Read This Book!

Megan Kocher reviewed The Great Minnesota Cookie Book and Soo Fariista, a Somali American cookbook, on this installment of Read This Book from the University of Minnesota Libraries.

Where to borrow these books

The Great Minnesota Cookie Book

* University of Minnesota Libraries

* Hennepin County Library

* Saint Paul Public Library

Soo Fariista — Come Sit Down: A Somali American Cookbook

* University of Minnesota Libraries

* Hennepin County Library

* Saint Paul Public Library

About Lisa Von Drasek and Megan Kocher

Lisa Von Drasek is the Curator of the Children’s Literature Research Collections at the University of Minnesota Libraries and host of Read This Book! Megan Kocher is a Science Librarian and the Curator of the Doris Kirschner Cookbook Collection at the University's Magrath Library. 

About Read This Book!

Read This Book! is a video podcast produced by the University of Minnesota Libraries. It is available on YouTube and iTunes. Audio from Read This Book! is available on iTunes at Von Drasek's The Blue Ox Review podcast. 

By Rebecca Toov

You are listening to U of M Radio on your Historic Dial!

Maria Sanford, undated.

 

Season 3: Episode 2. Women on the Air: People Worth Hearing About

You are listening to U of M Radio on Your Historic Dial podcast. Welcome to Season 3: Episode 2.

Hello, this is Rebecca here to share another historic broadcast from the archives in continuation of the Season 3 theme, “Women on the Air.”  On this episode, I’ll introduce the KUOM program series, People Worth Hearing About, which aired on The Minnesota School of the Air from 1969-1979. The series, written and produced for school children in grades 4 through 6, was intended to promote cultural understanding. We’ll listen to a broadcast from the 1970s that features a notable woman in Minnesota history, and I’ll also share some correspondence from School of the Air director Betty Girling and scriptwriter Michele Cairns that provides insight into the production of educational radio programs.

Minnesota School of the Air teacher guide for the program "People Worth Hearing About" for the 1968-1969 season.

The idea for the program series People Worth Hearing About originated with The Minnesota School of the Air director, Betty Girling.  The series, which first aired from April 7 to May 23, 1969, featured daily ten-minute vignettes on 35 African Americans, selected in consultation with Maurice W. Britts, Coordinator for Human Relations at Minneapolis Public Schools.  In subsequent years, profiles and interviews with American Indians, Asian Americans, Chicanos, Eskimos, Hawaiians, and women were added to the series.

In a guide produced for teachers as a supplement to the programs, Girling outlined the purpose of the series:

“... we try to introduce students and teachers to outstanding Americans, who are rarely if ever mentioned in usual textbooks.  These Americans… have - for the most part - been overlooked in the writings of our history, because they were non-white, or non-male… People Worth Hearing About attempts to bring the names, personalities, problems, and accomplishments… of these outstanding “overlooked” Americans, living and dead, into thousands of classrooms via radio and tape.”

Minnesota School of the Air teacher guide for the program "People Worth Hearing About" for the 1971-1972 season.

In the 1971-1972 season, a unit devoted specifically to women was included for the first time.  Eight women were selected as subjects for the episodes.   Examples include Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, women’s rights advocate Susan B. Anthony, and Maria Sanford, the first female professor at the University of Minnesota.

Girling introduced the section on women in the teachers’ guide:

“Dear Teacher,

In America, women’s struggle for equality of citizenship, the right of self-determination, the right to vote, own property, and receive equal pay for equal work, has a history over one hundred years long. And it still continues.

Few American school children ever have the opportunity to learn of the tremendous contributions women have made to our Nation, because these contributions are either omitted entirely in our textbooks, or treated in an abbreviated fashion, minimized out of proportion to their true value.

While inequalities are slowly being corrected in texts and school materials,

By Erinn Aspinall

U of MN student paints the bridge next to the panel for the Bio-Medical Library. Image circa 1990, courtesy of the University Archives.

If your day brings you across the Washington Avenue Bridge, be sure to check out the hundreds of original art panels that line the pedestrian walkway.

These panels change each fall as student groups and University departments are invited to participate in the  Paint the Bridge tradition that can be traced back to the early 1990s.

Libraries join in the fun

This year, the Libraries grabbed a panel on the North side of the bridge - right between the Japan Student Association and the Volunteer Tax Assistance Program.  

The Libraries Graphic Designer, Aaron Groh used a stencil and some paint to complete the 4 foot wide by 3 foot tall panel.   

