Read This Book!

Collaboration involved Minneapolis, Libraries, MHS

The University of Minnesota Libraries has completed digitization of more than 4,500 historical aerial photos of Minneapolis, as part of a collaborative effort with the City of Minneapolis and the Minnesota Historical Society. All of the large-scale, detailed aerial photos, dating back to 1938, are freely available for viewing by the public.

The Minneapolis photos, provided by the City of Minneapolis, were scanned and added to the Libraries’ existing Minnesota Historical Aerial Photographs Online collection, which includes more than 121,000 aerial photographs from around the state that date back to 1923.  The Libraries will preserve the original photographs and provided the city with the digital images.

Photos are used by students, public

The photos are used for research by students on campus said Ryan Mattke, head of the John R. Borchert Library. For example, he said, students in the department of Landscape Architecture might use the photos as part of a field study or site design project.

“So, they can look at a particular site in the city of Minneapolis and see how that site has changed over time, what different ways it was used, and then use that in their class work to project into the future what they think the site should be used for.”

But they're also available for use by the public, including history buffs interested in seeing how an area of the city has changed over time.

Mattke used the west bank campus of the University of Minnesota as an example, showing how the area was primarily a residential district with single-family homes back in 1938. By the mid-1960s that changed as University buildings, including Wilson Library, replaced the houses and the Washington Avenue Bridge was re-aligned during a reconstruction.

City: Project was a true win-win partnership

“I think that this project is a great collaboration among the City of Minneapolis, the Minnesota Historical Society, and the University of Minnesota,” he said, adding that the three groups worked together “to make sure that these historical resources are not only preserved and archived but also available to the public for use by anybody.”

“Because of our partnership with the Borchert Map Library, we’ve been successful at providing digital images online to give immediate benefits to the community, while ensuring proper long-term care of the original artifacts,” said City Clerk Casey Carl, city of Minneapolis. “This project was a true win-win partnership for the city and the community.”

View Minnesota Historical Aerial Photographs Online

Our librarians provide recommendations on good reads for the summer, in this episode of "Read This Book!" from the University of Minnesota Libraries.

Carolyn Bishoff, Megan Kocher, and Lisa Von Drasek discuss:

* “Backyard Ballistics” by William Gurstelle

* "The Vegetarian Epicure” by Anna Thomas

* “Undertow” by Michael Buckley

* “The True Meaning of Smekday” by Adam Rex

Bishoff is a science librarian at Walter Library, Kocher is the curator of the Doris S. Kirschner Cookbook Collection at Magrath Library, and Von Drasek is the curator of the Children's Literature Research Collections at Elmer L. Andersen Library. This is part 1 of 2 in our summer reading series. 

Noted cookbook author and internationally acclaimed proponent of vegetarian cooking, Deborah Madison will be the featured guest at the Friends' annual celebration. Formerly the manager of the farmers market in Santa Fe and co-founder of the Monte del Sol Edible Kitchen Garden, Madison has a long-abiding passion for local/regional foods and those who produce them.

She has worked as a chef, teacher, consultant, and cookbook author. Her first restaurant job was at Chez Panisse, after which she opened Greens restaurant in San Francisco, one of the earliest farm-to-table restaurants. She is the author of 14 books, including Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from Americas Farmers’ Markets, The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, and Vegetable Literacy.

Michael Dennis Browne, poet and University of Minnesota Emeritus Professor, read from his new book, “The Voices,” and Kathy Saltzman Romey led a musical performance by the University Singers at the annual Pankake Poetry Reading event on April 16. 

Curator Linnea Anderson and Exhibit Designer Darren Terpstra discuss the University of Minnesota Libraries exhibit, "The Job is Never Done": Fifty Years of Documenting Social Welfare History. The exhibit runs through May 22, 2015 at Elmer L. Andersen Library on the west bank of the University's Twin Cities campus.

What: “The Job Is Never Done”: Fifty Years of Documenting Social Welfare History

When: Through May 22, 2015,

Where: Elmer L. Andersen Library Gallery

Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.;

Wednesday and Thursday: 8:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

“The Job Is Never Done” celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Social Welfare History Archives, founded in 1964 by University of Minnesota Emeritus Professor, Clarke Chambers. The exhibit documents the ongoing work of the social services in the United States and of the Social Welfare History Archives. Materials from the collections highlight the development of the social work profession and its efforts to improve the lives of individuals and communities.

