Born in Sannicolau Mare, Romania, on May 12, 1901, Bohn immigrated to America with his widowed father in 1911. In 1919 he graduated from East Tech High School in Cleveland and went on to graduate from Adelbert College of Western Reserve University (WRU) in 1924 and the WRU Law School in 1926. He practiced law in Cleveland from 1926 to 1938.

Campaign button for Cleveland’s progressive (and Democratic) mayor Tom L. Johnson belonging to Bohn. Johnson died in 1911, the year young Ernest J. Bohn immigrated to America. “Tom L. Johnson & 3 cent Fare. circa 1907. 3.5 cm diameter” Johnson inspired reform candidates from both political parties

Before he found his life's work in the housing problems which confronted Cleveland in the great depression, Bohn was active in Cleveland and Ohio politics as a highly visible and often quoted Republican Party organizer and candidate. Among his papers is his usher’s pin and ribbon for the republican national convention, held in Cleveland in 1924. Early in his career he was elected to a term in the Ohio House of Representatives [1928], and from 1930 to 1940 he was elected to successive terms on the Cleveland City Council.

A cherished memento: Usher’s pin with ribbon: “Usher. Republican National Convention. Cleveland Ohio 1924. 12.5 cm (h) with white ribbon”

Bohn never lost sight of his goal to further the cause of public housing and though he remained devoted to the Republican Party he accepted the reality of politics which dictated that he work with politicians and government officials of all stripes in order to succeed.

As the Special Collections Research Center nears completion of an updated guide to The Ernest J. Bohn Housing and Planning Library we offer images of selected political memorabilia from the collection.

Campaign pins for Republican presidential candidates from left to right: “War in Europe. Peace in America. God Bless Wilson. circa. 1916. 2 cm. diameter”; “Keep Coolidge. circa. 1924. 1.5 cm. diameter”; “For President. Herbert Hoover. circa. 1928. 2 cm. diameter”; “Landon. Deeds Not Deficits. circa. 1936. 2 cm. diameter”

For additional information about the Ernest J. Bohn Housing & Planning Library contact the Special Collections Research Center in the Kelvin Smith Library at Case Western Reserve University.

"Disabled Heroes Being Taught New Trades." circa 1919 From the Underwood & Underwood Collection of World War I Photographs. Gift of Thomas Slavin

When we wrote about the collections in the Case Archive of Contemporary Science and Technology in September we could not foresee the events that would unfold bringing staff members into closer connection with History of Science and Technology groups meeting in Cleveland last fall. An invitation extended by NASA Chief Archivist Jane Odom presented an opportunity to archivists Helen Conger {University Archives) and Nora Blackman (Special Collections) to speak at the NASA Annual History Meeting on November 1st at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland on our holdings related to T. Keith Glennan, President of CIT (1947-1966) and first NASA Administrator (1958-1961), and the Case Archive.

A second invitation was extended by Atsushi Akera (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Chair of the Engineering Education Working Group of The Prometheans - The Society for the History of Technology’s engineering SIG) to attend the November 5th session: Reexamining the Origins of the History of Technology at Case at the SHOT Annual Meeting.

The session featured the following papers, which underscored the value of our primary sources in the field of Engineering Education:

Bruce Seely (Michigan Technological University): Mel Kranzberg and SHOT’s Creation Story: “And How Does One Go About Forming a New Scholarly Society?”
Atsushi Akera (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute): Implementing Liberal-Professional Education at Case Institute of Technology
Robert C. Post (National Museum of American History): Mel Kranzberg’s Return to Ithaca

Lastly, in October we wrote about Octavofest activities in Special Collections. If you haven’t seen the results of the juried art competition be sure to read about the winners and view their submissions

Hanford’s view was understandably trained on the Helmontia found in the collection and in preserving the final draft of Darrow’s Bibliography of Francis Mercurius van Helmont, but scholars have also shown interest in Darrow’s personal papers, particularly as they reflect his involvement in the International Theosophical Society and one of its earliest and most charismatic leaders, Katherine Tingley.

