Questions pondered by a Hagley catalog librarian are answered through her encounter with a choice sammelband from the Patrick M. Parkinson Collection of the History of American Banking.

Despite completing the curation of Hagley's recent "Innovation in Miniature" exhibition, I continue to enjoy serendipitous findings in the William Pahlmann Associates papers. I especially love learning about the human connections Pahlmann had with other influential designers. This group portrait of the Dorothy Liebes Studio weavers, circa 1946, is one of these discoveries:

As I write this, the First State is in the throes of its usual early spring weather whiplash. You know that time of year when Mother Nature just can't seem to make up her mind? The list includes first spring, second winter, false second spring, third winter, first false summer, actual spring, interrupted by flood and mud seasons! While our ancestors endured similar weather shocks, springtime in the 19th century brought on another tradition many of us have wisely abandoned: deep spring cleaning.

Have a blast during your visit to Hagley with cannon firings!

Hagley Library’s newest Digital Archives addition is a small but effervescent look at the history of advertising. The Pepsi-Cola Company 1977 Black Community Marketing Handbook (Accession 2883) offers a brief glimpse at the soft drink company’s history of engagement with Black American consumers.

Geophysics, or the study of Earth using the tools and methods of physics, is often understood to have begun in the post-WWII period. However, the period between the world wars saw ferment and innovation in the field, and the emergence of the term geophysics itself.