The exhibit also tells the behind-the-scenes story of collecting and caring for the historical records of the individuals, organizations, and communities that shaped the history of reform and social service.

Sally Wingert visited our caverns recently, searching the Guthrie Theater archives to learn how to wear her hair to play Gertrude in William Shakespeare's play, "Hamlet." She found what she was looking for — a costume bible from the Guthrie's 1963 production, starring Jessica Tandy.

A costume bible is a book created by a theater designer that provides sketches and fabric swatches about the costumes for a particular production. But the historic Guthrie Theater costume bibles are getting older and are in danger of being lost to future generations of actors, directors, and historians.

Take that 1963 Hamlet costume bible, for example: The pages are becoming brittle, the bindings are breaking, and the fabric swatches are falling off pages. The University Libraries has the expertise to fix it and preserve it, but it costs money.

That's where you can help. A gift of $20 or more can help to restore and preserve the 1963 Hamlet costume bible. 

Can you help us?

Go to our giving page

In this episode of Read This Book!, Lisa Von Drasek highlights the work of Sharon Creech, the Newbery Medal winner who also will be accepting the University of Minnesota's Kerlan Award on April 18.

In this episode of "Read This Book!," Tia Gardner discusses books and other materials from the University of Minnesota's Givens Collection, which feature collaborations among African American Women.

Gardner is a graduate research fellow with the Archie Givens, Sr., Collection of African American Literature.

The materials are available for viewing, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., in the Elmer L. Andersen Library at the University of Minnesota. Contact Cecily Marcus, curator, at [email protected] or 612-624-8812 to make an appointment.

Kaia Sievert discusses three science fiction books in this episode of Read This Book!, brought to you by the University of Minnesota Libraries.

The books are:

* "The Three-Body Problem" by Cixin Liu

* "Station Eleven" by Emily St. John Mandel

* "The Martian" by Andy Weir

The books are part of the Robert and Virginia McCollister Collection for Contemporary Literature at Wilson Library, University of Minnesota. The collection enhances and contributes to the University of Minnesota Libraries by offering a browsing collection of current popular literature for use by the University’s faculty, students, and staff. The collection promotes reading for pleasure and personal enrichment and is housed near the main entrance of Wilson Library.

The collection is maintained through a contract with Baker & Taylor’s Book Leasing program, and contains a base of 200 books. The leasing program provides the ability to offer a continually rotating collection of the most noted in-demand literary book titles.

Read This Book! - Books to Give

University of Minnesota Librarians discuss the books they plan to give and the ones they'd love to get as gifts this holiday season in a very special episode of Read This Book! Genres covered include children's literature, mysteries, cookbooks, and cool science.

Lisa Von Drasek, curator of the University's Children's Literature Research Collections, leads the discussion. She's joined by Tim Johnson, curator of the U's Rare Books and Special Collections and the Sherlock Holmes Collection, Science Librarian Carolyn Bishoff, and Megan Kocher, curator of the Doris Kirschner Cookbook Collection.

Recommended books include:

* May Day: A Murder-By-Month Mystery

By Jess Lourey

* Sherlock Holmes and the Ice Palace Murders

By Larry Millet

* Dear Committee Members

By Julie Schumacher

* The Science of Interstellar

By Kip Thorne

* The Girls of Atomic City

By Denise Kiernan

* A subscription to the magazine "Make" 

* Vegetable Literacy

By Deborah Madison

* Smitten With Squash

By Amanda Paa

* Gluten-Free Girl Every Day

By Shauna James Ahern with Daniel Ahern

* Tales from the Brothers Grimm

Selected and Illustrated by Lizbeth Zwerger

* An Illustrated Treasury of Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

Illustrated by Anastasiya Archipova

* The Right Word

By Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet

* Animalium

Curated by Katie Scott and Jenny Broom

More about our collections

Want to know more about our collections? Click the links below or contact one of the he librarians featured in this episode of Read This Book!

* Rare Books and Special Collections

* Sherlock Holmes Collection

* Children's Literature Research Collections

* Kirschner Cookbook Collection blog

* Unique Science Collections in Walter Library

* Archives and Special Collections