Books in the Public Domain

This is some news to be thankful about, and possibly to ring in the new year!  A lot of books are now entering the public domain here in the U.S.  For 20 years this process was frozen thanks to the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 (also known as the Mickey Mouse Protection Act and Sonny Bono Act).

The process of new books coming into copyright began in January 2019, for titles with a publication year of 1923.   And this coming January we’ll get another installment for titles published in 1924.

The HathiTrust public domain content, an archive of publicly available books numbering in the millions, has been fairly static for a number of years.  However, the number of public domain titles in HathiTrust have increased by 11% (!) and the number of 1923 titles in the public domain jumped by 313%.  Keep in mind that this applies to music and songs too!  In fact, here is a list of holiday carols that shows which songs are in the public domain. Be sure to check this if you’re making any social videos featuring holiday music.

This appears to be a clear sign of what we have to look forward to in coming years!


A “New” Chant for Christmastide

By Doreen Simonsen
Humanities and Fine Arts Librarian

Image Comparing 15th Century Chant Manuscripts

Somewhere in Europe in the 15th century, a choir sang an Alleluia followed by an Offertory on the Feast of the Holy Innocents on December 28th. A page from a book that contained parts of these songs was discovered last summer in the Vault of the Mark O. Hatfield Library. We do not know who donated this manuscript page to the library, but through the help of faculty members in the Music and Classical Studies Departments at Willamette University and elsewhere, we have been able to reveal its secrets and show how it relates to the holiday season.

Image of Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

Psalter
France, Paris, between 1495 and 1498
MS M.934 fol. 141r
Morgan Library and Museum

This large sheet of vellum (parchment prepared from animal skin) is 20 ⅞ inches high by 15 ⅔ inches wide and has neumatic (plainsong) notation on a four-line staff with texts in Latin. Chants are written in neumes, which are notes sung on a single syllable.

There is a large Illuminated initial in the lower left-hand corner of second page. (To see how this page and illumination was created, please watch this excellent video, Making Manuscripts, from the Getty Museum.) The reason for the large size of this page was that it was meant to be read by several members of a choir at one time. The expense of creating manuscript books meant that it would be more economical to create one large book for several people to use rather than several smaller books for each person in the choir to hold.

Here is an illustration from a Psalter (A book of Psalms) showing a group of clerics singing from a large book with musical notation, similar in size and format to our manuscript.

Image of manuscript fragmentIdentifying the Texts:
Professors Robert Chenault and Ortwin Knorr of Willamette University’s Department of Classical Studies identified the texts found on these two pages.

This first page (or recto page) contains the following words and word fragments:
…tis eius; laudate eum in firmamen-

And the second page (or verso page) contains the rest of the phrase:
to virtutis eius.

These phrases combine to form the end of this Bible Verse:
Alleluia. Laudate Dominum in sanctis eius; laudate eum in firmamento virtutis eius.

 

 

Image of manuscript fragmentPsalm 150, Verse 1 (King James Version) Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.

At the bottom of the second (verso) page, they identified the words: Anima no- which Dr. Richard Robbins (University of Minnesota-Duluth) identified as belonging to this verse:

Anima nostra sicut passer erepta est de laqueo venantium; laqueus contritus est, et nos liberati
sumus.

Psalm 123, Verse 7 (King James Version) Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.

The two texts are separated by a red abbreviation of the word Offertory.

Identifying the Music
Professor Hector Aguëro of the Music Department at Willamette University shared images of our manuscript with his colleague Professor Richard Robbins, Director of Choral Activities at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and a scholar of choral music, especially Italian sacred music of the early Baroque.

Dr. Robbins identified our manuscript as possibly being part of a Gradual, which is a book containing chants used in the Catholic Mass throughout the year. Robbins identified the first text and melody as the end of an alleluia verse, specifically Laudate Deum (mode IV). The second melody is an offertory on the text Anima Nostra (mode II).

Both of these chants can be found in the Liber Usualis, a book of commonly used Gregorian chants in the Catholic tradition.

Image of Alleluia Chant

The notation on the library’s manuscript starts at the red line in the Alleluia above, and it ends at the red line in the Offertory Anima No|stra below.

Image of Anima Nostra Chant

You can hear a performance and follow the texts of both chants here:

Alleluia, Laudate Deum
Offertory: Anima Nostra

The text of our missal differs from that of the Liber Usualis because of its early date. It was likely written in the 15th century, and, as Dr. Robbin explains, that means it was written before the Council of Trent (1545–63) codified the Catholic Mass and the order of the chants. There was a great deal of variety in Missals before the Council of Trent, so one cannot be sure when these melodies were used during the liturgical year. However, according to Dr. Robbins, these tunes match the tunes that appear in the Holy Innocents / Epiphanytide sections in post-Trent missals.

