New Library Website

Our University libraries staff has been working diligently over the past five months to bring the Hatfield library website and the PNCA Albert Solheim library website together. The team considered the needs of all communities in order to create something that would increase access, simplify workflows, and allow for greater collaboration between libraries. 

New Hatfield Website

The fruits of that labor has paid off with this sparkling new website. This homepage will be the central hub for patrons’ needs on both campuses. Many thanks to Michael Spalti, Associate University Librarian for Systems, for coordinating this effort and implementing the new site. Also thank you to Shaleigh Westphall, Reference & Instruction Librarian (PNCA), for the design work on the background. We hope you will spend some time getting familiar with the new site and we encourage you to send your feedback on the changes to our email: library@willamette.edu


Coming Soon to a Library Near You

The University Libraries aspire to a number of goals as we develop services, collections, and library spaces.  These goals include ensuring that you have access to high quality information as easily and efficiently as possible.  Means of doing this include providing access to our catalog, online periodicals, and databases, or simply communicating when you have items waiting, and when we are open.  It also includes sharing news like this blog entry. There are many ways to accomplish our goals; our web presence and using email are among the most prevalent methods we use. Mobile Phone Interface

As smart phones and tablets have become more sophisticated and ubiquitous, we see that most individuals on campus own one or the other (or both).  A national trend shows that many users of these devices would prefer to use a downloaded App rather than view a website in a mobile browser to accomplish their transaction goals such as checking a bank balance or seeing if a requested book is ready to be picked up.  The individual Apps that many of us use for banking are a perfect example of this behavior.  While the University Libraries have long tried to make our websites accessible to smaller devices, we have decided to take the next step and roll out a Library App using Ex Libris’ Library Mobile service.

The App will be available on iOS and Android devices, and it will allow you to choose your home library (Law, PNCA or MOHL), access many of our resources and services including the catalog, find our hours, read our blog, sign up for notifications, allow us to inform you of your account status, and much more.  We anticipate going into beta testing in the next couple of weeks so watch for further announcements, download the App, try it out, and let us know what you think.  We look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions!


Movies Used from WU’s Collection

By John Repplinger
Science Librarian, jrepplin@willamette.edu

Without cheating and looking below, can you guess how many videos are in our video collection? Can you guess what titles were in the top ten most used in the last ten years (2011-2020)?

The Hatfield Library’s video collection has grown and changed over the years. When VHS tapes were new technology, many libraries did not lend them due to possible damage or theft (yes, people would actually steal VHS tapes). However, the Hatfield Library helped set the trend by becoming one of the first libraries in the nation to lend movies.

Naturally, our collection has changed along with technology. DVDs and Blu-rays are more commonly used than their VHS predecessor (how many people do you know that own a VHS player?), which have in turn been superseded by popular streaming services such as Netflix, DisneyPlus, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Sling. Yet while this collection is not used as much as it has been in previous years, it still gets a fair amount of use and there are treasures in the collection that you can’t access through streaming services.

Maintaining a collection is important for keeping it fresh and useful, so when we periodically review the collection we examine usage data. Some interesting trends appear over time, such as the top checkouts of all time, specific genres and topics that are used most often, and surprise titles that had more use than expected.

Before delving into the nitty-gritty, here are some interesting general facts:

– There are nearly 10,000 titles in the audio video collection

– Roughly five thousand videos were used from this collection within the last ten years. That’s a good chunk of the collection!

– The combined total use in the past ten years is greater than 30,000 times!

– Over 900 titles averaged one use per year or more; 250 titles were used twice per year on average.

– Of the top 500 most used videos, only 9 titles that were VHS format. All the rest were DVDs.

– Out of the top 30 movies, half were animated movies.

 

Top Ten Audio-Visual Titles That Were Checked Out at Willamette in the Last Ten Years        

  1. Star Wars: the Complete Saga   248 uses
  2. Treme (the series)   128 uses
  3. The Wire: the Complete Series   109 uses
  4. Howl’s Moving Castle   103 uses
  5. Ratatouille   99 uses
  6. Seinfeld (the series)   91 uses
  7. Spirited Away   79 uses
  8. Castle in the Sky   78 uses
  9. Pirates of the Caribbean:
the Curse of the Black Pearl
  77 uses
  10. Great Speeches   68 uses    .

