February 21, 2018, Filed Under: Books + Manuscripts, Featured1University’s foundational rare book collection acquired a century ago Image: Curator Aaron Pratt is the early and rare book specialist on staff at the Ransom Center. The volumes in the Wrenn Library have multiple layers of research value, including by author, genre, and the way they were created and collected. Wrenn Library inspired journey that led to today’s Ransom Center… read more
February 13, 2018, Filed Under: Research + TeachingTransnational sisterhood and solidarity in the Julia Alvarez archive Image: Notecard card from Edgwidge Danticat to JuliaAlvarez; the image is titled Colored Girl. In 1999, five years after Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies was published, the United Nations General Assembly cited the novel as an important cultural text that helped to pass the resolution to designate… read more
February 8, 2018, Filed Under: Featured1, Research + TeachingFellows Find: “Archipelago,” Jim Crace’s last novel that never was Image: Jim Crace’s handwritten note on the “Archipelago” folder in his archive. When I came to the Harry Ransom Center in August 2017 to research in the Jim Crace papers, the materials I was most curious to view were those related to Crace’s unpublished novel Archipelago.
February 6, 2018, Filed Under: Exhibitions + Events, Research + TeachingSchool of Architecture students collaborate with Ransom Center to learn exhibition design Just steps away from the Ransom Center is The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture, where hundreds of students work diligently on a wide range of design assignments, from the scale of furniture and interiors to that of cities and regions. These assignments are often based on real-life… read more
January 31, 2018, Filed Under: Books + Manuscripts, Exhibitions + Events, Featured1Talking about early digital facsimiles with Sarah Werner Sarah Werner is a book historian and digital strategist based in Washington, D.C.
January 29, 2018, Filed Under: Exhibitions + Events, Theatre + Performing ArtsGrappling with the past: On exhibiting minstrelsy materials The decision to include collection material depicting blackface minstrelsy in our exhibition on vaudeville is a decision we do not take lightly. Minstrelsy is part of the history of American performance and vaudeville. We have a responsibility not to hide this troubling history, but also to display it in such… read more
