In her 2019 memoir, In The Dream House, author Carmen Maria Machado writes about the importance of seeing queer people not as saints, but as full human beings – human beings with complicated and sometimes upsetting ideologies. She writes in her essay, “Dream House as Queer Villainy,” “…it sounds terrible but it is, in fact, freeing: the idea that queer does not equal good or pure or right. It is simply a state of being—one subject to…moral complexities of every kind.” [Read more…] about Archive of ‘The Well of Loneliness’ author offers a view of queer history
Digital Collections
Unlocking sound stories
In part one of a two-part blog post series, NEH Audio Digitization Project Coordinator Katie Quanz chronicles the progress of Unlocking Sound Stories, a NEH grant funded project digitizing and preserving more than 2000 rare recordings. [Read more…] about Unlocking sound stories
Stella Adler on the Craft of Acting
The Ransom Center has released 11 film clips from the Stella Adler and Harold Clurman Papers on our digital collections portal. These clips offer a glimpse into over 1,000 audio and video recordings of the legendary acting teacher, created between 1958 and 1990, that are preserved in her archive at the Center. [Read more…] about Stella Adler on the Craft of Acting
The Golden Age of Magic Posters
The turn of the twentieth century was a period of innovation, when advances in printing and color lithography coincided with a new golden age in the performance of magic and illusion. This convergence resulted in the most stunning, color-saturated advertisements in the history of magic. [Read more…] about The Golden Age of Magic Posters
Seeing stars in the Blaeu World Map
A fascinating project to preserve and display the iconic 1648 Dutch world map is now underway. In previous blog posts, we revealed the history of the Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Tabula (Blaeu World Map) and the family of cartographers, globe makers, printers, and publishers who created it. We also have discussed the science and conservation taking place to prepare the Texas-sized 371-year-old map (learn more about the map) for public display. [Read more…] about Seeing stars in the Blaeu World Map
How a famed astronomer paved the way for the Blaeu World Map
A Q & A with Dr. Bruce Hunt about the Blaeu World Map
In recent blog posts, we examined the science behind the Blaeu World Map and took a deep dive into the conservation in progress to prepare the massive 371-year-old map for public display. [Read more…] about How a famed astronomer paved the way for the Blaeu World Map