Author Archives: Carr Ross

Bowdoin Boys in Blue – and Gray

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Drum Corps
Drum Corps, 8th Maine Vol. Infantry

To commemorate the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, the exhibition Bowdoin Boys in Blue—and Gray honors the role of Bowdoin’s own during those defining years for national identity, states’ rights, and individual freedoms.

Fully twenty-five percent of then-living Bowdoin alumni and students—317 men (including eighteen Confederates)—served during the Civil War, a participation rate higher than that of any other northern college. Among those ranks were four Medal of Honor recipients, a member of Lincoln’s cabinet, several commanders of U.S. Colored Troops, and soldiers serving throughout the various theatres of combat, from Gettysburg to Louisiana. Their letters, diaries, and other personal papers, selected from the holdings of Bowdoin’s George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, illuminate the Civil War period both in the field and on the home front.

The exhibition, located on the second floor of Hawthorne-Longfellow Library, is open to the public daily from January 21 through June 1, 2013, free of charge.

Follow along as we blog “this day in history…” for the year 1863, highlighting items from Special Collections
Civil War Blog
For More Information:
207.725.3288

Civil War 150

Take a Break!

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We know you are studying hard!  The Library invites you to take a study break during exam period.

Wednesday, December 12 – Sunday, December 16
9:00 p.m. – closing

Two Locations:  Chandler Room, first floor of Hawthorne-Longfellow Library AND Circulation area, Hatch Science Library

Coffee and tea will be available along with cookies, brownies, muffins and a healthier choice (choices will rotate throughout the week).

H-L Library Adds Versatile New Student Study Space

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Bowdoin students have been clear about what they want from the library: more study new study roomspace. We kept that in mind when, through a series of space changes made over the summer, we found ourselves with a large, vacant first floor room awaiting a new use. Welcome to the First Floor Student Study Space!

Located at the back of H-L Library near the reference offices, the room features several individual carrels, a larger table for group work or individuals who need to spread out, and soft seating. The seating is all new—with great colors! The Danish Modern tables, original to the 1965 building, were gathered together from various locations in the library, their beauty showcased again in this great space.

Also providing aesthetic appeal and, perhaps, inspiration, are four prints by Bowdoin’s own James Boeding ’14. From his series “Book Play,” the photos were taken right here in the library using books from Special Collections.

Come check the space out; you might just find your new favorite place to study.

 

George Mitchell Oral History Project Receives ‘Outstanding’ Award

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George J. MitchellThe George J. Mitchell Oral History Project has earned the 2012 Elizabeth B. Mason Major Project Award, which is given biennially by the Oral History Association to an outstanding English language oral history project worldwide. The award recognizes projects of noteworthy scholarly and social value that also advance both the understanding of an important historical subject and the practice of oral history.

Under the auspices of the Bowdoin College Library, project director Andrea L’Hommedieu, field interviewers Mike Hastings, Diane Dewhirst, and Brien Williams, and transcriptionist Nicci Leamon amassed over 200 oral histories from people in former Sen. George Mitchell ’54′s life. Interviewees include Mitchell’s Waterville, Maine, friends; family members; college classmates; Maine legislators; political associates and competitors; campaign supporters; U.S. Senate colleagues and staff members; foreign policy specialists; law practice associates; and others. Cumulatively, their spoken accounts document Mitchell’s life and career from early childhood onward, with particular emphasis on his public service to Maine and to the nation. They complement Mitchell’s personal papers, which are also held by Bowdoin.

The oral histories are fully searchable and available for listening, reading, and downloading at: http://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/mitchelloralhistory/

Library Database News: Historical Databases

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Nineteenth Century Collection OnlineThe library has access to several collections of historical newspapers and archival collections that could be just the thing for your summer research needs!

17th & 18th Century Burney Collection of Newspapers, which we have long had on microfilm, is now available online — very exciting. Click here for a list of newspapers included in the collection.

19th Century U.S. Newspapers expands our coverage of news from that era. Click here for a list of newspapers included in the collection.

