I was an English major at Michigan State University in 1993 and I had been reading and researching 17th century Welsh poet Katherine Philips at the Library of Congress, the British Library, the Bodleian Library, the National Library of Wales and the University of Wales. Her genre was female romantic friendship poetry and I wasContinueContinue reading “10: Made Ill by Poetry”
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5: Walking in the footsteps of vacationing Romanovs: The National Library of Wales Part One
When I had finished everything I could do at the British library, it was time to move into Philips’s own backyard: Wales. I took the bus to “Aber” as it is affectionately known: Aberystwyth. It’s a good-ish long train and then bus journey from London through trees that completely cover tiny country roads. At theContinueContinue reading “5: Walking in the footsteps of vacationing Romanovs: The National Library of Wales Part One”
3: Time well spent at the British Library Reading Room, 1993
I flew to London with my class on British Airways. I had forgotten, while caught up with all of the planning, that I get motion sick on planes. It was 7 1/2 hours of hell during which I made two critical decisions: I was taking a boat home. I didn’t care how much it cost.ContinueContinue reading “3: Time well spent at the British Library Reading Room, 1993”
2: At the Library of Congress
When I began my adventure in the stateside portion of my independent study on Katherine Philips, I started out in the special collections room of my own university, Michigan State University. It had an original printing of Philips’s work from 1710. I spent hours copying out her poems in pencil, one by one. Learning herContinueContinue reading “2: At the Library of Congress”
The scoop behind the poop on the listserv
I’ve been the moderator of a library listserv for about ten years. I check the Pending queue a couple of times a day for messages that should go through but were stopped for one reason or another, and discard messages that are spam. Once a quarter I send out a super warm and polite BestContinueContinue reading “The scoop behind the poop on the listserv”
Ostentatiously batsh*t crazy buttercream flowers
Betsie took over my last job in the Braille and Talking Book Library. It included coordinating the volunteer narration program and over the course of her first years, we became good friends. I still volunteer for her. In January, she moved into a new house. I’m no good at painting, plumbing and wiring are aContinueContinue reading “Ostentatiously batsh*t crazy buttercream flowers”
Across the Pond 8: Miss Bertha Better Than You at the Bodlein Library at Oxford
Katherine Philips has a letter in the archives of the Bodlein library of Oxford College. My modern British women’s literature class went to the town of Oxford one week and I realized I would be in very close proximity to an original document of Philips’s. I hadn’t seen her handwriting in person yet, something sheContinueContinue reading “Across the Pond 8: Miss Bertha Better Than You at the Bodlein Library at Oxford”
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