“We had a lot of design ideas,” said Groh. “We ended up with three concepts that could work in the space and that could showcase just a few of the great things we did in the last year.”  

Makerspace tools make it possible

Graph Designer Aaron Groh prepares the vinyl stencil.

“Once we had our design concepts ready, I worked at one of the Libraries’ Makerspaces to make the stencils,” said Groh, who collaborated closely with Jonathan Koffel, Emerging Technology and Innovation Strategist.

Koffel leads the Bio-Medical Library Makerspace - a student driven space that provides tools and expertise to encourage learning and innovation.   

“We were able to use Aaron’s design to make a vinyl stencil using our Roland GS-24 cutter,” said Koffel. This machine uses a small knife to quickly and precisely cut designs out of a long roll of sticky vinyl.

Final "Paint the Bridge" panel for the University Libraries.

“It’s the same type of vinyl that you might see on laptops, the sides of vehicles or signs around campus,” Koffel added.    

“Printing the stencils was super easy,” said Groh. “Once they were cut, I carefully removed the extra vinyl pieces to reveal the design, and then I used transfer paper to move it off it’s backing,” he said.  

After the stencil was prepared, Groh was able to stick it to the bridge panel for painting.  

Watch as Aaron paint’s the bridge for the University Libraries.

Chef Sean Sherman presented at the 2018-2019 kickoff of the Friends Forum on October 16 at the Bell Museum. His topic: Reclaiming the Culture of Indigenous American Cuisine.

Sherman, Oglala Lakota, and founder of the company, The Sioux Chef, shared insights about Native American farming, harvesting, and cooking techniques, land stewardship, and cultural history.

The Friends Forum is sponsored by the University of Minnesota Friends of the Libraries. The October 16 event , which also served as the 2018 Kirschner Lecture — was co-sponsored by the Bell Museum. 

By Mark Engebretson

For Ryan Mattke, one of the most rewarding aspects of winning the Governor's Commendation Award at the Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium Conference, was meeting in person the many people who use MHAPO — the website that was key to winning the honor. 

"It's been really exciting to receive the award in such a public space, mostly because we've had users coming up and talking to me about the resource and about the site and how they use the historical aerial photographs," Mattke said. "To actually see and meet the people who consume the digital services that we provide is really exhilarating."

The Minnesota Historical Aerial Photographs Online website was developed over several years at the University Libraries and is an application that has drawn more than 250,000 users to the website over the last six years. MHAPO includes more than 100,000 digital copies of historical aerial photographs, mostly from between the 1920s and the 1990s, and they cover all 87 counties in Minnesota. The award, signed by Gov. Mark Dayton, was presented October 4 in Duluth. 

Recognition from community, Gov. Dayton

"It's recognition by the community and the governor about significant resources that are important to us as a community and as a state," said Dan Ross, Geographic Information Officer for the State of Minnesota. "In this case, the Borchert Library and the online mapping system for historical photos that they created is a resource that many, many, many users can go to and look at things like change over time."

Ross said that MHAPO and other geospatial data helps "improve our economy and save our environment" by providing tools for planners to choose the "best places to put everything from economic centers to a mall, or a family complex or a new state park."

Support for MHAPO is statewide

Andra Mathews, a GIS Specialist with the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, called MHAPO a one-of-a-kind resource. As a member of the Minnesota Geospatial Advisory Council, Mathews reviewed the nominations for the Governor's Award. 

"The letters of support for the Borchert Map Library nomination came from across the state, not only from organizations, but also from individuals," she said, noting MHAPO's significant statewide impact. "It reaches almost every area in our state with coverage and also with use."

A national model

In his nomination letter, William Craig, Associate Director Emeritus of the University of Minnesota's Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, referred to the Borchert Map Library as a pioneer and a national model.

The Borchert Map Library "has gone above and beyond their narrow mandate of being a repository of maps and photos for people to stop by and browse," he wrote. "It is collaborating with multiple government agencies to both preserve their photography and make it accessible to their staff. It is sharing those historic photographs with other agencies and the widest possible public by making them easy to discover and easy to access."

"I'm so grateful that the Borchert Library has this program of essentially taking care of all this historical imagery," said Mark Kotz, Chair of the Minnesota Geospatial Advisory Council, an organization with 24 members from all levels of government — including cities, counties, regional councils, tribal councils, the State of Minnesota, and federal agencies. "MHAPO has just a wealth of information that everyone in the geospatial community can use."

Woo hoo! Libraries receive warm greeting at UMN Homecoming Parade! Take 2 minutes and enjoy the fun!!

