Notices by John Overholt (overholt@glammr.us)

Some people understand “There but for the grace of God go I” as a call to empathy and some see it as a divine endorsement of their inherent superiority.

I just cannot state strongly enough how profoundly this misunderstands what I want from a vacuum cleaner. https://www.theverge.com/news/639078/samsung-bespoke-ai-jet-ultra-vacuum-text-messages

I’m not going to say there’s a lot of overlap between digital preservation librarianship and knitting, because this post says it more clearly than I ever could. https://digitalpreservation-blog.lib.cam.ac.uk/knitting-through-digital-decay-a-collection-of-digital-preservation-jumpers-no-one-asked-for-but-478c48009521
Via @Researchbuzz

Early 18th century engraving of the library at the University of Altdorf. I am glad we've moved away from the practice of keeping skeletons on display; in addition to being deeply unsettling they sure seem to be blocking access to that range of books.

We just got word that Harvard Yard is closed to non-ID holders, but I haven't heard what might be triggering that. Mostly in the past it's been protests, but also ICE is doing kidnappings around Boston lately.

There is some very cool stuff in Sotheby's new auction of sci-fi and horror movie memorabilia, including actual E.T. https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2025/there-are-such-things-20th-century-horror-science-fiction-and-fantasy-on-screen?locale=en

“To protect the ornate furnishings from bat droppings, librarians cover tables with leather sheets each evening and clean the floors every morning. This centuries-old practice has helped maintain the library’s rare manuscripts in remarkable condition.” https://laughingsquid.com/library-uses-bats-to-protect-books-from-insects/ via @Researchbuzz

A very happy 27th birthday to kottke.org, a site whose fine hypertext products I enjoy every day, and which I am pleased to support with an annual membership. https://mastodon.social/@kottke/114161441986037362

Next week the Renaissance Society of America, the Shakespeare Association of America, and the Medieval Academy of America are all having their annual conferences in Boston simultaneously. I can see the emails coming in to the general reference address from professors who want to stop by while they're here, and it is like watching a tsunami head toward you as you stand on the beach.

Access to the reading room is first come first served so at this point I mostly hope we escape without violence.

Harvard University President Alan Garber announces a faculty and staff hiring freeze citing "substantial financial uncertainties driven by rapidly shifting federal policies." https://www.harvard.edu/president/news/2025/financial-stewardship/

A 1912 metamorphic toy celebrates the escape of suffragist Christabel Pankhurst to France to avoid arrest. When you pull the tab, she vanishes and two police detectives crash into each other. https://rylandscollections.com/2025/03/08/votes-for-women-making-light-of-the-fight/

I often learn new things about our own collection from bookseller catalogs, and a colleague just sent me one about an important and rather chilling item. This is a 1551 decree from the Holy Roman Emperor requiring all Jews to wear a yellow ring in public (illustrated at the bottom right) nearly four centuries before the Nazi yellow star. The dealer said the Houghton copy was the only other one he had traced. https://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990041636810203941/catalog

In the classroom today we’re looking at some of our book production artifacts, including a laid paper mold, a 16th century woodblock, and a full sheet of parchment paper.

View digitized items from the British Library’s Medieval Women exhibition. https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2025/02/medieval-women-manuscripts-now-online.html

Much like Mr. Yuk, bright green is a sign of danger when it comes to Victorian books—they may contain arsenic. https://university-collections.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/2025/02/24/poisonous-books-dangers-from-the-past/

The John Rylands Library will be moving some of its collections nearly 500 feet underground to a former salt mine called DeepStore. https://rylandscollections.com/2025/02/24/deepstore-an-answer-to-a-gritty-problem/

(Coworker on my fourth day on the job there: “Dammit, if you say ‘Well, back to the salt mines’ one more time…”)

@kims @murph @CyrikCroc I'll never forgive Atari for killing KC Munchkin.

I am delighted that we've been able to digitize our copy of Galileo's Dialogue on the Two World Systems, with its iconic Stefano della Bella frontispiece showing Copernicus schooling Aristotle and Ptolemy. https://nrs.lib.harvard.edu/urn-3:fhcl.hough:105459115

I am old enough to remember being warned that you can't trust Wikipedia and now it is the very last thing I still trust to accurately reflect a consensus reality.

In that sad phase of Monsterdon where the stream is like “Ok, good work everybody” but I’ve still got 6 minutes left because of all the Tubi ads. #Monsterdon