News and Reviews
Blog Post
All the Rage
by Debbie G.
Culinary History is hot. Whether it's the long look back in Moveable Feasts or one ingredient like or Cod. Did you know one of the most read and respected culinary history newsletters, Repast, is published here in Ann Arbor by the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor? Ann Arbor is also home to one of the premiere culinary history collections in the world, the Longone Center for American Culinary Research at the University of Michigan's .
Blog Post
Never Too Many Cooks or Cookbooks
by Debbie G.
Where did the Cookbook Collection in Ann Arbor Cooks come from? From hundreds of area cooks who contributed thousands of recipes to the local cookbooks owned by the Washtenaw Historical Society, Hadassah, local churches and AADL. If you've got a local family, community or organization cookbook you'd love to share with us, please Contact Us.
Blog Post
KID BITS - Youngest Science
by ryanikoglu
Science books for young kids are often as BIG a hit as a great story book. Even if your child is 2-5 years old, Don't forget the Dewey Decimal numbers for science (psst, 500s!) and find out "true facts" about the world you live in. Look what I found on our NEW book shelf today for little kids! A Seed Is Sleepy; Face To Face With Caterpillars; and Snap! ... a first book on the "food chain".
Blog Post
Yantandou by Gloria Whelan
by Tahira
Yatandou lives in a small village in Mali. She pounds Millet with her pounding stick for food with her mother and the women of the village. She can’t wait until the new contraption the women are saving money to buy comes to her village so that they never have to pound Millet again. Gloria Whelan gives the reader an intriguing look into the life of a little girl a world away.
Blog Post
George Corselius, Ann Arbor's Pioneer Librarian
by amy
Submitted by Wystan Stevens
"GEO. CORSELIUS'
"CIRCULATING LIBRARY.
"This volume may be kept ____ days. ____
cents will be charged for each additional day.
"Soiling, tearing, or breaking books is a spe-
cies of Vandalism entirely without excuse. A
fine of from six to fifty cents will be taxed for
every such outrage committed on this volume."
George Corselius was for a time the editor of the first newspaper in Ann Arbor, "The Western Emigrant," which commenced publication in 1829. (The paper was owned by John Allen and Samuel W. Dexter, the founders, respectively, of Ann Arbor and of Dexter Village.) Corselius also has the distinction of being the first Ann Arborite to leave town for the California Gold Rush in 1849 -- a journey he did not live to complete; he got as far as the Isthmus of Panama where, becoming ill, he turned back; but he died aboard ship, and was buried at sea. "Buried in the Atlantic" is the inscription on his memorial -- a tree-stump cenotaph in Ann Arbor's Forest Hill Cemetery. During the twenty years between those dates, Corselius was, among other things, Ann Arbor's first librarian: lending books, for a fee, from his private stock. This is a specimen of the labels that were pasted inside the front covers of his precious volumes.
Corselius' daughter, Cornelia Corselius, was bookish also. An Ann Arbor school teacher, she wrote a book for children, "Financie and Other Stories." Two of the tales are local, and tell of children trudging the roads to Dixboro and Dexter Village.
(The label above was copied from a poor photo in an old eBay listing; if anyone reading this has a better copy of a Corselius label, please post it and let me know.)
Blog Post
BABY BITS - Brightening Minds
by ryanikoglu
Brightening Minds: Birth To Two Years provides examples and advice from doctors to show parents how to maximize your baby's potential. This DVD includes activities as well as information on mental, physical and emotional development. The thing I like most is the practical demonstrations on using books with babies and parents. Literacy starts from birth and is a first-rate way to have fun with your child.
Blog Post
Homework Bits - "Electric Heroes" using RESEARCH databases
by ryanikoglu
[cover_image]157505017X|b1123457x[/cover_image]
A 4th/5th grade assignment is to find information on "Electric Heroes" and their inventions. To use the RESEARCH databases, Choose MY ACCOUNT and login. These databases are not on the internet. They are only on library websites through your AADL library card.
The articles provide the citations you need to prove your research.
1. Choose the RESEARCH tab along the top of the website.
2. Use the link to "browse databases by name".
3. Choose BIOGRAPHY RESOURCE CENTER.
4. If you know names, use the last name to search for articles on that person.
5. If you do not know names, go to "Biographical Facts Search" and choose your keywords to find names. You will come up with articles to read, or print. I looked for a term in "occupations" related to electricity. I chose "electronics engineer". Then I chose "female" for gender. I got a list of names. I chose some names, and followed the link to read about them. You can find names and why they are mentioned.
