University of Pittsburgh Library System

The Homestead Strike of 1892 was one of the important turning points in American labor history, emphasizing the importance of organized labor. With resources from the archives, I aim to investigate the economic actions of management during the event and retrace the experiences of laborers after the strike. With this, I aim to create a narrative with a humanistic approach in the conflict between management and labor.

Examining volvelles and other movables in 1500’s texts to more thoroughly understand how they may improve accessibility to the average reader.

What is a book without text or illustration? What does it mean if a book requires its reader to look beyond its pages to fully understand it? These are the sort of questions I aim to explore in my research of Keith Smith's Book 91 (A String Book). Book 91 is an artists’ book that features multiple strings that weave their way through varying holes on each of its bare pages. This colorless, imageless, and textless book explores the boundaries of the artists’ book as concept and form. Keith Smith gained inspiration from painters that eliminated subject matter to create non-representational paintings. Following suit, Smith worked with all the elements of bookmaking but focused on the movement, cast light and shadows, sound, sequence, and materials rather than the subject matter. For my research, I will conduct an extensive visual analysis of Book 91 by using slow-looking strategies to interpret and respond to the content of the book. My initial hope for my research is to explore how this artists’ book is observed and interacted with by its viewer. Due to the book's unique qualities, and the absence of text and imagery, the experience of this book is unlike that of a book with the traditional format. Throughout my research, I will consider the overall performance aspect that is crucial to the book-viewing experience, how the absence of words can illuminate visual opportunities, and potential ways in which librarians can document books of this nature within digital systems. Toward the end of my research, I will conduct a ‘mini exhibition’ in which I will discuss and perform the book for an audience.

Astrology is not a new practice. In fact, the Western astrology investigated in this project has its origins with the Babylonians around 1500 BCE. The study of the stars and the possible impact they have on human behavior is laborious and controversial. The Hillman Library Special Collections is where I stumbled upon many maps, books, and pamphlets from the Early Modern era detailing personal uses of astrology. These sources are from figures such as Galileo, William Lilly, and Dr. John Case. These men set down the foundation for the practice and attitude of modern Western astrology by creating guides for the everyday person to calculate their fates. I was later directed to the Judge Eunice Ross collection, which is currently being processed at the Archives at Thomas Boulevard. Judge Ross was a legal trailblazer, Pitt alum, and avid user of astrology. Most of my findings draw from her diaries, where she detailed events that occurred throughout her day, and correlated them to what was happening in the sky that day (and night).

With both collections at my disposal, I decided to investigate and compare the way prominent people used astrology in their daily lives in both time periods. The project seeks to create connections between people hundreds of years apart. Overall, the most prominent theme is that people have used (and arguably still use) the art and study of the stars to create a sense of control and predictability in their lives. My deliverables investigate this theme and the people who created these sources on a more in-depth scale.