November is National American Indian & Alaska Native Heritage Month. Many people don’t learn that this is celebrated in November and, if they do, they hear the short title which is National American Indian Heritage Month. According to the Library of Congress Web site, this month, “celebrates and recognizes the accomplishments of the people who were the original inhabitants, explorers and settlers of the Unites States.”

In 1986, Congress delegated November as National American Indian Heritage Month. Congress then authorized a proclamation issued by President Ronald Reagan declaring November 23-30, 1986, as American Indian Week. The Library of Congress Web site says that the proclamation and the law delegating November as the month to celebrate this, “recognized American Indians as the first inhabitants of the lands that now constitute the United States as well as making mention of their contributions to American society.” Native Americans made many contributions to society, such as food, medicine, clothing, literature and folklore. The Web site also says Congress chose November because this month concludes the traditional harvest season and ends in Thanksgiving.

According to the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs Web site, this year’s theme is “Pride in Our Heritage with Gratitude to Our Elders.” This department will team with the U.S. Park Service to present special programs and exhibits in Washington, D.C., to honor the Native Americans and their contributions to society.

But how do you celebrate this month if you can’t make it to D.C. at such a busy time of the semester? You can start by heading to the Rohrbach Library and checking the catalog for our books on Native American culture. Also, the Multicultural Center is hosting a Native American Celebration on Tuesday, November 10, from 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. in the Student Union Building’s Multipurpose Room. This celebration will feature the Piscataway Nation Indian Singers and Dancers. Whether you do one of these or both, you will be sure to acquire a wealth of knowledge about an important part of US past and current history.

-CS

In honor of the Rohrbach Library’s and the Modern Language Studies’s Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration, students, staff and faculty are invited to a pastry tasting on Thursday, November 5, from 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. in the library’s Voices and Choices Center on the second floor. At this time, anyone present can taste a traditional Day of the Dead pastry – pan del muerto, or bread of the dead. This event will also feature a talk about the Day of the Dead. So come out and enjoy a treat while you learn about a different culture.

For more information, contact Bruce Jensen, librarian, at 610-683-4766 or at rjensen@kutztown.edu. Also, for more information about Day of the Dead, check out the Rohrbach Library’s LibGuide.

-CS

Washington D.C.’s Library of Congress has existed since 1800. However, it opened its doors to the public on November 1, 1897; thus we are celebrating its 112^th anniversary of being open to the public.

According to its Web site, the Library of Congress is “the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution.” Aside from being a public library, it’s also the research arm of Congress. That’s similar to how the PA State Library in Harrisburg works; it’s a public library, but it is also a federal repository and the main source of research information for the state government offices. But that’s a lesson for a blog post next week.

The Library Congress was established by an act of Congress in 1800. The original library was in the Capitol until August of 1814, when the British invaded and set fire to the building. In September of 1814, Thomas Jefferson offered his collection as a replacement for the library. His collection formed the nucleus of today’s Library of Congress.

Today, according to its Web site, the Library of Congress is “the largest library in the world.” The site also says the collection contains over 130 million items, including: more than 29 million cataloged print materials; more than 58 million manuscripts; the largest rare book collection in North America; and the world’s largest collection of legal materials, films, maps, sheet music and sound recordings. The U.S. Copyright Office is also located in the library, and so is a separate law library.

The Library of Congress occupies three buildings on Capitol Hill — the Thomas Jefferson Building, the John Adams Building and the James Madison Building. If you’re ever in the D.C. area, stop by and check it out. For more information about visiting the library, or for any other information about it, click here.

-CS

Come join the Rohrbach Library Voices and Choices Center and the KU Spanish classes as they celebrate el Día De Los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead.

The Day of the Dead is a celebration of life and death that is popular in North, Central, and Latin American countries like Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala, Brazil, and others. This celebration occurs around the beginning of November. Although it coincides with our Halloween celebrations, the Day of the Dead celebration is quite different.

The Day of the Dead celebration doesn’t involve spooky stories about ghosts haunting you. Rather it’s about remembering those whom you’ve lost. People make offerings to those they’ve lost, and they present these offerings either in their homes or at the grave sites. It is not uncommon for people to bring the favorite meal of the deceased to the grave site and to eat the meal there. In some cultures, people even sleep on the grave sites. In some countries, offers are made to family members who have emigrated to other countries; this is not the traditional practice, but it an emerging trend.

The most famous depictions of the Day of the Dead celebration come from José Guadalupe Posada, whose pictures of skeletons engaged in typical daily activities and dressed in clothing poke fun at death while at the same time making us acknowledge that it is in fact a part of life.

