Stuart A P Murray Presentation by Jennifer Ureste Carl Solorio and Nicky Fairless In the Forward Nicholas A Basbanes talks about the importance of libraries and how attendance goes up during times of stress war recessions and depressions etc ID: 904524
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Slide1
The Library: An Illustrated HistoryStuart A. P. Murray
Presentation by Jennifer Ureste, Carl Solorio, and Nicky Fairless
Slide2In the Forward, Nicholas A. Basbanes talks about the importance of libraries and how attendance goes up during times of stress: war, recessions, and depressions, etc.In the Introduction, Donald G. Davis, Jr. discusses how libraries were used throughout the ages to preserve knowledge and to inform and enlighten future leaders. Libraries are a “collective memory of the human race.” He states, “libraries remind us of our humanity, preserve our legacy as a species, and provide the intellectual building blocks for the future” (X).
Forward and Introduction
Slide35,000 years ago, libraries began here:
Slide4Ebla Library
Slide5Ebla Library DetailsThe Elba library is the earliest known library dating back to 2,500 BCE.It contained 20,000 clay tablets with cuneiform writing.
The tablets were arranged on shelves. The tablets were found “in horizontal heaps, like cards in a file” (9).Tablets found there contain the earliest references to the city of Jerusalem.
Slide6Ancient Egyptians used papyrus instead of clay tablets.They were stored rolled up in wooden boxes, chests, and boxes in the shape of statues, as well as piled on shelves. Some were also stored in large clay vessels.They were organized or grouped according to subject or author.They were also labeled by using thin pieces of clay and attached with a string to the end of the scroll.
Because papyrus was almost exclusive to Egypt, ancient Egyptians controlled its distribution. This influenced the development of books and writing in the civilized world.Ancient Egyptians and Papyrus
Slide7Examples of scrolls
Slide8Nineveh Library was the royal library of the Assyrian King Assurbanipal. The library was located in his palace. It existed in the 7th century BCE.It is considered the first catalogued library.It contained over 30,000 clay tablets, written in several languages, and broken up into 9 different rooms according to their category: “government records, historical chronicles, poetry, science, mythological and medical texts, royal decrees and grants, divinations, omens, and hymns to the gods” (6).
Assurbanipal sent out scribes to other libraries to record their contents. These were among the first library catalogs.
Nineveh Library
Slide9He also organized the copying of original literary works because “…he sought to study the “artistic script of the Sumerians” and the “obscure script of the Akkadians” (9).Nineveh Library held the Epic of Gilgamesh.
After his death in 627 BCE, the Assyrian Empire weakened and by 612 BCE, Nineveh was ransacked and a fire raged through the library.Nineveh Library
Slide10Bas-relief from Nineveh Library
Slide11Clay tablets found in Assurbanipal’s Palace
Slide12The Alexandria Library was named after Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE).When he conquered lands, it almost always meant the destruction of major libraries.After his death, Ptolemy I Soter, assumed kingship of Egypt and founded the Great Library, in 300 BCE.
The Great Library at Alexandria acquired the largest holdings of the age, estimates range from 40,000 to 400,000 scrolls. Scrolls were laboriously copied from all over the known world. Sometimes originals were kept and copies were sent back to the libraries that originally loaned the materials to copy.
Alexandria Library
Slide13Despite legends, the Great Library, and several other libraries in Alexandria, were around for 700 years and suffered many fires and conquests.For seven centuries, the city of Alexandria was known as the world’s repository for learning and wisdom.Over the centuries, damage to the Great Library occurred through fires (one notable fire was started by Julius Caesar’s army who destroyed thousands of scrolls), and earthquakes.
“The Alexandrian book collections steadily diminished as a result of natural causes, war, and wholesale theft by corrupt administrators” (17).Alexandria Library
Slide14Between the first century BCE to the fourth century, Romans established libraries throughout the known world.Roman libraries contained books in Latin and Greek.Libraries were constructed as temples and separate rooms were required for Greek and Latin works.As Christianity blossomed in Rome, many Roman book collections were destroyed as unholy, pagan teachings.
New libraries popped up in churches and monasteries where many of the pagan books were saved and stored away from public view.The art of illumination was advanced during this time. Bookbinding techniques advanced to vellum bound pages, written on both sides. Calligraphy and art design sprouted up during this time.
