Primary Resources: The Civil War Trust

Known for Civil War re-enactments and preserving endangered Civil War battlefields, the Civil War Trust also promotes educational programs. This includes a database of Civil War primary resources including: official records, speeches, acts of congress, correspondence,  photos, maps, and more.  You can also find links to more Civil War document collections.

A chance to read the words of the past.  This is a great resource that can be used for a research paper or a quiet night-in exploring America's history.

Also, check out their Pinterest page, civilwar.org.

This is one of the resources pinned to the archive’s “Primary Resources” Pinterest board.

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant

Primary Resources: The Newspaper Archives of the Cedar Rapids Public Library

Containing Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, and Marion newspapers from 1853 to the present the Newspaper Archives of the Cedar Rapids Public Library contains over 665,000 newspaper pages.  If you know what you are looking for 1857 to the present is searchable by keyword and date.  If you don't you can browse the newspapers by title or date.

A wealth of local history placed at your finger tips.  I dare you to explore it, perhaps see what was happening in Iowa on the day you were born?

This is one of the resources pinned to the archive's "Primary Resources" Pinterest board.

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant

Primary Resources: Women's Audio Archive

Art history, cancer, immigration, film theory, Paris, suffragettes...these are just a few keywords from the Women's Audio Archive which is a collection of recordings gathered by Marysia Lewandowska.

The Women's Audio Archive began as a series of recordings, taped by Lewandowska after leaving her home country in 1984, grown out of an interest in language as a site of cultural displacement. These recordings document public events, seminars, talks, conferences, and private conversations as valuable records of a particular time in discourse, beginning around 1983 until 1990.
(from the Women's Audio Archive Introduction)

Lewandowska "is a Polish born artist based in London who, through her collaborative projects, has explored the public function of media archives, collections and exhibitions in an age characterized by relentless privatization." (from Lewandowska's Linked-in Summary)

Did I mention this archive is free?  Lewandowska and a group of curators is working on making the collection fully available in the public domain.  Check the archive out to see the fruits of their efforts.

This is one of the resources pinned to the archive's "Primary Resources" Pinterest board.

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant

Ninja Squirrel has been found!

Looks like she just earned her black belt in awesomeness! Here's our first certified Ninja Squirrel winner, Laura! She found Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a parody of the timeless Jane Austen novel which pairs Regency romance with a Zombie apocalypse, creating a delightful read for a summer afternoon read. Check it out! Call number is PS3607 .R33848 P75 2009.

Check out twitter for further clues to other Ninja Squirrel sightings. @StewartNinjaSquirrels

UPDATE: Off-campus Access Restored

Thanks for everyone's patience; access to the library's databases from off-campus has been restored.  Coe College users should now be able to log into My.Coe and access all databases previously accessed from off of campus via the Campus Life tab.  If you have problems which persist, please call Katelyn, Head of Reference, at ext. 8017.

Off-Campus database access

Currently off-campus access to library's databases is not available due to some issues with the proxy server that we use to authenticate our users.  If you need access to library's databases, it is recommended that you come to library to do so.  We'll let you know via a post here on the blog and on the library's Facebook page once things are up and running again.  Thanks for your patience everyone, we hope that you had a good Spring Break!

New Collection Added: JSTOR Arts & Sciences XI

The library has added JSTOR Arts & Sciences XI collection to its JSTOR holdings. Currently, 121 titles have been added to the library catalog and are also accessible through the Coe Journals link on the library website and catalog.

“Arts & Sciences XI will expand JSTOR’s coverage in the humanities,
with scholarship in core fields of Language & Literature, History, and Art
& Art History. It includes important journals in Classical Studies,
Architecture & Architectural History, and Music. Other discipline clusters
will include Bibliography, Library Science, Religion, Philosophy, Archaeology,
Performing Arts, Film Studies, and Linguistics. Interdisciplinary titles will
broaden the scope of the collection to include area studies such as American
studies, Asian studies, Jewish studies, and African American studies.” –
Publisher.

Introducing, the Archive's Pinterest boards

Last week I announced the Archives is now on Pinterest. This week I would like to tell you about the archive's two boards.

"This old Coe - in pictures" is anything and everything Coe College, past and present. An image of our in-coming president David McInally sits next to an old penny postcard depicting Coe campus and a video of Angel & Nick Bitner's May 2012 Wedding held on the campus quad. Alumni and author Ed Gorman sits next to an aerial view of down town Cedar Rapids and a photograph of Coe College's summer athletic camp. Find Coe news, Coe history, Coe people, and Coe anything here.

"Primary Resources" is a board dedicated to just what it says. Materials in any form that are a source of direct evidence describing or documenting a historical event from the perspective of someone who was there. (definition from: UCLA institute of Primary Resources).  You can find links to archival collection finding aids and digital archives here.  Some sources are subscribed to by Coe College (so if you are not on campus you can't access them), many others are free online resources which I have found surfing the web.  They are all great resources for writing papers or just exploring history.

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant

Perrine Presents: President James Phifer, and his wife, Linnie

Mark your calendars everyone!  In the final "Perrine Presents" lecture this spring,  Coe's outgoing president, James Phifer, and his wife, Linnie, will be sharing memories and stories from their time at Coe.  Please join the campus community as we celebrate and reminisce with the Phifers.

March 26, 2013
4:00 PM
Perrine Gallery, Stewart Memorial Library
Refreshments will be served

The Archives is now on Pinterest!

The Coe Archives in now on Pinterest! Check it out.

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant