Leddy Library News

Leddy Libraries’ Librarian Research Series will continue Friday, April 13th at 11:00 with Mita Williams presenting, “The Library as Interface for Public Space and Public Self.” Mita will explore the library’s potential to help bridge the digital divide and to play a key role in facilitating public space and the infrastructure of the Internet  as a means to share and engage with each other. Join us Friday, April 13 at 11:00am, Room 302 West Building, Leddy Library.

Leddy Library now has access to The Vogue Archive.  The Vogue Archive contains the entire run of Vogue magazine (US edition), from the first issue in 1892 to the current month, reproduced in high-resolution color page images. Every page, advertisement, cover and fold-out has been included, with rich indexing enabling you to find images by garment type, designer and brand names. The Vogue Archive preserves the work of the world’s greatest fashion designers, stylists and photographers and is a unique record of American and international fashion, culture and society from the dawn of the modern era to the present day.

In addition to the editorial content, all covers, advertisements and pictorial features have been captured as separate documents to allow for searching and discovery. For advertisements, the featured company and brand names have been assigned to the document records, and all image captions are captured to a high accuracy, allowing accurate retrieval of photographs and illustrations. Contributor names that appear in image credits, such as photographers, stylists and illustrators, are also indexed. You can also limit your search by journal editor, to find items published during the editorship of, say, Diana Vreeland (1963-71) or Anna Wintour (1988-present).

The Vogue Archive also features specialist indexing of full-page images from photo features. This has been newly created by Condé Nast, with expert indexers using controlled lists to apply keywords to each separate image within a document. There are separate designated fields for Fashion Item (e.g. kimono, Breton jacket, scoop neckline), Person Pictured, Company/brand, Designer Name and Material (e.g. chiffon, wool, taffeta).

Our second talk in the Leddy Library’s Librarian Research Series is today, at 11 am in Room 302, West Building, in the Leddy Library.

Art Rhyno will be presenting his talk, Optical Character Recognition for the Masses: Digitization Options for Small Budgets and Big Collections.  Please join us!

Leddy Library is currently offering a trial of ProQuest History Vault.  This trial is available on campus only and can be accessed here.   ProQuest History Vault debuts with three modules of archival collections documenting two of the most important and widely studied topics in 20th Century American History: the Black Freedom Struggle and the Vietnam War. These modules are but the first three in a five-year plan of more than 25 individual modules of rich and varied content that create a full spectrum of archival materials to complement coursework in many areas including African-American studies, women’s studies, history, political science, and more. Institutions can build their collections over time to provide an unparalleled research experience for their students and faculty who would otherwise be unable to access materials held at geographically-dispersed archives.  Please note this trial is available on campus only.  Please let us know if you have any feedback about this trial.

Get a sneak peek at the new books coming into Leddy Library by visiting the New Arrivals shelf behind the Reference Help Centre on the main floor. Browse by subject.  See what’s new. Find your new favourite book.

Please join us on March 16, 2012, in room 302 West from 11am to Noon to hear “What if Maria Susanna Cummins had Twitter?: Information literacy, literary history, social media and the classroom” – a presentation by Heidi LM Jacobs.

This presentation is the first of a series of a Librarian Research Series which provides the opportunity for the library and campus community to hear more about the exciting, innovative, and diverse research projects being undertaken by the librarians of the University of Windsor.  Upcoming talks include:

March 30, 2012, 11:00- Noon
Art Rhyno
“Optical Character Recognition for the masses: Digitization options for small budgets and big collections”

April 13, 2012, 11:00- Noon
Mita Williams
“The library as interface to public space and public self”

April 20, 2012, 11:00- Noon
Brian Owens
“The archival manuscript and the book: Tools of knowledge and artefacts of destruction during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.” (Working Title)

April 27, 2012, 11:00- Noon
Karen Pillon
“No student turned away: Using Kohlberg’s 6 Stages of Moral Development to inform a customer service model”