Ornate illuminated letter D shows Jesus riding Donkey colt

Dr. Robbins also pointed out that the illuminated letter A is ornate, which would have also been more appropriate for a Christmas use. The fancy illuminated letter A is probably also the reason we only have just one sheet from this gradual. These pages could contain ornate decorations and for this reason, they were frequently removed from graduals and treated as single artworks. Here you can see similar gradual pages from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And this page shows the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, all within the large initial D.

Teaching with a 15th Century Manuscript
The best thing about discovering this “new” manuscript in the vault was being able to share it with the students and faculty of Willamette University. In September 2019, as part of his Music History I course, Professor Aguëro had his Music History students transcribe the music written on the library’s Chant manuscript. Here you can see them displaying their work. It was such a delight to have students work with a manuscript from the library’s Rare Books Collection.

Image of Professor Professor Aguëro and his Music History I class

From left to right: Ethan Frank, Matt Elcombe, Professor Aguëro, Sam Strawbridge, Kate Grobey, and Sophie Gourlay

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Professors Robert Chenault and Ortwin Knorr of the Department of Classical Studies and Professor Hector Aguëro of the Department of Music at Willamette University, and especially to Professor Richard Robbins, Director of Choral Activities at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Their combined scholarship helped us explicate the text and illuminate the value and beauty of this seasonal manuscript.

 

Bibliography

Abbey of Solesmes. The Liber Usualis 1961. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/TheLiberUsualis1961. Accessed 27 Nov. 2019.

Anima Nostra Sicut Passer Erepta Est. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UrXb2QUSsI. Accessed 27 Nov. 2019.

“Bartolomeo Di Domenico Di Guido | Manuscript Leaf with Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday in an Initial D, from a Gradual | Italian | The Met.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/469046. Accessed 27 Nov. 2019.

Chant Manuscript, ca. 15th Century. https://libmedia.willamette.edu/commons/item/id/163. Accessed 27 Nov. 2019.

Council of Trent. Sacrosancti et œcumenici Concillii Tridentini Pavlo III, Ivlio III, et Pio IV, PP. MM. celebrati canones et decreta. Apud Cornab Egmond et Socios, 1644.

“Council of Trent | Definition, Summary, Significance, Results, & Facts.” Encyclopedia Britannicahttps://www.britannica.com/event/Council-of-Trent. Accessed 27 Nov. 2019.

Gregorian Chant Notation. http://www.lphrc.org/Chant. Accessed 27 Nov. 2019.

Laudate Deum – Gregorian Chant, Catholic Hymns. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaVnBFhiwqU. Accessed 27 Nov. 2019.

Making Manuscripts. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuNfdHNTv9o&feature=youtu.be. Accessed 27 Nov. 2019.

Psalter, MS M.934 Fol. 141r – Images from Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts – The Morgan
Library & Museum. http://ica.themorgan.org/manuscript/page/120/77003. Accessed 27 Nov. 2019

Robbins, Richard. “Re: Newly discovered 15th c. Chant manuscript.” Received by Hector Aguero, 22 Aug. 2019.


Salvage Collage: A Sort of Magic

The new exhibit in the freestanding cases on the second floor of the library is courtesy of Dayna Collins, a former Hatfield Library staffer.  In this exhibit, Dayna has taken discarded books and breathed new life into them by creating wonderful collage pieces using different parts of the books. The exhibit includes books in various stages of deconstruction as well as finished art works. The exhibit will run through January 20, 2020.

 

Dayna Collins artist’s statement:

Dayna Collins has always loved old books. She hyperventilates at the sight of books which are stained, defaced, torn or marked up. She rips battered books apart, reclaiming their faded fragments, and creates collages using only materials she has excavated. Dayna’s mixed media pieces reflect the passage of time, repurposing the scraps that are worn and weathered, transforming the aged and tattered pieces into something unexpected and beautiful, celebrating their fragile decay.

Dayna J. Collins
www.alleyartstudio.com


Tree of Giving Book Drive

Our 15th annual Tree of Giving will take place Nov 18th through Dec 20th.  We’re asking for you help to change the lives of children by donating new or slightly used children’s books for Washington Elementary School. Clothing donations such as hats, gloves and scarves are also welcome.

