On Learning: What’s new at the Library of Congress

A 1939 Frank Warner Banjo /
Acquired by the Library of Congress.

One of my favorite days each year at the Library of Congress is the annual “New Acquisitions” display, when the public is invited to view 100 of the most interesting items in all formats that the Library has obtained during the past fiscal year.

During this year’s open house last week, there were holograph manuscript sketches for Beethoven’s monumental “Hammerklavier” Piano Sonata, Op. 106, presented by the Music Division; the 1941 Japanese Pearl Harbor damage assessment map used to brief Emperor Hirohito, presented by the Asian Division; and one of the most famous issues of the New York Daily News, which contains a front page with one of the most iconic baseball cartoons of all time, “Who’s a Bum!” by cartoonist Leo O’Mealia, presented by the Serial & Government Publictions Division.

Multi-faceted French Toy Theatre

There were many fascinating items from a variety of curatorial divisions in the Library, and curators were on hand to answer visitor questions and provide commentary. For instance, I shared a wonderful discussion with Sybille Jagusch, chief of the Children’s Literature Center (which is part of the Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections) about her recent purchase of a superb, multi-faceted French Toy Theatre, with small hand cranks which move color images across the back of a hollow box. I learned that the chromolithgraphed scenes included in this French toy theatre are lovely and handsome images of the Paris Exposition of 1900.

Also, I engaged with Raymond White, a senior music specialist with the Library’s Music Division, to learn about what the Library has added to its wealth of original Felix Mendelssohn (1808-1847) holdings. I did not realize that the Library is a well-known repository for its sources of Mendelssohn research, which includes approximately 20 music manuscripts, nearly 400 autograph letters and a large collection of first and early printed editions, in addition to portraits, contemporaneous clippings, and other documents. It all combines to make the Library of Congress the leading American source for all things Mendelssohn.

Among other new items of interest:

• A World’s Fair New York “Straight to the Gate” print by German-born artist Sasha Maurer that depicts a couple admiring the vista of a train streaming through Manhattan’s Penn State to the brightly glowing World’s Fair Station, presented by the Prints & Photographs Division.

• A beautifully illustrated Book of Hours for an English Market, made in Flanders for exportation to England during the middle years of the 15th century in an era of religious reform, presented by the Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

• A Frank Warner banjo, signed by more than 200 performers, made in 1939. The banjo is made of walnut, with walnut tuning pegs, steel strings and animal skin. The signatories include Alan Lomax, Odetta, Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, presented by the American Folklife Center.

• Copies of Besuboru magajin (“Baseball magazine”), which belong to a set of 66 issues recently acquired by the Asian Division. These issues span from 1946 to 1951, a period that coincides with the U.S. occupation of Japan (1945-1952) and “marks a time of profound political, social and cultural change.” Besuboru magajin, I learned, appeared shortly after Japanese professional baseball officially returned in November 1945, after a year of inactivity due to World War II.

Photos: By Michael Dickens © 2019.

Issues: The nice little neighborhood magazine shop that feeds our hungry minds

Issues:
Feeding hungry minds

It's encouraging to know that despite an increasing reliance of the Internet as a source for news and information, a medium that some predicted would cause the demise of magazines, our affinity with the printed word still exists.

No Kindles or iPads for us ~ yet.

We subscribe to two weeklies, The New Yorker and The Economist, and also to the Southern lit quarterly Oxford American.  Also, I like to read Monocle, a monthly published in London, and my wife enjoys reading Interweave Knits and other knitting magazines, too.

However, in our hectic, 24/7 instant information culture fed by Facebook, Twitter and all things Internet, it's a constant challenge for me to make quality time for reading magazines. Still, I find it important ~ not to mention relevant ~ and the opportunity to fit in 20-30 minutes of periodical reading while peddling a stationary bike is one of the things that stimulates me into regularly going to our local fitness center. Exercise for body and mind.

Issues:
A nice little neighborhood
magazine shop

Fortunately, Issues, a nice little neighborhood magazine shop that's about a 10-minute drive from our house in Oakland, exists to feed my hungry mind.  While the shop is the size of your average living room, it's roomy enough to house 3,000 foreign and domestic magazine and journal titles on its shelves ~ everything from Dwell, Oprah and Lapham's Quarterly to Gastronomica, Living etc and Paris Vogue.  It carries an impressive selection of food, design, business and foreign affairs periodicals.  Earlier this summer, it was the place to find a variety of titles devoted to World Cup soccer and the Tour de France cycling race.  Also, Issues sells an assortment of local (San Francisco Chronicle), national (New York Times) and international newspapers (Guardian Weekly and Irish Times), artsy greeting cards, selected second-hand books and vinyl, too. 

The friendly and knowledgeable owners, Noella Teele and Joe Colley, left their jobs as record store managers to open Issues in June 2007, and, earlier this summer, the store celebrated its third birthday with a lively in-store bash.  Located just off trendy Piedmont Ave. (20 Glen Ave., Oakland), Issues sits a few doors down from a very popular Peet's Coffee and Tea, so it receives lots of foot traffic.  While their Facebook page has over 800 fans, their bricks-and-mortar store attracts a loyal and devoted clientele ~ reviews on the website yelp.com sing high praises for Issues ~ and it gives back to the community, too. Recently, Issues hosted the East Bay Vegan Bakesale, which raised funds for the Berkeley Humane Society and Walk Oakland Bike Oakland.

Window display at Issues:
Full of eclectic titles

I enjoy visiting Issues once or twice a month to peruse new and eclectic titles and, sometimes, just to absorb the colorful atmosphere.  There's always great music playing in the background that makes you feel welcome and makes stopping in a pleasant experience.  It's where I can always locate one of my favorite but hard-to-find periodicals, Monocle, a magazine devoted to global affairs, business, culture and design, as well as Paste, a music periodical.

Issues: A colorful atmosphere,
a pleasant experience

Recently, I engaged in a lively albeit brief conversation about my opinion of Monocle with another Issues customer while I waited to purchase the July/August issue. Noella and Joe joined in the discussion at the cash register ~ for a few fleeting moments we had become a micro-community of Monocle enthusiasts ~ and, as I exited Issues, it left me with a wonderful impression of the nice little neighborhood magazine shop that feeds other hungry minds, too.