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Mel B. Yoken Archives Exhibit
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Mel B. Yoken Archives Exhibit
Gammell Exhibition Room
John Hay Library
20 Prospect Street, Providence, RI 02912Friday, August 6, 2010 – Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Beginning Friday, August 6th, 2010, the Gammell Exhibition Room at the John Hay Library of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, will house a sampling of approximately 50 letters and several posters from the Mel B. Yoken Archives, featuring such prominent individuals as Lucille Ball, Ray Bradbury, Pearl S. Buck, George Burns, Julia Child, Bill Clinton, Walter Cronkite, Dave Garroway, John Glenn, Harper Lee, Norman Mailer, Robin Moore, Rosa Parks, Colin Powell, Dan Rather, Ronald Reagan, Norman Rockwell, Leopold Senghor, Maria Von Trapp, Lawrence Welk, Elie Wiesel and Thornton Wilder. Correspondence from these, as well as numerous other distinguished individuals, will be on display for public viewing.
For academic as well as personal reasons, Dr. Mel B. Yoken has been in correspondence with thousands of notable individuals from around the world over the past five decades, and has collected their letters to create an invaluable archive in the Mel B. Yoken Room on the third floor of the John Hay Library. This exhibition, which is located on the first floor of the library near the entrance, offers a small glimpse of the collection, which ultimately consists of more than 200,000 sheets of correspondence from notables worldwide.
These letters are of extremely significant historical value, as they are clearly one-of-a-kind, and offer insight into the minds of some of the world’s most influential people, present and past; therefore, this exhibit is something one should not miss.
The exhibit will be open to the public from Friday, August 6th through Tuesday, September 7th.
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20 Library Staff Elect Early Retirement
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The Library recently honored staff members who are retiring under the University’s Voluntary Staff Retirement Incentive (VSRI) program. This group of twenty staff members has given over 600 years of devoted service to Brown University. They will be missed!
The twenty retiring staff members are: Millie Brown, Janet Crager, Lois D’Alfonso, Nori Duncan, Ron Fark. Jim Hannon, Ed Hayslip, Rick Hurdis, Michael Jackson, Elva Mathiesen, Ann Patrick, Leslie Patterson, Tovah Reis, Jane Shea, Barbara Spaulding, Sam Streit, Carol Thomas, Steve L. Thompson, Suzanne Williams and Lindsay Woodel.
Retirees Jim Hannon, Elva Mathiesen, Ann Patrick, Millie Brown, Lois D’Alfonso, Sherran Smith, Ron Fark, Tovah Reis and Ed Hayslip at the Library’s Retirement Celebration on June 16, 2010 at the Faculty Club. -
Melchor Pérez de Soto, a Book Collector Faces the Inquisition
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An exhibit in Honor of the SALALM LV CongressCurated by Kenneth Ward and Patricia Figueroa
Held at these two locations:
John Hay Library, June 28-August 3, 2010. M-F 10:00-5:00.
John Carter Brown Library, June 28 – September 19, 2010. M-F 8:30-5:00, S 9:00-12:00.
Melchor Pérez de Soto, a Mexican astrologer and architect, built one of the most impressive private collections of printed books in 17th Century Mexico. According to an inventory of its library made by clerks of the Inquisition, the collection contained 1,592 volumes, covered various disciplines, and represented authors from the classical to contemporary periods.
During the last five years of his life, the Holy Office gathered evidence on perceived heretical activities carried out by Pérez de Soto which included practicing astrology and owning prohibited books. He was arrested by the officers of the Inquisition on January 13, 1655, and spent several weeks in solitary confinement. He was found dead in his prison cell on March 17 of the same year.
This exhibit illustrates the depth and breadth of the Pérez de Soto private collection and provides a glimpse into one of the finest minds among humanists in colonial Mexico.
Sponsored by Brown University Library, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and the John Carter Brown Library