The combination of Bloomsday followed quickly by the exhibition of two copies of the Bay Psalm Book has left little time for blogging this week. I thought, however, I might offer a few interesting and/or quirky links related to the Bay Psalm Book, for the edification and enjoyment of Rosen-blog readers. The Bay Psalm Book. …
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Installing the Ulysses Glove Project
With Bloomsday only two days away, we thought we’d share some behind-the-scenes photos of the installation process for Jessica Deane Rosner’s Ulysses Glove Project, which is being displayed as part of the exhibition Thy Father’s Spirit: A Bloomsday Exhibition of Contemporary Art and Literary Manuscripts. The piece is a tribute to Rosner’s father, a Ulysses …
A Manjiro Homecoming–Part 2: The World of Manjiro
Two weeks ago I wrote about Judy Guston’s and my pilgrimage to sites related to Nakahama Manjiro, the mid-19th-century Japanese sailor, translator, and all-around renaissance man whose manuscript we recently loaned to the Sakamoto Ryoma Memorial Museum in Kochi, Japan. This week I thought I’d tell you a little more about the exhibition and the …
Shakespearean Variations
This week’s blog post comes from collections intern Anne Lutun. As one of her research projects we asked her to look into our ceramic figurines of Milton & Shakespeare; little did we realize how complicated that could turn out to be. – – – – Since next year will mark the 450th anniversary of the …
A Manjiro Homecoming–Part 1: Manjiro Pilgrimage
Museums travel their objects all over the world, and the Rosenbach is no exception. But it’s especially interesting to travel around the world with an object that’s all about world travel. The object in question is our manuscript relating to Nakahama Manjiro’s travels from Japan to the U.S. and back from 1841-51, which we recently …
Free Library Field Trip
Last Friday the Rosenbach’s collections department took a field trip up 20th Street to visit our new colleagues in the Rare Book Department of the Free Library. We’re no strangers, having worked together though PACSCL (the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries) for years and having researched at the Free Library and borrowed …
Fairy Ballads
After last week’s post on cannibalism we promised a lighter topic for this week, which comes to us courtesy of our departing collections intern Anne Baker – – – – – – – When thinking of May and what to write about, I thought of how the month is known for flowers. In searching through …
Civil War and Cannibalism
I would like to start off by inviting all Rosen-readers to come enjoy Voices of 1863: Witnesses to the Civil War, which opened just this Wednesday. We’ve packed Gallery 1 full of wonderful Civil War documents that really illuminate the wartime experience, plus there’s a chance to hear some of Dave Burrell’s compositions inspired by …
Sendak and Science: Atomics for the Millions
Final drawing for Atomics for the Millions. Pen and ink, gouache. (C) 1946-7 by Maurice Sendak. Maurice Sendak got his first “gig” in the world of book illustration when he was 18, as some astonishing materials recently purchased by the Rosenbach attest. It was the spring of 1946, and his physics teacher at Lafayette High …
Merger Media Medley
Free Library Foundation and Rosenbach directors and board chairs with the mayor and Dr. R Clearly the big news this week at the Rosenbach is our plan to merge with the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation. Here’s a quick round-up of some of the news coverage that the announcement has been receiving, in case you’d …