In the midst of research for The Greenwich Village Bookshop Door exhibition, my former colleague Molly Schwartzburg alerted me to an unpublished manuscript she had located in the collection of writer and editor Christopher Morley (known today for his novel Parnassus on Wheels and his work on the editorial board of the Book-of-the-Month Club). [Read more…] about A newly identified work by writer and poet Fenton Johnson
Danielle Brune Sigler
Frederick Douglass and the Mass Meeting for Civil Rights
February 20, 2017, marks the 122nd anniversary of Frederick Douglass’s death. Douglass (1818–1895), an abolitionist and activist for civil rights, was a gifted writer and orator. [Read more…] about Frederick Douglass and the Mass Meeting for Civil Rights
Claude McKay and “The White House”
This February saw the release of a previously unpublished Claude McKay novel, Amiable with Big Teeth (Penguin Classics). [Read more…] about Claude McKay and “The White House”
A young Lewis Carroll, “musing on milk” and “reasoning on rubbish”
Through its digital collections portal, the Harry Ransom Center has made available a remarkable example of juvenilia from its Charles Lutwidge Dodgson collection. [Read more…] about A young Lewis Carroll, “musing on milk” and “reasoning on rubbish”
Authors’ door reflects breadth of collections
In 1973, visiting authors and authors began signing one of the Harry Ransom Center’s doors between two manuscript stack rooms on the fifth floor. At the suggestion of a staffer, the authors’ door was inspired by the signed Greenwich Village Bookshop door in the Center’s collection. When one side of the Ransom Center’s door filled up a few years ago, the other side was sanded down so that it could be used as well. To date, more than 150 visitors have signed the door, from American writer Alice Adams to Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko.
ESPN’s Longhorn Network recently explored the history of the door with the Ransom Center’s Danielle Brune Sigler, assistant director and curator for academic programs.
Recommended 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 the influence of this translation.