Featured Exhibition: The Men Along the Shore and the Legacy of 1934

At the beginning of the 20th Century, employers launched an all-out campaign to crush the labor movement. Union organizers were portrayed as un-American in the media and union members were subjected to a reign of terror, including vigilante violence, mass arrests, deportations and lynchings. Radical union leaders were driven underground and many workers were forced to join company unions.

In 1934 the workers fought back. The Pacific Coast Maritime Strike and the subsequent San Francisco General Strike are some of the most significant events in San Francisco and U.S. labor history. In a new exhibition in the Skylight Gallery - The Men Along the Shore and the Legacy of 1934 - historic photographs, graphics and newspapers will tell the story of how longshoremen, considered little more than transients at the time, stood up and made history. The exhibition will be on view through August 31 on the Sixth Floor of the Main Library.

[Crowd of striking longshoremen on 3rd Street] [graphic]. Courtesy of the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection, San Francisco Public Library.

The strike shut down the entire West Coast and a new labor movement was born. But it was a birth paid for in blood. Police and vigilantes opened fire on strikers and demonstrators, killing and/or wounding workers in Seattle, San Francisco, San Pedro and Portland before a negotiated victory and arbitration ended the strike.

This unique panel display was commissioned by the ILWU's Longshore Division to portray the origins of the union in the historic 1934 strike. The exhibit took a year to produce. Materials were gathered from the ILWU library in San Francisco and union sources in California, Oregon and Washington. Many photographs were gathered from the SFPL History Collection, along with material from other museums, historical societies, libraries, universities and the personal collections of ILWU members.

The exhibit pays tribute to those who struggled and gave up their lives so that future generations could live in a more just world and enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Events related to this exhibition:
Saturday, August 1 -- 2-5 p.m.
Films by and about the ILWU
Screenings of We Are the ILWU; The Eye of the Storm and May Day 2008. Discussion with Local 10 International Committee Representative Mike Villeggiante.
Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room - B, Lower Level, Main Library

Saturday, August 22 -- 2-5 p.m.
Bloody Thursday to the Present
Discussion with Harvey Schwartz, author of Solidarity Stories: An Oral History of the ILWU and film premier of Bloody Thursday with documentary filmmaker Jack Baric.
Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room - B, Lower Level, Main Library

Kalligraphia 12 Demonstration - Georgia Deaver

This Saturday, August 1 --- 2-4 p.m.
Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room - A, Lower Level, Main Library

Georgia Deaver demonstrates Brush Lettering.

One of the country’s premier calligraphers, Georgia’s overall artistry has earned her awards around the globe, and she has been represented at some point in most major design annuals. She makes her living as a calligrapher and illustrator based in San Francisco. She is a nominated member of the distinguished London-based Society of Scribes & Illuminators, and is an Advisory Board member for Western Art Directors Club.
You can visit Georgia's website at: www.georgiadeaver.com

This demonstration is a part of Kalligraphia 12, co-sponsored by the Friends of Calligraphy and the Marjorie G. and Carl W. Stern Book Arts and Special Collections Center of the San Francisco Public Library. For a schedule of remaining demonstrations and more information about Kalligraphia 12, visit our previous post.

It Came From the (Photo) Morgue!

The San Francisco Public Library owns the photo morgue of the San Francisco News-Call Bulletin, a daily newspaper that covered the time period from the 1920’s to 1965. Much of the San Francisco History Collection comes from the News-Call Bulletin morgue. However, the morgue also includes national and international subjects that have not been digitized or cataloged.

As a page on the 6th floor of the Main Library, one of my favorite tasks is searching the vast collection of “morgue” photos for images that someone has an interest in: pictures of favorite movie stars; local, national or global newsworthy events; and even relatives who may have, for better or worse, ended up in a news column somewhere. While not every request turns up a positive result, it’s a very satisfying feeling when it does.

But there is another reason why I like searching through the “morgue” – the weird, funny and fascinating photos that I sift through as I search. And that is what “It Came From the (Photo) Morgue” is all about. Here are some of the most amusing in the collection. Enjoy!

Photo and caption from the San Francisco News-Call Bulletin Photo Morgue, courtesy of the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection, San Francisco Public Library.

Caption:

FIRST LARD QUEEN
Chicago - The nation's first Lard Queen, Helen Armstrong of Austin, Minn., crowned as Lard Queen of Minnesota, stands beside statue of herself, modeled in pure lard, at Chicago, where she was guest of the city.
04-05-1940

Looking for a historical photograph of San Francisco? Try our online database first. Not there? Come visit us at the Photo Desk of the San Francisco History Center, located on the sixth floor at the Main Library. The Photo Desk hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays 10 a.m. to noon, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Pacific Wine and Spirit Review Now Accessible Online Via SFPL Catalog

You can now view Pacific Wine and Spirit Review from the comfort of your own home through the San Francisco Public Library's catalog.