 

What is not shown in this small snapshot is that out of the top 30 movies, half were animated. The rest were a mix of drama, action/adventure, documentary, comedy, and musicals. This trend continues well into the ranks of most viewed movies including animation classics such as Toy Story, Ponyo, Up, Bambi, Shrek, and Coraline.

A related fact is that of the top 30 movies, nine were produced by Disney and nine were produced by Studio Ghibli, Japan’s equivalent to Disney. The rest were a mishmash of major producers, such as Warner, Universal, BBC, PBS and small productions.

As one moves down the list, a number of action and adventure movies start cropping up, with more drama, mystery and horror sprinkled in. Foreign language titles also become more prevalent, such as Hable con ella (Talk to her), Sin nombre (Nameless), Dekalog (The Decalogue), and Ying xiong (Hero). There are a number of book classics, such as Jane Austin’s Sense and Sensibility, Alex Haley’s Roots, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mocking Bird, and William Shakespeare’s MacBeth.

Undoubtedly someone will want to know where the Harry Potter movies falls. All combined, the Harry Potter series netted a total of 109 uses. And for the record, the Prisoner of Azkaban and Order of the Phoenix tied for the most popular of the series (also tied with eighteen other movies with 28 uses each). The Sorcerer’s Stone came next (26 uses), followed by Chamber of Secrets (22 uses), and rounding out the bottom with the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 & 2 and Goblet of Fire (1 use, and 2 uses each respectively). Unfortunately, our copy of the Half-Blood Prince was lost and has not been replaced yet, so this does not settle the debate over which is the best movie in the Harry Potter series.

Most of these titles would not be considered academic unless the movies were being analyzed for some type of research, such as the portrayal of insects in movies for a senior thesis. So these are likely viewed for recreation rather than educational use. One could speculate that the biggest users are faculty and staff who have young children (this is an informal observation since I’ve personally seen faculty and staff checkout these materials more often than students, plus I may have tipped the scale with more than my fair share of fun animation movies).

So since Oregon winter weather is typically dismal, cold, and wet, why not curl up with a blanket and movie from our collection. You could even challenge yourself to watch some of the top ranked movies as indicated by the International Movie Database (IMDb).


Shakespeare’s Second Folio

By Doreen Simonsen
Humanities & Fine Arts Librarian, dsimonse@willamette.edu

Folio Second Edition in Archives
“Dig those crazy hieroglyphics!”
“Pardon me sir, but are you referring to that copy of Shakespeare’s Second Folio which you have in your hand?”

This is how Betsy Perry started her article, “Vault Harbors $1000 Book,” in the January 23, 1959 issue of the Willamette Collegian about the library’s valuable rare books. The “hieroglyphics” were 17th century typesetting, which even 21st century students struggle to read. Typesetting issues are one of the factors that differentiate the Second Folio from its famous sibling, the First Folio, printed in 1623, by William Jaggard for Edward Blount, John Smethwick, and William Aspley. Of the 750 copies printed, only 235 copies of the First Folio remain today.

By 1632, William Jaggard and Edward Blount had died, and the copies of the First Folio had sold out. Thomas Cotes printed all the copies of the Second Folio for five different publishers: John Smethwick, William Aspley, Richard Hawkins, Richard Meighen, and Robert Allot. Each of these publishers owned the copyrights to different plays written by Shakespeare. John Smethwick held the copyright for Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Love’s Labour’s Lost, and The Taming of the Shrew. Willamette’s copy of the Second Folio was printed for John Smethwick, which is one of the rarest versions of this work. (Please watch this video from Peter Harrington Booksellers to learn more about the Smethwick version of the Second Folio.) Watermark Example Click on this image to the right to see a close-up of the watermark in a page of our Smethwick Second Folio.

No definite census can be found reporting the number of Second Folio copies printed, but in 1990 there were 178 Second Folios in libraries in the United States, as well as several more in international libraries (Otness, 65). The Folger Shakespeare Library, famous for its collection of 82 First Folios, also owns 58 copies of the Second Folio.

