Rare Books

The Sphere of Rocks and Water: A Fine Donation

At the end of July, we celebrated the retirement of Paul Hessling, who served for 35 years as the Rare Book Cataloger for the University Libraries. During his time at UNCG, he cataloged over 27,000 books, most of them for the Rare Books collections. On his final day in Jackson Library, he donated a significant work to SCUA’s holdings: copy 64 out of 80 of J.G. Lubbock’s 1983 masterwork, The Sphere of Rocks and Water.

Designed and printed by Will Carter at the Rampant Lions Press, Lubbock’s text is illustrated with eight full-page plates and six more which are double-page. Printed from copperplates worked by aquatint, etching, and engraving, these colored landscapes capture the grandeur of nature and suggest the “fundamental forces that formed them.” 

Because of Paul’s knowledge of our holdings, as well as his familiarity with Lubbock’s work, he was aware that there was both the artist’s proof and working copy of The Sphere of Rocks and Water, in SCUA’s Rare Book collection. Thanks to this recent donation, we can now display both the working copy and finished copy for students and researchers, providing an insight into the artist’s process as they develop their concepts.

Thank you, Paul, for your expertise, time, and dedication to the accurate descriptions of our holdings so that they can be discovered by researchers.

“Give Democracy to Her”

Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) was a prominent leader in the movement for women’s suffrage. Gifted as both an organizer and a public speaker, she traveled the country for more than a decade, giving lectures and helping local suffrage organizations to work together and grow. In 1915, she became President of the National Woman Suffrage Association, a position she held until successful passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. She delivered the address in this pamphlet on several occasions during speaking tours, but never actually before Congress. The main portion of the argument is devoted to the inevitability of female suffrage, and it essentially exhorts members of Congress to put themselves on the right side of history.

Historical Perspective of American Women’s Educational Rights

This guide was intended to give prospective students and parents a glimpse into the private world of a women’s college. The majority of the book relates to educational matters, but it also includes a chapter on social life, physical development, self-help, and practical outcomes. There is also a segment on scholarships and information on various colleges.

Special Collections’ copy has a unique provenance. Orra E. Monnette gave this book to his daughter with the inscription, “To my little Baby Girl may she become a fine useful woman” from Her Daddy Aug 26, 1934. It also includes a book plate from Orra Monnette’s library.

Helen Hull Monnette was a graduate of the Westlake School for Girls and Bryn Mawr College (class of 1941). Earning her pilot’s license, Monnette’s first and only solo flight was interrupted by the announcement of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. She spent the war years as a nurse’s aide at Children’s Hospital. Monnette was a member of the first graduating class of the UCLA School of Library Science, and her professional career spanned 25 years, most of which were spent as Senior Librarian In-Charge at the Angelo M. Lacoboni Library in Lakewood, California. During his lifetime, her father, Orra Monnette, served as the Board Chair for the Los Angeles Public Library. In a way, Helen’s career was an extension of her father’s service and commitment to the Los Angeles community, yet unique to her talents and education.

Selection of Early Zines

Zines, short for fanzines, got their start with science fiction fanzines in the 1930s. SCUA added early examples to our collection this quarter, thanks to purchases from the Forrest J. Ackerman collection.

This issue contains contributions from Francis T. Laney, Rosco E. Wright, and Duane W. Rimel.

This issue contains articles by Forrest Ackerman, Tigrina, and others. Letter from Robert Bloch and others. Cover by William Rotsler. The article by Tigrina is the minutes of a meeting of LASFS (the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society). Tigrina, born as Edythe D. Eyde (November 7, 1921 – December 22, 2015), was better known under her pen name, Lisa Ben. It was at some point in 1946 that she recognized that she was a lesbian. Her pen name “Lisa Ben” is her a clever anagram for lesbian. By June 1947, she typed her first issue of VICE VERSA , in the technique known as a carbonzine, using carbon paper to create multiple copies. VICE VERSA was the first lesbian newsletter in the United States.

This issue contains a letter by Roger Ebert and a defense of Famous Monsters by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

Selection of Current Zines

Zines continue to be a powerful method for those out of the mainstream to create and share their ideas. SCUA is fortunate to have two University Libraries staff who support our Zines and Newsletters Collection with their donations. Suzanne Helms, Accessioning Archivist and Preservation Specialist, and Maggie Murphy, Art and Design Librarian, both made significant donations this quarter. A sampling is shown below. These zines represent diverse viewpoints from a wide variety of creators. Suzanne Helms leads SCUA’s zine-making workshops and Maggie Murphy, in addition to leading zine-making workshops for a variety of student groups, makes zines herself. Her zine, Artists are Researchers, is one of the zines shown below.

As an example of the diverse viewpoints represented in the collection, the creator of the Curvy Cuties series, shown below, Roxy Morataya, describes herself as “an avid doodler in love with cartoons, the human form and expression of emotion, zines and Textiles.” She identifies as “a brown, questioning, curvy leftie from West L.A.” (Description provided from Etsy store.)

Want to explore more zines? Please follow this link to our finding aid for the Zines & Newsletter Collection: https://uncg.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/1464

Women Veterans Historical Project

McKeever’s 52 page scrapbook contains photographs, postcards, a Foreign Service Certificate issued by the War Council of the American Red Cross, and a signed welcome letter to American Servicemen from King George V.

Alberta E. McKeever, of South Oil City, Pennsylvania, served in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps with Base Hospital No. 27 in France from 1917-1919. Base Hospital No. 27 was a U.S. Army Reserve hospital first organized in 1916 by the University of Pittsburgh Medical School. The hospital staff were called to active service in August 1917. They trained for five weeks in Allentown, Pennsylvania and set sail to Liverpool England on the transport ship the S.S. Lapland on 27 September, 1917. On 19 October, 1917 they arrived at their assignment in Angers, France. The hospital closed on 5 January, 1919 and the staff were demobilized at Camp Dix, New Jersey on 25 March, 1919.

Margaret Ellen “Daisy” Pickman (1917-2008), of Bedford, Massachusetts, served as an American Red Cross recreation station worker in the South Pacific from 1943-1945. Pickman was a Radcliffe and Yale Drama School graduate from a prominent New England Family. She joined the American Red Cross and was posted to Rockhampton, Queensland Australia where she worked at a recreation center. Pickman was later assigned to set up and staff Red Cross recreation centers in New Guinea, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines. She returned to the U.S. in October 1945. In June 1946 she married former Coast Guard Officer Gilbert Oakley, Jr.

Taps, U.S. Army School of Nursing at Walter Reed Hospital Class of 1929 Yearbook

“On Guard” issued by the Indiana State Board of Health, circa 1919. After an introduction describing the contributions of “American Women in France” to WWI, the narrative continues describing sex, menstruation, sexual behavior and other prescriptive topics aimed at women.