Day of the Dead celebrations are often colorful, with bright flowers, sugar skulls, and papiér maché skeletons. There is also a famous traditional dish that is prepared — Pan del Muerte, or Bread of the Dead. You can see some of these decorations on display, along with posters and pictures, in the Rohrbach Library’s Voices and Choices Center’s Day of the Dead display. In addition to a display in the Rohrbach Library, you can also visit the Language Lab in the DeFrancesco building to check out the display created by Spanish professor Dr. Dawn Slack’s classes.

Dr. Dawn Slack; Dr. Linda Matthews, associate library dean; Professor Bruce Jensen, multicultural support and reference librarian; and Professor Michael Weber, technical services and reference librarian have created a wonderful Day of the Dead display in the library. In addition to sugar skulls, colorful posters, flowers, and artwork from communication design professor Kevin McCloskey’s “ASARO of Mexico” collection, there will be a fact sheet available for your reference. You also will get the chance to sample some Bread of the Dead.

But that’s not all that Rohrbach Library is doing for this celebration. There will be life-size papiér maché skeletons on display, too. These skeletons were created by Yolanda Reyes, a local artist who had her skeletons on display a few years ago at the Reading Public Museum’s Day of the Dead feature.

Setup for the displays begins today. The displays will be available for you to view over the next few weeks. Look for upcoming information about your chance to sample some Bread of the Dead.

For more information about el Día De Los Muertos, visit the LibGuide designed for the celebration. You will find basic facts about it, as well as books, videos, articles, and news feeds full of information.

So check out the LibGuide and the display, and enjoy el Día De Los Muertos. It truly is as much a celebration of life as it is a celebration of death.

-CS

We’ve all heard of poets like Robert Frost, EE Cummings, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and many other popular names that seem to fill the English class curricula. Unless you study Victorian poetry, though, you may not have heard of Adelaide Procter.

Born October 30, 1825, Adelaide Procter was the extremely gifted daughter of poet Bryan Waller Procter (a.k.a. “Barry Cornwall”), and Anne Skepper. Her parents were friends with Charles Dickens, and so Adelaide was raised in a distinguished literary circle.

She began having her work published when she was only eighteen years old. In 1853, she contributed to Book of Beauty and Household Words under the pseudonym Mary Berwick so the publisher, Charles Dickens, would publish her poetry based on its merit and not based on his relationship with her family.

Adelaide’s poems continued to be published in magazines and books. She published Legends and Lyrics, the first series of her principal work, in 1858. Nine editions of Legends and Lyrics were published in seven years. Charles Dickens eventually, and accidentally, discovered her identity and wrote an introduction for the edition published in 1866.

In addition to being a poet, Adelaide was a true women’s rights activist. She wrote about and advocated for women’s rights and to further women’s education and employment until her death. She died of tuberculosis on February 2, 1864, at just 38 years old.

Check out some of Adelaide Procter’s poems at http://www.poemhunter.com/adelaide-a-procter/. You can also go to the Rohrbach Library catalog and do an author search for “Procter, Adelaide.”

Happy birthday, Adelaide!

-CS

Information taken from http://gerald-massey.org.uk/procter/index.htm.

1793*
Eli Whitney applied for a patent for the cotton gin.

1886*
The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor by President Grover Celveland.

1919*
Congress passed the Volstead Act, or the National Prohibition Act, over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto.

1922*
Benito Mussolini took control of the Italian government.

1940*
Italy invaded Greece during WWII.

1958*
Pope John Paul XXIII was elected.

1962*
Nikita Khrushchev told the U.S. that he ordered the dismantling of Soviet missiles in Cuba.

2009
You filmed a YouTube video for Rohrbach Library. What am I talking about? I’m talking about SnapShot PA!

On Wednesday, Oct. 28, the Rohrbach Library will be participating in SnapShot-PA, a statewide initiative aimed at capturing the impact that Pennsylvania libraries have on their communities on a typical day. Patrons can stop by the library from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Oct. 28 to record a brief video telling us why they are in the library and how they use the library’s services and resources. Some of the videos will be posted to YouTube, and the results (statistics, photos, videos, and comments) from all participating libraries will be posted online on the SnapShot-PA Web site: http://snapshotpa.org. For more information, please contact professor Karen Wanamaker, Education Librarian, at ext. 3-4709.

*Information taken from Infoplease.com.

-CS

On Wednesday, Oct. 28, the Rohrbach Library will be participating in SnapShot-PA, a statewide initiative aimed at capturing the impact that Pennsylvania libraries have on their communities on a typical day. Patrons can stop by the library from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Oct. 28 to record a brief video telling us why they are in the library and how they use the library’s services and resources. Some of the videos will be posted to YouTube, and the results (statistics, photos, videos, and comments) from all participating libraries will be posted online on the SnapShot-PA Web site: http://snapshotpa.org. For more information, please contact professor Karen Wanamaker, Education Librarian, at ext. 3-4709.