The Roman Empire
Slide15“Public” libraries began during the Roman Empire. After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, Europe entered into the Dark Ages. It would last for 300 years.In the 5th
century, while the Roman Empire of the West was fading, the libraries in Constantinople were gathering classical Greek and Roman works.The Byzantine libraries were able to protect these works from invaders and Christians hostile towards pagans.During the Dark Ages, monasteries continued to labor with copying manuscripts and books for preservation.
European Libraries of the Middle Ages
Slide16From the 4th century on, scrolls were no longer used. The preferred type of book was a codex.The codex was invented by the Romans who folded scrolls into pages. It was thought that Julius Caesar was the first to fold scrolls.A codex looks like modern books with its pages or leaves bound together on one side, writing on both sides of the vellum, and bound with protective covers made of wood enclosed with leather.
The word “codex” refers to handwritten manuscripts only. Codex Format
Slide17Example of a codex
Slide18A major fire broke out in Constantinople in 476 destroying the imperial library.Monasteries and churches became the leaders in collecting and copying old books.The Rule of Monks was a guidebook started by the Order of Saint Benedict. One of its principles required that each monastery have at least one book for every brother.
They also worked as scribes who translated and laboriously copied books.The Benedictine scriptoria was the most productive entity of the Middle Ages in turning out books and manuscripts.
The Rule of Monks
Slide19Monks and lay brothers worked as copyists and bookbinders.Specialists were employed to illuminate the pages with elaborate capital letters, designs, and pictures.The average scribe copied two books a year.Candles were generally forbidden. They did their copying by windows.Copying the Bible took fifteen months.
Scribes often left comments when they finished copying a manuscript: “I have made an end at last, and my weary hand can rest” (38).Monastic Scriptoria
Slide20Examples of Illuminated BooksThe Book of Kells
Example of Dutch Illumination
Slide21Book curses date back to the beginnings of libraries.“Ancient librarians called down the wrath of the gods of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome upon book thieves and vandals” (39).In Europe, many curses were built around expulsion from the church and eternal damnation.Other curses wanted the perpetrator to be hanged.They took their books seriously!
Book Curses
Slide22“He who entrusts this book to others’ hands, may all the gods who are found in Babylon curse him” (40)!“Steal not this book my honest friend, for fear of the gallows should be your end, and when you die the Lord will say, and where’s the book you stole away” (41)?“Him that stealeth
, or borroweth and returneth not, this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain crying out for mercy, and let there be no surcease to his agony till he sing in dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw his entrails and let the flames of Hell consume him forever” (40).
Examples of book curses
Slide23Paper was invented in the 2nd century in China.The Chinese would do rubbings on Confucius stone tablets with paper, making “prints”.By the 8th
century, block printing was widely used in China.Block printing consisted of carved wood blocks with characters in relief and inked. Then paper was applied to the block and rubbed with a brush.“In the 10th century a major Buddhist canon, the Tripitaka
, was published in 5,000 volumes using more than 130,000 individual woodblocks” (45).
China developed “movable type” in the 11
th
century. It consisted of single letters or characters placed alongside others in a frame.
Asia and Islam
Slide24Examples of individual blocksBrass and ceramic blocks
Movable typeMovable Type
A Chinese printed book
Slide25The Caves of the Thousand Buddhas was discovered in the early 20th century in western China.The “caves form a complex of almost 500 temples, with half a million square feet of religious wall murals. The complex contained more than 15,000 paper books and 1,100 paper bundles, each of which held dozens of scrolls” (49).
It was sealed in the 11th century.“Found in the caves were books from the Fertile Crescent, including a version of the Old Testament written in Hebrew…Tibetan scrolls…Buddhist texts, written in Sanskrit….the world’s oldest-known printed book, dating from the ninth century…” (49).
Caves of the Thousand
Buddhas
Slide26Papermaking came to Islam in the 8th century. Muslims were responsible for bringing papermaking to India and Europe.Calligraphy flourished.By the 10th century, the library at Cordoba, Spain held between 400,000 – 600,000 books.
The Crusades, during the 11th – 13th centuries, were responsible for widespread destruction of Islamic libraries and many books were lost to burning.
Islamic Libraries
Slide27Papermaking came to Europe during this time.Paper was originally called bagdatikos, which means “from Baghdad”.Paper revolutionized the book business.Books cost less to make, making them more accessible to people.
