The Wisconsin Book Festival starts today and will run until October 3rd.  The festival attracts accomplished writers from all over America and encourages literacy across Wisconsin.  

One event that took place this year just before the Wisconsin Book Festival started was the Lorine Niedecker Wisconsin Poetry Festival.  Our Historic Fort Atkinson Collection contains manuscript materials, notes, letters, text & audio interviews with people who knew Lorine, video productions about Lorine and numerous photographs.  The image on the left is from the collection and shows Lorine sitting at her desk.  


One of the presenters this year is Curt Meine, Ph.D.  He is a conservation biologist, historian, and writer. Meine has edited and authored several books. His biography Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work, published by the University of Wisconsin Press in 1988, was the first full-length biography of Leopold, and was named Book of the Year by the Forest History Society. 

Our Aldo Leopold Archive Collection houses the raw materials that document not only Leopold's rise to prominence but the history of conservation and the emergence of the field of ecology from the early 1900s until his death in 1948.


There are many other interesting presenters and events going on this week.  Check out the Wisconsin Book Festival Schedule for more information!

Tomorrow, Tuesday Sept. 28, President Obama will speak in library mall.  They have begun setting up for tomorrow's events and we thought it might be fun to do a little before and after of library mall!

 

 

Today we thought we would share one of our new collections with you.  The Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey Digital Collection contains more than 4,000 black and white photographs taken by field geologists working for the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey between 1910 and 1935.


The Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, part of the University of Wisconsin–Extension, conducts research on Wisconsin’s rocks, soils, and groundwater. 


Since its official creation by the state legislature in 1897 the Survey has produced publications describing the natural history, geography, geology, soils, and groundwater of the state. WGNHS continues to produce maps and publications for geology professionals and for the general public. City and county governments, engineers, schools, and conservation groups are among those that depend on research done by the Survey for projects and developments.


The pictures show natural rock formations; Wisconsin landscapes including lakes, rivers, and dams; and economic activities such as brick making, mining, road building, and farming. The collection also includes photographs of the field parties and their families as well as a few images from neighboring states and from the Southwest.


We hope that you take a look and enjoy! 

Yesterday, while I was walking to class, dancers were everywhere dancing over bridges, on the grass and outside campus buildings. I was slightly confused until I realized that it was the kick off for Illuminate: UW-Madison Year of the Arts 2010-2011.

From September until August the UW will have over 300 exhibitions, performances, speakers, and other events celebrating the arts on campus.

The digital collections contain images of various art events over campus history and have a few collections dedicated to art.

The Artists' Book Collection is an illustrated, descriptive index to the collection located in the Kohler Art Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Presently, it contains over 800 titles.The artists’ books are finely crafted and visually stimulating works made by more than 150 presses and artists worldwide. They comprise limited edition, one-of-a-kind, and offset books, representative of major book artists working during the past thirty years, including many who trained in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Art Department.

The Arts Collection brings together, in digital form, primary and secondary materials relating to the creative arts as broadly defined: visual, literary, musical, and performing. Our first submission to the collection was the journal Arts in Society, published on the University of Wisconsin campus from 1958 to 1976. Now the collection hosts over 10 sub collections ranging from exhibition catalogs to Latin American Cartonera.

Take a look at the Illuminate website for a schedule of all the events going on around campus!

Tonight at the Memorial Union is the Study Abroad Fair. From 4 p.m. til 7 p.m. the Great Hall will be filled with students trying to decide which study abroad is right for them.

I know I will be there night possibly looking at a study abroad that fits my interests, probably somewhere in Italy. But many of you might take a look at the study abroad in Ghana for example. If you do the image on the left shows the University you might attend.

Others may want to travel to the South East of Asia and study in Vietnam or Thailand. If you do, maybe you will make a trip to Cambodia and see the temples, like the one at the right, at Angkor Wat.

Where ever you go it will sure to be an adventure. Before you leave the U.S. check out some of our collections. We have images from different cultures around the world.

Even though summer vacation is over, the weather has been perfect for outdoor activities. I spent some time this weekend on the terrace.

Here are some great photographs of the terrace from The Cultural Landscape of the UW-Madison Campus Collection.

How have you been spending your free time?

Tomorrow marks this football season's home opener for the Badgers. At 11 a.m. the Badgers will kick off against San Jose State at Camp Randall Stadium. According to the Wisconsin Athletics site, The Badgers have won 14 consecutive home openers, dating back to 1996.

The image on the right shows Al Toon in 1983 when he played for the Badgers. Tomorrow we will be cheering on his son, Nick Toon, as he plays wide receiver.

We hope that you will all be cheering on your Badgers whether at the game or from home.

Welcome back everyone!

We hope you all had a great summer, but now it's time to get back to school. This Thursday, Sept. 9th from 7-11 p.m., Helen C. White Library is having their 2nd annual Helen C. House Party!

Come spend some time at the library enjoying carnival games, video games, arts-n-crafts, movies, entertainment and free food! You can visit the Helen C. House Party website for a schedule of events.

These pictures are from a Campus Carnival in the 1960s from the University of Wisconsin Collection. They had everything from carnival food and games to a clown contest!

Come out and enjoy the start of the school year, and have a little fun at the library!