Tag Archives: museum

Special Stickers | Special Collections

Posted on by

Today, I’m sharing a brilliant initiative in Special Collections at Princeton University Library. It’s beautiful, mysterious, interesting, unusual, intriguing, delightful, random, fantastical, unique, surprising, and it fits on laptop cover! I’m speaking, of course, of “Decalcomania,” the brain child of library staff Adrienne Rusinko, Library Collections Specialist, and Emma Sarconi, Reference and Outreach Specialist.

Collaborating with Princeton University Library’s Makerspace, the department releases original stickers every month based on items in its special collections, cuing a stampede of campus fans. The stickers vary from centuries-old illuminations to modern styles.

For today’s post, I’m not only sharing some personal sticker favorites, I’m chatting with one of the co-creators to learn how this amazing project came to be…

Hi Adrienne, tell us a little about yourself!

Hello! My name is Adrienne Rusinko, and I’ve been at Princeton University Library’s Special Collections for about 6 years. I’m a part of the Public Services team, and my responsibilities include working with researchers to find and access the materials in our collection. We work with folks both in person and through remote reference services, which introduces me to tons of exciting items in our holdings I would otherwise not have stumbled upon.

How did this awesome sticker initiative get started?

My colleague Emma Sarconi, our Reference and Outreach Specialist, reached out to me after seeing the idea at a Makerspace conference. She knew I had some experience with Photoshop, and suggested we find a few cool designs to turn into stickers and put out for free in the lobby as an outreach project, making the space a bit more fun and inviting. This sounded like a great idea, and we immediately got to work. The reaction was incredibly positive from both staff and researchers, and I ended up continuing it into a monthly sticker release.

Please walk us through your research and selection process…

The selection process is the hardest part of stickers, for sure. I spend my downtime at the desk searching through a plethora of digitized material in our online catalog, finding aids, and Digital PUL (DPUL) site, looking at the thumbnails of every page of every item. If I come across something I think is cool, I add it to an ever-growing spreadsheet of potential stickers (the current count is 331 designs, 101 of which have become actual stickers.)

Each month, I pick three designs to turn into stickers. It’s usually a random assortment, but every once in a while I can pull together a theme. I have some wonderful (and patient) colleagues whom I go to to vibe-check a potential design. I almost passed over the “Here is a picture of a Narwhal.” sticker but was otherwise convinced, and it ended up being one of the most popular designs we’ve put out.

What’s the reaction to the stickers been like? I imagine some sets produce a bit of a mad rush!

The stickers come out every second Friday of the month, and I’ll say, I think the staff here are more excited than anyone! That being said, it’s always a fun reaction to see a group of students walk out of a class and realize we have stickers they can take. The entire point of the stickers is to make Special Collections a little more welcoming, and I think that’s been pretty successful!

What’s your personal favorite sticker, and why?

This is an incredibly tough question. I think I’m pretty partial to what I call “Baby Dragon”, who comes from the margins of a 13th-century French bible (Princeton MS. 82, fol. 42r). I spotted him before I started making stickers, and he immediately reminded me of my dog whenever he would beg for food. When Emma first brought the idea of stickers to me, I knew he would be my first pick.

Image References From Top to Bottom, Left to Right:
Peacock: Book of Hours, ca.1500 (Garrett MS. 59)
Reading Improves: The looking-glass for the mind (Cotsen Eng 18 / Newbery 7161)
Dog with Horn: Bible, ca. 1260 (Garrett MS. 27)
Bright Flowers: Primavera: New Designs and Colors (Graphic Arts 2004-0031E)
Ostrich DJ: Радио-Жираф [Radio Giraffe] (Cotsen 58164 Pams)
Moon Terrace: The Blessed Damozel (C0199 no. 923)
Curious Cat: Des chats (Cotsen, 21217 Folios)
Umbrella Fish: Putanitsa [A Muddle] (Cotsen, 91282 Pams)
Kirin: 神風倭国功 / 十返舎一九著 ; 歌川貞房画, (PL797 .J56 1829, East Asian Library) Snowy Scene: Snow at Kameyama, Station 47 (GA 2009.00719, Graphic Arts)
Block People: Russkiĭ plakat (Cotsen 153779 NR CyrillicQ)
Hand & Heart: Journal to Pikes Peak (C0199 no. 141, Manuscripts)
Three-headed creature: German report, 1791 (Ex 2012-0315N)
Narwhal: Stories About Whale Catching (GA Hamilton 298s)
Football Tiger: 1956 (Athletic Programs Collection (AC042), University Archives)
Bear with Heart: A Piano in the Children’s Room (Cotsen 103359 NR CyrillicQ)
Little Owl: American Ornithology (Graphic Arts, 2007.00515)
Adrienne’s Baby Dragon: French bible, 13th century (Princeton MS. 82)

The Great (Museum) Escape

Posted on by

Katie, our resident queen of escape rooms, stumbled upon this little gem on a road trip, and decided to give it a go in the spirit of fun! Take it away, Katie!