European scribes switched from large print to small print to fit more words on a page.Libraries benefited the most by the increase in production of less costly books.Late Middle Ages
Slide28Encompassed the 11th – 13th centuries.Monarchies and cities came into prominence.Colleges and universities started during this time.
Wealthy patrons contributed books to the university libraries.Book collectors moved from considering collections as tokens of power to having love for books and knowledge.“Humanism” came into prominence.Books were protected by chains in libraries.
Europe’s High Middle Ages
Slide29Beowulf was written down by a monk in the 13th century.Beowulf
Slide30By the 14th century, books like the Canterbury Tales, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles and poetry about King Arthur and his knights thrilled readers.
Canterbury Tales
Slide31“Humanism” started when scholars sought to understand the nature of human beings.Humanism-inspired education consisted of languages, sciences, philosophy, and history.In 1450, Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press.It changed the landscape of books and libraries.Gutenberg made individual letters that could be assembled into words and put into a frame to make identical pages.
Humanism brought about the Renaissance
Slide32Gutenberg, his printing press, and his Bible
Slide33Renaissance
“Rebirth”
Free thinking was a hallmark of the age
Many libraries had many writers and philosophers
Academies or associations of scholars were formed
Academies were dedicated to higher learning and philosophy
Slide34Cataloging in the Renaissance
Each library was categorized according to the individual in charge
Sorbonne library
Conrad Gesner - “Father of Bibliography”
Librarians revised catalogs regularly
Slide35Renaissance Librarianship
The catalog listed, described, and classified books.
Libraries organized according to knowledge of librarians.
Books could be arranged by language, printed, or handwritten.
Books arranged according to law, Scriptures, and philosophy, to name a few.
Slide36Matthias
Corvinus
Corvinus
built a library of 3000 titles in the city of Buda.
Slide37Bibliophiles built libraries as temples to books and knowledge.
Libraries appeared as manifestations of immense wealth.
Libraries were used as courts for aristocrats and the Church.
Court libraries were housed in monumental buildings with woodwork.
Court libraries were built in Naples, Modena, and
Cesna
.
Court libraries were adorned with statues, paintings, and frescoes.
Court Libraries
Slide38France’s Charles V
The Royal library became the cornerstone of National
Bibliotheque
in France.
Slide39Phillip II founded El Real
Monasterio
de San Lorenzo del Escorial.
Phillip II of Spain
Slide40Thought vs. Religion
Beliefs of academics put them at odds with the Church.
Religious leaders became angry when academic members appeared to favor classical culture and pre-Christian pagan ideas.
Slide41Martin Luther
Luther started the Protestant Reformation.
Slide42People of the Book
Islamic armies brought books and libraries
Founded centers of scholarship and libraries
Migration led to establishment of libraries in other lands
Libraries developed in towns and trading centers
Slide43Timbuktu
Slide44City of mud brick buildings
Great Mosque of cut stone
Books were a valuable commodity
Families had more than 100,000 manuscripts
Manuscripts were the source of religion, science, and music
Conquered and the scholarly were persecuted
Families managed to preserve their private collections and would become a cultural treasure
Slide45South Asia - Islam
War over faith
Scholars shared knowledge in times of peace
Many ideas and forms of worship converged and held similar principles
Slide46Delhi Sultanate
Developed several types of libraries which were open for public use
Slide47Safavid
Dynasty
Created libraries
Delhi Sultans established libraries
Ottoman Turks rose and established libraries
Library growth was spurred by
waqf
Slide48China, Korea, and Japan
Imperial library in Beijing grew in the Yuan and Ming dynasties.
Private libraries and academy libraries flourished.
Government employed scholars to compile encyclopedias.
K’ang
Hsi
developed the Imperial Library.
Libraries belonged to royalty and Buddhist temples.
Royal Libraries categorized by titles, such as, classics, history, encyclopedias, and philosophy.
Samurai had libraries on military strategy.
Family libraries include the classics.