Darrow (1882-1929) was born in Rochester, New York in 1882 to Charles E. and Isabel Sage Darrow. He graduated from Harvard University (A.B., 1903, A.M., 1904, PhD, 1906) and earned many scholastic honors there including Harvard College Scholar (1902), John Harvard Scholar (1903), and Charles Eliot Norton Fellow. He was a Member of the American School of Classical Studies, Athens, Greece (1903-1904A)

Frontispiece with portraits of father and son as part of the elaborate engraving. From: Ortus Medicinae by Jean Baptiste van Helmont and edited by [his son] Francis Mercurius van Helmont. 1648. This volume was originally part of the library of Fritz Sage Darrow.

Darrow served as instructor of Classical Archeology in the Harvard Summer School (1906), Adjunct Professor of Greek at Dickenson College (1906-1907) and Professor of Greek at Drury College (1907-1910). He sought to write the definitive life of van Helmont, though for several reasons (primarily the war in Europe, family crises, and professional setbacks) he abandoned his years of scholarly effort in this area around 1915.

Also a prominent Theosophist, Darrow was the author of many works about that philosophy. He lived with his wife and children for a time at the International Theosophical Headquarters in Point Loma, California. After divorcing from his wife in 1919, Darrow returned to Rochester where he remarried and became director of the Rochester Business Institute. He died in 1929

Today, the bound volumes from the Darrow library are part of the Special Collections book collection, but are not described by their provenance except for the Case Library bookplate inside each cover.

The Fritz Sage Darrow Papers, dating from the years 1897-1920, consist of Darrow’s research regarding van Helmont, including most of the supporting documentation and a final draft of his Bibliography of Francis Mercurius van Helmont, many of his articles on Theosophy, as well as clippings and correspondence concerning his resignation from Drury College and his divorce.

We invite you to consult the finding aid for the Fritz Sage Darrow Papers for more information about Darrow and his work.

Dancers top to bottom: Mark Haugland, Eileen Pearlman, Kathryn Karipides. Performance: Mirror, Mirror. 1970. Photograph by Richard Pitschke. From the Kathryn Karipides Papers.

Kathryn Karipides was born on February 28, 1934. A native of Canton, Ohio, she received the B.S. degree in Physical Education from Miami University (Ohio), and her M.A. in Physical education from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). Karipides trained with Martha Graham, Hanya Holm and Erik Hawkins. She began her career at the Flora Stone Mather College for Women, of Western Reserve University, as an instructor in the Physical Education Department. She was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 1963, was made full professor in 1980 and was named the Samuel B. and Virginia C. Knight Professor of Humanities in 1989. She was appointed Knight Professor Emerita in 1996. In 1975 she accepted co-director responsibility for the Graduate Dance Program with Kelly Holt. Additional administrative responsibilities included serving as Acting Chair of the Theatre Department in 1985 and returning from retirement to serve as Interim Deputy Provost for the 2003-2004 academic year.

After graduating from Miami University in 1956 she came to the Flora Stone Mather College for Women to teach folk, social and modern dancing in the Physical Education Department. She is largely responsible for the development of the dance program at CWRU, which grew from the early physical education classes taught to Mather students into nationally recognized undergraduate and graduate programs within the Theatre Department. Karipides has performed all over the country and is renowned for her choreographic work, particularly the body of work created during her ten years as principal dancer and choreographer for the Dance Theatre of Kathryn Karipides and Henry Kurth (1969-1979) She is the recipient of the Carl F. Wittke Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching at CWRU, The Cleveland Arts Prize and the Ohio Dance Award. She is an active member of the Cleveland Dance community.

Want to know more about Kathryn’s career at CWRU - listen to her interview with KSL Creative Director for New Media, Jared Bendis for Case Stories.

Octavofest returns to Cleveland for the third year and with it come some exciting programing in the Special Collections Research Center.

