A little block printed sunshine on a cloudy Thursday. It is Thursday, right?

Hohman, Johann Georg. Der kleine Catholische Catechismus. Reading: Carl A. Bruckman, 1819.

In honor of Earth Day and National Park Week, we’re sharing this tiny (6 cm!) souvenir book by William S. Vaux, Jr. detailing a Vaux family trip to the Yellowstone National Park in August 1885. William S. Vaux, Jr. was one of the trio of siblings of Philadelphia photographers, mountaineers, and scientists that also included Mary M. Vaux (1860-1940) and George Vaux, Jr. (1863-1927). An architect by trade, Vaux and his siblings extensively explored, studied, and photographically documented the West beginning with their trip to Yellowstone National Park in 1885. The frontispiece photo shows a woman and young man, probably Mary Vaux and one of her brothers, standing near a geyser. 

Vaux, William S. Two weeks in the Yellowstone. Philadelphia: Vaux Print, 1887.

Here’s another quarantine hobby suggestion for your consideration: learning to play the piano!

The celebrated Sohmer Pianos are at present the most popular and preferred by the leading artists (New York : Beatty & Co. lith. 193 & 194 West St), ca. 1885. Chromolithograph.

Image depicts eight labeled bust portraits of famous opera singers encircling a laurel wreath that surrounds a Sohmer piano. Includes Adelina Patti, Christine Nilsson, Antonio F. Galassi, Clara Louise Kellogg, Albert Niemann, Emma Cecilia Thursby, Italo Campanini, and Etelka Gerster.

Today, we show appreciation for the brave medical professionals who are working on the front lines of this pandemic. Over a century ago, in the face of an unprecedented global crisis, the nation also looked to nurses and doctors for support as seen in this World War I poster in our Graphic Arts collection. 

Milton Herbert Bancroft, Wanted 25000 Student Nurses, 1917. Poster print.  

To Make a Carrot Pudding… just follow along as Katie, our Visitor Services Coordinator, experiments with remaking some old recipes! For her inspiration, Katie is following “35 Receipts from ‘The Larder Invaded'” by William Woys Weaver, which accompanied an exhibit at LCP in 1986-87. 

 Read about her process, and her review of the outcome, on our blog!  
(And stay tuned for Part 2: Blackberry Pudding!)

Have all of your starched cuffs become toys for the cat? Ours too. Today is National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day, but come now, let’s not kid ourselves. Today is National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day 24.  

Image: A. Heinman men’s furnishing goods. [Poughkeepsie, N.Y.]: George Perry, ca. 1883

Our copy of Apparatus eruditionis… has some wonderful leaf print #marginalia on pages 310-311, made by former owner Francisci Danielis Pastorij. 

Pexenfelder, Michael. Apparatus eruditionis… Norimbergae: Sumptibus Michaelis & Joh. Friderici Endterorum, 1670. 

Another day, another blog post! Today, we have another blast from the past from Curator of Art and Artifacts and Visual Materials Cataloger Linda August which explores the evolution of the Library Company’s catalog system. Read more about it here: https://librarycompany.org/2020/04/08/searching-through-the-catalog/

Today we’re highlighting a blog post by Curator of Graphic Arts Erika Piola which reflects on some of the acquisitions she made at paper fairs in recent years, including this trade card which depicts a scene from Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Read more about it here: https://librarycompany.org/2020/04/08/fairs-past/

Casual Friday? More like #FancyFriday. Just because you cant go out doesn’t mean you cant get dressed up! If you need us we will be on the couch in a ball gown.

Image from Godey’s Lady’s Book, September 1848. See more here!