Books can literally change the life of child.  They help develop literacy skills, inspire imagination and creativity, increase critical thinking skills, bridge language gaps for bilingual students, and so much more!  These are just a few of the books on the school library wish list:

 

– Disney books in Spanish (e.g. Disney Collection of StoriesAladdinLion KingToy Story)

– Anything with unicorns (e.g. Keepers of the Lost Cities)

– Puppies and kitten books (in Spanish)

– Where’s Waldo (or other search & find books)

– Weird But True

– Lego books (themed & how-to-build)

– National Geographic Fact Books and Almanacs

– STEAM Books (ScienceTechnologyEngineeringArchitectureMathematics)

– Language Books (FrenchRussianSign Language, etc.)

– Picture Books in Russian and Spanish

 

For additional info, visit:  https://libguides.willamette.edu/tree-of-giving.

Please drop donations off at the Hatfield and Law Libraries, Willamette Store, and Bistro.  Questions and comments can be directed to John Repplinger (jrepplin@willamette.edu).  Thank you for your support!

 

Tree of Giving book drive poster


College Colloquium Guides

Each fall our librarians put together amazing web pages for each College Colloquium freshman class to customize library resources and services.  The topics vary from class to class, and represents the interests of the faculty instructor who teaches the course.  We’d like to highlight some of these library guides (click here to view all 27 of our library college colloquium guides).

 

Harry Potter and the Ethics of Difference

Harry Potter is undoubtedly a cultural phenomenon which all stemmed from that original magical series. Part of what makes this book series so interesting is that it addresses social (un)justice through the eyes of the main character Harry Potter (HP), through his interactions with the cruel Dursley family in the Muggle world, to his dealings with classroom bullying, and a corrupt wizarding government. This Harry Potter-themed course investigates the social hierarchy of the wizarding world and how it overlaps with the real world.

Our librarians had a lot of fun pulling together useful and fun resources to support this course.  References to HP are woven throughout this resource, such as a Harry Potter name generator, unofficial HP recipes and cookbooks, popular mobile games (e.g. Wizards Unite and Hogwarts Mysteries), related books (e.g. The Psychology of Harry Potter, and Legilimens–the spell that allows wizards to see into another person’s mind), quotes from the characters (“It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be,” Albus Dumbledore, Goblet of Fire), HP-inspired conceptual art (from Van Gogh styles to stain glass and anime art styles), and ideas for pumpkin carving.  Even the tabbed pages are labelled with well-known spells from this classic series!

 

Asia in Oregon 

This colloquium explores the experiences of people of Asian heritage who call Oregon home and examines Asian influences on the land and culture of the state.  One of the fun aspects of this class are the field trips to local archives to experience first-hand (primary) sources in Archives and Special Collections.

The library guide for this course highlights a nice selection of Asian-related books (e.g. Encyclopedia of Japanese American History, and Roots and Reflections: South Asians in the Pacific Northwest) and films, including feature films (e.g. Snow Falling on Cedars), Asian-American documentaries (e.g. Between Two Worlds: The Hmong Shaman in America), and Oregon-based documentaries (e.g. 7,500 Miles to Redemption). The guide also features resources from our Archives including Willamette’s newspaper The Collegian, The Campus Photograph Collection (2,700+ photos of Willamette’s campus), The Willamette Scene (alumni publication), the Wallulah (Willamette yearbook), and the Germaine Louise Fuller Papers which offers the designs for Willamette’s Japanese Garden.  Willamette also has a long and rich history with the Tokyo International University of America (TIUA), and the library has the archival collections for TIUA (1973-2016) and the Barry Duell TIU collection (1975-2015).

 

Games: Design, Strategy, Philosophy, & Society

Games come in an almost endless array of strategies, goals, designs, etc. In this colloquium, students create their own games as a final project.  During the semester, they learn to play a variety of games, some classic games and many that students probably haven’t even heard of that push boundaries of design and play experience.

The guide for this course features a small selection of cool, board game-related books from our collection, such as Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals, Games and Decision Making, and The Mathematics of Games and Gambling.  Some articles from the Academic Search Premier database have been highlighted (e.g. Manipulation in Board Game Interactions: Being a Sporting Player; and Using the Board Game Borel to illustrate probability calculations).  The “Trivial Pursuit Fun Stuff” page highlights a website that lists Board Games by Decade as well as Collectible Games between 1900-1950.

 

Hidden Bodies of Art

Art of the human body goes back several millennia, even prehistorically such as the caves of Lascaux, France. Each culture expresses their values, beliefs and conventions through their artistic renditions of the human body, such as the Renaissance depictions of the highly idealized body or sometimes the complete absence of the body as is often the case in abstract art.