New this year is a juried art competition calling Cleveland artists to create works inspired by several dozen rare books in our collection. View a sample of these books in an online gallery.

De humani corporis fabrica. by Andreas Vesalius. page 194

All entries will be exhibited in the Kelvin Smith Library Art Gallery during October. Winners of the competition will be announced on October 19th by Arnold Hirshon, Associate Provost and University Librarian of the Kelvin Smith Library at a reception in the Dampeer room following the 3:30 pm talk "Artists' Books, Readers, and Reading," given by Cristine Rom, Gund Library Director, Cleveland Institute of Art.

Additionally, Special Collections will mount the exhibit "Books that inspired the artists for the Juried Art Competition" on October 19 from 9am - 6pm.

For more information be sure to consult the complete list of Octavofest events hosted by the Kelvin Smith Library and join us in our month long celebration of book and paper arts.

Dr. Robert Schofield (left) receives Forest History Society Approved Repository certificate. ca. March, 1964 for the Case Archive. Upon recent reappraisal the Forest History Materials deposited in the Case Archives in the 1960's have been returned to the Forest History Society for use in their collection building and digitization projects. Photo credit: Rebman Photographers, Cleveland, Ohio. For The Case Institute of Technology. From the files of the Forest History Society.

Established in 1963 through the efforts of Dr. Robert E. Schofield, Professor of History of Science at the then Case Institute of Technology, the Case Archive grew to house over 30 archival collections, a number of rare and important books and serials and more than 25 single manuscript items for the purpose of preserving them for use by scholars of the history of science and technology.

After federation in 1967, the Case Archive existed briefly as an independent unit but was eventually transferred to the newly combined libraries of Case Western Reserve University. In 1972 the Special Collections department [now the Special Collections Research Center] was established and the Case Archive was placed on deposit there.

Most of the original Case Archive can still be found on our shelves, though not as a separate administrative unit. The following collections, from the original archives and papers gathered into the Case Archive of Contemporary Science and Technology between 1963 and 1972 are available for use by researchers upon request. Please contact Special Collections Research Center staff for additional information about these and other Case Archive materials mentioned in this post.

Charles G. Abbot Papers development of gyroscopic apparatus by General Electric Co.

Donald J. Angus Papers development of the Esterline-Angus Co.

Babcock & Wilcox Collection 22photographs of the Renfrew, Scotland plant, 1903

Charles F. Brush, Sr. Papers personal, business and scientific papers of the inventor of the arc lighting system

William D. Buckingham Papers concentrated arc lamp and Western Union

Cleveland Rocket Society Collection records, 1934-38; history 1963-64

Fred H. Colvin Papers history of the American machine tool industry

Hugh S. Cooper Papers processes in chemistry, electro-chemistry and metallurgy

Allston Dana Papers design of the third lock of the Panama Canal; bridge building

William Clarence Ebaugh Papers chemistry education, industrial pollution

S. Colum Gilfillan Papers invention and patent history and development

Norman P. Goss Papers metallurgy, continuous castings, silicon steel

Clifford M Holland Papers New York City, East River tunnel construction

Mechanical Rubber Company Collection photographs of the Cleveland, Ohio Laboratory, 1930

NASA Collection conference papers, public relations and history material

Charles Baldwin Sawyer Papers Brush industries manufacturing and manufacturing records, Brush and Sawyer personal papers

Warner & Swasey Collection machine tool industry and astronomical observatories

Charles Brush, Sr. standing in front of scientific equipment in basement of Euclid Avenue home. undated. From the Charles F. Brush, Sr. Papers.

As the centennial observation of World War I approaches, The Special Collections Research Center joins Cleveland area Archivists in reviewing their holdings to highlight material documenting this era in history. Some of our collections consist entirely of records related to the Great War, others contain material reflecting wartime service or general interest in the war incorporated in personal papers. Still other material, ephemeral in nature, has come to us as part of the practice of retaining once-circulating library materials in the Special Collections Research Center to prolong their use.

