While many Americans are familiar with Thomas Paine as the author of the 1776 political pamphlet Common Sense and as a Founding Father of the United States of America, fewer are familiar with Paine’s French political career. In gratitude of…
Generally speaking, the librettos that I have encountered in the French Revolution Collection (FRC) only indicate the librettist, not the composer of the musical score. I was delighted then when I came across a pamphlet (Case FRC 22112) containing the…
When a French revolutionary pamphlet crops up in the news, we take notice. Just days ago, the British Library announced that it is partnering with Google to digitize 250,000 eighteenth- and nineteenth-century books. Among the few titles they singled out…
It is a poorly kept secret in Hollywood that profanity and toilet humor can, in a pinch, substitute for wit. If the French Revolution Collection (FRC) is any indication, this secret was well known during the time of the French…
On 21 nivose an III (10 January 1795), not long after the end of the Reign of Terror, the Convention nationale passed a law dictating that all the représentants en mission furnish a report of their activities, appropriations and expenditures…
For the past few months, I have shifted gears to work exclusively on cataloging the Louis XVI Trial and Execution Collection. The Louis collection overlaps with the French Revolutionary Collection (FRC) in that it contains pamphlets from the same time…
Since we spend so much of our time working behind the scenes on projects benefiting researchers and academics whom we rarely get to meet, it is always a pleasure to discuss the collections and our cataloging work at the Newberry…
Sorting out the context-specific meaning of terms employed in very particular ways by the pamphlet authors can be challenging for modern readers and catalogers alike. Apparently it was a source of confusion for readers contemporary to the pamphlets as well.…
The Newberry Library presents an informal colloquium every Wednesday afternoon to give staff, fellows, visiting scholars, and friends of the library an opportunity to present their work on virtually any topic. Last week, some of the project staff presented a…
One of the more interesting items I’ve come across lately is a beekeeping handbook from 1798 entitled Manuel de l’éducation des abeilles, ou, Manière sûre et facile de les conserver, de les multiplier et d’en tirer un grand profit (Case…