But what is a folio and what makes it so special? Folios are large books comprised of pages that have only been folded once before being gathered into quires (four sheets of paper folded to form eight leaves) that are then stacked and sewn together. During Shakespeare’s life, (1564-1616), many of his plays had been printed in a quarto format, which is half the size of a folio. Folios are meant to be impressive works, like coffee table books. The playwright Ben Jonson, Shakespeare’s contemporary, published a collection of his own plays in a folio version in 1616. Jonson’s and Shakespeare’s folios were the first collections of drama meant to be read as a book, giving printed drama a place of esteem in the world of English literature. In Shakespeare’s time, plays were considered merely low brow entertainments, not worthy of serious study.

By 1632 Shakespeare’s plays were 40 years old, and some of the language used in the First Folio had become dated. The editors of the Second Folios updated some of the language, corrected hundreds of typographical errors, and made “1679 `deliberate editorial’ changes, 459 alterations of grammar, 374 changes affecting the thought, 359 affecting meter, and 357 affecting style, and 130 changes pertaining to the action.” (Black and Shaaber, 45). They added mythological and Classical allusions which the typesetters of the First Folio missed. A good example of this is this quote from Henry VI, Part I, Act I, Scene 4, lines 95-96:

First Folio (1623) example:
First Folio Example

 

 

Second Folio (1632) example:

Second Folio Example

 

 

 

Subsequent versions of this play up to the standard versions used today, such as The Complete Pelican Shakespeare (2002), now include the name Nero.

“Plantagenet, I will – and like thee, Nero,
Play on the lute, beholding the towns burn.”

These changes in the text of the Second Folio mark the beginning of Shakespearean scholarship. Second Folio Mark Changed TextIt wasn’t just the editorial work of the publishers of Shakespeare’s Folios that reflect this change in attitude to the words written by Shakespeare.  Readers themselves engaged with the texts of these plays.  They studied their personal copies of the Folios and made annotations in them. The most famous of these annotated copies belonged to King Charles I (1600–1649), son of James I, who inherited the British throne after the death of Queen Elizabeth I. Charles I’s copy with his own annotations is in Windsor Castle, part of the collection of Queen Elizabeth II.  Here you can see the names of favorite characters written in King Charles I own hand.

The other thing that makes the Second Folio distinct from the First Folio is that it contains the first ever published poem by a young, 24-year-old John Milton, the author of Paradise Lost.

John Milton Poem

For a good introduction to the meaning of this poem and the significance of the Second Folio please watch this video of Ari Friedlander, University of Dayton.

In the 1950s, Charles McCulloch, Chairman of the Willamette Board of Trustees, donated the rare 1632 edition of Shakespeare’s Second Folio to the university. In the Willamette University Archives, you can find articles about this generous donation, as well as students’ reactions to seeing the Second Folio and other rare books. (See: McCulloch Gives Rare Cotes Book to WU Library, Benefactor Gives Rare Volume of Shakespeare Plays to Library.)

Over the years, the Second Folio has been brought out of the vault to honor visiting lecturers, (See: Rare Volumes Shown), but more often than not, it has been brought to the Mark O. Hatfield Library’s Instruction Room to show it to students in English and other classes.

Below you can see a group of Theatre History students in November 2015 who were delighted to see the text of Macbeth and check out the watermarks in our 1632 Second Folio. (Some students even took selfies of themselves with the Second Folio).

Students looking at the book in the Instruction Room.

Pandemic-related quarantine issues currently prohibit viewing our rare books in person, but we look forward to the days when students and scholars can come to the Hatfield Library to see our Second Folio for themselves. In the meantime, there are wonderful digital versions that you can enjoy online.  (See: Mr. William Shakespeares comedies, histories, tragedies: published according to the true originall copies. The second impression. )

 

Bibliography

Black, Matthew W., and Shaaber, M. A. Shakespeare’s Seventeenth-century Editors, 1632-1685. New York, London: Modern Language Association of America; Oxford UP, 1937.   https://archive.org/details/shakespearesseve00blac/page/n3/mode/2up

Douglas, Adam. “Shakespeare Second Folio – John Smethwick Imprint, 1632.” Peter Harrington Rare Books. Video. https://vimeo.com/61085857

“Folios of William Shakespeare.” Walter Havighurst Special Collections of the Miami University Libraries at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. https://digital.lib.miamioh.edu/digital/collection/wshakespeare

Friedlander, Ari. “Shakespeare: Second Folio.” University of Dayton. Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Ep_SjErDE

“King Charles I’s Copy of Shakespeare.” British Library Collection Items. https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/king-charles-is-copy-of-shakespeare

MacDougall, Bill. “Benefactor Gives Rare Volume of Shakespeare Plays to Library.” Willamette Collegian 19 May 1950: 3.