6. Now the challenge is finding articles long enough to explain their work.
Blog Post
Homework Bits - "Exploration" using RESEARCH databases
by ryanikoglu
[cover_image]0792269780|b12950725[/cover_image]
A 4th/5th grade assignment is to find information on “exploration of north America”. To use the RESEARCH databases, Choose MY ACCOUNT and login. These databases are not on the internet. They are only on library websites through your AADL library card.
The articles provide the citations you need to prove your research.
1. Choose the RESEARCH tab along the top of the website.
2. Use the link to "browse databases by subject".
3. Choose “Kid’s and Teens”.
4. Choose “Kid’s INFOBITS”.
5. Choose” Advanced Search” and enter keywords.
I used “discovery”, “OR”, “exploration”, “AND”, “north America”. You will come up with articles to read, or print.
6. Now the challenge is finding "historical" exploration, and "keywords" for further research.
Blog Post
Why do people give to public radio?
by remnil
Ah, October! With the tenth month of the year comes not only the onset of fall, but also Guilt Week, aka the fall membership drive for National Public Radio.
Public radio is an interesting beast because its finances are unlike not only for-profit businesses, but also other 501(c)(3)s. Through some magical combination of guilt and altruism, public radio stations manage to get lots of people to willingly donate money to something they could get for free. Not only that, but listeners pay based on how much they value the station. Businesses would kill to be able to charge customers like that.
So I propose a discussion topic in honor of Guilt Week: why are so many public radio listeners willing to donate often considerable amounts without coercion? Is it out of the goodness of their hearts? Because they fear their fabulous local station will disappear if they don't? Other reasons? What say those of you who donate to public radio? Why do you give?
Blog Post
Baby Bits - Growing Brains
by ryanikoglu
I'm scouting DVDs for parents with infants. I found a WINNER in Ten Things Every Child Needs For The Best Start In Life. It supports top research without sounding "academic". You see/hear "big names" in childhood development plainly speak to parents about needs of infants. You get to see other cute, cute, CUTE infants, just like your own! The book 125 Brain Games For Babies provides great ideas on how to play with baby. Have FUN!
Blog Post
Zion Lutheran Church
by amy
(Click for larger view.)
Submitted by Wystan Stevens
This view from ninety+ years ago looks west on Washington Street, across Fifth Avenue, and gives us a glimpse of the square Doric columns on a Greek Revival house (visible through trees at far right) which also is depicted on the 1880 birdseye-view map of Ann Arbor. It resembled the Kempf House. It is regrettable that no good photo of that house has survived. It must have been replaced by the Bell Telephone building, which was erected in 1925.
When this photo was taken, Zion Lutheran Church was located on the northeast corner of Washington at Fifth Avenue. For a few years in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the parish hall beside the church served as an annex (one of several) to Ann Arbor's cramped 1907 City Hall. (The Lutherans by then had moved to their present location on West Liberty.) The city abandoned these quarters in 1963, when offices were moved to the new (now Larcom) City Hall. The old church was then demolished, and Huron Valley Bank ("The Apple Bank") rose on this site.
Blog Post
Kid Bit 740s - Discover Dewey addresses
by ryanikoglu
Think of the Dewey Decimal system as addresses in a neighborhood.
Have you ever had a rainy day with nothing to do? Do you like to make stuff? When you browse "The 740s" in the non-fiction collection, you find art and craft books. You can find Cartooning Basics; Crafts For Kids Who Are Wild About Dinosaurs; The Rainy Day Book. If you keep on going you may pass "knitting and "stitchery" and discover books about "Famous Artists" like Leonardo da Vinci For Kids: His Life And Ideas including 21 activities that help learn about him.
AND one more thing! Craft DVDs (and Craft books for Teens and Adults), have the same addresses. They are in "The 740s" too !! You can find a video on Origami with Leonor featuring "1 and 2 minute learning vignettes for children"!
Blog Post
Kid Bit 500s - Discover Dewey
by ryanikoglu
Think of the Dewey Decimal system as addresses in a neighborhood.
Do you like science? You browse science books in "The 500s" block of the non-fiction collection. You'll cruise past titles like First Encyclopedia of Science; DK Eye Wonder Space; Big Book Of Dinosaurs; Life In The Woodlands; any kind of creature like Backyard Detectives: Critters Up Close.....
AND one more thing! Science DVDs, and science books for Teens and Adults, have the same addresses. They are in "The 500s" too, such as Eyewitness Volcano; or Bill Nye the Science Guy Presents Animal Locomotion !!
