May 16, 2012 by Maggie Kopp
There are only a few more weeks to catch “The Life and Legacy of the King James Bible,” Special Collections’ current exhibit. It will be taken down in early June to make room for a new exhibit on the American Civil War. Don’t miss the chance to see a first edition copy of the King James Bible, many early printed and manuscript Bibles, and famous literary works inspired by the King James Version!
An online version of the exhibit is archived at http://lib.byu.edu/exhibits/kingjamesbible/.
April 24, 2012 by Kristi Young
We are in the middle of prom season. For many high school students asking for that big date isn’t as simple as picking up the phone and calling the desired date. No. The story of the invite is treasured as much, if not more, than the actual date. One invitation that has been around for at least 10 years is described by Melinda:
“When I walked in my room there was chocolate kisses all over the floor. Tons of them like four bags, and there was a note on the bed. It was on white paper and hand written. It said this: Melinda, Now that I have kissed the ground that you walked on; will you go with me to Homecoming on Saturday Evening?” (FA 14 1.1.1.1.6.2)
Another fun invite was received by Lara. “After going out one night, Lara returned home to her family. It was a little weird because they were all awake in the the family room, waiting for her to come home. She goes into her room and gets ready for bed. Her sister Samantha is in the bathroom as well with her. As Lara goes into the shower area, she notices that there is water in the bathtub. She wasn’t paying much attention and yelled at Samantha for leaving the bath water in the tub. She soon realized that in the water were 30 goldfish, alive and swimming. Along with the goldfish was a laminated puzzle that she had to put together. After about an hour, she put it together and it said, ‘Out of all the fish in the sea, would you go to Homecoming with me?’ It was decorated with fish stickers and it was obvious that he had put some time into this one. In order to answer him back, she got the goldfish crackers and spelled out yes on his bed.” (FA 14 1.1.1.1.16.2)
Then there are the near impossible invites. “About two weeks before the dance Dana decided to ask Grant to Senior Ball. Because they had asked each other to so many dances, Dana was running out of ideas. She decided that she didn’t care if it was stupid, she just wanted it to be messy. So she took lots of boxes of Uncle Ben’s rice and dumped them all over his porch and driveway. Dana left one box on the doorstep with a note that said, ‘Uncle Ben wants to know if you will go with me to the dance?’ Each one of the letters of Dana’s name was then written on a piece of rice and he had to dig through those mounds of rice to figure out who had asked him.” (FA 14 1.1.1.1.19.1)
The creative invites are fun and generally spark a creative answer which as in the goldfish example may play off the original invite. But that’s a story for another time.
April 2, 2012 by Maggie Kopp
Special Collections is a great resource for historic costume research. Our photograph and rare book collections contain wonderful images of the clothing styles of earlier times, from antiquity to the 20th century, and you can even find clothing patterns in some of our 19th century periodicals! There is a whole genre of books which describe the clothing and manners of various nations and peoples. Special Collections owns several of these books, most dating from the 18th and 19th 
centuries. The colored plates in these books provide insight not only into the costumes of the peoples of the world, but how different ethnic groups were perceived by the West. The illustrations shown here are from an 18th century French book entitled Costumes civils actuels de tous les peuples connus, and depict the dress of a Bavarian woman and an upper-class citizen of Paris.
To find books on historic costume, search the library catalog for the subject term “costume history.” Fashion books and magazines can be found using the subject term “fashion.”
March 21, 2012 by Maggie Kopp
Visit Special Collections’ reference room to see a sampling of our many primary sources related to women’s history. On display now is “Women’s Life Stories,” a small exhibit which highlights everything from a letter by Susan B. Anthony to the diary of the first LDS woman missionary to the British Isles.
For more information on some of the manuscript resources for women’s history at Special Collections, visit the Women’s Manuscript Collections page.
February 23, 2012 by Maggie Kopp
Did you know that L. Tom Perry Special Collections owns over 50 Arabic and Persian manuscripts dating from the 9th to 19th centuries? Curators from Special Collections and the BYU Museum of Art have selected a number of these manuscripts to display in Special Collections over the next few weeks in conjuction with the MOA’s new exhibit, Beauty and Belief: Crossing Bridges with the Arts of Islamic Culture, which opens tomorrow (Feb. 24).
Stop by the 1st floor of the library this afternoon to learn more about Islamic texts and artwork at BYU. In addition to the manuscripts on exhibit there will be a display of publications from BYU’s Middle Eastern Texts Initiative (METI).
February 15, 2012 by Maggie Kopp
Three newly-acquired facsimiles of original medieval manuscripts are available for study at Special Collections. The first is a replica of the Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux (pictured here), a 14th-century Book of Hours made for a French queen. The book is only about 4 inches high, and the facsimile comes with its own magnifying glass! The original manuscript is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Special Collections was able to acquire this facsimile thanks to the generous support of the Friends of the Library. The second facsimile reproduces the Psalter of St. Louis, an illustrated psalm book created for King Louis IX of France sometime between 1253-1270. The original psalter is held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. A third facsimile is a manuscript life of 11th century Tuscan countess Matilde di Canossa. The original manuscript was produced in the 12th century and is now held by the Vatican Library.
