Author: Sam Sfirri
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Infinite Hope: The Wonderful World of Ashley Bryan
After nearly 19 months of work, through campus shut-downs and work-from-home orders due to the pandemic, it is my distinct pleasure to have completed processing the Ashley Bryan papers, a collection that is near and dear to my heart as a person and archivist. My awareness of this collection extends all the way back to […]
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“What a Morning!”: Illustrations of the Christmas Story in Black Spirituals by Ashley Bryan
In light of this holiday season, I wanted to share some of the wonderful original artwork from “What a Morning!: The Christmas Story in Black Spirituals,” a (Aladdin Paperbacks) illustrated by Ashley Bryan. The book consists of lyrics and piano accompaniment to black spirituals including “My Lord What A Morning,” “Mary Had A Baby,” “Go, […]
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In Honor of Veterans Day: World War II Materials from the Ashley Bryan papers
In honor of the military personnel and veterans on this holiday, whether you call it Veterans, Armistice, or Remembrance Day, we at the SCPC are proud to share some images from the Ashley Bryan papers, the collection that I have the pleasure to be currently processing. Best known for his efforts as a children’s book […]
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A relationship between author and publisher in letters: the James Conway collection relating to James T. Farrell and William Targ
For those interested in the professional (and personal) relationships between author and publisher, the SCPC is proud to have the James Conway collection relating to James T. Farrell and William Targ (Ms. Coll. 1438) open for research use, serving as an excellent companion to the James T. Farrell papers (Ms. Coll. 886). James T. Farrell […]
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Welcoming a new cast of characters to the archival world: Voice-O-Graphs
Between the 1920s and the 1960s, Voice-O-Graph machines afforded the paying customer an opportunity to record a voice message onto a small vinyl record. Similar to a photo booth, these coin operated recording machines would allow from one to three minutes of audio content, spitting out a record and a mailing sleeve after the short […]
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Welcoming a new cast of characters to the archival world: Email
The first evidence of email dates back to 1965 at MIT, where users would log on to certain computers to write and receive messages using a program called “MAILBOX.” To access their messages, a user would log on to MAILBOX and read those left for them by colleagues who had logged on earlier, or write […]
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