Today’s Caturday is brought to you by the Music Division of our Library for the Performing Arts. This score for the song “Kitty” appeared in the music supplement of the New York American and Journal exactly 111 years ago today (or, more precisely, on May 18, 1902). The artwork features both a cat (of course) and a mouse in a tuxedo. That’s an obvious win. So happy Caturday! And, by the way, if you’re into music, the Library for the Performing Arts (at Lincoln Center) has two totally FREE exhibitions you should check out today, or soon - American Sabor: Latinos in US Popular Music and 100 Years of Flamenco In NY (check out the NY Times review of Flamenco).
Join the Bronx Library Center in celebrating the best and brightest literary talents of the borough tomorrow, Saturday, May 18th at 11am!
Meet local authors, sit in on fiction-writing workshops and network with fellow writers, readers and Bronxites!
Highlights of the day’s events include performances by the Edy Martinez Big Band, Peggy Robles Alvarado, Layding Lumumba Kaliba, Tony Mitchelson, Sandra Maria Esteves, and more.
More information can be found here.
A librarian’s work is never done! How could it be, when there is so much information to share? Today’s image is brought to you by Roosevelt Island Library and gives you a brief snapshot behind-the-scenes. The black and white photo is awesome and we’re pretty stoked about the stamp right above it. (We like stamps and stamp pads, though find little reason to use them over here in Tumblr-territory)
So, in honor of today’s photo, which (as you know) is on exhibition at Mid-Manhattan Library… put your stamp of approval on one of our letters speaking out against the $47 million budget cut proposed for NYPL.
Dr. Khalil Muhammad and the staff of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture are deeply saddened by the passing of William Miles, filmmaker and producer. A Harlem native, Miles will be best remembered for documentaries such as Men of Bronze (1977), I Remember Harlem (1981), and The Different Drummer: Blacks in the Military (1983). The Schomburg staff remembers William Miles as a dedicated researcher, supporter, and exhibition collaborator.
This photo of Miles is from our Photographs and Prints Division.
May we introduce Mosholu Library? The soon-to-be-full desks, open dictionary in the corner and gorgeous view seem the perfect compliment for learning, don’t they?
Libraries, like Mosholu, are inspirational and so full of promise. Help the Library continue its work and speak out against the $47 million budget cut being proposed. With your help, we can continue inspiring generations to come.
(Photo of Mosholu Library courtesy of Mid-Manhattan’s exhibition, Reading Room currently on display)
UPDATE: Sometimes in our eagerness to share news, we type too quickly for our own good and typos appear. You’re all grogeous gorgeous.
Today in History
Coney Island’s Luna Park in opened today in 1903. This photo was taken shortly after the park opened, in 1907 (Courtesy of NYPL Digital Gallery.)
DId you know that NYPL teamed up with Coney Island Brewing Company in Brooklyn to create a beer fit for a Founding Father – a porter based on George Washington’s handwritten “small beer” recipe, which can be found in the Library’s extensive collections.
What’s your favorite Coney Island attraction?
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You can sharpen your pencil AND you can sharpen your mind at NYPL’s Baychester Library. (Yes, this is one of their pencil sharpeners) They even have a chess program for the kids! Now that takes some serious mental sharpening!
Visit this photograph at the exhibition, Reading Room at Mid-Manhattan Library, stop by Baychester Library for some interesting chess play, or you can just stop by your local branch and sign a letter to let the City know how awesome your library is. (That concludes the PSA portion of this post)
“He thought her beautiful, believed her impeccably wise; dreamed of her, wrote poems to her, which, ignoring the subject, she corrected in red ink.” —
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (published May 14, 1925)
Today’s a good day to correct with red ink or buy flowers yourself… or re-visit an old classic like Mrs. Dalloway. Or if you’d like to learn more about the inimitable author, visit the Library’s Berg Collection, which is a lovely spot to learn a great deal about English and American Literature. In any event, have a perfectly Dalloway day!
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