The digitizing of this important wine trade periodical has been almost 23 years in the making. The Wine Librarians Association began the quest back in 1985 and discovered that the San Francisco Public Library had the most complete run of Pacific Wine and Spirit Review anywhere in the country. While the periodical started its run in 1879, SFPL's holdings begin in 1883 and continue to the final issue in 1919 at the beginning of Prohibition. At the suggestion of San Francisco City Archivist, Susan Goldstein, the volumes were digitized by the Internet Archive which uses state-of-the-art scanners that are easy on rare books.

The results are marvelous! See for yourself by following the link to the San Francisco Public Library's record for the Pacific Wine and Spirit Review and clicking on "Available online at archive.org".

Featured Exhibition: A Trip to the Fair, 1939 - The Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco

Extendend through September 31!

This exhibit marks the 70th anniversary of the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island and features original souvenirs, art work, photographs and ephemera from the collections of the San Francisco History Center. The exhibition will be on display through August 23 on the 6th Floor of the SFPL Main Library, just outside the San Francisco History Center.

The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) on Treasure Island celebrated the completion of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge. The theme of the fair, “Pageant of the Pacific,” gave a Pacific Rim influence to the art, architecture and landscape design at the fairgrounds while blending in modernism and technological innovations.

Initially opened from February 18, 1939 to October 29, 1939, the Fair was not a financial success because of the Great Depression and it was re-opened for a second round from May 25 – September 29, 1940.

[View of the Court of the Moon with the Tower of the Sun in the background, Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island]. Courtesy of the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection, San Francisco Public Library.

You can also "tour" the Fair from your own home by viewing the San Francisco Historical Photographs related collection of selected photographs from the Golden Gate International Exposition of 1939.

These digitized images are a small sample of over 2,000 GGIE visual materials -- including photographs, postcards and photo postcards, view books, snapshots and photograph albums -- in the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection. For more information about the GGIE, contact the San Francisco History Center for books, ephemera, business files, brochures, guidebooks, and posters.
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Kalligraphia 12 Demonstration - Sherrie Lovler

This Saturday, July 25, 2009 --- 2-4 p.m.
Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room, Lower Level, Main Library

Sherrie Lovler demonstrates lettering in color on black paper.

Black paper can be the background for pen-based lettering of brilliant, solid color, as well as the host for subtle colors and variations. She will show how she loads the pen, changes color and sets the stage for happy accidents in color combinations to arise.

Sherrie Lovler has a BA in Studio Art, and has taught calligraphy since 1977 through art centers, adult education programs and privately. Her mentor, Dick Beasley, hired her to take over his beginning calligraphy classes at Northern Arizona University. She has taught at four of the International Calligraphy Conferences, Ghost Ranch and leads workshops around the country on color and design. Her work can be seen in Letter Arts Review, Bound & Lettered, Alphabet and The Art & Craft of Hand Lettering. Sherrie has a successful calligraphy print business, selling through her website: www.inkmonkey.com.

This demonstration is a part of Kalligraphia 12, co-sponsored by the Friends of Calligraphy and the Marjorie G. and Carl W. Stern Book Arts and Special Collections Center of the San Francisco Public Library. For a schedule of remaining demonstrations and more information about Kalligraphia 12, visit our previous post.

SF Historical Photograph Collection Flickr Page!

Photo: Two construction workers on the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, 1935.

Courtesy of the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection, San Francisco Public Library.

The San Francisco Public Library's Historical Photograph Collection just got that much more accessible! At the Flickr page you can check out an awesome set of photographs taken of the building and dedication of the Golden Gate Bridge, as well as images of Harvey Milk from the 1950s and 1970s.

If you like (or don’t like) what you see, leave a comment or two (or more!) Got a great-uncle who was one of the first ever to drive across the Golden Gate bridge? Let us know. Happen to know one of these crazy kids in penguin suits? Tell us about it!

Check out the SFPL's brand new Flickr page!
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Highlights from Book Arts & Special Collections: Paxton's Magazine of Botany and Register of Flowering Plants

Read more about these plants from Paxton’s Magazine of Botany and Register of Flowering Plants

JOSEPH PAXTON - THE GREATEST GARDENER OF HIS TIME

Joseph Paxton (1803-1865) rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most eminent men of Victorian England. After a three-year apprenticeship and still in his teens, he was employed as a gardener at estate gardens and nurseries, devoting himself to the study of horticulture. In 1823 Paxton gained employment with the Horticultural Society at the gardens of Chiswick House, and in 1826 he came to the attention of the 6th Duke of Devonshire, George Spencer Cavendish, who hired him as head gardener at Chatsworth, the duke’s country estate in Derbyshire, England.