Collections related entirely to World War I include the Benedict Crowell Papers, The Charles G. Abbott Papers and the Thomas Slavin gift of Underwood & Underwood photographs. This last collection, still in process, consists of 50 images taken by commercial photographers Underwood & Underwood for distribution to news-bureaus during World War I.

Interesting World War I era records can be found as part of larger collections. The Charles F. Brush, Sr. Papers include correspondence between Brush and family members in service during the war and touch on subjects close to home such as Liberty Bond drives, the YMCA presence in Camp Sherman, Ohio, and victory celebrations.

The Fred H. Colvin Collection contains records relating to his wartime service as an efficiency expert. A life long student of the machine tool industry, Colvin identified and helped eradicate the waste inherent in U.S. manufacturing plants converted hastily to war time production.

Fred H. Colvin Collection. Photographs. Description in Colvin’s hand: "Taken in Winchester Army Co. New Haven, July, 1917. Men waiting for Army to decide details on Springfield Rifle.”

The Hugh S. Cooper Papers and The Warner and Swasey Collection also contain small but significant amounts of World War I material. Typical of much of the material acquired from the former Case Archive of Contemporary Science and Technology, the creation dates of these collections span the first fifty years of the 20th century. Their creators were either involved in industries that were awarded military contracts or they served in uniform or as military advisers during the war.

The principle source of World War I ephemera deposited in The Special Collections Research Center has been our predecessor institutions – the libraries at Western Reserve University and Case Institute of Technology prior to Federation. One such example can be found in The Kelvin Smith Library Manuscript Collection and consists of a small but arresting set of French Army trench newspapers given to the Library of Western Reserve University by Kate Hanna and Perry Williams Harvey. Consisting of 15 handwritten and typeset pages dating from 1915 to 1917, they were created by French Army soldiers serving in the trenches to circulate news, advice and jokes amongst themselves. There are seven titles represented by single issues; Le Canard Enchaine, Le 120 Court, Le Croissant, Le Diable au Cor, L’Echo des Guitoines, L"Echo des Tranchees, and Le Gafouilleur.

Happily, we have already overseen the use of another group of ephemeral items through the annual Future Connections Program which brings Cleveland area High School Juniors to explore career opportunities in the field of information and library science at the Kelvin Smith Library. The Special Collections Research Center joined other library departments to offer the interns hands-on experience in our workplace. For their work with us, Future Connections interns learned a popular method of providing access to Special Collections materials.

Ephemeral item selected and researched by Future Connections intern Jhane Sims, June, 2011.

The project required interns to select, scan, describe and design a poster exhibit of ephemeral materials related to World War I. Their selections were made entirely from United States Food Administration pamphlets and broadsides published in 1917 and 1918. These publications were widely distributed during the war years to promote food and fuel conservation in the home to help America win the war. During a current processing project we identified this material as having come from the Library of the Case Institute of Technology.

Interns created posters using their own creativity along with skills acquired in workshops, lectures, tours, and hands on training provided by several Kelvin Smith Library departments and area cultural institutions. The posters, accompanied by a brief talk given by each intern, were presented to the staff of the Kelvin Smith Library and invited guests a recognition luncheon on July 7, 2011.

Future Connections interns at the end of their visit to the Dittrick Medical History Center in the Allen Memorial Library, June, 2011.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information about World War I materials in the Special Collections Research Center, or our 2011 Future Connections Internship project.

Unique book catalog/promotional item from RBMS book seller Between the Covers "a fabulous selection of the best first editions in the world, each book presented on a collectible non-sport trading card with a picture on the front and "stats" on the back."

Highlights of the week included four plenary sessions addressing different facets of this theme, including a sobering view of the challenges faced by cultural institutions whose missions have been compromised by such recent man-made and natural disasters as oil spills, hurricanes and floods. The current economic crisis affecting all cultural institutions was of equal concern to those in attendance, providing fuel for discourse and a trove of anecdotal wisdom shared in a continuous exchange ranging over the course of the week.