The facsimiles can be requested using the call numbers listed below. For other facsimiles, search the library catalog for the genre term “manuscripts, medieval” or the subject term “illumination of books and manuscripts.”
- Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux, Vault Collection 091 J344 1998
- Psalter of St. Louis, Rare Book Collection ND 3357 .S3 P835x 2011
- Vita der Mathilde von Canossa, Rare Book Collection DG 737.24 .M4 D66 1984
February 3, 2012 by Kristi Young
When we think about Valentine’s Day, we often think about romantic love. However, it is also a time for families to show their love for each other. Jillisa Cranmer shared this with Laurel Batchelor: The week before Valentine’s Day, well actually on the 1st of February, we would all pull names out of a hat. The person then became our secret pal. During the week we were supposed to do nice things for that person. It was nothing big, just little things like writing notes and leaving them in their hearts, loading the dishwasher, cleaning their room. You know, just little things. On Valentine’s Day we had a party and everyone revealed their secret pals. It really helped everyone feel good about doing things. (FA 14 8.2.111)
Terri Larsen shared the following: Every year on Valentine’s Day we each get something for our family, whether it is a treat like candy or a card. Sometime during the day we put the treat on the doorstep and ring the doorbell. Everyone acts surprised and expresses gratitude. At the end of the day my parents surprise each one of us with a Valentine gift. (FA 14 8.2.1.1.2)
Suzanne Eatough collected the following from Gaylynn Gurney: Each year for Valentine’s Day the members of her family write a letter to each member telling them what is happening in their life and why they appreciate and love the particular person they are writing to. (FA14 8.2.1.3.1)
Whether it is acts of service, small gifts, or letters and cards, families find many ways to express their love to one another on Valentine’s Day.
January 20, 2012 by Kristi Young
Folklore is sometimes viewed as a synomym for falsehood. That is not the case. One type of folklore is the personal narrative. These can be serious or fun but reflect events in a person’s life. Parents have long liked to tell stories about the scrapes their children get into as children or teens. The following narrative focuses on a prank that a teen played.
“That was right at the time Davis High School had been divided. It had been the only high school in Davis County, and then they had bought a new high school down in Bountiful, and this year they had gotten a new high school up in Clearfield. And they were so competitive, and it was such an exciting time. Clearfield had their firsts: they had their band, it was the first big football game in their brand new stadium, they had all of their girls (the pep-squad), and everything, and their flad. Everything was so new! And the green falcon (was their mascot), they were the green falcons. And they were ready. They were going to beat Davis. They were going to show’em. Some of their boys had gone to Davis, and now they were over there (the new high school). It was a big day for them.
“Well, I came home from work, and my dishpan was right outside on the lawn and it was all green inside. I said ‘what’s that doing out there, what happened to it?’ Well I didn’t know till later. What happened was that Rand, and I guess a friend of his, they got a chicken and they took it home and they dyed it green. And they made a little collar around it’s neck with a thing standing up on it that read ‘I’m the green falcon!’ And then, they took it over to the Clearfield Stadium and they gave that chicken a little whiskey. They’d found some empty whiskey bottles, and they had just a little bit left in the bottles and they emptied them all into one, and then they poured it down that chicken’s throat.
“And then when the half started, and Clearfield’s big new band came out and their girls marching, Rand went out and turned the chicken loose on the 50-yard line. And that chicken acted like it had been trained! They said it was hilarious! It marched back and forth and it would fall over, and it would get up, it’d go around and it’d ‘cluck! cluck! cluck!’ And everyone was just dying laughing! And Rand let it loose, of course he had a Hawaiian shirt on, an Aloha shirt, so you couldn’t miss him. Those kids were so mad. It broke up everything! And he started to run, and boys out of the Clearfield student body raced after him to catch him–they didn’t, thank goodness, they would’ve killed him.” (FA 1 1621)
December 27, 2011 by Maggie Kopp
Special Collections owns a number of important periodicals about the art and history of printing, particularly publications produced through fine printing methods. A sampling of titles in Special Collections includes Stanley Morison’s “The Fleuron” (1923-1930), The Fine Press Book Association’s periodical, “Parenthesis” (1998-present), and one of our new acquisitions, a complete run of “Alphabet and Image,” edited by Robert Harling (1946-1952).
Many more periodicals on printing technologies, book arts, and the history of printing can be found in Periodicals and the circulating collection. To explore some of these titles, search the library catalog for the subject “printing periodicals.” The library’s History and Art of the Book Subject Guide is also a great resource for finding articles and books about printing and book history.