May 4, 2012, 11:00- Noon
Kristi Thompson & Victoria Paraschuk
“Finding strength(s): Insights on Canadian Aboriginal physical cultural practices”

May 11, 2012, 11:00- Noon
Tamsin Bolton
“Students helping students: Measuring the impact of Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Mentor Program”

May 18, 2012, 11:00- Noon
Selinda Berg
“TBA”

The Leddy Library will be hosting a panel discussion on Ebooks in the Bibliographical Imagination, as part of the Humanities Research Group’s lecture series,  Friday, March 9th at 11 a.m. in the 4th floor conference room

Our host will the Dean of the Library, Gwen Ebbett and our our guest lecturer will be  Dr. Alan Galey.

Galey is an assistant professor in Toronto’s Faculty of Information, where he teaches in the collaborative program in book history and print culture.

Please join us!

Remembering The War of 1812: Five Books You Should Read about the War of 1812 suggested by Dr. Marshall Bastable.

Dr. Bastable teaches for the History Department at the University of Windsor. He has taught about wars and revolutions at universities in Canada and the United States. He finds The War of 1812 particularly interesting for how it is remembered.

Bicentennial commemorations of the War of 1812 are underway in Canada and the United States. This summer will see military re-enactments, warships and tall ships visits, plaques unveiled and commemorative ceremonies and events held. But remembering and commemorating this long-ago war can be tricky. Much attention is given to which side won, but there are other important questions too. How did the various people at the time see the war? Was it a popular war? Was it a civil war? Was it glorious or a war full of terrible suffering and atrocities? How should we of 2012 remember the War of 1812?  The War of 1812 was a turning point in Canadian, American and First Nations histories. Yet, like our recent war in Afghanistan, assessing the War of 1812 and deciding how to remember and commemorate it is a problem. The books recommended here are chosen to help us make those judgments. They also show how fascinating and important the War of 1812 remains.

Click here to read Dr. Bastable’s Overview of the War of 1812
Donald R. Hickey, Don’t Give Up the Ship! Myths of the War of 1812
Hickey aims to dispel many myths, misconceptions and misunderstandings about different aspects of the war and how it is remembered. Much of the book answers specific questions, in a format which allows readers to open the book at any page. The questions range from the trivial (Did Brock have a fiancée?) to the interesting (Why did the British burn Washington? Is the role of Laura Secord exaggerated? What are the true origins of the Star Spangled Banner? Who were the most hated men in the war? ) to the weighty (Who were the real War Hawks? How decisive was the Battle of the Thames? Who were the best generals? Is Tecumseh over-rated? Did the Canadian militia save Canada/Did the American militia save the United States?) This is an entertaining and thought-provoking book on the myths and memories of The War of 1812.
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Donald Graves, Field of Glory; The Battle of Crysler’s Farm, 1813 is a fast-paced battle-field narrative of a crucial battle in the war in which the British defeated a much larger American force on the move towards Montreal. This victory kept the St. Laurence River open to British transportation and ended any American hopes of winning the war. Graves tells a gripping story with lots of fighting and heroes.
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In The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels and Indian Allies, Alan Taylor argues that the United States invaded Canada to save itself from bitter internal partisanship on the one hand, and to defend the young and fragile Republic from the perceived ambition of imperial Britain to destroy it on the other hand. Taylor calls it a civil war in that it created new tensions and exacerbated old ones in American society: between Patriots from Loyalists, Irish Americans and Irish soldiers serving in the British army, the anti-war north eastern America and the pro-war west and the south.
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George Sheppard, Plunder, Profit and Paroles: A Social History of the War of 1812 in Upper Canada is a ground-breaking revision of the war. Sheppard shows how deeply divided the population of Upper Canada was before the war and how very unpopular the war was amongst Upper Canadians. He takes the reader as close as possible to the terrible social and economic impact of the war on ordinary Upper Canadians. The memory of the War of 1812 as a glorious war of national unity, of heroic acts and mythical battles was imposed upon that conflict long after it had come to an end.
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R. David Edmunds, Tecumseh and the Quest for Indian Leadership takes the reader into the world of First Nations and the failed efforts of Tecumseh to forge a confederation ofall the tribes to defend their land and culture against the incursions of the land-hungry and expansionist-minded Americans. Edmunds combines and good story with a realistic analysis of Tecumseh’s struggles to create an Indian confederation state. Fist Nations warriors proved essential in the successful defence of Upper Canada during the war, but were unable to create their own state when peace came.

