Tonight, some of us decided to go see a murder mystery called Mousetrap by Agatha Christie performed live. It was a great production and it kept me guessing all the way through to the end.
Till next time!
Friday, July 3, 2015
Mousetrap
Today, we did not have class. So I got to sleep in and do some laundry. The laundry is pretty tricky to work out. You have to buy a card, go online, register the card, put money on the card, get a PIN number for the card, go to a machine, swipe the card, put the PIN number in, swipe the card again just to prepare the card before you can even start washing. To wash and dry is a whole different story.
Thursday, July 2, 2015
Royal Geographic Society
Today we visited The Royal Geographical Society. Our tour was given by Eugene who has been the librarian for fifteen years. The society was founded in 1830 for scientific geography, which is exploration in its beginnings. The society has about 2 million items, maybe more. Those 2 million includes 1 million maps, ½ million photos, 250,000 books and bound periodicals, and 500 boxes of archived materials.
For our
visit, we were given a Hot and Cold showcase.
The showcase started with the Arctic explorations. The explorations started in 1818 of the Northwest
Passage by John Ross. The expeditions went
on into the 1840s with the last one started by Sir John Franklin who died
during the expedition, but the crew kept going until their deaths.
Next on our
showcase were the Antarctic explorations that started in 1901 started by
Markham. The explorations ended in 1912
with Amundsen when he found the South Pole.
Next were
the Mount Everest explorations in the 1920s.
In 1924, George Mallory and Andrew Irving went on the exploration to the
top of Mount Everest. However, they both
went missing on the exploration. But
they found George Mallory’s body in 1999.
They identified his body by his shoe that is in the Royal Geographical
Society’s collection. Unfortunately,
they have not found Andrew Irving’s body which would help in figuring out if
they ever made it to the top of Mount Everest because he had the camera.
Last on our
showcase were the expeditions to find the source of the Nile in the 1850s. They sent Burton and Hanning Speke, but they
had different opinions on where the source of the Nile was located. So the Royal Geographical Society sent
Livingston to settle the difference. The
society has Livingston’s compass that was used on the expedition.
After the
showcase, we were able to look at all of the items that Eugene laid out for
us. Some of the things we were able to
view were Mallory’s shoe, Livingston’s compass, maps, photographs, clothing
items, and more. I loved looking at all
of the items and learning about the items and expeditions. Eugene did a wonderful job with connecting
the items that he laid out to about what he was talking. Also, Eugene was very knowledgeable about the
Royal Geographical Society in general and I could see it just from the way he
talked.
Another Day in the Town (British Museum Archives)
Today we started off at the British Museum Archives. We were split into 2 groups again and the first group had their tour then the second group had their tour. While the tour was going on the other group had the opportunity to look around the museum. I was in the second group so I got to look around. One of the things that I saw was the Rosetta Stone. I believe that it is the most popular item in the entire museum.
After our tour, that was given to us by Francesca the archivist, we were allowed to go get lunch and explore before we had to meet up at the Royal Geographic Society. Me and a few of the other girls decided to head over to RGS and find lunch there. However, we looked at the wrong directions and were led to another place. But we made it there safely and before everyone else. RGS was wonderful to look at, but I was so tired that I started to fall asleep.
After our time at RGS, we headed back to the dorms. Some of us met up with Drs. Welsh and Griffis to talk about our papers at the Old English Bank Pub. It was great being able to hear other people's topics and to get feed back for my own.
Till next time!
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
The British Library
The British Library is the national
library of the United Kingdom and has 200 million items in its collections. The library has been around since 1753, but
has only been in its own building since 1997.
It was in the British Museum before that and was split over 19 different
locations before moving to their current building. At the library, they have underground storage
that is equivalent to an 8 story building, but that only fits about half of
their collection. So they have offsite
storage in Yorkshire which is 200 miles away that stores the rest of their
items. Their current building was never
completed past stage one because of funding.
It would be cool to see what the library would have looked like if all
of the stages had been completed.
In the middle
of the library there is a tower, this is The King’s Library. This holds the books from King George III. It is six floors high with movable shelves
that only rare book curators and library assistants can go in and retrieve books. Inside the tower, there is a row of shelves
that hold books from Thomas Grenville’s collection. In the tower, there are 100,000 volumes with
65,000 being King George’s and the rest being Thomas Grenville’s. Although the collection is in the middle of
the library, it never gets direct sunlight because of the design of the
building.
In their Treasures exhibit, they
have some items from the Beetles like the original song lyrics to Hard Days
Night that was written on a birthday card and Michelle which was written on an
envelope. I think that it is pretty cool
to see what the things were written on because of their sudden inspiration for
the lyrics.
