This week’s historical highlights include archives and museum news, funny hairstyles, Viennese food, and art looting. Don’t miss a short video about a travelling library that serves the homeless. Enjoy.
First, I’ve updated my post on the Black Donnellys after being contacted by someone who has extensively researched the topic, particularly the family of Johnny O’Connor, who witnessed the massacre. If you have any information about Johnny O’Connor’s life, please contact me so I can pass it along.
In archives news, the British Library is launching a national preservation network for sound recordings, including “oral histories from World War One and Two alongside Cornish brass bands, pirate radio recordings, iconic performances at the National Theatre, and local dialects from across the UK.”
Speaking of special media, here’s a post from the U.S. National Archives on preserving film.
The personal archive of African-American writer James Baldwin (1924-1987) is opening to researchers (with some restrictions).
I just came across two interesting museums set to open this summer: an underground museum in London, England and the “Museum of Failure” in Sweden. (Also, the house in Norval, Ontario where L.M. Montgomery lived from 1926 to 1935 is going to become a museum.)
Have you seen these GIFs made from manuscripts belonging to the Bodleian library? Some are hilarious.
You might also find the fashion and hairstyles of the 1830s entertaining.
Check out what this writer’s Viennese forbears ate during the 1930s and 1940s.
As its centenary approaches, this historian is taking a broader look at the impact of the Halifax Explosion.
Do you love a story of archival detective work? This one involves Nazi art looting.
Fine Books & Collections has created a list of rare book Instagram accounts.
Finally, an inspiring video about libraries.