Since the human body is a classic area of study, there are many outstanding books and encyclopedias on or related to this topic, some of which are included in the library guide for this college colloquium and include The Grove Encyclopedia of Classical Art and Architecture, Michelangelo and the Reinvention of the Human Body, and Despotic Bodies and Transgressive Bodies.  There is a useful list of Library of Congress general call numbers (classifications) which allows users to browse our book collection. This guide also lists films from our collection: Feature films (e.g. Warm Bodies), Documentaries (e.g. Cave of Forgotten Dreams), Related Arts films (e.g. Against the Odds: the Artists of the Harlem Renaissance), and Foreign Language films (e.g. The Skin I Live In). All of our colloquium guides include a list of helpful databases to use when looking for articles, a page for interlibrary loan explaining how to request materials not available at Willamette, and a citation style guide appropriate to the class.

Knitting Culture

There is a lot that goes into knitting, from the procurement of materials to the end product. Students really learn how to knit in this class as well as examine the impact and value of knitting through a multidisciplinary approach of history, fashion, politics, science, psychology, and philosophy.

This library guide has cleverly used a knitting theme; its tabbed pages use knitting terminology (e.g. “purlwise” for books, “whipstick” for articles, and “frogging” for fun stuff).  Also, instead of the standard Facebook logo, a knitted blue letter “F” is used, and a knitted stocking cap with an American flag is included with the course description. The page for books offers some wonderful titles from our collection such as Knitting School: the Complete Guide to Becoming a Confident Knitter, Crochet One-Skein Wonders: 101 Projects from Crocheters Around the World, and The Close Knit Circle: American Knitters Today.  Some of the fun things listed on the Frogging page are YouTube videos of how to turn wool into yarn by hand, and how to change yarn colors.  Local yarn and fabric shops are lists (Teaselwick Wools), as well as popular thread-themed games (Unravel and Run Sackboy! Run!), and the highly rated Ravelry.com website for knitters and crocheters which provides free patterns and tips.

 


Hatfield Halloween Hunt 2019

Congratulations to Max Turetsky & Emmy Kuniy, winners of the $15 Bistro gift cards.  Their names were drawn from those who found the five clue words throughout our library and website to solve the Hatfield Halloween Hunt riddle (below).

Thank you everyone for participating this year!

 

 

Five clues have been hidden throughout the library and its website for the Halloween Hunt which runs October 28th to the 31st.  Complete a specific task before discovering a hidden word. Collect all five words and then arrange them to solve the riddle below.  Drop off this completed form at the circulation desk by midnight on October 31st for a small prize and a chance to win a $15 Bistro gift card!  Blitz with an umbrella

Clue #1: Blitz loves books about folktales.  Find these books in the 2nd floor stacks.

Clue #2: Blitz has an online Library Guide (LibGuide) for his College Colloquium course called “Blitz’s College Colloquium.”  Find it.

Clue #3: Blitz’s Prof. Meadowlark placed the book “Songs of the Bearcat” on reserve.  Find it.

Clue #4: Blitz found a historical photo of ghosts! Find it in the Archives (2nd floor).

Clue #5: Blitz wrote the biology thesis “Binturong of Willamette.” It is online in the Academic Commons. Find it.

The riddle: Why did Blitz miss the Haunted Halls?  
(Oct 31th at 4-7pm in Montag.  https://events.willamette.edu/event/haunted-halls)

Blitz was  ____________    ____________   ____________    ____________    ____________

Your name & email:  ________________________     ___________________________

For questions or comments, contact John Repplinger (jrepplin@willamette.edu


Charles E Larson Chemawa Indian School Collection

Max Turetsky, the Sybil Westenhouse Intern for Spring 2019, was engaged this past semester with the work of digitizing and creating metadata for the Charles E. Larsen collection. See brief description below along with link to the digital collection and link to the finding aid.

The Larsen collection, measuring 2 linear feet, is our most used manuscript collection. Larsen’s granddaughter, Mary Ann Youngblood, donated the collection and has been supportive of getting the collection digitized. We’re thrilled to be able to make these important materials available to the public and want to acknowledge Max’s wonderful work on this project. Thank you, Max!

Charles E Larsen Chemawa Indian School Digital Collection
Charles E Larsen Chemawa Indian School collection (finding aid)

Brief collection description:

The Charles E. Larsen Chemawa Indian School collection is a compilation of Chemawa Indian School and Northwest Native American history dating from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century. Materials in this collection give a look at student and employee life on the Chemawa campus. This collection includes newspaper clippings, correspondence, photographs, handbooks, graduation lists, and historical monographs written by Larsen.

There are two scrapbooks that will be digitized this fall and that will complete the collection. 

Please contact Sara Amato (samato@willamette.edu) or Mary McRobinson (mmcrobin@willamette.edu) if you have any questions. This is an amazing collection!