For all the challenges outlined by plenary speakers, short paper authors, panel discussion leaders and seminar presenters there were ample solutions offered and debated by all conference goers. Group participation is the byword at this annual event, and self examination a respected working tool for the members of this Association of College and Research Libraries section.

The Pre conference is unique in that dealers in rare books and manuscripts are active participants in discussions and presentations as well as hosts to several events throughout the week. One such event is the annual book sellers showcase and Welcome Reception co-sponsored by the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America.

Of interest to Clevelanders may be the Division Leap Gallery, Rare Bookstore and Publisher from Portland, Oregon. Owners Kate Schaefer and Adam Davis (below) were promoting their inaugural exhibition catalog “Art Terrorism in Ohio: Cleveland Punk, The Mimeograph Revolution, Devo, Zines, Artists’ Periodicals, and Concrete Poetry, 1964-2011".

Division Leap owners Kate Schaefer and Adam Davis,
one of the many fine book seller displays at the
Welcome Reception for RBMS 2011 in Baton Rouge

A fine example of such a resource, described in the guide, is a brief but very interesting correspondence between Gone With The Wind author Margaret Mitchell and Western Reserve University (WRU) Professor Findley Foster in 1946. Mitchell, wearily fighting the endless copyright battles that still beset her ten years after the publication of her Pulitzer Prize winning Civil War epic, took pains to explain to Foster the exact nature of his copyright transgression as seen in the image below. The complete exchange of letters was donated by Foster to the libraries of WRU and is now a part of this unique collection.

TLS, 4pp, 10½"x7¼", Atlanta, 1946 Aug. 8. Addressed to Prof. Finley Foster. Very fine. displayed page one of four. See the complete letter here

An Ohio native, and sometime Cleveland resident, Crane is best known for his poem, The Bridge. In the early 1980's a group of generous donors established the Hart Crane Collection in the Special Collections Research Center with materials which range from scholarly biographical research to artwork created by his contemporaries. The collection continues to grow as suitable additions become available.

Crane in Warren, Ohio, 1931.

The collection consists of manuscript letters of Hart Crane, his published works, reviews and critiques of his poetry, biographies of his life including the literary manuscript of Voyager: A Life of Hart Crane, by John Unterecker, microfilm of the Hart Crane Papers held by Columbia University, notebooks and watercolors of Crane's friend, Cleveland artist, William Sommer as well as documentation of more current celebration of his poetry.

In her Western Reserve Studies Symposium paper, Hart Crane and His Western Reserve Roots, Crane scholar Vivian Pemberton writes: “As young Hart grew older and as he left his Warren childhood behind, his most important ties to Warren were to remain his aunt, Zell Hart Deming, and his cousin, Helen Douglas Hart (later Mrs. Griswold Hurlbert) who lived right around the corner from him on Elm Street.”

Here we present images from the most recent addition to the Hart Crane Collection: two volumes of his poems acquired from Peter Keisogloff Rare Books in February, 2008. The first is a presentation copy of a first edition of White Buildings(1926), the second a review copy of The Bridge(1930). Each is a valued addition to our store of knowledge regarding the poet's family, for they are associated with his cousin Helen and aunt Zell.

In fine physical condition, our new copy of White Buildings is one of 500 copies, with original quarter blue cloth, boards covered with black-and-beige textured paper but lacking its dust jacket.

Unique to this book is this inscription from Crane to his cousin, Helen Hart Hurlbert and her husband Griswold (Gooz). Crane penned the following: “For Helen and Gooz’ whose home is a poem without words, from cousin Hart“.

Pasted to the front end paper was an envelope containing this needlepoint Christmas post card from Crane inscribed “Dear Helen and Griswald. Shall be out here in the country writing for a year. Otto H. Kahn has given me the funds for a year’s creative work and I’m quite happy about it. Sorry I didn’t see you when you were in New York. With all greetings. Hart.”

