained in the Roulstone family for many years, tucked in a trunk with other important family papers.

Shortly after his marriage dissolved, Houston resigned his position as governor and fled to Indian Territory. He married a Cherokee woman and became a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Houston returned to public service in Texas, serving as president of the Republic of Texas, U.S. senator, and making several failed presidential runs. He died in 1863, leaving behind a complex legacy.

“Sam Houston materials are exceedingly rare and expensive,” Purcell said. UT holds only one other Houston item in its collections, a letter to Colonel Ramsey, dated February 1829. Both items are available for research use in the Special Collections Library at 1401 Cumberland Avenue.

About the Special Collections Library
The University of Tennessee Special Collections Library was founded in 1960 and resides in the historic James D. Hoskins Library building. Materials in special collections include manuscripts, books and other rare materials for research use. For more information, contact the library at (865) 974-4480 or visit www.lib.utk.edu/spcoll/.

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The world-renowned poet will be joined on stage by UT’s Love United Gospel Choir

University of Tennessee’s Center for Children’s and Young Adult Literature is very pleased to host Nikki Giovanni for a special appearance at the Tennessee Theatre at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 27. The renowned writer/poet will be joined on stage by UT’s Love United Gospel Choir. The event is free and open to the public. Carpe Librum Booksellers will provide books for signing.

Giovanni and her publisher, Candlewick Press, chose Knoxville for the launch of her new book, On My Journey Now – Looking at African American History Through the Spirituals. Giovanni’s personal journey began in Knoxville where she was born in 1943 and where she and her sister spent subsequent summers with their grandparents after her family moved to Cincinnati, OH.

In her famous children’s poem, “Knoxville, TN,” Giovanni returns to her nostalgic roots with warm memories of summer in the mountains. There, she celebrates going to a church picnic where she listens to gospel music outside.

As a little girl, Giovanni was deeply inspired by the early gospel lyrics and beats of her ancestors. In On My Journey Now, she weaves the words of those spirituals with the inspiring story of Africans in America. As she paints compelling portraits of the lives of her ancestors through familiar songs such as “Go Down, Moses” and personal favorites such as “Ain’t Got Time to Die,” she celebrates people who overcame enslavement and found a way to survive, worship and build.

Giovanni is the author of the best-selling Rosa, a biography of Rosa Parks illustrated by Bryan Collier; The Sun Is So Quiet, illustrated by Ashley Bryan; and Shimmy Shimmy Shimmy Like My Sister Kate. Three of her poetry collections for adults have received NAACP Image Awards. She serves as University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg where she now lives.

“We are honored that Candlewick and Giovanni have chosen our event as the launch of this important book,” says Ken Wise, co-founder of the Center for Children’s and Young Adult Literature. “Her devotion to this area is a testament to the rich literary tradition in our own back yard. She will continue to inspire young people for generations.”

The Love United Gospel Choir, which is celebrating their 30th anniversary this year, is a student organization at the University of Tennessee with 100 students who come together to serve the campus and local community through service and song. Jocelyn Milton is the faculty advisor for the choir. Gospel music is an integral part of the African American culture and represents the theme of Giovanni’s latest book.

ABOUT THE CENTER FOR CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
UT’s Center for Children’s and Young Adult Literature works to promote the use of literature in the education and lives of children and young adults by providing workshops for teachers and librarians, and sponsoring talks by authors and illustrators which are open to the public. Publishers of children’s and young adult books provide review copies of their most
recently published books for study and examination within the center by librarians, students, teachers and the public.

The center is a partnership between the University of Tennessee Libraries, the School of Information Sciences, and the College of Education, Health and Human Services with participation from Knox County Public Library, Knox County Schools, Maryville City Schools, Oak Ridge City Schools, the Children’s Defense Fund, and the Webb School of Knoxville.

For more information about this event or UT’s Center for Children’s and Young Adult Literature, please contact Ken Wise at (865) 974-2359.