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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Scholarly Favourites. Researching in Special Collections. Online exhibition
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
18th May 2016
Contributor
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Special Collections, University of Otago
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Special Collections, University of Otago
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
Who uses Special Collections? And why? And what research results emanate from physically examining books and manuscripts? It was these questions that prompted the development of this ‘engagement’ exhibition, now called <em>Scholarly Favourites. Researching in Special Collections</em>. We certainly have a wide variety of readers. After filling out the appropriate registration forms, they settle into our Reading Room. A brief wait and they get the requested item. The type of materials used is equally varied, ranging from a single sheet Medieval manuscript and a 17th century herbal, to an issue of the Gentleman’s Magazine or a Pulp Fiction book. The actual research and the publication of the end-result can often take a long time; indeed sometimes years. It can be circuitous. The time spent poring over the books also varies: three hours to three weeks, and sometimes more. And importantly, it is just not about research. Many readers use a particular book or manuscript because it is a favourite; a work that resonates with their sense of being. It has become important to them. Readers from inside and outside the University of Otago were contacted to choose a Special Collections item. They were each asked to write 150 words on ‘their’ chosen book; their favourite, or that one item that assisted their research. <em>Scholarly Favourites. Researching in Special Collections</em> is the result. In most cases, it meant a re-engagement with the item. A new handling of an old friend. The exhibition offers true variety, with items selected from the diverse collections within Special Collections: Brasch, de Beer, Shoults, Truby King, Pulp & Science Fiction, Monro, Stack. Items on display range from Albinus’s spectacular <em>Tabulae Sceleti et Musculorum Corporis Humani</em> (1747); Augustus Hamilton’s <em>The Art Workmanship of the Maori Race in New Zealand</em> (1901); and Johannes Wolleb’s <em>Compendium Theologiae Christianae</em> (1642); to Gregory M. Mathews’s <em>Supplement to The Birds of Norfolk & Lord Howe Islands and the Australasian South Polar Quadrant</em> (1928); the scurrilous <em>Alvin Purple</em> (1974); and <em>Egypt and the Sudan: Handbook for Travellers</em> (1929). Please enjoy what others have researched and enjoyed.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The Book of Songs
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Arthur Waley
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1954
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Brasch Collection PL2478 F9
Type
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Books
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
London: George Allen & Unwin
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
Out in the bushlands a creeper grows <br />The falling dew lies thick upon it.<br /> There was a man so lovely, <br />Clear brow well rounded. <br />By chance I came upon him, <br />And he let me have my will. <br /><br />The oldest collection of verse from China, <em>The Book of Songs</em> contains 305 poems written between the 11th and 7th centuries B.C. Centuries of moralistic Confucian interpretation had smothered the poetry and translations failed to convey their beauty. Arthur Waley cut through that edifice of moralistic scholarship and gave us the poetry in the songs. Not many knew of Waley’s genius; fortunately Charles Brasch did.<br /><strong>(Chosen by Professor Brian Moloughney, Department of History and Art History, Otago)</strong>