(The King's Library)
Platform 9 3/4, the British Library, and the London Library
Today we met and took the tube to Kings Cross Station in the morning rush so it was very crowded. Once we got to the station, we went on a goose chase to find Platform 9 3/4 to get our pictures taken. At one point we were lost because we did not know that we had to cross the street in to the rail station and not the tube station. But once we got there it was a short wait to get the pictures taken. Some of us did individual photos and then we all did a group photo. The group photo was pretty cool because the worker posed us so that all of us were doing something and not just standing there. After the pictures, we visited the store to look at the Harry Potter merchandise. Then we walked over to the British Library.
The British Library is the national library and has 200 million items. The library has been around since 1753, but has only been in its own building since 1997. It was in the British museum before that and was split over 19 different locations. They have an offsite storage in Yorkshire which is 200 miles away. The building stages were never completed past stage 1 because of funding.
In their exhibit, they have some items from the Beetles like the original song lyrics to Hard Days Night that was written on a birthday card and Michelle which was written on an envelope. I think that it is pretty cool to see what the things were written on because of their sudden inspiration for the lyrics.
Next we had lunch and took the tube to The London Library. The London Library was founded in 1841 as a members only library. They have all hardback books and no dust jackets because of the heat. What's so cool about this library is that part of the shelves are on the support beams and there are grated floors.
They have 8,000 titles coming in to the library every year and the art section is the fastest growing collection in the library. Also, all the books that they have received since 1950 are on their online catalog. Everything else is still a paper catalog. Some of their famous patrons include: T.S. Elliot, Her Royal Highness the Queen, Rudyard Kipling, and more.
After the library some of us headed back towards the dorms, but Danae and I stopped at Snog to get some frozen yogurt. It was delicious!!
Till next time!
Bodleian Library
On Tuesday, June 30, 2015 we boarded a coach (bus) to Oxford, England. We left pretty early in the morning, but we hit morning traffic. Once we made it there we went to the Bodleian Library on Oxford University's campus. However, despite the traffic we made it there earlier than our tour was scheduled so we had some time to kill. Some of us decided to go to the cafe in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, called The Vaults and Garden. While I was there I had a scone with clotted cream and jam and a cafè latte. Both were delicious. Once it got closer to our tour time we decided to head back towards the Bodleian Library. When we got situated we were split into two groups so that we could all have a chance to see and hear the tour guide.
My group's tour guide was a man who is very enthusiastic about being a tour guide. He is currently in his first year of being a tour guide and has lived in Oxford for more than 10 years. He has three degrees, but none of them are from Oxford University. He started the tour off by telling us some information about the University like: there are 22,000 fee paying students, there are 10,000 support staff and professors, there are 38 colleges within Oxford University that are self-governing, women were not accepted until 1878 and were not granted degrees until the 1920s, and that each college has its own library.
Between the years 1423-1488 the Divinity school was built. It took 65 years to build because funds for the building would come and go. The eastern end of the school was used as the infirmary at Hogwarts from Harry Potter. Next is the Convocation House. It was built between 1634-1636 as an extension to the Divinity school and was available for use in 1640. This building is used by the professor of poetry and chancellor to make decisions and vote. The lectern in front of the throne where the chancellor or professor of poetry sits is hinged at the bottom so that it can move backwards so that they could sit down and get out of the throne so that they did not have to squeeze out. Also, there are two sundials in the windows so that the person in charge can keep track of time.
Next is Chancellor's Court. This room was used for legal purposes at the school for benefit of the student. At the that time, students were young males between the ages of 14-18 when their voices started to crack from maturing. However, in the 1960s they gave up their power to discipline in a court setting. But before it was closed Oscar Wilde was summoned back to the court for a hearing in the late 1800s about debts that he had not re-payed yet. Then there is Art's End. This is a 2 story extension that was built between 1610-1612. It has a wooden ceiling with the university's coat of arms in all of the tiles, but it looked like all of the tiles had different boarders. There are floor to ceiling shelves on both stories with the smaller book so no the top floor and the larger books on the first floor chained to the bookshelves. However the books are not chained still.
The floor above the Divinity School is called the Duke Humphrey's Library because of his donation of books to the library after his death. Unfortunately, about 100 years after it opened it closed and was cleared out of all the book so because of printing and the reformation. 280 books were disposed of because of religious differences out of a total between 500-600. The Bodleian has 5 of the remaining books.
Thankfully, Thomas Bodley retired to Oxford, England. He spent his own money refurbishing the library. It took four years to do and it reopened in 1602 with 2,500 volumes. He designed the connecting buildings to help with student life at Oxford. He also, made a deal with a printing company out of London to get one copy of every book that it prints for free. This offer still stand still today and the Bodleian does reject some of the books that are offered to them. In 1912, 2 underground storage facilities were built, and another building was built in the 1930s. They currently have one off site storage facility in Swindon that is 150 miles full of storage. The library needs 3 miles of storage every year.