Working with the support and encouragement of the Duke of Devonshire, the self-educated Paxton rebuilt the gardens of Chatsworth, which were open for the enjoyment of the public. He designed and constructed enormous greenhouses, fountains and waterworks, collected and cultivated plants, created arboretums, and built a pool for the cultivation of Victoria amazonica (known in the nineteenth century as Victoria regia), the gigantic water lily of South America. Paxton made Chatsworth one of England’s most famous gardens. The estate grounds continue to be open to the public today.

At Chatsworth Paxton successfully grew and brought into flower the Victoria amazonica. The lily bloomed for the first time outside of its natural habitat to great fanfare in November 1849. It was the extraordinary architectural structure of the underside of the lily pad upon which Paxton based his design of the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition of 1851, "a greenhouse bigger than ever a greenhouse was built before" (according to John Ruskin).

Hand colored image of the Crystal Palace from the Great Exhibition of 1851.
Frontispiece, The Exhibition by F. W. N. Bayley. London: Darton and Co., 1851. Schmulowitz Collection of Wit and Humor, SFPL.

Paxton founded the Magazine of Botany and Register of Flowering Plants. From 1834 until 1849, and for the price of two shillings, this monthly publication appealed to a wide range of readers and gardeners. From its lively collection of articles on the how to’s of gardening in plain English to the prolific and beautifully hand colored engravings of true to life plants, Paxton’s magazine became an instant favorite. From its beginning, the magazine was printed by the great nineteenth century printing firm Bradbury & Evans, whose steam presses operated twenty-four hours a day; they specialized in the color printing of illustrated books and magazines. Bradbury & Evans also printed the annual bound volumes of the Magazine of Botany and Register of Flowering Plants; all sixteen volumes may be found in the Book Arts & Special Collections Center of the San Francisco Public Library.

Collection Spotlight: The SF Historical Photograph Collection

The San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection is one of the major collections we have to offer here on the 6th Floor of the Main Library. Lucky for you, the collection is also very much online. We're talking 39,560 images accessible right from your home! While that's only a small percent of the 2 million photographs currently in the collection, there is a constant effort to get more digitized.

SJSU student, Emily Foster recently interviewed curator Christina Moretta about the Historical Photo Collection and how access to the library's digital collections is being increased.

Emily Foster is a student at San Jose State University and created this video for Robert Boyd's LIBR 204 class.

Featured exhibition: Kalligraphia 12

Kalligraphia 12 gives you the chance to view contemporary calligraphy on display in the Main Library's Skylight Gallery (Sixth Floor, Main Library) now through August 23. The exhibition features work by members of the Friends of Calligraphy (FOC), a nonprofit Bay Area group founded in 1975, with 500 members worldwide. Free demonstrations by noted scribes will be held on Saturdays in July and August from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Latino-Hispanic Community Meeting Room, Lower Level, Main Library. The schedule of remaining demonstrations are listed below.

This year marks the 12th time Friends of Calligraphy has produced its Kalligraphia exhibition -- a colorful, non-juried show highlighting a wide range of calligraphic techniques, from traditional methods dating back to the Middle Ages to expressionistic pen and abstract brushwork. On view will be original works -- including broadsides, manuscript books, and three-dimensional artworks.

Friends of Calligraphy is an internationally known guild whose membership includes some of the most highly regarded lettering artists in the world. Committed to furthering the art of beautiful writing, FOC sponsors a year-round program of workshops and lectures as well as classes, which are held at Fort Mason and open to the public.

The exhibition is co-sponsored by the Marjorie G. and Carl W. Stern Book Arts and Special Collections Center of the San Francisco Public Library. The Center houses highly esteemed collections, including the Robert Grabhorn Collection on the History of Printing and the Development of the Book and the Richard Harrison Collection of Calligraphy and Lettering.

Schedule of Demonstrations:

July 18 Melissa Titone - Copperplate

July 25 Sherrie Lovler - Subtle Colors in the Night

Aug. 1 Georgia Deaver - Brush Lettering

Aug. 8 Thomas Ingmire - Experimental Calligraphic Writing

Aug. 15 Carl Rohrs - Capital Ideas
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Welcome to the San Francisco Public Library's San Francisco History Center and Book Arts & Special Collections Blog!

Have you ever gotten in the elevator at the Main Library and wondered, "What's on the 6th Floor?" Well, we're here to give you a peek into the many collections we have to offer: from historical photographs to Harvey Milk, from typography to topographic maps - it's all for you to study, browse, and enjoy right here on the sixth floor of the SFPL Main Library in the San Francisco History Center and Book Arts & Special Collections.

Follow the blog for updates on our events and exhibits, information about our collections, and a heck of a lot of fun! Read, comment, pass it on to your friends, and, by all means, come up and see for yourself "What's on the 6th Floor"!