
Amherst’s baseball team of 1902, the year of the “Kane controversy.” Dunleavy and Kane (both AC 1904) are seated together in the middle row at far right. [Athletics Collection, box OS-1, folder 8]
Posted in Amherst College Alumni, Athletics, tagged Baseball, Frank Kane, John Dunleavy on March 26, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Amherst’s baseball team of 1902, the year of the “Kane controversy.” Dunleavy and Kane (both AC 1904) are seated together in the middle row at far right. [Athletics Collection, box OS-1, folder 8]
Posted in African-American History, Amherst College Faculty, Black Studies, tagged Black Lives on March 17, 2015| 3 Comments »
I am currently putting the finishing touches on our new exhibition: Race & Rebellion at Amherst College. This exhibition explores the history of student activism and issues of race, beginning with the founding of the Anti-Slavery Society in 1833 and the “Gorham Rebellion” of 1837 through the takeover of campus buildings by black student activists in the 1970s. No exhibition on a subject as broad and complicated as race can ever claim to be truly comprehensive and all-inclusive. This exhibition focuses on recovering the deeper history of African-American lives at Amherst College between 1826 and the late 1970s; we could just as easily have mounted an entire exhibition about more recent events of the last 25 – 50 years.
Two books about Amherst’s black alumni have been published: Black Men of Amherst (1976) by Harold Wade, Jr. and Black Women of Amherst College (1999) by Mavis Campbell. Both of these books need to be revised and brought up to date. One theme in the exhibition is the recovery of black lives at the college that were not included in either published volume. In some cases, we have identified African-American students who graduated from Amherst in the 19th century who were not included in Black Men of Amherst, but there are entire categories of people who were intentionally left out of both books.
Posted in Amherst College Alumni, Artists' Books, Book History on March 6, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Back in October, Peter wrote about our Harbor Press ephemera collection. Today, I’m spotlighting another collection of fine books, these designed by master printer Ronald Gordon, Amherst class of 1965.
While a student at Amherst College, Ronald Gordon studied the craft of printing and bookmaking with artist and print-maker Leonard Baskin and printer Harold McGrath. Gordon interned at Baskin’s Gehenna Press in Northampton, Mass and as part of his senior honors thesis, Gordon designed and printed Jubilate Agno: Part One under The Apiary Press, Smith College’s student publication imprint.
Posted in Book History, Bookbindings, Illustration, Rare Books on March 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Last month, Mike posted about a recent gift of books from alumnus Peter Webb. I have cataloged them and they can be found via this search. Mike mentioned in passing that the gift included copies of some of Charles Eastman’s books in their original dust jackets:
Since dust jackets on hardcover books are common today, these may not seem all that exciting. But dust jackets from the early 1900s and before are quite rare, even in special collections libraries. See this recent post from the University of Virginia about a collection of 19th-century books in original dust jackets, donated by Tom Congalton. (more…)