By Rebecca Toov

You are listening to U of M Radio on your Historic Dial!

President John F. Kennedy meets with newly-appointed United States Minister to Bulgaria, Eugenie M. Anderson in May 1962. Image ID: AR7272-A, image is in Public Domain. Original is available at https://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKWHP-AR7272-A.aspx.

Season 3: Episode 1. Women on the Air: Eugenie Anderson

You are listening to U of M Radio on Your Historic Dial podcast. Welcome to Season 3: Episode 1.

Hello again, this is Rebecca Toov, Collections Archivist at the University of Minnesota Archives.  This season, the podcast will follow the theme of the long-standing Libraries program, First Fridays.  Every First Friday of the month from October to May at 12:00 p.m. staff from Archives and Special Collections present archival materials from the collections at Elmer L. Andersen Library.

The program theme for this year is: We Are Here: Women in the Archives. The description states, “With women comprising half the population, their accomplishments and voices are found throughout the archives. Yet do their stories regularly rise to the top? The 2018-2019 First Fridays season will focus on female-identifying stories – the firsts, the unsung, the leaders, the marginalized, those who found their way to a place at the table and those who may never have managed to get there.”  

For the 3rd season of U of M Radio on Your Historic Dial Podcast, we will present to you “Women on the Air,” a supplement to the First Fridays program.   Episodes will feature radio dramatizations and interviews with and about women in University and Minnesota history. We will also share broadcasts on such topics as equal rights and continuing education for women.  The voices of the female performers, producers, and program directors at University radio station KUOM will also be heard.

Our first episode features a woman who achieved many notable firsts, a political leader who used her voice to better her community, implement and sustain diplomacy, and develop her own potentiality: Eugenie Anderson, the first woman to be named a United States Ambassador.  

A profile of Eugenie’s personal and professional life was featured on KUOM on “Minnesota Honor Roll,” a program of The Minnesota School of the Air - a series of educational radio programs designed for school-age children to listen to in the classroom. Eugenie’s profile originally aired on February 24, 1978.  Let’s listen...

Broadcast Transcript

[Band music]

Introduction: Sinclair Lewis, author, Charles Lindbergh, aviator, The Mayo Brothers, physicians, Lew Ayres, actor, Eugenie Anderson, United States ambassador... [voice fades, music plays up]

Announcer: Minnesota Honor Roll: stories from the lives of Minnesota’s outstanding men and women. Here is our story for today about United States ambassador, Mrs. Eugenie Anderson.

[Orchestral music]

KUOM's Minnesota School of the Air "Minnesota Honor Roll" transcript page for radio program on Eugenie Anderson.

Narrator: Among the very high officials of the United States government, there are some who do their work not in Washington D.C., but in the capital cities of other nations. These officials are called ambassadors. Ambassadors have the job of representing the United States in the country to which they are assigned. The ambassadors go to live in the other country, and, in short,

University of Minnesota Libraries celebrated the 50th anniversary of the opening of Wilson Library on October 1, 2018. Take 2 minutes and watch the video!

September 13 was a busy day for the Libraries. It was one more day in a week filled with tours of library spaces. As a partner with the College of Liberal Arts’ First-Year Experience program, the Libraries hosted nearly a thousand students over 50 tours that week alone — helping CLA students complete their course, CLA 1001. 

“We want to get students into our spaces so they see what’s available to them,” said Kate Peterson, Undergraduate Services Librarian for the Libraries. “But we also take the opportunity to let these first-year students know about our online resources and other library tools and services that can help them meet their academic goals.”

But September 13 just seemed a bit busier. It was. Along with five tours of Wilson Library, two tours of the archival caverns beneath Andersen Library, and one tour of the Bio-Medical Library, here’s what else happened that day: 

* A Pop-Up Library at the UCard Fair outside of Coffman Union, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

* A workshop in Magrath: Expanding your reach: How to give your best presentation 

* PAWS (from Boynton) at Wilson Library from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

* The East Asian Library Open House in Wilson 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

* Think Like a Researcher workshop in Nolte from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.

* A Pop-Up Library for the Queer & Trans Kickoff outside of Coffman, 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.

“The annual U Card Fair is definitely a highlight in our back-to-school outreach programming,” Philip Dudas, Information Services Manager. “A pop-up library is the perfect fit for an event that showcases all the things students can do with their U cards — remember that your U Card is your library card — and it’s a great way for us to reach the students who haven’t come into our buildings yet in creative and engaging ways.”

The video above captures just a few things happening that day around the Libraries.