Till next time!
My group's tour guide was a man who is very enthusiastic about being a tour guide. He is currently in his first year of being a tour guide and has lived in Oxford for more than 10 years. He has three degrees, but none of them are from Oxford University. He started the tour off by telling us some information about the University like: there are 22,000 fee paying students, there are 10,000 support staff and professors, there are 38 colleges within Oxford University that are self-governing, women were not accepted until 1878 and were not granted degrees until the 1920s, and that each college has its own library.
Between the years 1423-1488 the Divinity school was built. It took 65 years to build because funds for the building would come and go. The eastern end of the school was used as the infirmary at Hogwarts from Harry Potter. Next is the Convocation House. It was built between 1634-1636 as an extension to the Divinity school and was available for use in 1640. This building is used by the professor of poetry and chancellor to make decisions and vote. The lectern in front of the throne where the chancellor or professor of poetry sits is hinged at the bottom so that it can move backwards so that they could sit down and get out of the throne so that they did not have to squeeze out. Also, there are two sundials in the windows so that the person in charge can keep track of time.
Next is Chancellor's Court. This room was used for legal purposes at the school for benefit of the student. At the that time, students were young males between the ages of 14-18 when their voices started to crack from maturing. However, in the 1960s they gave up their power to discipline in a court setting. But before it was closed Oscar Wilde was summoned back to the court for a hearing in the late 1800s about debts that he had not re-payed yet. Then there is Art's End. This is a 2 story extension that was built between 1610-1612. It has a wooden ceiling with the university's coat of arms in all of the tiles, but it looked like all of the tiles had different boarders. There are floor to ceiling shelves on both stories with the smaller book so no the top floor and the larger books on the first floor chained to the bookshelves. However the books are not chained still.
(Lectern that moves)
The floor above the Divinity School is called the Duke Humphrey's Library because of his donation of books to the library after his death. Unfortunately, about 100 years after it opened it closed and was cleared out of all the book so because of printing and the reformation. 280 books were disposed of because of religious differences out of a total between 500-600. The Bodleian has 5 of the remaining books.
Thankfully, Thomas Bodley retired to Oxford, England. He spent his own money refurbishing the library. It took four years to do and it reopened in 1602 with 2,500 volumes. He designed the connecting buildings to help with student life at Oxford. He also, made a deal with a printing company out of London to get one copy of every book that it prints for free. This offer still stand still today and the Bodleian does reject some of the books that are offered to them. In 1912, 2 underground storage facilities were built, and another building was built in the 1930s. They currently have one off site storage facility in Swindon that is 150 miles full of storage. The library needs 3 miles of storage every year.
What I liked most about the tour was seeing the library. It was very interesting to see how the books used to be chained up. For more information about the library go to http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bodley
Till next time!
The London Library
Today we
took the tube to The London Library. The
London Library was founded in May of 1841 as a member’s only library with John
Cochrane as the Librarian. They moved to
their present location in St James’s Square in 1845. Charles Hagberg Wright, in 1893, becomes Librarian
and develops the shelving system that is still used today which enables the
books to be easily browsed. In 1896,
they had the building reconstructed and is one of the first steel framed
buildings in London. Throughout the
years, the building has gone through more construction and in 1944 was hit by a
German bomb and destroyed over 16,000 volumes.
In their over 1,000,000 item collection,
they have all hardback books and no dust jackets because of the heat and have
8,000 titles coming in to the library every year with the art collection
growing the fastest. They do not have
all of their books on their online catalog because they have so many. The only books in their online catalog are
the books they received since 1950 and the earlier ones still in their paper
catalog.
Some of their famous patrons
include: T.S. Elliot, Her Royal Highness the Queen, Rudyard Kipling, Virginia
Wolf, Laurence Olivier, Bram Stoker, and more.
T.S. Eliot also was president from 1952 to his death in 1965.
For our tour of the library, we
were split in to two groups so as to not disturb the patrons. We were shown the bookstacks that were part
of the construction of the steel frames building. These bookstacks are actually part of the library’s
construction with the shelves on the steel support beams. Then we also saw the Art Room, the reading
room, the Sackler Study, the Lightwell Reading Room, and the Issue Hall.
What I
liked most about visiting this library was being able to see that through their
different renovations throughout the years that it is still in the Victorian
style. This library was one of my
favorites to visit because of its rich history with their patrons.
 |
| Front Door |
 |
| The grate floor in the stacks that are on the support beams |
 |
| The stacks on the support beams |
 |
| Reading Room |
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| Reading Room |
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