Tucked away on a lower shelf in the toys/games aisle at the Walgreen’s Pharmacy outside of Sevierville, Tennessee was where I found the next at-home escape room to test for Pop Goes the Page. Created by Professor Puzzle, the mini game is titled “Escape from the Museum” and includes everything you need for the solve in a handy and travel friendly 3.5-inch by 5-inch box. Recommended for ages 12+, the list price on Amazon is $20.98, though I got my game on clearance for $3.99.

After reading the explanation story and glancing through the instructions, I carefully laid out the 11 puzzle cards and accompanying materials, which included a museum map, a calendar of events, a selection of rare postage stamps, and a foldout titled the “Cabinet of Curiosities.” Never fear: there are solutions provided for all of the puzzles if you get stuck.

I worked my way through the cards, starting with what I could solve the fastest to what I found was the most difficult. My personal favorite puzzles were mazes that cleverly hid a clue within the walls of the maze; it was a puzzle style I had never encountered before, but now hope to recreate myself.

It took me just over 3.5 hours to finish. I only needed to consult the solutions list once when I could NOT figure out the connection between two words. It was obscure enough that even after I had the answer, it still didn’t make sense. And when I say the way to escape was in plain sight, it was right there and I totally glanced over it until I solved all of the puzzles!

My only complaint is the game can only be played once. I have found other at-home escape rooms are able to be solved by taking notes on scratch paper, but that’s not the case here. It would be impossible to finish without writing directly on almost all of the provided cards.

“Escape from the Museum” is ideal to bring on vacation, pull out on a rainy weekend afternoon, or play anytime you need a fun challenge. It can absolutely be solved by just one person, but the individual cards easily allow for more players to participate. I agree with the suggested age range for kids who want to tackle the game on their own, but younger children can definitely play with help from their grown-ups. Since the box is not much bigger than a deck of cards, it can easily be tossed into a backpack or suitcase for play while on the go. It gets my enthusiastic recommendation!

A Very Concrete Example of a Library

Posted on by

Over the years, I have found myself in a number of interesting libraries and literary settings, but today I wanted to share one that is truly unique. The entire room…in fact the entire mansion is constructed of poured concrete. This unusual library is just one of the rooms in Fonthill Castle, the Victorian home of the eclectic and eccentric Henry Chapman Mercer in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

An “archaeologist, anthropologist, ceramicist, scholar and antiquarian,” Mercer had the home built between 1908-1912. It has over forty rooms, extensive grounds, a multitude of fireplaces, and a plethora of windows (including a little one I spotted embedded in a chimney!). The mansion’s exterior and frame was crafted exclusively from poured concrete. Much of the interior is concrete as well, including shelves, desks, chairs, even dressers!

The library was one of the larger rooms we viewed during the educational tour. It was two levels with vast windows and a massive fireplace. You might notice the abundance of tiles. One of Mercer’s passions was ceramics and tile, and he hand-crafted almost every tile you see in his home. Also, if you’re wondering how to get to the second level of the library, shhhhhh there is a secret staircase behind the fireplace.

Mercer was a true scholar. He loved the discovery and acquisition of knowledge. So books weren’t confined exclusively to his private library. He had multiple studies throughout the mansion (he actually followed the path of the sun through his home, capitalizing on the reading and writing light it allowed him). Each study held collections of books and artifacts from his extensive world travels.

The home tour was fascinating, but we were wholly unprepared for Mercer’s other building, a six-story castle (also made of reinforced concrete) that now serves as the Mercer Museum. If a photo is worth a thousand words, I leave you with this, and urge you to see the museum for yourself!

In addition to Fonthill Castle and Mercer Museum, I can also highly recommend Doylestown as a charming and laid back travel destination. There are plenty of shops, eateries, ice cream stands, and parks. It’s extremely walkable, and don’t miss the independently-owned Doylestown Bookshop. It’s fabulous!