Norma Paulus Memorial

There will be a memorial for Norma Paulus Saturday (4/27) here at Willamette University in Smith Auditorium at 2:00 p.m. with reception to follow in the Cat Cavern.  The event is open to the public. 
 
Here are two nice articles on Norma Paulus and her connection to Willamette: 
 
The Hatfield Archives does have Norma Paulus’ papers.  They are available to be viewed by appointment Monday-Friday 9 am – 12 pm and 1 pm – 4 pm.  There is a digital finding aid and some of the scrapbooks can be viewed online (or from the finding aid) as well.
 
Questions can be directed to archives@willamette.edu.

Guest Lecture, Professor Dana Frank

On Tuesday evening, April 9, at 7:00pm Professor Dana Frank from the University of California at Santa Cruz will discuss the crisis in Honduras that is fueling immigration to the U.S.  She will be speaking in the Hatfield Room. This event is sponsored by International Studies, Latin American Studies, and History.  We hope to see you there.

Why are the Migrants Fleeing Honduras?  Resistance, Terror, and the United States in the Aftermath of the Coup.

Dana Frank will discuss her new book, The Long Honduran Night: Resistance, Terror, and the United States in the Aftermath of the Coup, which examines Honduras since the 2009 coup that deposed democratically-elected President Manual Zelaya.  In the book, she interweaves her personal experiences in post-coup Honduras and in the U.S. Congress with a larger analysis of the coup regime and its ongoing repression, Honduran opposition movements, U.S. policy in support of the regime, and the Congressional challenges to that policy.  Her book helps us understand the root causes of the immigrant caravans of Hondurans leaving for the U.S., and the destructive impact of U.S. policy.

Dana Frank is the Professor of History Emerita at the University of California, Santa Cruz.  Her books include Bananeras: Women Transforming the Banana Unions of Latin America, which focuses on Honduras, and the Buy American: The Untold Story of Economic Nationalism.  Her writings on human rights and U.S. Policy in post-coup Honduras have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Houston Chronicle, The Nation, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Politico Magazine, and many other publications, and she has been interviewed by the Washington Post, New Yorker, New York Times, National Public Radio, Univsion, Latino U.S.A, regularly on Democracy Now!, and on other outlets.  Professor Frank has testified about Honduras before the U.S. House of Representatives, the California Assembly, and the Canadian Parliament.

 

(Content originally from campus email annoucement.)


Hallie Ford Literary Series: Justin Taylor

Please join us for the final event in the Spring 2019 Hallie Ford Literary Series at Willamette University, a reading by fiction writer Justin Taylor, plus a celebration of the winners of this year’s Frank H. Newell Creative Writing Prizes. The event will take place on Thursday, April 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the Hatfield Room of Willamette’s library and is free and open to the public. Books will be for sale courtesy of the Willamette Store. Justin Taylor Image

Justin Taylor is the author of two story collections, Flings and Everything Here Is the Best Thing Ever, as well as a novel, The Gospel of Anarchy. His newest book, Riding with the Ghost, will be published in 2020. His stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in some of the most prestigious venues in the nation, including The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, Harper’s, The Sewanee Review, and n+1. Justin is currently the 2018-19 Mark & Melody Teppola Distinguished Visiting Professor at Willamette, teaching courses in creative writing and English literature, and he serves as the fiction editor of the Literary Review.

Here’s how Publisher’s Weekly describes Justin’s book Flings: “Contemporary, intelligent, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. These stories, by turns witty and piercing, together form an uncommon portrait of the human heart.”

Read an interview with Justin here: https://fictionwritersreview.com/interview/guided-by-voices-an-interview-with-justin-taylor/

Prior to Justin’s reading, we will celebrate the winners of this year’s Frank H. Newell Creative Writing Prizes, for which Justin served as a judge. The winners will receive their prizes and read brief excerpts from their winning stories:

First place: Claire Alongi, for “A Selective Investigation of the Causes and Effects of Keraunographic Markings Upon a Teenage Subject (Female)”

Second place: Kevin Alexander, for “The Field Study”

Third place: Emily Korn, for “A Word for Change”

About Frank H. Newell:

Mr. Newell graduated from Willamette University in 1949, and subsequently enjoyed a 58-year run in the newspaper and broadcast business. He got his start at Salem’s Capital Journal, where he began in the advertising department. Over the years, he worked his way up through the ranks, and ultimately served as publisher of several news outlets across the nation over his long and successful career. Mr. Newell did not slow down in retirement, however, and at 93, saw his first novel published. He has long had a love for fiction writing, with a particular emphasis on short stories, and wants to foster this interest in future generations of Willamette University students.