“McCulloch Gives Rare Cotes Book to WU Library.” The Willamette University Alumnus 6.3 (1950): 5.

Otness, Harold M. The Shakespeare Folio Handbook and Census. New York: Greenwood, 1990. Print. Bibliographies and Indexes in World Literature ; No. 25.

Perry, Betsy. “Vault Harbors $1000 Book.” Willamette Collegian 23 January 1959: 2.

“Rare Volumes Shown” The Willamette University Alumnus 4.3 (1957): 6.

Shakespeare, William. Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. The 2nd Impression. ed. London: Printed by Tho. Cotes, for John Smethwick, and Are to Be Sold at His Shop in Saint Dunstans Church-yard, 1632. Print.  https://alliance-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/11t0l49/CP7199449290001451

Shakespeare, William, and Alfred Harbage. Complete Pelican Shakespeare. , 2002.

Smith, Emma.  “Wadham’s Four Shakespeare Folios.” Wadham College, University of Oxford. 18th February 2019. Video. https://www.wadham.ox.ac.uk/news/2019/february/wadhams-four-shakespeare-folios

“What Is the Second Folio of William Shakespeare?” Meisei University Shakespeare Collection Database – Meisei Copy, http://shakes.meisei-u.ac.jp/e-second.html


Quiet and Collaborative Spaces in the Library

By Gary Klein gklein@willamette.edu

Ever since computer terminals replaced the traditional library card catalog (row after row of wooden drawers filled to the gills with 3×5 inch card stock printed with small type fonts), the way people used libraries started changing. Over time, those changing patterns have become more apparent, such as with the accelerated use of online materials and the sounds of social conversations among students.

Willamette University’s Mark O. Hatfield Library has undergone a number of physical changes since its doors first opened in 1986. The old-style library card catalog drawers and associated furniture were eliminated as part of the library’s transition into the current building. Willamette’s MBA program began to implement small group projects in the mid-1990s that required meeting spaces conducive to small groups of three to five students. The Hatfield Library’s architectural design included study rooms on the second floor to handle groups of that size range. Those small group study rooms quickly became very popular with Atkinson students.

In the dawn of the 21st century, increasing numbers of undergraduate students were required by their professors to tackle group projects. The steady expansion of undergraduate students assigned to group projects made a big impact on the supply and demand of the library’s group study space.

The growing need to adjust the library’s allocation of space to accommodate group projects surfaced in various surveys, as well as comment cards and unsolicited correspondence from students. But there seemed to be very few solutions that would be either quick to implement or low cost to finance.

While employees of the Hatfield Library were sifting through potential pathways to alleviate the growing demand for group study space, many undergraduate and MBA students improvised and came up with their own solutions. They moved tables and chairs close together to create their own temporary collaborative work areas. At the same time, students had been raising additional concerns about the physical limitations of the library’s facilities and furnishings.

While facing a competition for dollars, student safety in high trafficked areas gained priority. Simple modifications could be made at a lower cost than what it would take to build group study rooms. The library’s staff decided to create seating arrangements that mirrored the way students had been organizing furnishings into group study clusters. And the library created two sets of dual-purpose walls that increased opportunities to exhibit artwork or public announcements, while also serving to minimize sounds from noisy but critical equipment (printers and photocopiers).

Instead of struggling to realign tables and chairs daily into their original layout, the Hatfield Library’s staff established an area on the first floor for a “table forest” that students clearly preferred for group needs. Additional improvements included refinished study tables, reupholstered chairs, and additional electrical outlets throughout the building. Library staff also instituted policy changes and new signage to make it clear that the second floor was designated as “quiet study space,” while students were encouraged to treat the first floor as their place for “collaboration and group projects.”

