Category: Manuscripts

New Exhibit | Tomorrow’s Scientists: Children’s Literature of the Cold War Era

University of Oregon Libraries and Eugene Public Library are pleased to announce a joint exhibition titled Tomorrow’s Scientists: Children’s Literature of the Cold War Era, now on display.

As we reflect on the 50th anniversary of the manned moon landing, this exhibition presents original manuscripts, artifacts, illustrations, and rare books which explore the intersection of politics, space, and technology in children’s literature published during the height of the Cold War.

The joint exhibits are on display at two locations:

Special Collections and University Archives
Knight Library, Paulson Reading Reading Room, Second Floor North
On display through March 2020 | check open hours here

Drawing upon Special Collections and University Archives’ extensive Children’s Literature Collections, this display presents original materials from twentieth century children’s book illustrators, authors, and publishers that highlight the complex intersections between American politics and children’s literature during the Cold War era.

This exhibit documents a range of political issues represented in juvenile popular culture during this period including: science education initiatives in America, responses to the launch of Sputnik I, developments in nuclear energy, the history of the US space program, and Communism ideologies and reactions.

Eugene Public Library
Downtown Library, Children’s Center, First Floor
On display through January 2020 | check open hours here

Little Golden Books, science texts for children, facsimile illustrations, and vintage toys on display at Eugene Public Library illustrate the impact of the space race on popular culture and boom of science publishing in the mid-twentieth century. In many of these works, authors and illustrators presented children of the 1950s–1960s with utopian visions of a future filled with space suits and flying cars on the eve of space exploration.

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New Finding Aids | Children’s Literature

New finding aids are now available on Archives West for the following children’s literature collections:

Bettina Ehrlich papers, circa 1959 (A 230)

Bettina Ehrlich (1903-1985) was an Austrian artist and author of children’s books. The collection includes Ehrlich’s manuscripts, sketches, and illustrated dummy for For the Leg of a Chicken.

Joseph Edward Van Wormer papers, 1961-1974 (Ax 770)

Joseph Edward Van Wormer (1913-1998) was an Oregonian wildlife photographer and author. The collection includes Van Wormer’s literary manuscripts for eight books about animals of the Northwest, mostly for children, and related correspondence.

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New Finding Aid | Paula Gunn Allen papers

Special Collections and University Archives is pleased to announce a newly published finding aid for the Paula Gunn Allen papers (Coll 519). The finding aid is available on Archives West.

Publicity photo of Gunn and publishing contract
Publicity photo of Gunn and publishing contract, Paula Gunn Allen papers, Coll 519, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, Oregon.

Paula Gunn Allen (1939-2008) was a Native American author, literary critic, activist, and scholar known for her contributions to American Indian studies and the nascent field of Indigenous feminism. She was also a founding leader in the contemporary women’s spirituality movement.

The collection documents Allen’s career as a poet, novelist, essayist, literary critic, and educator. The papers include manuscripts and supplementary material for the following published books: Grandmothers of the LightThe Woman Who Owned the ShadowsOff the ReservationSpider Woman’s GranddaughtersSong of the TurtleThe Sacred HoopAs Long as the Rivers Flow, and Skins and Bones. Other manuscripts include a collection of “haggles,” or short essays, screenplays, prefatory material, and unpublished works.

The collection also includes instructional material created by Allen including lecture transcripts, notes, diagrams, and handouts for workshops and seminars led by Paula Gunn Allen in Seattle and the Bay Area between 1984 and 1987. The subjects of these workshops include comparative spirituality, shamanic writing, and Rainbow Warriors. The collection also includes audio recordings of “haggles” and workshops, which require advance notice for use and the production of listening copies.

New Finding Aid | Sadakichi Hartmann papers

Special Collections and University Archives is pleased to announce a newly updated finding aid published for the Sadakichi Hartmann papers (Ax 523). The finding aid is available on Archives West.

The Sadakichi Hartmann papers is a collection compiled by writer, playwright, poet, actor, artist, art critic, and Bohemian, Sadakichi Hartmann (1867-1944). Hartmann was one of the early Greenwich Village and southern California Bohemians during the late 19th to early 20th centuries. The collection contains draft manuscripts and published works, many of which pertain to the arts, as well as correspondence, family photographs, and artwork.

Hartmann was born in Nagasaki, Japan to a German father and Japanese mother in 1867. In an autobiographical work published in Greenwich Village (1915), Hartmann described himself as:

Greenwich Village, edited by Guido Bruno, New York, 1915, Sadakichi Hartmann papers, Ax 523, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, Oregon.

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New Finding Aid | Ursula K. Le Guin papers

Special Collections and University Archives is pleased to announce a new finding aid published for the Ursula K. Le Guin papers (Coll 270). The finding aid is available on Archives West.

[Portrait of Ursula K. Le Guin by Marian Wood Kolisch]
The Ursula K. Le Guin papers document Le Guin’s career as a novelist, short story writer, children’s author, essayist, and poet best known for her world-building science fiction and fantasy works. Her papers not only capture her public persona as an author, a teacher and mentor of other writers, and an activist for various causes throughout her lifetime, but also as a private individual devoted to the welfare of her family, friends, and community. The papers include correspondence, literary works, legal and financial files, public appearances and publicity materials, personal papers, photographs and artwork, audiovisual material, website and social media, and writing of others.

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