Adopted Books

Library

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Adopted Books
	The Golden Age of the Newspaper By 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.
	Giant pandas: Biology, Veterinary Medicine and Management Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: National Zoological Park Library In 1972, the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park welcomed its first pair of giant pandas, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, as a gift to President and Mrs. Nixon. The second and current pair, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, arrived in 2000 as part of the Chinese giant panda loan program. For over 40 years, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZP/SCBI) has been a leader in giant panda conservation through the study of behavior, health, and reproduction. Throughout this time the Smithsonian Libraries has provided resources and services to the veterinarians, animal keepers,...
	Ancient Chinese Gold By Wei Han. Paris: Editions d'art et d'histoire, ARHIS, 2001. Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Library In Chinese culture, gold is associated with power, wealth, longevity, and happiness. It is considered the most valuable and significant gift one can give, and is included in many celebrations, such as weddings, the birth of a child, the New Year, and other important occasions. Historically, gold’s importance made it a valuable ingredient in the "elixir of immortality." It was also important in rituals and ceremonies associated with unsolvable problems or unexplainable natural phenomena. Gold jewelry and decorative objects were considered as a sign of wealth and status, and royal ornaments...
	Man Ray: Peintures, Sculptures et Objects By Man Ray. London: Hanover Gallery, 1969. Adoption Type: Preserve for the Future Library: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library This charming binder served as the exhibition catalog for Man Ray’s second show at the Hanover Gallery in London (April-May 1969). The exhibition featured mid-career painting and sculpture from the 1940s and 50s, with clear stylistic references to Man Ray’s peers, such as De Chirico, Picabia, and Kandinsky. The metal ring binder is polished aluminum, silk-screened in bright red. The yellow-bordered pages include an essay by Man Ray, 17 illustrations (7 in full color), and a checklist. Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky, 1890-1976) was an American artist whose work contributed to the Dada and...
	The Weary Blues By Langston Hughes. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1926. Adoption Type: Preserve for the Future Library: National Museum of African American History & Culture Library and Archives "Droning a drowsy syncopated tune; Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon..." So begins "The Weary Blues," a lyrical poem written by Langston Hughes, a leading contributor to the Harlem Renaissance movement, and one of the greatest and most prolific writers in American literary history. During his lifetime, Hughes wrote countless poetry, plays, short stories, and novels, and was known for writing about the struggles, triumphs, celebrations, and the every-day lives of African Americans in the 1920s, 30s, 40s, and 50s, right up until his death in the 1960s. Hughes also had a variety of odd...
	The Japanese Flowering Cherry Trees of Washington, D.C. By Roland M. Jefferson and Alan E. Fusonie. Washington D.C.: Dept. of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, 1977. Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: Botany and Horticulture Library This wonderful book is about the history of the famous Japanese flowering cherry trees in Washington, D.C. It’s co-authored by Roland Jefferson, the first African American botanist at the U.S. National Arboretum (USNA), hired in 1956. Mr. Jefferson began his career studying crabapple trees, but eventually became an international authority on flowering cherries, making many plant collecting trips to Japan. He is best remembered for beginning the preservation work to save the cherry trees along D.C.'s Tidal Basin, a project continued to this day by USNA botanists and geneticists. While...
	Teapots and Quails By Edward Lear. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953. Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: American Art and Portrait Gallery Library “There was an old person of Brussels, Who lived upon Brandy and Mussels. When he rushed through the town, He knocked most people down, Which distressed all the people of Brussels.” Edward Lear made limericks fashionable in the mid-19th century, entertaining children and adults alike with his clever illustrations and imagined characters, such as Teapots and Quails’ Scroobious Pip. Lear was the youngest of twenty-one children in his family, a fact that may explain his penchant for attention-getting nonsense words and invented creatures. Particularly interesting in this book is...
	Matrimonial Advice By H. W. McVickar. New York: Geo. M. Allen & Co, c1891. Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: American Art and Portrait Gallery Library “A little book of advice to be given to all those contemplating matrimony, married or engaged.” Embossed gold lettering adorns the linen cover of this charming and humorous book of advice for wedded bliss. The book is divided into two sections: “Advice to the Man” and “Advice to the Woman,” in which pages alternate between 17 polychromatic drawings on watercolor paper, colored by the author, and black and white pages with sketches and quatrains elaborating on the simple advice. The 30 pages of this rare first edition book embody the spirit of the frivolous Gilded Age of the late 19th...
	American big-game hunting; the book of the Boone and Crockett club By Theodore Roosevelt. New York: Forest and stream publishing co., 1893. Adoption Type: Build the Collection Library: National Museum of Natural History Library This is the first in a series of books associated with the Boone and Crockett Club, an organization founded by Theodore Roosevelt, George Bird Grinnell, and others. The Boone and Crockett Club was dedicated to balancing both the conservation of wildlife and natural resources and the preservation of hunting traditions. This volume consists of tales of adventures in the western parts of nineteenth-century America in which each author describes a hunting excursion or shares a personal recollection of exploring the wilderness, frequently involving buffalo, grizzlies, wapitis and other big-game...
	Hebrew prayer book for Rosh ha-Shanah Adoption Type: Preserve for the Future Library: Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology Though the binding has the name S. Cohen, the scribe of this beautifully written Jewish prayer book is unknown. Containing just 7 leaves of text written on vellum, this small prayer book contains selected prayers for use during the High Holy Days. With sparse decoration within, it is the faith and meaning held in the words that shines.

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