April 12, 2012, Filed Under: Cataloging, Research + TeachingDecades later, current headlines echo controversies addressed in Morris Ernst collection Through a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a team of archivists and student interns has been working to organize and catalog the papers of attorney Morris Leopold Ernst since September 2009. The collection is now open for research, and a finding aid is available online. Morris… read more
April 10, 2012, Filed Under: Books + Manuscripts, Exhibitions + EventsRecommended Reading: The King James Bible: Its History and Influence The Ransom Center’s current exhibition The King James Bible: It’s History and Influence tells the little-known story of one of the most widely read and printed books in the history of the English language. Exhibition co-curator Danielle Brune Sigler offers a list of recommended reading that traces the history of… read more
April 5, 2012, Filed Under: Books + Manuscripts, Exhibitions + EventsIn the Galleries: The Origins of WWJD In the 1890s, Kansas minister Charles M. Sheldon (1857–1946) turned to “sermon stories” to engage his congregation. In 1896, Sheldon began reading to the Central Church of Topeka a new series of stories called In His Steps. Like other Sheldon sermon stories, In His Steps ran as a serial in… read more
April 3, 2012, Filed Under: Books + Manuscripts, Exhibitions + EventsIn the Galleries: John Bunyan’s "The Pilgrim’s Progress" Few writers have been as biblically obsessed as John Bunyan (1628–1688). In his spiritual autobiography, he writes of being literally accosted, struck, and pursued by Bible verses wherever he went. His life, like his writings, was a biblical allegory. One of his most famous works, The Pilgrim’s Progress, was the… read more
March 30, 2012, Filed Under: Art, Books + Manuscripts, Exhibitions + EventsIn the Galleries: Marc Chagall’s "Let My People Go" from "The Story of Exodus" From the very beginning of printing, the Bible was regarded as the ultimate challenge. It presented printers and artists with the daunting task of creating an appropriate medium for communicating sacred text. They met this challenge with widely divergent methods. Some favored sharp, clean typography and traditional artistic approaches, placing… read more
March 29, 2012, Filed Under: FilmQ and A with Tom Smith The archive of visual effects producer Thomas Smith has been donated to the Ransom Center. Smith worked on the special effects for such films as Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), E.T. (1982), Star Trek: The Search for Spock (1983), Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983), Indiana Jones and… read more
