| UC museums |
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| Magic lantern and slides photo/Dottie Stover |
Unusual
art in DAAP library
Although the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture,
Art, and Planning displays art in several galleries, its library holds
some charming surprises.
Just inside the 5480 Aronoff door is a current exhibit of historic photography,
including an 1830s "magic lantern" projector, powered by candlelight,
and the colorful glass slides it used. Further inside, to the right, are
display cases of artists' books, curious three-dimensional, artistic literary
projects that would rarely fit on library shelves.
In back of the room, hundreds of snow globes from around the world flaunt
quirky shapes and contents, while the visual resource room displays impressive
posters selected around a particular theme. And, yours to view for the
asking are haute couture books forecasting stylish fashions through sketches
and fabric swatches. In New York, such books are locked away, unavailable
to the public, notes senior librarian Jane Carlin.
DAAP Library's virtual tour
DAAP's online exhibit of Pogue sisters' travel
Now showing in University of Cincinnati galleries
- Reed Gallery, fifth floor, DAAP -- Katherine Kadish, oils and monotypes,
through March
- Meyers Gallery, fourth floor, Steger Student Life Center -- DAAP
student designs for an American sign museum, through March
- 840 Gallery, fourth floor, DAAP -- Fine Arts Program exhibits
- DAAP Galleries Downtown, 314 W. Fourth St. -- Keith Linton, through
March
- Clermont
College Art Gallery -- Vern Lewis, Jan. 11- Feb. 2
DAAP galleries and sculptures
UC public art tour
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| Vibraslap photo/Peter Griga |
Archive
exhibits without the glass
If viewing a 15th century "Book of Hours" behind glass sounds
captivating, stop by UC Archives
and Rare Books and eliminate the glass.
Open to the public, the archives on the eighth floor of Blegen Library
has the expected campus photos, student newspapers and documents dating
back more than 100 years. But it also collects materials for scholarly
research, including an 18th century Illustrated Koran with views of Mecca
and Medina.
One of the archive's odder items is the vibraslap, a musical instrument
in which an ass's jawbone was slapped so the teeth would rattle. Once
used in minstrel shows, it is part of the Stephen Foster collection.
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| German heritage photo/courtesy of UC Archives and Rare Books |
German-American
collection No. 1 in U.S.
Cincinnati's strong German heritage played a role in UC archives developing
the largest German-American
collection of its kind, curator Don Heinrich Tolzmann explains. Popular with international scholars, the
public collection of old newspapers, photos, journals, citizenship records
and nearly anything pertaining to German-American history has both local
and national focuses, including an extensive history of brewing.
Among its treasures is a 1776 Germantown, Pa., "Gun-wad Bible,"
so called because Revolutionary War soldiers typically ripped handy pages
out to stuff muskets. Pennsylvania's abundance of German soldiers nearly
annihilated the Bibles.
The postcard illustrates a bratwurst booth at Hamilton County's Carthage
Fairgrounds in 1909, part of the national Turnfest competition. Such festivals
were sponsored throughout the country and Germany by Turner clubs, societies
dedicated to promoting physical and mental exercise.
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| Refracting telescope photo/Dottie Stover |
Historic
observatory
No museum guide to UC would be complete without a drive to Mount Lookout
to visit the historic Cincinnati
Observatory.
Located on Observatory Place, the facility is owned by the university,
but operated by a not-for-profit organization that handles restoration
in partnership with UC.
Originally founded in Mount Adams by a Cincinnati College professor in
1842, the observatory moved to its current home in 1873. Although UC students
no longer formally use the facility, two refracting telescopes are available
to both researchers and the public. In addition, historical tours are
conducted two Sundays a month. (Call 513-321-5186 for schedules and prices.)
Students can also complete some astronomy assignments
on the roof of Braunstein Hall, where a 12-inch telescope is mounted in
a dome. A radio telescope is also mounted there for students to track
the sun and supernova remnants through radio signals.
Visit the Cincinnati Observatory Web site.
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| Greenhouse and Pam Bishop photo/Dottie Stover |
Rooftop
conservatory
Rieveschl's rooftop greenhouse may be smaller and more crowded than Cincinnati's
Krohn Conservatory, but much about it looks like admission should be charged.
Operated by the biology
department to provide specimens to students and aid faculty research,
the 145-by-25-foot structure offers moss, trees, flowers and plants from
a variety of ecosystems.
The largest resident is a rubber tree, which manager Pam Bishop has repeatedly
pruned to keep it from breaking the glass ceiling. The most unusual houseguest
is a non-ornamental, little-understood tree that a professor brought back
from Indonesia.
Good news for the public is that the greenhouse propagates plants for
biannual plant sales to bolster its budget. One is conducted shortly before
Mother's Day and one before Christmas in Rieveschl Hall. (For more details,
call 513-556-9770.)
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| Herbarium and Victor Soukup photo/Dottie Stover |
Herbarium
among nation's best
Providing plant identification not only for students, but also for UC's
Drug and Poison Information Center, is the McMicken College of Arts and
Sciences herbarium. Ranked among the top 10 percent in the United States,
based upon size, range and scientific value of its unique collection,
the herbarium comprises more than 70,000 plant specimens, pressed, dried
and filed in numerous cabinets in 1600 Crosley Tower.
Its reputation is in part due to the efforts of Victor Soukup, adjunct
professor of biology and volunteer associate curator, who has undertaken
international collecting trips, discovered new plant species, worked with
the chemistry department in related research and painstakingly remounted
more than 4,000 historically valuable, yet fragile specimens.