If you are looking for the quietest spots within the Hatfield Library, then use the study rooms on the eastern side of the library on both floors. They can comfortably hold up to two people, with doors that can close out most ambient noise. These study rooms are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The next quietest location are the study carrels located in the center of the second floor. There are many wooden study carrels distributed across both floors of the library that are designed for individual use. Most of these study carrels offer electrical outlets and incorporate sound-absorbing materials to help maintain a quiet atmosphere.

If you need to work with a desktop computer, the Hatfield Library has several computers available on each floor. All of these computers offer large screens and carry the same array of academic-oriented software, including Microsoft Office, ChemDraw, Python, SPSS and Systat.

The Hatfield Library also offers two audiovisual rooms on the second floor and a video recording room on the first floor. These rooms have extra sound-absorbing materials; keys can be checked out at the circulation desk for up to four hours of room use.

If comfortable seating is important to you, then you might want to look for the soft upholstered chairs that are on opposite sides of the library, located either by the windows facing the millstream, or the windows facing the parking lot.

Feel free to share your thoughts, concerns, suggestions for improving our facilities with us, so we can make this a better place for all students at Willamette University. Please email your comments and suggestions to: library@willamette.edu


WU Libraries: Past, Present, and Future

By Joni Roberts

Most of us know that Willamette University has been in existence for over 175 illustrious years but it is not exactly clear when a library officially appeared on the scene.  The student newspaper, The Willamette Collegian, which began publication in 1875, first mentions the library in 1876.  This article describes how the library was located on the first floor of Waller Hall along with the chapel and the “ladies’ and gentlemens’ reception rooms.” Mention of the library in the early years of the Collegian often consists of imploring students, faculty and friends of Willamette to donate much needed books to the library.

 

Library reading room in Waller Hall, early 1920s

Dr. Robert Gatke (d. 1968), Willamette historian and professor, mentions the library a few times in his book Chronicles of Willamette.  His description of the library around 1915 is far from flattering: “The library was the pathetic victim of malnutrition.  With no regular appropriation made for the purchase of books, it depended upon gifts, receiving mostly old books of no value for reference use and not placing within reach of the students the new thought stimulating books as they came from the presses.”

 

Library reading room in 1948 in what is now Smullin Hall

Describing the library in the early 1930’s, Gatke writes “…library housing was inadequate and the weight of the books on the second floor of Waller had become so great that it constituted a serious danger to safety.”  The construction of a new library building was approved in 1937 and the building was dedicated in May of 1938.  At the time of the dedication, the building housed no books but on May 20th, classes were cancelled and students and faculty carried the books from Waller to the new building, the current day Smullin Hall.

 

An addition was added to the building in 1965-66 but before too long, it was determined that the library was no longer adequate and that renovation was not a viable solution.  A building program statement issued by then University Librarian Patricia Stockton in 1980 describes poor lighting, ventilation, heating and a lack of a classroom for instruction sessions.  The report states: “The Library is not inviting to the user.  Most seating is at long study tables in the two main reading areas.  The remainder is in individual study carrels on bare cement floors under buzzing lights.  The bookstacks themselves are too crowded, too narrow, and their color is a bilious green.”

 

Mark O. Hatfield Library dedication, 1986

Happily, approval of a new library building was granted and the present-day library opened in 1986.  Students and faculty once again helped move materials from the old building to the new. The Mark O. Hatfield Library, a tribute to one of Willamette’s most distinguished graduates, was considered state of the art at the time of its dedication. Overlooking the Mill Race and adjacent to Jackson Plaza, today’s library is centrally located in the heart of the campus. The library is a vital public space and includes many attractive areas suitable for study and reflection.

 

The library building is now over 30 years old and while minor renovations have occurred over the years, the library is due for a more substantial remodel.  The library staff has many ideas for a major renovation including improving and increasing student space, updating technology infrastructure, incorporating the WITS Help Desk into the building, and more.  All we need is a generous donor or two!

Smullin Library, 1982: “…individual study carrels on bare cement floors under buzzing lights…”

A young Hatfield Library, 1986

 


Wittenberg to Willamette

From Wittenberg to Willamette:  Unlocking the Secrets of a Rare Book from the Hatfield Library’s Vault.

