Tag Archives: Princeton University

They’ve Got Game: The Children’s Books of Toni & Slade Morrison

Posted on by
CAAHB4 Jun 18, 2003; New York, NY, USA; TONI and SLADE MORRISON at the Who's Got Game? Book signing at Barnes and Noble Union Square on June 18, 2003.

CAAHB4 Jun 18, 2003; New York, NY, USA; TONI and SLADE MORRISON at the Who’s Got Game? Book signing at Barnes and Noble Union Square on June 18, 2003.

This winter, it was our honor to curate “They’ve Got Game: The Children’s Books of Toni & Slade Morrison,” an exhibit that runs in the Cotsen Children’s Library gallery until June 4, 2023. It’s part of the larger, absolutely magnificent exhibit “Toni Morrison: Sites of Memory,” which is currently in the Milberg Gallery of Princeton University’s Firestone Library.

In a nine book collaboration spanning well over a decade, Toni and Slade Morrison deftly crafted stories around themes such as individualism, independence of thought, family connections, freedom, imagination, and the empowerment of self

The Cotsen gallery exhibit primarily features the Morrisons’ Who’s Got Game? series, which reimagined Aesop’s fables without any concrete morals. Instead, the stories put that decisive power on the reader. Morrisons’ characters are not good or evil, smart or foolish, weak or strong. Rather, they are more flexible, and offer different perspectives, leaving it to the reader to ultimately ask themselves: who’s got game? The Ant or the Grasshopper? The Lion or the Mouse? Poppy or the Snake?

Visitors can enjoy viewing handwritten pages by Toni Morrison, the charming illustrations of artist Pascal Lemaître (interviewed here), and even some 2004 fan art from a New Jersey third grader! Please stop by, or take a look at the online companion to the exhibit.

We were also delighted to host a Zoom panel with the five artists who illustrated Toni & Slade Morrison’s children’s books! You will find that here.

FEELING JUST CAPITAL

Posted on by

TODAY IS NATIONAL CAPS LOCKS DAY, AND WE ARE CELEBRATING IN STYLE!

FOR STARTERS, WE COMMISSIONED HOUSE OF CUPCAKES, AN AMAZING LOCAL BAKERY, TO MAKE THESE ADORABLE UPPER CASE LETTER ‘P’ COOKIES. SINCE ‘P’ ALSO STANDS FOR ‘PRINCETON UNIVERSITY,’ THE COOKIES WERE TIGER STRIPED. THEN KATIE AND I HIT THE STREETS, HANDING OUT COOKIES. DRESSED AS TIGERS, NATURALLY.

HILARIOUSLY, AS WE WERE GETTING READY TO EMBARK ON OUR JOURNEY, THE LIBRARY HAD AN UNSCHEDULED FIRE DRILL. WHICH MEANT THAT ALL OUR COLLEAGUES POURED OUT OF THE BUILDING, MOST LIKELY WONDERING WHY WE WERE DRESSED IN TIGER ONESIES, HOLDING COOKIES ON A TUESDAY MORNING.

WE DID, HOWEVER, GET A PHOTO WITH ANNE JARVIS, THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIAN!

Anne Jarvis, Robert H. Taylor 1930 University Librarian

A FEW OTHER STAFF AND FACULTY CELEBRATED WITH US BEFORE WE VENTURED INTO CAMPUS AND GAVE COOKIES TO KIDS. WE MIGHT SHOW UP ON A FACEBOOK PAGE OR TWO!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

HAPPY CAPS LOCKS DAY! GO FORTH AND SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS!

A Library for the Birds

Posted on by

A heads up for our readers…in addition to eggs and nests, this post contains multiple images of bird taxidermy, which some may find unsettling. If you do, no problem! Skip this particular post, and we’ll see you on the blog next Tuesday!

Deep within Princeton University’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, there is a plain door with a fairly innocuous sign mounted nearby:

Behind that plain door, however, is an amazing treasure trove of natural history. It’s the Princeton Bird Collection, which contains a taxidermy catalog of over 6,000 bird specimens, some of which are over 150 years old! Many were collected by William Earl Dodge Scott, who was appointed Curator of the Department of Ornithology in 1879.

Princeton’s bird room contains a multitude of hulking gray metal cabinets. While I’m used to our library’s special collections cataloged and ordered on regular bookshelves, the bird room’s cabinets open to reveal horizontal wooden drawers containing various specimens. These collections are available for teaching and research, including the Stoddard Lab’s research on avian coloration and morphology.

The drawers also contain nests and eggs, which are similarly laid out for researchers:

There are larger nests as well, including this amazing one that I’m pretty much ready to curl up and take a nap inside:

Beyond the drawers are a fantastic assortment of standing taxidermy, both large and small. Below are just a few the staff unwrapped for me to photograph…from top left to bottom…an emu, ground hornbill, kiwi, barn owl, macaw, snowy owl, and golden eagle.

And check out this! It’s a quetzal, which hails from Central America. It was was considered sacred by the Ancient Mayas and Aztecs. The photo really doesn’t do it justice. The coloring on the bird is simply exquisite.

The bird collection also contains the documents and journals of Charles Roger, a professor of ornithology at Princeton from 1920-1977. The journals, which he began as an eager boy of eleven and continued until he was eighty-four are a fascinating and informative body of work. You can read more about the digitization of his works, and find some awesome coloring pages from our special collections here (as well as a couple fun bird projects!).

A very special thank you to Cassie Stoddard, Assistant Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, for arranging for me to photograph the bird room, and answering my questions about ducks!