Blog Post
Momma, Where Are You From? by Marie Bradby
by Tahira
A mother recalls her childhood when a daughter asks “Momma where are you from?” Told in rhythmic prose with golden watercolor illustrations, Marie Bradby takes the reader on a journey to a time when family, friends, hard work and the simple pleasure of a eating a piece of ice on a hot summer day were the most important things in the world.
Blog Post
Herb Bartlett, early chairman of the Ann Arbor Historical Commission
by amy
Submitted by Wystan Stevens
Herb Bartlett was a retired civil engineer who served as president of the historical society and was an early chairman of the Ann Arbor Historical Commission (now the Historic District Commission). The historical society celebrated Herb's 90th birthday at Hathaway's building on Ashley Street, probably around 1980. Dr. C. Howard Ross was in attendance on that day, and we were a bit chagrined to discover that he too had recently turned 90, but didn't get a birthday party. I guess he had neglected to tell anybody.
Herb on two occasions, ten years or so apart, gave presentations to the historical society on the history of the Chicago Road (Michigan Avenue). But he was no good as a speaker; he fumbled and unrolled maps and rolled them up again, and meandered around with his text. But he was a lovable character, and some of us miss him still. His wife was a nice lady, but delicate and quiet. She died a few years before he did.
Blog Post
1922 Detroit newspaper rotogravure portrait and bio of U-M President Marion LeRoy Burton
by amy
(Click on image for larger view.)
President Burton died of complications of angina, on February 18, 1925, several months after he suffered a heart attack in the fall of 1924. He was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery. Burton was a star of the 1924 national Republican Convention, where he nominated President Calvin Coolidge for a full term in his own right. Coolidge, who had succeeded to the presidency on the death of Warren G. Harding, was indeed elected in 1924.
Photo by the Spedding portrait studio of Ann Arbor.
Submitted by Wystan Stevens
Photo by the Spedding portrait studio of Ann Arbor. From an eBay listing.
Submitted by Wystan Stevens
Blog Post
Murad Cigarettes -- tobacco silk, c. 1910; image of University of Michigan rowing crew member
by amy
Silks like this one were inserted as souvenir premiums in early cigarette packages. Sometimes the smoker's sweetheart would sew a dozen or more together, to make a decorative cover for a throw pillow.
(The founding date of the U of M, given as 1837 on the seal reproduced here, in 1929 was corrected to 1817, the date of the progenitor institution's founding in the city of Detroit, in Michigan Territory.)
Submitted by Wystan Stevens
Blog Post
Kid Bits - Tricky Chicks
by ryanikoglu
We celebrate "Michigan Reads! One State, One Children's Book" this week with a LIVE author program and readings of Big Chickens. Since we're doing chickens in an extra big way, try stories about two of my favorite girls. They each have something to do with chickens and tricks! Pick up a copy of The Chicken Chasing Queen Of Lamar County and Flossie And The Fox.
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Parent Bits - Arrival of Baby #2
by ryanikoglu
So Baby #1 is around the home and Baby #2 is on the way.
Welcoming Your Second Baby by Vicki Lansky is a perfect little parent helper. It is a delightful "skinny book" with very useful and simple suggestions to pave a path for Child #1 to accept the new family member. The library owns the 1990 edition of Welcoming Your Second Baby and it is just as useful. Keep in mind the suggested books to share with children are not likely to be found now. Ask a Librarian for current books to share with "expecting" children. Lasky offers suggestions for various ages of older siblings, and her suggestions are mercifully practical and flexible. Congratulations on your new addition !
Blog Post
The Buffalo Soldier by Sherry Garland
by Tahira
Known for their bravery, dedication and the lowest desertion rate. The Buffalo Soldiers were a force to be met with. Sherry Garland recounts the story of one of these American heroes in The Buffalo Soldier.
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To Junie B. or Not to Junie B.?
by ryanikoglu
Some say Junie B. Jones is "not a good character", and some say the “grammar is wrong”. Others say “She is a spunky six year old, and we learn from her troubles.”
Gaining perspective on a mighty popular series might help calm some nerves.
Try this article in The New York Times “Is Junie B. Jones Talking Trash? to support parent information. Kids can read two NEW titles in the series Dumb Bunny and Aloha-ha-ha! and enjoy the Official Junie B. Jones website with information about the author and more activities for kids.
Blog Post
Beta Theta Pi fraternity house, University of Michigan, c. 1902
by amy
(Click on image for larger view.)
Beta Theta Pi house, State Street at Monroe (SW corner).