By Doreen Simonsen
Humanities, Fine Arts, and Rare Book Librarian

Cover of the 1599 Vulgate

Researching a Rare Book is often like a treasure hunt.  The Mark O. Hatfield Library has hundreds of rare books ranging from medieval manuscripts to 20th century first editions, and my study of one of these works, a Latin Bible entitled Biblia Sacra, proves that you really cannot judge a book by its cover.

It all started with Martin Luther.  His actions in Wittenberg inspired the leaders of the Counter Reformation to revise their version of the Bible.  With the endorsement of Pope Clement the Sixth (1592 to 1605) and the Council of Trent (1545 – 1563), the Clementine Vulgate Bible was printed widely throughout Europe.  Our library catalog record for this book notes that our copy was published in Antwerp, Belgium at the Plantin Moretus Printing House in 1599.  According to records from that printing house, Jan Moretus shipped 500 unbound copies of this book, Biblia Sacra, to Germany to be sold at the famous Frankfurt Book Fair in the Fall of 1599.  The books in that shipment were missing a quire, (a section) of the book, and our copy has missing pages, which were replaced with handwritten copies of the missing texts.  But who wrote those handwritten pages?  And who bound this book?

Missing Pages from 1599 Vulgate

In the Renaissance and Reformation, books were sold unbound, and the buyers of those texts would have them bound by professional bookbinders.  Thanks to Luther’s nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the cathedral in Wittenberg in 1517, that city became a center of book publishing and bookbinding.  By 1555 Wittenberg had a guild of 50 bookbinders, who engraved metal plates and rolls to decorate the leather book covers they made. The cover on our bible is embellished with images, borders, Latin quotes, the initials CKW and the date 1562.  CKW turned out to be Caspar Kraft of Wittemberg, a prominent bookbinder in that city in northern Germany.  The images on his 1562 plates are of Justicia and Lucretia, images “that Lutherans used to justify their resistance to imperial [and papal] authority.”1

Around these images are decorative borders made by bookbinding rolls, which were made by Hans Herolt of Würzburg, in southern Germany.  Who hired Herolt to bind this book?  Julius Echter von Mespelbruun, the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg from 1573 – 1617, is the most likely candidate.  A Latin inscription in the books states that “Magister Wolfgang Christoph Röner received (this book) due to the generosity of the most reverend and most holy Prince-Bishop of Würzburg.”  Another inscription is by Andreas Weissens…, a theology student, who might be the person who wrote in the missing pages in this bible.

Theology Student Inscription

The most prominent inscription, however, is that of Dr. Charles H. Hall who gave this book to Willamette University in 1875.  Born in Kentucky, Hall studied Classics at Indiana Ashbury College in 1852, taught Latin, Greek, and Natural Sciences at Willamette University in the late 1850s, and became the son-in-law of Alvan Waller in 1859.

How this Latin Catholic Bible with Lutheran images on the bindings traveled from Germany to America is a mystery that may never be solved, but revealing its secrets shows that rare books can be more than old texts with pretty pictures.  They are artifacts worthy of study in their own right that can illuminate historical controversies and engage curious student researchers here at Willamette University.  A rare book can truly be much more than its cover.

 

“Closeup of the CKW 1562 book
plate stamp made by Caspar
Kraft of Wittenburg, Germany”
“Emblem of the Plantin Moretus
Printing House, Antwerp, Belgium”
“Closeup of the book border rolls
made by Hans Herolt of
Würzburg, Germany”
“Inscriptions, Including Charles Hall’s
Donation to Willamette, 1876″

 

1 Zapalac, Kristin Eldyss Sorensen. In His Image and Likeness : Political Iconography and Religious Change in Regensburg, 1500-1600. Cornell University Press, 1990. Page 128.