Slide49Golden Age Librarianship
Employed scholarly directors who classified and organized information
Task of cataloging lagged
Characteristic was compulsiveness and knowledgeable on objects
Slide50Francis
Trigge Chained Library
First public library
Books fastened by chains
Books donated by military
Town libraries
Gabriel
Naude
Instituted private collections on which books were practical
Slide52Cotton Library
Library home of books, artifacts, and coins
-Original Manuscript of Beowulf
-
Lindisfarne
-Pearl
-Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- Codex
Alexandrinus
- The Battle of
Maldon
Catalog by name
Shelf by letter
Title number
1750s: the British Museum and Library took charge and continues to organize the books
Slide53Thomas
Bodley
The
BodlianLibrary
contained more than 2000 books
Slide54Colonial AmericaBooks were cherished by pilgrimsWealthy colonists and clergyman built up their libraries
Knowledge and education was common to colonistsBooks were essential to their spiritual healthPrinting presses, authors, and intellectuals in Mexico CityPrinting began to grow rapidly
Slide55Sister Juana Ines de La Cruz
Nun who developed a library with more than four thousand books
Slide561539: the first North American title was printed
1663: Harvard College published the earliest Bible in North America
Many bound books in the colonies were ledgers and court documents
1700s: manufacturing blank books was big
Volumes of public records made the first reference libraries
Slide571769: first colonial type was made in New Haven, Connecticut
William Caslon designed type face
British Americans did not think education should be excluded for the wealthy
Households in the middle class had four or five titles
Slide58Ben Franklin
Founder of the first American subscription library.
Slide59The New York Society Library
Foundation was laid in the 1700s by Reverend John Sharp
New York society or
Junto
bought seven hundred new books for the library
The Revolutionary War caused the library to be destroyed by 1783
The library moved in 1784 to Federal Hall, where the constitution was written
Slide60Libraries in the Young United States
“Father of the Library of Congress”
Thomas Jefferson
(1743-1826)
In 1800 President John Adams gave authorization to establish the Library of Congress.
$5000 was appropriated for material selections.
In 1801, Thomas Jefferson appoints the first librarian to the Library of Congress.
Slide61Interesting Fact
“As the national library of the United States, the LoC receives copies of every book, pamphlet, map, print, and piece of music registered in the country” (229).
Slide62Tragedy Strikes
War of 1812 British forces capture Washington, D.C. and fire, yet again, destroys another library.
Slide63During the 1700s and into the 1800s, “subscription” or “society” libraries were established.Individuals paid dues for a membership.
The Subscription Library
The Boston Town Library
Slide64Athenaeum libraries issued “shares” to its members.Boston Athenaeum
Slide65The Public Library
Slide66Recognizing the need for Professionalism
Henry M. Bailey organizes the first Librarian’s Convention in the New York University Chapel ~ 1853
Slide67American Library Association
Established in 1876
Cincinnati Public Library
1874
1875 ~ 188 public libraries
1886 ~ 600+ public libraries
Slide68Andrew Carnegie
1835-1919
Slide69Andrew Carnegie donated the funds to construct free public libraries in the United States.
San Diego Free Public Library
Slide70Melvil Dewey1851-1931
New York State
Librarian
1884 founded the Columbia School of Library Economy
Developed
a system of bibliographic classification
Slide71Yay for Peace
The second half of the 20
th
century provided the time to reconstruct archives and libraries worldwide, in addition to the promotion of new community and university libraries.
Slide72Private CollectionsAmong some of the most unique libraries in the world are private collections.
The Newberry Library in ChicagoThe Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.The Huntington Library in San Marino, California
The Research Library at the Getty Institute in Los Angeles
The Morgan Library and Museum in New York
Slide73Do you know which type of library is the most numerous?
Slide74The school library
Slide759,000+ public libraries3,600 academic libraries9,000 special libraries1,500 government and military libraries
In addition to S
chool Libraries in the United States--
Slide76A Sneak-Peek at Libraries
Around the World
Slide77Bibliotheque National de France, Paris
Founded at Louvre Castle in 1368
Opened to the public in 1692
Staff of 2700
Manages 13 million books
Slide78British Library
Established in 1753
Books are stored underground in 185 miles of shelves
150 million items – one of the world’s largest libraries
Slide79Library and Archives of Canada
Founded in 1953
18 million in holdings
Houses a preservation center
Slide80New York Public Library
One of the world’s leading research library
7
th
largest public library in the United States
26
th
largest library n the country
Slide81Chicago Public Library
Founded in 1873 with documents saved in an abandoned water tower during the Chicago Fire of 1871
Largest library system in the Midwest
Has nearly 2000 public access computers (2007)
Slide82The Newberry Library
Established in 1887Walter L. Newberry died at sea, and his daughters never married or had children
Has a copy of Thomas Jefferson’s
Federalist Papers
Slide83All that mankind has done, thought, gained or been; it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books
- Thomas Carlyle