Crane wrote these lines at the close of 1925 and the beginning of his stay in the remote town of Patterson, New York. It was his hope that the gift from Kahn would enable him to work, undisturbed, at completing the poems that would comprise White Buildings and make headway on his epic poem The Bridge. By May 1, 1926, however, the nomadic Crane had left Patterson behind and was on his way to Isle of Pines, Cuba where he would at least accomplish his first objective; White Buildings was published that fall.

Also tucked in this volume was the photograph of Crane seen above. Is is one of a series of photos of Crane taken at his cousin Helen's home in Warren in 1931, shortly after his father’s death.

It would take Crane another four years and several changes of address before his book-length poem,The Bridge, would be published in 1930. Our new copy of that work belonged to his aunt and godmother Zell P. Hart. It is a near fine, first edition review copy with the her bookplate and tooled leather cover.

Crane’s aunt Zell, (later Zell Hart Deming), was owner and publisher of the Warren, Ohio Tribune. She was the first woman admitted into the Associated Press and a respected voice in the newspaper industry in the first half of the 20th century. Whether she obtained her review copy based on her status as a publisher or if it was a gift from her nephew and godson, Zell Hart was conscientious in retaining the following review slip on the front pastedown: “Reviews of this book are not to be released before April 15, 1930. The appearance of reviews before the original publication of a book is a source of annoyance to the book buyer who wishes to purchase the book and cannot; to the bookseller who is embarrassed when he cannot supply his customers’ demand; And to the publisher who is naturally blamed when reviews appear prematurely. Therefore we urge you please to observe review release date”

Inquiries regarding The Hart Crane Collection may be directed to The Special Collections Research Center in the Kelvin Smith Library

Other titles include French, English and American publications from the eighteenth to the twentieth century which provide instruction and advice on a wide variety of topics: distilling liqueurs and brewing beer, intricate instructions for elegant dishes for the nobility, shopping at the market, waiting on company, medical treatments, decoration of houses and management of children. Sources of this wealth of information include familiar names such as Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe, Jean Anthelme Brillat- Savarin and corporate entities such as William Baker and Company. A common theme throughout these titles is that the work of women should be valued, honored, and studied, and that pursuit of culinary skills and practical management of resources available to women would be always to their benefit.

In his personal introduction to Rise and Fall, Beal states: " Even in the early centuries of the print era, after Gutenberg, we find a burgeoning Bible-publishing industry with literally thousands of different editions and versions.” Of these thousands, relatively few copies remain in good condition and are preserved and made available to researchers as are those in the Special Collections Research Center. One of the most vital links to our holdings are our original cataloging records. Here are links to a few of the rare book cataloging records for some of our 16th and 17th century Bibles:

• Bible. Latin. Vulgate. 1572
• Bible. O.T. Hebrew & Latin. 1546
• Bible. Polyglot. 1657

The Kelvin Smith Library's online catalog provides one measure of access to our book collections. Search results indicate a Special Collections item if the citation notes one of the following locations: UL Spec Col Stacks; UL Spec Col Reference; UL Spec Col Vault. Contact with Special Collections staff for further assistance can be arranged by voice (216) 368-0189/(216) 368-2993 or email kslspecialcollections@case.edu.

Lastly, we can’t close this post without providing a few of the many links available to online discourse on Rise and Fall. We hope that you will enjoy listening to and reading these as much as we have:

Salon.com review

Dr. Beal on YouTube

Kirkus Reviews

The New Republic. editorial

Off the Shelf Beal interview with Kelvin Smith Library’s Information Literacy Librarian William Claspy.

This receipt and other fragments of papyrus were among a large cache of early Greek and Latin handwritten material excavated at the site of ancient Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus between 1896 and 1906 by Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt for the Egypt Exploration Fund (today the Egypt Exploration Society). Oxyrhynchus papyri fragments were given as study aides to many colleges and universities around 1906, including Western Reserve University, as part of the wide distribution of papyri by the Egypt Exploration Fund. Our papyri can be studied at length on our web page which includes images and descriptions of each item.