 


Eunice Parsons Papers

Eunice Parsons was born in 1916 in Loma, Colorado but spent most of her young life in Chicago. When she was a young girl, she attended children’s classes at the University of Chicago where she learned an appreciation for art, as well as the skills that would allow her to pursue a career in the field later in life. After graduating high school, Parsons attended a few art classes from the University of Chicago. Soon after, Parsons married and moved to Portland along with her new husband. She spent the next two decades as a working mother. In the 1940s she began taking classes at the Portland Museum Art School. Shortly after, in 1957, she took a trip to New York to acquaint and immerse herself in the culture of art. Parsons took a sketchbook where she made exhaustive notes and depicted many landscapes. This notebook showcases her earliest inclinations in playing with color, line, and shading, all developing into a unique and distinctive style. After returning from New York, Parsons continued her career as an artist and eventually began teaching at the Portland Museum Art School. While teaching, she became notorious as a blunt but brilliant instructor and would lead numerous student trips to Europe and the birthplaces of western art. In 2006 Parsons, along with others, was instrumental in opening the 12×16 Gallery in Portland. In 2017 she continues to be an influential and prolific artist at the age of 100.

The Eunice Parsons papers encompass not only Eunice Parsons’ long and influential career as a Portland artist, but also the inner workings of the Portland art community from the early 1950s through to the present day. It contains Parsons’ manuscripts from her endeavors as an author, fliers from a variety of Portland artists, photographs and slides from her teaching career, samples of her art and sketchbooks, professional papers, and a great wealth of correspondence in the form of Christmas cards from many of the most famous Portland artists.

For additional information about this collection, visit:
http://libmedia.willamette.edu/cview/archives.html#!doc:page:eads/5012

Also, view the online exhibit of a few selected sketch books: exhibit by the same intern who processed her collection:
http://libmedia.willamette.edu/archives/omeka/exhibits/show/matriarchofmodernism/introduction

Note: The Eunice Parsons papers were processed and the exhibition created by McKelvey Mandigo-Stoba, Willamette University ’17. A special thank you to Sybil Westenhouse for investing in experiential learning through the Sybil Westenhouse Archives Excellence Fund.


Betty LaDuke Conversation

You’re invited! Join us for a panel discussion exploring the roles art and activism play in raising awareness, creating social change, and advocating for justice.

Talk Title:  Social Justice Through Art, Advocacy, and Activism: A Conversation with Artist Betty LaDuke and Guests

Topics discussed will include human rights, sustainability, and immigration within a local, national and international context, with a focus on current events such as Standing Rock and DACA. Internationally recognized artist and activist Betty LaDuke will present an artist’s talk followed by a panel discussion. Joining LaDuke for the discussion is Native hip hop artist Scott Kalama (Warm Springs) aka Blue Flamez, and Willamette University student and President of Willamette’s Native and Indigenous Student Union Alexus Uentillie (Diné) ’19.  Also offered in conjunction with the panel discussion are the exhibits on display in Goudy Commons, the Mark O. Hatfield Library, Rogers Music Hall, and third floor of the University Center (Putnam).

Date/Time: Tuesday, October 10, 2017 4:30-6:00 p.m.

Location: Ford Hall – Theatre

Audience: Free and open to the public. General Seating.

Sponsors:  Willamette University Green Grant Fund, the Mark O. Hatfield Library, the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, and University Archives and Special Collections.

Questions: Contact Mary McRobinson (mmcrobin@willamette.edu, 503-370-6764) and Jonathan Bucci (jbucci@willamette.edu, 503-370-6861).

 


6th Annual Edible Book Festival

THE MARK O. HATFIELD LIBRARY PRESENTS THE SIXTH ANNUAL EDIBLE BOOK FESTIVAL 

In conjunction with the International Edible Book Festival, the Hatfield Library is pleased to sponsor this fun and creative event again this year. Use your artistic talents or your punny side to make an edible creation inspired by your favorite book, poem, character, or author—the only limit is your imagination.  Your entry doesn’t need to be baked or cooked, but it does need to be made of something edible! Here are links to previous years’ entries (201620152014, 20132012).

Drop off your entries in the Hatfield Room on March 10 from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. If you have a copy of the book that inspired your creation, bring it along and we will include it in the display. Come in to cast a vote for your favorite edible “book” between 8:00 a.m.-noon and 1:00-4:00 p.m.

At 4:30 p.m., our esteemed panel of judges—Michael Chasar, Monique Bourke, and Karla Gutierrez— will announce the prizes for:

  • Best Individual Student Entry
  • Best Student Group Entry
  • Most Literary
  • Most Creative
  • Punniest
  • People’s Choice

Light refreshments will be provided!

For questions, contact Carol Drost, x6715
cdrost@willamette.edu