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In conjunction with our War of 1812 Display near the Williams Coffee Pub, Leddy Library invites you to explore the rich regional history related to the War of 1812.  Check out Dr. Marshall Bastable’s suggestions for 5 Books You Should Read about the War of 1812 and read his concise overview of this fascinating historical event below.

Overview

The War of 1812 was fought between American soldiers and American militias and their Indian allies on one side, and British soldiers and Canadian militias and their First Nations allies on the other side. The conflict involved eight major battles on land and water and several dozen lesser battles and skirmishes, along a front stretching along the northern shores of the Great lakes system from Detroit-Amherstburg to Montreal. A secondary theatre was a British naval blockade along the American Atlantic coast, and a final battle at New Orleans. Most of the action took place in the Niagara Peninsula.

Key Military Events
When President James Madison declared war on Britain in June 1812, British forces in Canada under Major-General Sir Isaac Brock immediately invaded the United States, seizing Detroit. The Americans invaded across the Niagara frontier but were defeated at Queenston Heights. Brock was killed, becoming English Canada’s second military hero and adding Queenston Heights to the Plains of Abraham at Quebec City where General Wolfe fell in 1759 as sacred military ground in English Canadian history.

In 1813 American amphibious forces burned Toronto, and their army overran the Niagara Peninsula. Their advance was beaten back at Stoney Creek but they held on to Niagara-on-the Lake. The Americans gained a strategic advantage when Commodore Oliver Perry defeated the British navy on Lake Erie. With their supply lines cut to the western front the British abandoned Amherstburg and retreated towards Toronto.

During that retreat the First Nations leader Tecumseh was killed at the Battle of the Thames, and the native coalition he had forged dissolved, ending any chance for North American native peoples to secure their own nation state in North America. Thus the first two years of the war produced three military heroes for the future: Perry for the Americans, Brock for the British and Tecumseh for the First Nations peoples.

In the east theatre American forces failed to take Montreal and the British secured a decisive victory at Crysler’s Farm, on the St. Laurence River between Montreal and Kingston, thus securing British communications between Upper and Lower Canada. Finally, British and Canadian First Nations forces then drove the Americans out of the Niagara Peninsula.
In 1814 British naval forces raided the American eastern seaboard, burning Washington, attacking Baltimore (which inspired the writing of The Star Spangled Banner). The American attempt to re-take Niagara was driven back in heavy fighting at Lundy’s Lane, Chippawa and Fort Erie. A peace treaty between Britain and the United States was signed in December 1814 and peace treaties between the United States and various Indian tribes were signed in the next few years.

Consequences of The War of 1812
Conceptualizing The War of 1812 is a complex problem: some say Canada won the war, others say the United States did, while others call it a draw; some say it was an international war, others say it was a civil war. The War of 1812 determined the fate of North America. Tecumseh’s dream of a First Nations state of the Great Lakes was lost forever. Canada and the United States still confront the consequences of that tragic outcome. Both the United States and Canada became continental expansionist “sea-to-sea” nations. The War of 1812 certainly laid the foundation for Canadian-American relations that continue today.

The War of 1812 exacerbated the bitter partisanship of American national politics and did not ease the sharp constitutional disputes and the regional divides between North and South, East and West. The war did not unite English and French Canada, nor did it unite Canada and the First Nations. Britain betrayed First Nations several times before 1812 and at the settlement treaty of 1815. Does Canada continue that legacy today?