While we are not aware of any new studies linking our papyri to the growing body of contextual information regarding the Oxyrhynchus papyri, it is interesting to note the research of AnneMarie Luijendijk, Assistant Professor of Religion at Princeton University who reveals in a recent article, that her work with Oxyrhynchus papyri at Princeton confirms “… the first and only ancient instance where we know the owner of a Greek New Testament papyrus.”

Oxyrhynchus 1003:Part of a Receipt

Bourland began his thirty-nine year career at Western Reserve University in 1901 as Associate Professor and was made a full Professor in 1905. His devotion to scholarship was reflected in his personal library which, as part of his estate, was sold or donated in parts, to the Adelbert College Library.

Today, items from Bourland’s library enrich the holdings of several subject areas of the Kelvin Smith Library and its Special Collections Research Center. As Professor of Romance Languages Bourland acquired books that ranged from contemporary lexicons in his field, to histories of the many cultures brought to life in his classroom, to his own studies of El Cid. His copy of The historie of the vniting of the kingdom of Portugall to the crowne of Castill, printed in 1600 and now housed in the Special Collections Research Center, might have occupied a place on his bookshelf next to his trade copy of Grammatica Italiana, now part of the KSL circulating collection.

Title page: The historie of the vniting of the kingdom of Portugall to the crowne of Castill. 1600
Gift from the library of Benjamin Parsons Bourland, in his memory, 1943

Bourland’s love of the “finer attributes of life” took many forms, not the least of which was as a wine enthusiast. His own books on wine as well as those he gave as gifts to fellow Cleveland connoisseurs, are a notable part of our Frank Hadley Ginn Wine Collection.

Such associations among and between the volumes in Bourland’s library are united under the umbrella of his bibliophilia – Bourland was deeply devoted to Cleveland’s Rowfant Club. He served as Secretary of the club for several years, overseeing the weekly meetings in season, coordinating membership obligations and the timely distribution of the many notices sent to his fellow club men. We are fortunate that among the material donated to the university by his widow was a collection of Rowfant Club notices, now The Benjamin Parsons Bourland Rowfantia Collection, spanning the years 1909-1936. Examination of these notices opens a window to the literary life of many of Cleveland’s most prominent cultural philanthropists and gives us greater understanding of the influence Bourland had on the life of the mind in his community.

If you are on campus this month be sure to stop into the Kelvin Smith Library and view the exhibit of WWII artifacts and memorabilia assembled by Special Collections Research Center head Susie Hanson entitled “Honoring Our Veterans.“ The display, located in the main lobby, features correspondence, medals, ephemera and service flags from family members who served in the armed forces between 1918 and 1945.

The department has also mounted an exhibit on the second floor of the library, in the casual seating area near the elevators, welcoming Hawken School to University Circle. Founded in 1915, Hawken School is a PS-12 coed day school whose rich tradition of serving our community will now measurably increase with a new commitment to the University Circle neighborhood. On display are histories of Hawken School from our collection, facsimiles of early school records and current information about the renovated Magnolia Drive mansion which houses Hawken’s Sally & Bob Gries Center for Experiential and Service Learning.

A recent renewed focus on The Ernest J. Bohn Housing and Planning Library, with an eye toward increasing patron access to materials via digitization, reminds us that our earliest effort to make Bohn materials available electronically, The Works Projects Administration(WPA) Collection , was posted to our web pages over ten years ago. The images, artist information and scholarly essays that comprise this online offering shed light on an often overlooked chapter of Cleveland history.

After pouring over our online images you may be inspired to visit WPA-era art works around town such as the recently unveiled mural in the Cleveland State University student center ballroom and the tile installation “History of Tremont” at the Tremont Pointe Community Center. Both works were painstakingly restored by the Intermuseum Conservation Association and will once again provide color and a sense of context to our lives as originally hoped by the local artists who crafted them.

From The Works Projects Administration(WPA) Collection in the Special Collections Research Center: "October Twilight" by Clevland WPA Artist Stanislaus Arturo Osweiczynski