Halloween is almost here. People will soon be carving pumpkins, dressing up, trick-or-treating, and getting more candy than they can eat. And in the midst of all the Halloween celebrations, many people will be telling ghost stories.

While the traditions of dressing up and trick-or-treating have a few possible origins, the origins of Halloween ghost stories are rather consistent. Halloween began in ancient Britain and Ireland with Samhain, a Celtic festival. Samhain was observed on October 31, at the end of summer. According to CBN.com (information taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica):

“The souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes on this day and the autumnal festival acquired sinister significance, with ghosts, witches, goblins, black cats, fairies and demons of all kinds said to be roaming about. It was the time to placate the supernatural powers controlling the processes of nature. In addition, Halloween was thought to be the most favorable time for divinations concerning marriage, luck, health, and death. It was the only day on which the help of the devil was invoked for such purposes.”

Because Halloween was a Pagan holiday, it took some time for the United States, with its strong Christian heritage, to adopt it. Eventually in the 1800s Irish settlers began to celebrate it; Irish Catholic churches, and later the entire Catholic Church, adopted it and named it All Hallows Eve because it occurred on the eve of All Saints Day. From then on, Halloween worked its way into the fabric of American tradition.

The tradition of telling ghost stories grew out of the idea that dead souls were roaming around visiting people. They were also common because the devil was thought to have a hand in helping the aforementioned divinations. Thus ghost stories have been ingrained in Halloween traditions from the start; they’ve just adapted over time.

Clearly telling ghost stories is an important part of Halloween. So when it’s time to tell them, don’t just tell the same old stories. Visit the library and check out our folklore and ghost stories books so you have some new stories to tell. Go to Rohrbach Library’s catalog and do a title search for “ghost stories” to get a list of the resources available for you here.

Also, you can check out the storytelling and folklore sections as well. These are some great resources for any budding young teachers who want something fun to read in class. The Dewey Decimal call number for storytelling is 372. The Library of Congress classifications are as follows: LB 1042 for teaching and Z 7183 for storytelling in libraries. The Dewey Decimal number for folklore is 398.2 and the Library of Congress section for folklore collections is GR. If you want folklore teaching resources, check out LB 1583.8. Items are available in our main collection and CMC collection.

References:

Ankerberg, John, John Weldon, and Dillon Burroughs. “The Pagan Roots of 
        Halloween.” CBN.com, n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2009. 
       <http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/onlinediscipleship/halloween/
        halloween_Pagan_Ankerberg.aspx>.

Siemer, Hal. “Spooky Halloween: A Celebration of the Dark.”  
        QuestMagazine.com. Quest Magazine, 2009. Web. 27 Oct. 2009.  
        http://www.questmagazine.com/halloween.html.

-CS

October 24 is United Nations Day. On October 24, 1945, the United Nations Charter went into effect, formally establishing the United Nations. People have celebrated the UN’s birthday since 1948, although it wasn’t until 1971 that the General Assembly recommended member states observe this date as a public holiday.

So how do people across the world celebrate the UN’s birthday? Groups have meetings, discussions and exhibits about the organization’s achievements. UN Headquarters also has its own special celebration. It holds an international concert in the General Assembly Hall, and there are often other special events that are broadcast to other cities around the world.

For more information about UN Day, including information about some UN milestones, click here. You can also go to Rohrbach Library’s catalog and do a title search for “United Nations” to learn more about the organization.

Information taken from http://www.un.org.

-CS

If you were in the CMC yesterday, you may have noticed a new bulletin board under the clock outside of the kit room. The board has the quote, “There is no frigate like a book.” Because there have been some questions about the quote I put up, I figured I should explain it.

This is a quote from Emily Dickinson’s poem “There is no frigate like a book.” Here is the entire poem:

“There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!”

After studying Emily Dickinson in high school, this soon became one of my favorite poems. I guess you could tell then that I would get an English degree. I adore reading, and know that there is nothing like a book to carry you to far off lands, to take you wherever you want to go. A book truly is a “frigate” (small boat)⁺ that allows you to travel anywhere you want to go, and you can go there for free.

There are many other wonderful poems by Emily Dickinson, and you can find them right here in the library. Just do an author search in the library catalog for “Dickinson, Emily.”

So read on, everyone. Go find your frigates and travel the world, if only for a few hours.

⁺ Check out the Rohrbach Library’s Twitter page to see a definition of “frigate,” as well as other “Word of the Day” tweets.

-CS