Today is spring primary day in Appleton. We’re voting to narrow down the field forAppleton’s mayor and alderperson for district 4 (which includes LU). Lawrence students will vote at Alexander Gym; shuttles are being provided from 7am-7pm.
New rules require you to provide ID at the polling place, so stop at the ID office in the Campus Center to make sure you have the right ID. More information about the new voter ID law found at Bring it to the Ballot.
Presidents Day is celebrated yearly on the third Monday in February. It was created in 1977 with the merging of the celebrations of Presidents Lincoln and Washington. The Encyclopedia of American Studies (from Credo Reference) notes, “although some communities still mark the observance with patriotic speeches by public officials, most Americans associate the day with department-store sales.” While the library is hosting neither patriotic speeches nor any type of sale, we have found a couple of President Lincoln web pages that you might find interesting.
Tower of Abraham Lincoln Books: A group of historians in Washington D.C. created this exhibit made of the approximately 1,500 books that have been written by President Lincoln. Their intention of this 34 ft. tall tower, was ” to physically illustrate Lincoln’s importance.”
Lincoln Reading Room: The Mudd Library is home to the Lincoln Reading Room. This room, which was dedicated in May 2000, contains an excellent collection of materials relating to President Lincoln and the Civil War. The materials in this collection were donated by Robert S. French (LU ’48) and Keville Larson (LU ’20).
February 7. 2012 is the 200th birthday of one of the English language’s great authors, Charles Dickens. Born in Portsmouth, England, Dickens spent some of his early childhood in London. When he was 12, his father was imprisoned for debt and Charles had to go to work in a warehouse. He never forgot either part of his life. He became a court stenographer at age 17 and later became a reporter for the Morning Chronicle. His sketches of London life (signed Boz), began appearing in periodicals in 1833, and the collection Sketches by Boz was published in 1836.
Dickens’ work appeared first in monthly installments and then were made into books. Dickens wrote quickly, often working on more than one novel at a time, and usually finished an installment just when it was due (sound familiar?). However, speed did not keep his intricately plotted books from being the most popular novels of his day.
Dickens wrote more than a dozen major novels, a large number of short stories, several plays, several books of non-fiction, and many essays and articles. He died in 1870 at the age of 58. He’s buried in Westminster Abbey.
Some Dickens links
The Mudd Library is hosting the Verse-O-Matic poetry dispenser! Just turn the handle and receive a plastic egg filled with an inspiring poem and a piece of candy (no coins required). This fun machine is a project of the poetry magazine, Verse Wisconsin, and Poetry Jumps off the Shelf, a group dedicated to “bringing… poetry into the general arena.” Stop in the library and give it a try! It is located on the first floor on the new book shelf, and will be here for about a month.
