read more posts by
Andrea Dixon
Located in Campbell Hall on The Ohio State University campus, the Historic Costume and Textiles Collection is truly a gem in the university’s crown. The collection, part of OSU’s College of Education and Human Ecology, was established by Ohio State faculty in the 1920s and has grown through donations and acquisitions into an expansive collection of nearly 12,000 items.
The collection includes an array of items, including clothing, buttons and accessories dating back to the mid-18th century and some textiles go back much further – the oldest European items dating to 1450-1510 and pre-Columbian South American to the 9th-11th century. These pieces provide a rich perspective into the evolution of culture over time. Students, faculty and visitors can study the changing fashions of men, women and children from around the world, lending insight into the culture of the times and bringing to life periods of history in a unique way.
Gayle Strege, collection curator, joined the university in 1996 and has played an instrumental role in creating digital access, improving organization and preservation, and curating engaging exhibits to highlight the importance of the collection. Gayle, whose background includes theater costuming and museum work, is passionate about textiles and fascinated with the way items are constructed. She enjoys helping students discover connections between the garment and the history of the individuals who created and wore it. The collection is frequently studied by the 20th Century Fashion History course, offered in the Fashion/Retail Studies major. Courses including Women in Modern Europe (History), Women and Gender in the US (History) and Children and Childhood in the Western World (History), Art History, Education and English Literature are a few of the other classes that access the collection to create a deeper understanding of the cultures and subjects they study. Students visit the collection in person and can access many items on the collection’s website, which provides detailed images and background information.
The collection also contains an assortment of over 25,000 buttons which were gifted to the university by former Battelle librarian Ann Rudolph. The buttons are organized on cards by a variety of characteristics, including size, shape, color and material and provide an ongoing project for the collections caretakers – photographing and cataloging them for future enthusiasts!
The Historic Costume and Textile Collection operates a gallery in Campbell Hall. The current exhibit celebrates a variety of fashionable outerwear, providing a rich “history of fashion in the shape of capes, coats, and cloaks”. Past exhibits include bridal fashion and Columbus’ fashion story. The gallery is free and open to the public and we highly recommend visiting.
The Ohio State University Historic Costume and Textile Collection is amazing and culturally important, giving audiences the opportunity to experience the technical aspects, aesthetics and social meaning of apparel and textiles.
In October 2016, Grove City Library opened the doors of a beautiful new building and welcomed the community into an open, vibrant environment designed to provide a functional, safe and flexible space to customers for years to come. The community responded enthusiastically to the opening of the new building — the library saw an uptick of over 1,500 new library cards registered in November 2016 over November 2015!
Grove City Library, a member of the Southwest Public Libraries, was founded in 1917 by the Women’s Civic Club of Grove City. Southwest Public Libraries is the second largest library system in Franklin county, serving more than 130,000 people over 127 square miles.
Assistant Director Bethanne Johnson manages the daily operations of the library and helped oversee the construction of the new building. She graciously provided our tour of the space and pointed out key design features, including modular furniture equipped with power outlets, new meeting spaces, study rooms and a dynamic youth service department. Johnson, who has been with the library for 32 years, helped to oversee the redesign and relocation of the library. She shared that she loves her job, the people she works with and the people she serves. She enjoys the community and the opportunity to share in the lives of her patrons.
The library’s new design succeeds in keeping books as a key feature of the space. Bookshelves are abundant, but do not interrupt the open feel of the library.
The versatile meeting room can seat up to 400 guests and is ideal for hosting summer reading programs, community events and special programming like the Military History program. The meeting room, as well as many of the study spaces feature state-of-the art technology, including smart boards and projector screens.
Harper’s Grove, the youth services department made possible by a generous gift from the family of the library’s first librarian, Irene Harper, is cleverly designed to reflect the library logo’s tree theme. The space incorporates work and play areas for children and parents of all ages. Learning centers are integrated into the collections to create a fun space for playing, discovery and literacy.
The library partners with and provides space for a wide array of community organizations, including Scholastic Book presentations, the Summer Scribblers writing program, Grove City Writers Group, school programs and civic organizations. The library’s new location in the Grove City Town Center puts it at the heart of many community events. The library participates in Arts in the Alley and the Town Center Christmas Parade and hosts a holiday event featuring Santa Claus and the Signs of Christmas chorus.
Cbus Libraries Co-Founder Andrea Dixon grew up with and worked for Grove City Library. The library’s transformation of space, thoughtfulness of design and generosity of services are an amazing improvement and wonderful gift to the Grove City community.
This month’s feature on Oberlin College Libraries is a special traveling, two-part series. This second installment focuses particularly on Oberlin’s Conservatory Library. Please see our first part here.
The Conservatory Library at Oberlin College serves as a lively central hub for the college’s four music buildings. Students meet, collaborate and even sing throughout the library. In fact, while we toured the library, we heard a group of students working through and harmonizing on a music piece!
The library was created soon after Oberlin Conservatory of Music’s inauguration in 1865, making the conservatory the oldest continuously operating conservatory of music in the United States. The current library building was constructed in 1963 and has undergone several enhancements. In 2000, the library’s collection was considerably expanded and a second story with high density shelving was added. In 2010, the library obtained a vault for the library’s incredible special collections, and in 2015 the Conservatory Library Special Collections Reading Room was opened.
Conservatory Librarian Deborah Campana noted the library is an essential partner to the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music . The library ranks among the largest academic music libraries with approximately 270,000 items, including 80,000 sound recordings, 127,000 musical scores and almost 63,000 books about music. Specialized online databases and computers equipped with composition software expand students’ discovery and technical expertise. The library continues to actively collect in the area of women musicians as well as ethnic, folk, jazz and other genres.
The Conservatory Library’s amazing special collections, managed by Jeremy Smith, contain rare materials from the 1500s through today. The collection comprises of a wide array of recordings, music manuscripts, autographs, photographs, engravings, paintings, posters, playbills and instruments. Jeremy oversees the ongoing digitization of the collections and creates engaging exhibits throughout Oberlin College’s campus.
The Conservatory Library at Oberlin College is a vibrant, musical space and a gem within the college.
