So here are the answers to last week’s brain-teasers 1) Philip and A.S.W. Rosenbach were two out of a family of eight children. How many of the other children can you name? In order from oldest to youngest, the Rosenbach children are Hyman, Philip, Morris, Rebecca, Adelaide (died as a child), Moses, Miriam, and Abraham …
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Rosen-trivia
So you think you know the Rosenbach? How many of these tough Rosen-trivia questions can you answer? 1) Philip and A.S.W. Rosenbach were two out of a family of eight children. How many of the other children can you name? (Give yourself an extra pat on the back if you know the name of their …
On the Beach
As summer ticks away and everyone comes back tanned from their weeks at the shore, I thought I’d share some great beach images from the Rosenbach collection. George Cruikshank, AUGUST–Bathing at Brighton. For The Comic Almanack for 1836. London: Charles Tilt, 1835. 1954.1880.3252 As you can see in this almanac print by George Cruikshank, August …
Field Trip
In addition to exposing our summer interns to the quirks and wonders of the Rosenbach, I like to take them to other museums that are different from ours. This gives the interns a chance to see how other museums operate and to put their Rosenbach experience in a broader perspective. In order to accomplish this, …
Finding Hidden Treasure
In addition to our wonderful Rosenbach summer interns, we’ve also been hosting some other very special guests this summer: processors from the PACSCL/CLIR Hidden Collections Processing Project. For anyone who doesn’t speak acronym, PACSCL is the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries and and CLIR is the Council on Library and Information Resources (now …
Bull Run 150
Battle of Bull Run–July 1861. New York, 1863. AMs 834/16Today marks the 150th anniversary of the First Battle of Bull Run/First Manassas, the first major land battle of the Civil War. This is the battle where Stonewall Jackson received his nickname and where civilians and Congressmen came down from Washington to be spectators at the …
Fresh Blood
With the oppressive heat and humidity of a Philadelphia summer bearing down on us, our fall Dracula festival seems very far away. But I am excited about a recent addition to our collection of supernatural stories–an early American printing of John Polidori’s The Vampyre. The Vampyre was the first English vampire story and established many …
Happy 4th of July
Happy 4th of July weekend from all of us here at the Rosenbach! If you are going to any parades or fireworks this weekend, you’ll probably be hearing a lot of everyone’s favorite song from the American Revolution–Yankee Doodle. But did you know that the Rosenbach has a unique copy of what is possibly a …
Bloomsday Countdown
Things are busy around here today, so no time for a long post. If you haven’t already started, there probably isn’t time to read Ulysses by tomorrow, but you can always check out the BBC’s Cheat’s Guide to Ulysses if you missed Bloomsday 101 last night (plus it features a comment from Stephen Fry). You …
Hobos at the Rosenbach
As you may have noticed, the temperature and humidity in Philadelphia have been a bit, shall we say, variable over the past week. Such swings are not good for books and art, since it can cause them to expand and contract, soak up moisture, etc. So we do our best to keep everything as stable …