And NCCO, Nineteenth Century Collections Online, follows in the footsteps of ECCO, with 3 collections released for your research: European Literature 1790-1840: the Corvey Collection; British Politics and Society; and Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange.

Happy researching!

Endnote and Zotero Workshops

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EndnoteZotero

EndNote or Zotero? Or both?

Take one or all of the workshops described below to learn about tools to manage citations.

What’s that? Not able to attend one of the scheduled sessions? Contact us! Individual EndNote and citation management instruction and consultations can be scheduled at your convenience.

To register or if you have questions, contact Karen Jung at 725-3311 or kjung@bowdoin.edu.

Zotero

Zotero is an alternative for managing citations that resides in your web browser, “right where you do your work.” It can be used as a stand-alone manager, or in conjunction with EndNote.

  • Thurs., June 21: 11:00 AM-12:00 PM – ECR, H-L Library

EndNote 101

EndNote is bibliographic citation management software tool that allows you to maintain a “personal library” of references and citations. It can also import citation information from the Library’s Catalog, online indexes, and databases. If you use Microsoft Word, you can insert citations from your personal libraries directly into your documents and create bibliographies from those citations. This workshop will teach you to use EndNote and EndNote Web (both of which are easy to use, but not intuitive) in just one hour.

  • Mon., June 18: 10:00 AM-11:00 AM – ECR, H-L Library
  • Wed., June 20: 2:00 PM-3:00 PM – ECR, H-L Library
  • Wed., Aug. 22: 1:00 PM-2:00 PM – ECR, H-L Library

Book Sculpture: Transforming Books into Works of Art

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Book Sculpture
Third floor, Hawthorne-Longfellow Library
This exhibit is ongoing throughout the summer months.

When making books and making art intersect, the results are sometimes provocative, often unpredictable, and always engaging. Artists’ books take many shapes: the familiar codex form, scrolls and banners, pop-up and flag books, to name a few.

The Bowdoin College Library’s George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives collects artists’ books to complement other examples of fine bookbinding, printing, type design, and printmaking in its book arts collection, primarily in support of the College’s curriculum. Classes in printmaking and drawing, in art history, and in literature and linguistics draw heavily from these resources for inspiration and for learning.

Book Sculpture

Book sculptures, in which book artists appropriate the book as an object and rework it into visual art, reflect the artist’s own visual reinterpretation of the original form. For the viewer, these sculptures transform the process of reading text into viewing art, and they compel us to reevaluate the concept of the book in ways that would otherwise be unimaginable.

 

Currently on display on the third floor of Hawthorne-Longfellow Library are examples of book sculpture by five contemporary book artists:

Book Sculpture

  • Crystal Cawley (Portland, Me.)
  • Rebecca Goodale (Portland, Me.)
  • Mary Howe (Stonington, Me.)
  • Guy Laramée (Montreal, Canada)
  • Irmari Nacht (Englewood, N.J.)

Laptop Storage! A New Service at H-L and Hatch Libraries

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Would you rather not lug your laptop all the way over to dinner when you’re taking a break from studying at H-L or Hatch Library? But you don’t want to leave it unattended at a study carrel — never a good idea! Now you can store your laptop for up to four hours at the Circulation Desk at H-L or Hatch. The laptops will be kept in a secure space with Library staff members nearby; you’ll have a tag (like a coat check) to reclaim your property when you get back.

Space is limited: H-L has room for six and Hatch for two, so ONLY laptops may be left (no books, papers, knapsacks, lunchbags, etc.). The laptops may be stored until closing time, but can’t be left overnight.

We hope this new service will make your life a little easier during this hectic end-of-semester time!

New Content in JSTOR

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Everyone’s favorite go-to database for scholarly journal articles, JSTOR, just got bigger. Some of the journals added are: Social Research; Environment and History; Monist; Mathematics Teacher; International Journal of Electronic Commerce; Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific; Historical Social Research; and Environmental Values, among others.