December 8, 2011 by Kristi Young
Christmas is a magical time and Christmas customs are part of the magic. Every family has traditions that guide their observance of the season. One of the times that has customs that make it special is Christmas Eve. Our Customs Index outlines fun things that families do on that day.
Many eat special foods on Christmas Eve. In section 8.12.1.2.2 different families describe their culinary traditions. Some families serve food that requires very little preparation or relies on other people’s efforts. These can range from candlelit fast food to Chinese to finger foods. Other families opt for the ever popular pizza. (8.12.1.2.8.1 and 8.12.1.2.1.12.1)
Opening presents is another favorite activity. While most focus on family gifts, some families have a traditional first gift of Christmas–pajamas. (8.12.1.2.3.1-6)
Probably the most common activity is the reading of the nativity story. While some families just read the well-loved text, others act it out using people or a nativity set. (8.12.1.2.1.11.1-3)
If you are looking for new ideas for your Christmas celebration the Customs Index is a valuable resource.
December 1, 2011 by Maggie Kopp
What’s the smallest Bible at BYU? Well, it might be a microform version which is about 5 cm square. Over 1200 pages of text are reproduced on a single slide.
But if you’re looking for a tiny Bible which might actually be legible without mechanical intervention, Special Collections has several miniature books which contain the complete or partial text of the Bible. A book is considered to be miniature if it measures less than three inches in height or width. The miniature books pictured here include a 1965 edition of the Ten Commandments, a King James Bible published by David Bryce and Son In Glasgow in 1901, a pocket New Testament printed in 1892, and an edition of the Book of Ezekiel from 1835. These and other miniature books in the library’s collection can be found by searching the library catalog using the genre/form term “miniature books.”
November 12, 2011 by Kristi Young
On November 10, 2011, we held the annual Founder’s Lecture for the Wilson Folklore Archives. The speaker was Dr. David Dollahite of the Department of Family Life at Brigham Young University. His lecture was “Turning Hearts to God and Family through Telling and Writing Sacred Stories. Dr. Dollahite has allowed us to post the slides from his lecture. Soon they will be posted on the Wilson Folklore Archives homepage under projects.
2011 Founders Lecture Turning Hearts to God and Family through Telling and Writing Sacred Stories
November 8, 2011 by Maggie Kopp
This week’s post highlights a different type of Bible found in Special Collections: the polyglot. Polyglots present the text of the Bible in multiple languages, side-by-side on the page, in order to facilitate study and scholarship.
Special Collections’ earliest example of a polyglot Bible is the “Genoa Psalter” of 1516. This polyglot presents the text of the Psalms in Hebrew, Latin (Vulgate), Greek (Septuagint), Arabic, and Chaldee, with literal Latin translations of the Hebrew and Chaldee and a Latin commentary. Besides its rarity (400 copies were printed, and the Genoa city council ordered them destroyed), the Genoa Psalter is also famous because the commentary for Psalm 19 contains a short biography of Christopher Columbus.
Special Collections owns over a dozen polyglot Bibles, including Henri Estienne’s polyglot of 1569, the eight-volume polyglot printed by Christopher Plantin in 1571-72, and the London polyglot issued by Brian Walton in 1657. Polyglot Bibles in Special Collections, as well as modern editions in the circulating collection, can be found by searching the library catalog for the title “Bible polyglot.”
October 21, 2011 by Maggie Kopp
As a monument of English culture, religion, and literature, the Bible has been a source of inspiration for book artists, typographers, illustrators, and book designers. Because of its size and the varied types of material in the Bible, it also presents artistic and technical challenges in printing and illustrating.
Along with early editions of the King James Bible, Special Collections acquires important editions of the Bible by fine presses. The History of Printing and Fine Press collections contain the quarto and folio editions of the King James Version by printer and typographer John Baskerville in the 1760’s, and an array of fine printed King James Bibles from the 20th century. These include the Doves Press Bible (Vault Collection Quarto 220.53 B47 1903); the Pennyroyal Caxton Bible (Vault Collection Quarto 094.2 P386 1999 no.1); and the Oxford Lectern Bible (Vault Collection Folio 220.53 B47 1935).
October 12, 2011 by Kristi Young
Halloween is a great time for children. While of course the actual trick-or-treating is the highlight, there are many other activities that children enjoy. One family uses their Family Home Evening the Monday before Halloween to carve pumpkins. Another uses Family Home Evening as a time for each member of the family to tell a scary story. The one caveat is that the story must have a happy ending.
The family in the photograph have a party with cousins before Halloween and one of the traditional activities is decorating pumpkin cookies. Other food activities include serving a mixed up dinner prior to trick-or-treating where another family serves split pea soup.
In earlier years one favorite activity was tipping over an outhouse. This was particularly fun if someone happened to be in the outhouse at the time. A popular trick at the time was to dismantle a wagon and reassemble it in a tree. Sounds like lots of work.
These and other Halloween activities are found in the Customs collection in the Wilson Folklore Archives. They are located in the section number 8.10.2.
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