Adopted Books
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Visitors to Arizona, 1846 to 1980By James K. Ballinger. Phoenix, Ariz: Phoenix Art Museum, 1980.Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: American Art and Portrait Gallery Library This colorful catalog for an exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum in 1980 presents photography, painting, and sculpture created by artists who traveled through Arizona and were inspired by the state. The 93 artists included in the exhibition and this catalog span nearly 150 years, and include Helen Frankenthaler, Thomas Moran, Frederic Remington, Dorothea Tanning and Max Ernst, and Carleton Watkins. |
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Gothic Architecture Applied to Modern ResidencesBy D. H. Arnot. New York, Philadelphia: D. Appleton & Company ... George S. Appleton, 1851.Adoption Type: Preserve for the Future Library: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Library The Gothic Revival style came to the U.S. in the early 19th century from many different sources, including architects and designers coming to America and through British architectural and design publications. Architects and designers in America started publishing their own manuals and patterns for both builders and homeowners wanting the new styles. Scottish-born architect David Henry Arnot writes in the preface to this pattern book that he is providing uniquely American Gothic Revival designs to suit American needs and tastes: “Although numerous specimens and adaptations of Gothic art (are... |
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Maya Angelou: The Iconic SelfBy Mary Jane Lupton. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2016.Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: American Art and Portrait Gallery Library Maya Angelou (1928-2014) is best remembered as a prominent African American poet and civil rights activist. But she was also nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, and was the recipient of multiple Grammy Awards as well as the Mother Teresa Award, showing her wide range of talents. Her famous works include I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which was her first autobiography at age 17, and also the related poem, The Heart of a Woman, which was critically acclaimed as it continued the theme of a strong woman who will not be put down or tamed. This... |
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Struggles and Triumphs, or, Forty years' Recollections of P. T. BarnumBy P. T. Barnum. New York: American News Company, 1871.Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: American Art and Portrait Gallery Library Written by Phineas T. Barnum himself, this 1871 edition of his ongoing autobiography features both sketches and stories from his adventures as a showman and novice circus owner. The final adventure in Chapter 48 involves a meeting with Brigham Young along with one of his children named Barnum, and some playful banter about bringing Young in as an “attraction.” Barnum had just started off his circus career in 1870 after stints in the museum industry, and his autobiography went through several iterations, with new and changed stories. One edition was even said to have been given out free... |
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Fifty Animals That Changed the Course of HistoryBy Eric Chaline. Richmond Hill, Ont.; Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books; Hove, England: Quid Pub, 2011.Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: National Museum of Natural History Library This fun, interesting, and lavishly illustrated book tells the stories of approximately 50 animals that have played crucial roles in human history. Chaline’s fascinating essay topics range from the history of oyster-raising to the essential role of the horse. Humans are the subject of the final essay, which includes a warning that we are our own worst enemy. Each animal is classed among four categories as “Edible, Medicinal, Commercial, and/or Practical" (a dog-loving reader might quibble with the idea of modern housecats being considered “practical”). This title resides in the main Natural... |
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A Field Guide to the Birds' NestsBy Hal H. Harrison. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, c1975.Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Library Imagine a dazzling sunlit morning where you’ve chosen to escape from modern day technology and enjoy the beauty of nature. You come across an intriguing structure that you identify as a birds nest. However, without cell phone reception you are unable to scurry to Google for help, and you are unable to identify the species of bird that constructed the nest. Well, fear no more. Field Guide to the Birds’ Nests has scores of illustrations of the different types of nests one may come across -- if you are east of the Mississippi River -- and the species responsible for their construction.... |
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Notes on Examination of the Effects and Various Objects Found on German SoldiersWashington, DC: Govt. Print. Off, 1917.Adoption Type: Preserve for the Future Library: National Museum of American History Library The year 2017 marks the centennial anniversary of the United States’ involvement in World War I. This 1917 government publication, marked "Secret and confidential [now scratched out in red]; Not to be taken into front line trenches," provides a tiny window into life on the battlefield. Designed to help military staff on the front lines collect and analyze personal effects from captured German soldiers, it explains the importance of seemingly mundane items like postcards or letters in indicating where entire units of the German Army were located. It also includes fascinating drawings of the... |
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Tapis et TissusBy Sonia Delaunay. Paris : Editions d'Art Charles Moreau, c [1929].Adoption Type: Preserve for the Future Library: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Library Carpets and Fabrics is a portfolio volume about the famous series of textile design pattern books published in 1929 by Charles Moreau in Paris. Textile artist Sonia Delaunay edited this collection of textiles, created by her contemporary Art Deco and modernist designers. Like her own work, the designs incorporate geometric shapes and abstract patterns for rugs and fabrics, the idea of modernism being that the overall design of interiors and fashion be a coordinated look. French, German, Czech, Austrian, and Belgian designers and from the Weiner Werkstatte are represented in color and... |
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How Sweet the SoundBy Horace Clarence Boyer. Washington, D.C.: Elliott & Clark, c1995.Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: National Museum of African American History & Culture Library and Archives How Sweet the Sound: The Golden Age of Gospel is the culmination of research on gospel music undertaken by Horace Clarence Boyer, a gospel singer and pioneering scholar on the subject. Boyer skillfully combines the history of gospel music and its social context, tracking the development gospel from its early stages during its golden age (1945-55), into the 1960s, when the music form began to take its place in American popular music. Photographer Lloyd Yearwood’s rare photos of performances and backstage activity further enhance the written history. Together, Boyer and Yearwood offer... |
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The Golden Age of the NewspaperBy George H. Douglas. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: National Postal Museum Library This book traces the development of newspapers in the U.S. during their golden age (1830-1930), including influential publishers and journalists, and the increasingly important role newspapers played in American life. It also examines technological innovations in papermaking, typesetting, and printing that made it possible for metropolitan dailies to reach hundreds of thousands of readers. This book is part of the National Postal Museum Library collection, which includes titles relevant to the broader history of communication in America. |
