The Yellow Wall-paper

A traveling exhibition from the National Library of Medicine, The Literature of Prescription: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and "The Yellow Wall-Paper" will occupy the lobby of Memorial Library until May 21, 2011. The exhibition examines how women’s entry into public and intellectual life had been restricted by theories, promulgated by medical professionals, of feminine weakness. Gilman’s short story, "The Yellow Wall-paper" (first published in 1892), remains a strong indictment of these particular medical and social conventions with a protagonist driven to madness by a prescribed "rest cure".

The exhibition has inspired several related exhibits in campus libraries.

Descriptions of related exhibits follow below:

The William B. Cairns Collection of American Women Writers 1650–1940, located in the Department of Special Collections, Memorial Library (9th Floor), boasts a number of works by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

Steenbock Library has a small complementary book display featuring material from its collection on both domestic science in the nineteenth century and the history of wallpaper. The exhibit is available for viewing outside of Room 240 through May 21.

Ebling Library for the Health Sciences has a book selection in its 2nd floor study area displaying modern books on mental health issues in women, including some titles on postpartum depression. It also features a reprint of "The Yellow Wall-Paper" and a bibliography of the selected titles. Books on similar subjects from the nineteenth and early twentieth century are available by contacting Micaela Sullivan-Fowler. The display is at Ebling until May 21.

For more information about the traveling exhibition in Memorial Library, visit its page on the National Library of Medicine Website.

By Women, About Women: Stories in Fabric

There is still time to take in the exhibition, "By Women, About Women: Stories in Fabric" at the Kohler Art Library. This exhibition, organized by Isadora Gabrielle Leidenfrost (Ph.D candidate, Design Studies), brings together textiles and textile-inspired artists’ books from the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection and the Kohler Art Library. The exhibition will remain in place until May 31, 2011.

Curator statement (from the Kohler exhibition page): "By Women, About Women" is a celebration of our identity, creativity, grace, and style. There are only a few creations in history that fulfill every human necessity and our need and love for fabric is so ubiquitous that we don't even realize that it is our greatest human invention. Textiles are as omnipresent as our stories; they are intrinsic to every society around the world, giving form to what we feel, do, and how we understand life. "By Women, About Women" is an exhibition that showcases the patterns of women's lives. Whether it is an example of women's fashion, a crazy quilt, a story about housework, or how women have put their "best figure forward," "By Women, About Women" evokes the nuances of women's lives, rumors, gossip, and old wives tales.

Call for Course Reserves (Summer 2011)

Summer is coming (we anticipate) and so is the summer 2011 Course Reserves deadline!

To ensure that your reserve materials are available in time for the first day of class, we invite you to submit your course reserve materials by our deadline date: May 16, 2011.

For more information, visit the Steenbock Course Reserves page, phone 263-7574 or email.

If you are a student, do note that you can access your e-reserve content by logging in to your MyUW and selecting the Library/Reserves link listed with your registered classes. Similarly, you can access these same library links from within Learn@UW. Should your instructor have placed materials for you to use at one of our campus libraries, visit the MadCat catalog to run a Course Reserves search.

Ice Cream Social (May 11)

CALS Career Services invites students to take a break from the stress of final exams for a bit of refreshment during the third annual Badgerland Financial Ice Cream Social, Wednesday May 11 (1:00 PM) on the Ag Hall lawn.

The CALS Career Services office thanks sponsors Badgerland Financial and UW-Madison-NAMA for supplying ice cream and student volunteers.

Wedding Fashion

The media cloud hovering above the British royal family during this past week’s nuptials generally sparks interest, not only regarding a very particular dress, but also in that of contemporary and historic wedding attire.

Should you be planning your own wedding or have an interest in how wedding fashions have evolved culturally, consider a few of these titles, below, from the Steenbock Library collection. Speak with your librarians for assistance finding these and more.

Author: Monsarrat, Ann.
Title: And the Bride Wore ...: The Story of the White Wedding
Publisher: New York: Dodd, Mead, 1974, c1973.

Author: Probert, Christina.
Title: Brides in Vogue since 1910
Publisher: New York : Abbeville Press, 1984.

Title: Wedding Dress across Cultures, edited by Helen Bradley Foster and Donald Clay Johnson.
Publisher: Oxford ; New York: Berg, 2003.

And, of related:

Author: Mansel, Philip.
Title: Dressed to Rule: Royal and Court Costume from Louis XIV to Elizabeth II
Publisher: New Haven: Yale University Press, c2005.