Tag Archives: special collections

Trams & Trains & Things That Go

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From Shôwanôto (Shôwa Notebook: Boy in flight); c.1920-1930. Cotsen Children’s Library, Princeton University Library.

It’s time for the annual #ColorOurCollections, hosted by the New York Academy of Medicine! Each year libraries, archives, and cultural institutions around the world share free coloring sheets based on their collections. Our previous submission included birds, alphabets, and super cute animals. This year, our intern Daniel Dias (a.k.a. Dandalf) curated a selection of trams, trains, and things that go!

From Eh Ich zur Schule geh,lern Ich das ABC:ein Bilderbuch for kleine Schulkinder und solche, die es werden wollen von Maria und Kaete Steinkamp. By Maria and Kaete Steinkamp. Duisburg : J.A. Steinkamp, c. 1915. Cotsen Children’s Library, Princeton University Library.

You can find our fantastic coloring pages here. But if you’re ready to hit the highway, may we suggest a few transportation projects? The journey begins with this blue truck…

the ultimate road tripBut this being New Jersey, be prepared to pay some tolls:

hit the roadIf you’d like something a little more exotic, this Pickle Car might be just want you need:

mr. frumble pickle carBut you can also fly (and pick up a few pies along the way):

have pie will travelThe more adventurous can try this DIY zip line tram car…

fly the friendly skies 2

…go old school with a covered wagon:

wagon and goodsOr hop aboard and ride a chuffing steam train!

train timeIf your adventures kick up some dirt, no worries! Just stop by our story time car wash!

workin at the car wash yeah

Let’s Play!

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We’re finishing 2023 with something we’re really proud of! This spring, PBS came to our library to film for Craft in America. The episode is titled “Play,” and it’s now officially streaming! Our segment of the episode is a tribute to Lloyd Cotsen, and his marvelous vision and gift that resulted in the creation of the Cotsen Children’s Library.

For those of you who are not familiar, Craft in America is an non-profit that is “dedicated to the exploration, preservation and celebration of craft, the work of the hand, and their impact on our nation’s cultural heritage.” The episode also features artists Roberto Benavidez, Schroeder Cherry, Calder Kamin, Lorena Robletto, as well as the Noah’s Ark installation at the Skirball Cultural Center.

This link will take you to the episode. Cotsen’s section begins at 37:24 (and Katie’s chin has a cameo at 41:47), but we highly encourage you to check out the entire “Play” episode, it’s simply wonderful!

The Cotsen Library would like to thank PBS, Craft in America, and the awesome crew that came to our library to showcase our little world so perfectly. We appreciate you so much!

Tigers in the (Mobile) Makerspace

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We do plenty of children’s programs in our gallery space, but this fall we did a special event for a different demographic – Princeton University students! We’ve had a ton of amazing undergrads contribute their talents to Cotsen over the years, and we definitely wanted to send our love back. What better way to show it than historic tigers from the University archives?

The event was a collaboration with our colleagues at the Princeton University Library’s Makerspace, which is housed in the Lewis Library and features a multitude of ways for students, faculty, and staff to gets hands-on experience with artistic equipment and have creative collaborations.

Makerspace Specialist Ariel Ackerly made our gallery the first stop on her innovative “Mobile Makerspace” initiative, bringing a 3D scanner, custom stickers, button makers, and a Cricut machine to the Cotsen Library. She’s planning to visit other destinations on campus too!

There were two sets of images available for stickers and buttons. The first were Pokemon-esque folk tale creatures from a 2016 Cotsen event. Drawn by student Aliisa Lee, the cartoon creatures were paired with their historic tales. The most popular was Moon Rabbit from China. If you’d like to read more about the event, read the tales, and see more illustrations, you’ll find all that here.

moon-rabbit-artwork-by-aliisa-lee The second set of illustrations were from the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, which holds the University archives. Library Collections Specialist April C. Armstrong provided a number of amazing historic tiger images from the Princeton University collections, including the three you see below. April also wrote a fantastic blog post this week that features a brief history of Princeton’s tiger, as well as more interesting tiger images from the vault!

Tiger pasted on the inside cover of the scrapbook made by Charles H. Shick, Princeton Class of 1892. Mudd Manuscript Library. Scrapbook Collection (AC026), Box 161.

1911 postcard series by Christie Whiteman. Mudd Manuscript Library. Historical Postcard Collection (AC045.)

From The Quindecennial (i.e., 15th annual) Dinner of the College of New Jersey (Princeton) Class of 1878, 1893. Mudd Manuscript Library. Princeton University Class Records, Box 10.

The Mobile Makerspace event was a huge success, with students (and staff!) stopping by to try equipment, ask questions, and get a fabulous button or sticker to take home.

Many thanks to Ariel Ackerly for making this event happen! A big shout out to April C. Armstrong at Mudd Library for the historic Princeton University tigers, and to Brianna Garden for digitizing them. Additional thanks to Brandon Johnson, Office of Library Communications, for the event images!