Submitted by Wystan Stevens
Blog Post
A Journey through Ann Arbor, in 1835
by amy
Submitted by Wystan Stevens:
An amazing fact: they check your guns when you arrive in Ann Arbor!
The following report, which I have transcribed in its entirety, is a letter from a traveler in Michigan, first published in 1835 in a tabloid: the New-York Mirror, A Weekly Journal, Devoted to Literature and the Fine Arts. Vol. XIII, No. 4, Saturday, July 25, 1835.
[My copy was purchased on eBay, in September, 2007.]
ORIGINAL LETTERS FROM THE WEST.
MICHIGAN.
IT is a marvelous country, this western world, and it is the only land under the sun that has not been too extravagantly spoken of by travellers. Yes, it keeps pace even with travellers' tales, and that is no small merit.
Mr. Hoffman's delightful volumes, and Washington Irving's "Tour," displayed to us a new world; the former spread before us a land shrouded in the mantle of winter, while the latter portrayed the "sere and yellow leaf" of autumn. But the spring and the summer are the boast of prairie land, and he that fails to see those seasons, loses half the pleasure of a trip to the west.
It was on a clear evening in "the leafy month of June," that I set forth from Detroit, late the outpost of civilization, but now called at the place whence I write, "down east." I had come from Buffalo to that city in company with a crowd of grave personages on a disinterested pilgrimage to Chicago, in search of the Golden Fleece, and was glad to take leave of these modern Jasons, and wish them a safe voyage on this new Argonautick expedition. For my own part, I found the steamboat intolerable, especially as a vehement sea-sickness prevented me from "getting my money's-worth" out of the worthy proprietors. I therefore provided myself with a little French pony, and resolved to set forth across the country in quest of adventures and pleasure. After riding nearly all the ponies in Detroit within an ace of their lives, by way of trying, (to the great perturbation of the several owners,) I finally pitched upon a little fellow that racked and paced and cantered to a charm. Having accoutered myself with a broad-brimmed straw hat, a pair of saddle-bags and a blanket, and slung my double-barrelled fowling-piece athwart my back, my pony soon ambled with me out of the busy town. How gloriously independent does a man feel at such a moment! In what supreme contempt does he hold the artificial life of a city, the cares, the bustle and the money-making of life! No matter who he be -- be he as poor as Job, ay, and as friendless too, his soul soars above the little world, he feels his value as a man, he recognises his personal sovereignty, his self-dependence, his native dignity, and with the poet he can feel that,
"Lord of himself, but not of lands,
He having nothing, yet hath all."
Click READ MORE, below, to continue...
Blog Post
1854 Bank of Washtenaw Five Dollar Note
by amy
(Click image for larger view.)
Other images of early Washtenaw County bank notes are available here
submitted by Wystan Stevens
Blog Post
Angell Hall, U-M campus, featured in September, 1941, Ford News
by amy
(Click on image for larger view.)
The University of Michigan was featured in the September, 1941, issue of Ford News, a magazine which was sent to dealers and buyers of Ford automobiles. The striking cover photo, in color, shows several U-M scholars on the front steps of Angell Hall, where they appear dwarfed by the massive neoclassical columns.
Submitted by Wystan Stevens
Blog Post
1955 Magazine Advertisement
by amy
Ann Arbor Fire Department's John-Bean fog truck illustrated in 1955 magazine advertisement. Also shown is the ivy-covered dining hall of the University of Michigan Law Quadrangle.
(Click on image for larger view.)
Submitted by Wystan Stevens
Blog Post
Advertisement from Threshermen's Review
by amy
An advertisement from the August, 1912, issue of Threshermen's Review
(Click on image for larger view.)
submitted by Wystan Stevens
Blog Post
Baby Bits - NEW !
by ryanikoglu
NEW Books that are perfect for baby lap-reads are The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri; So Sleepy Story by Uri Shulevitz; and A Good Day by Kevin Henkes. They show pictures that baby sees in her world. They have words that sound lovely to say and use and repeat from the driver's seat.
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Toddler Bits - Kittens
by ryanikoglu
Nothing cuter than Toddlers and Kittens ... well a few things just as cute. Anyway, if you like kittens and have a toddler at home, try these NEW books out. Kittens! Kittens! Kittens! by Susan Meyers and illustrated by David Walker; and Nini Here And There by Anita Lobel. Meow!
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Kid Bits - New Babies in the Family
by ryanikoglu
Is a new baby arriving at your house? Brothers and Sisters can prepare with these titles. Now We Have A Baby; What Baby Needs; Just Add One Chinese Sister; What To Expect When The New Baby Comes Home; and Peter's Chair.