Writings on Special Collections and Archives at Harvard University's Houghton Library
In the aughts and teens of the 20th century, a few female vaudeville performers, British and American, had great success with male impersonation acts. In performance, they sang romantic love songs (as boys or young men), comic songs and bragging songs. Here are a few examples of their songs as published sheet music.
SHEET MUSIC 273
I love the ladies
words by Grant Clark ; music by Jean Schwartz
1914
This post is part of an ongoing series featuring items recently cataloged from the Julio Mario Santo Domingo Collection.
Manual medico-legal des poisons… is a curious French text that appears to be primarily about the legal aspects of poisoning. It also includes instructions on how to treat snakebites, the bites of rabid animals, as well as victims of anthrax, poisoning, drowning, and asphyxiation.
This color illustration of a viper is accompanied by a very specific description of the snake’s characteristics. The text states that a viper has a triangular head that is wide and flat with two oblong black spots which originate between the eyes and form the letter V. Typically two feet long and about an inch wide their fangs are long and hollow which enable the snake to inject venom into their prey. The venom is produced by glands located at the back of the snake’s upper jaw. When the snake’s mouth is closed, the fangs recede into a thin membrane and fold against the roof of the mouth. The text also describes quite lyrically the symptoms if one is bitten by a viper which includes a “sharp pain and burning, which like a flash of fire, slips and spreads across the member and to the internal organs; congestion and tension occurring at a rapid pace…pulse becomes small, uneven; you experience anxiety, weakness, difficulty breathing, cold sweats; the eye becomes cloudy, reason is misplaced; often vomiting occurs, sometimes bilious…” Luckily instructions on how to treat the bite follow these symptoms.
This only other illustration in the volume is this particularly sad dog suffering from rabies. The text alerts the reader to the fact that the bite of an animal, in particular the saliva, can pass this acute disease to others. As with the viper further instructions follow about what to do if you happen to be bitten by a rabid dog.
For more information about the legal aspects of these poisonings the Manuel médico-légal des poisons : précédé de considérations sur l’empoisonnement, des moyens de le constater, du résultat d’expériences faites sur l’acétate de morphine et les autres alcalis végétaux; suivi d’une méthode de traiter les morsures des animaux enragés et de la vipère /Rédigé … sous les yeux de Chaussier, par E. de Montmahou.Paris : Chez Compère Jeune, Libraire, 1824. QK100 .M79 1824 can be found in Countway’s collection in Longwood.
Last summer we hosted the first three Houghton Library undergraduate fellows in their work as they wrote an opera, recorded podcasts, and filled gaps in the literature with archival research. Now, in partnership with the Harvard Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships and their Summer Humanities and Arts Research Program (SHARP), we are looking forward to a new cohort of fellows and their inspiring pursuits. Applications for this competitive fellowship opportunity are currently being accepted, but the window to apply is closing quickly–applications are due Wednesday, February 24, 2016 (please note this is a two day extension from the originally advertised due date). Applications open on the SHARP website. For more details, see our website.
We are additionally excited to announce a new fellowship opportunity for this coming summer. Houghton Library and Thornwillow Press are collaborating to offer a summer fellowship for Harvard College undergraduates interested in book arts, fine printing, and publishing. The Houghton-Thornwillow fellow will spend six weeks at Houghton Library pursuing a project related to a book arts topic with guidance from Houghton librarians and curators. Topics could include altered books, artist’s books, book binding, book forms, bookmaking, hand press, illustration, letterpress, paper engineering, paper making, print-making, typography, and more. The project’s focus should be placed on primary source material in Houghton’s collections. Fellows will spend the following six weeks in residence at Thornwillow Press in Newburgh, New York, where they will have the opportunity to explore the workings of an active press and bindery. This hands-on experience should function as an extension of the work begun at Houghton Library. Paired with Thornwillow staff, fellows may focus on one or multiple aspects of fine press publishing, including editing, graphic design, marketing, printing, binding, and paper making. Each portion of the fellowship will be tailored to the fellow’s interests. Applications are due on Friday, March 18th. More details and information about the application process may be found here. We can’t wait to see the work that will come out of this exciting new fellowship!
The Historical Sheet Music Collections have plenty of love songs – songs about flirting, courtship and weddings. But there are also songwriters who understand the opposite end of the romance spectrum, from the perspectives of the ones done wrong. Here are six amusing examples just in time for Valentine’s Day.
SHEET MUSIC 241
Never introduce your bloke, to your lady friend
Words by John P. Harrington, music by George Le Brun [sic]
1907
(more…)
This post is part of an ongoing series featuring items recently cataloged from the Julio Mario Santo Domingo Collection.
Tuli Kupferberg’s 1001 Ways to Live Without Working is a handbook, political satire, and collage all-in-one. Nestled between the actual 1005 point list are newspaper advertisements, photographs of protest, slave sale notices, and other pieces of historical media used to turn the list into a multimedia protest artwork. Matt Groening, creator of the Simpsons, called Kupferberg “a pioneer of list-making as art.” His style is reminiscent of French detournement, an art form where expressions of capitalist and media cultures are appropriated into new art forms used to mock and critique these very cultures. Detournement in the United States is well illustrated by Barbara Kruger’s photography. A heavy critique of American capitalism, Kupferberg’s 1001 Ways juxtaposes struggles of the working class (“have lots of doctors bills so you don’t have to pay any income tax”) with newspaper advertisements claiming a path to phenomenal wealth (“a money miracle can come to you, too!)
Founding member of the first Beat generation band, The Fugs, Kupferberg continued to create anarchist multimedia art in New York City until his death in 2010. Kupferbeg is forever memorialized in Allen Ginsberg’s Howl as the man “who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge this actually happened and walked away unknown and forgotten into the ghostly daze of Chinatown soup alleyways & firetrucks, not even one free beer.”
As for those tips to live without working, the text includes such helpful suggestions as “be 1 year old” (#810), “keep on living with your parents” (#830), “invent a new political party” (#845), and “live on an iceberg” (#269). There are also direct comparisons between material culture and starvation along with a correlation between American capitalism and fascism.
To learn more, 1001 Ways To Live Without Working can be found in Widener’s collection: New York: Grove Press, 1967.
Thanks to Irina Rogova, Santo Domingo Library Assistant, for contributing this post.