Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Laubach In India: 1935 To 1970, S. Y. Shah

The Courier

Dr. Frank C. Laubach, missionary and adult educator, dedicated his life to the cause of literacy for development and world peace. During his travels to 103 countries, he worked toward helping some 60 to 100 million people become literate. In addition, he founded or helped found four literacy organizations, including Laubach Literacy International; wrote forty books on adult education, Christian religion, world politics, and culture; and co-authored literacy primers in more than 300 languages. He was awarded four honorary doctorates—one of them from Syracuse University.

Although Laubach worked in many other countries, it is said that his heart was always …

Dorothy Thompson: Withstanding The Storm, Michael J. Kirkhorn

The Courier

The "unremitting terror" of totalitarianism was Dorothy Thompson's nightmare. She witnessed the atrocities of Nazism, and later, after the Second World War, the cruelty of Soviet communism. The violent will to power that she described for her millions of readers was for her the nemesis of all hope and goodness. It could not be appeased, it could not be satisfied; it had to be resisted. Her profound recognition of that single necessity, and her frustration with the complacency with which this great threat was met at home drew her, one of the great political journalists of the century, into misjudments …

Jan Maria Novotny And His Collection Of Books On Economics, Michael Markowski

The Courier

This article describes the life and books of economist Jan Novotny, whose extensive collection is now housed in the Syracuse University Libraries. Novotny believed that a comprehensive, liberal arts education was an essential prerequisite for anyone who wished to study or professionally practice finance and business. The well-roundedness obtained from the humanities, he argued, would lead those in business and finance to make moral and ehtically sound decisions. His collection covers the last five hundred years, consisting of nearly 6,000 books in many different languages. Novotny managed to flee Czechoslavakia with all of these books, which now provide a wealth …

Benjamin Spock And The Spock Papers At Syracuse University, Robert S. Pickett

The Courier

This article gives a portrait of the controversial pediatrician and popular author Benjamin Spock, much of it gleaned from his personal papers located at Syracuse University's Special Collections. Among some of the insights into his life worth noting are his wife Jane's contributions to his personal attitudes and even his books.

Freak Show Images From The Ron Becker Collection, Robert Bogdan

The Courier

This article details the rise of freak shows from 1840 to 1940 in America, drawing from the extensive collection found in the Ron Becker Collection in the Syracuse University Special Collections. The exhibits played upon the superstitions and prejudices of popular American culture, and every exhibit was a fraud of some sort. The photographs of these "human curiosities" fascinated Ron Becker, who amassed a collection of the photos, mostly from the photographers Charles Eisenmann and Frank Wendt.

The Imperishable Perishable Press, Terrance Keenan

The Courier

When art and meaning come together so effectively, when craft and purpose meld so well, something precious emerges. Of the many one-of-a-kind things in the world, few have a memorable identity. In the work of Walter Hamady the art of bookmaking explores new terrain. The finished product is not a candidate for the museum or the gallery. It holds something for the eye and the mind both, something that was created by human hands to be held by human hands. Often beautiful, always different and provocative, the books of the Perishable Press are durable reminders of the creative spirit at …

The William A. Hinds American Communities Collection, Mark F. Weimer

The Courier

This article discusses the life and contributions of William A. Hinds, who in his book American Communities, tried to document communistic societies within America, such as the Oneida Community. The article includes a list of the communities and associations that Hinds documented.

Alvaro-Agustin De Liano And His Books In Leopold Von Ranke's Library, Gail P. Hueting

The Courier

This article tells the story of Liagno (or Liano), an author active in Europe during the early nineteenth century. The author discovered the little-known author while research annotations in the von Ranke collection within the Syracuse University Special Collections. He traveled to many cities and wrote in many languages, became a monk, priest, and then converted to Calvanism. Appropriately, he became responsible for cataloging materials in the area of theology, history, and literature in multiple languages.

The Cuneiform Tablets At Syracuse University, Marcel Segrist

The Courier

Among its rare book collections, the George Arents Research Library at Syracuse University has 489 clay tablets written 4000 years ago. All of these cuneiform tablets, composed in the Sumerian language, are accounting records. Although how the library came to have them is not documented, they seem to have been in the collection for at least a halfcentury, awaiting their rediscovery by Professor David I. Owen, chairman of the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Cornell University. The tablets are being deciphered and copied by the present author, who will publish his work.

These tablets were made in the city …