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Posts Tagged ‘libraries’

NYPL Celebrates Centennial with Washington’s Brew

May 17th, 2011 No comments

Among the many significant documents in The New York Public Library’s resources for the study of George Washington is a recipe that, while likely not historically impactful, will be of interest to history buffs and beer connoisseurs alike. A handwritten entry in a 1757 notebook, kept by Washington during his time as a colonel with the Virginia militia, notes a recipe for “small beer”. In the 18-19th centuries, “small beer” was characterized as weak bear with little alcohol content intended to be consumed immediately after brewing, and even considered appropriate for children. The recipe, now posted on the NYPL website, is as follows: Read more…

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Disaster in Japan Expressed in Essays, Photos

March 21st, 2011 No comments

March 15, 2011: A Japanese search and rescue team searches the rubble near a high-rise building in Wakuya, Japan.

Today, Jacket Copy, the Los Angeles Times Book Blog, highlighted the March 28 issue of The New Yorker which will mainly focus on the devastating earthquake in Japan on March 11, the resulting deadly tsunami, and the current troubles at the Fukushima nuclear power plants. Articles in the issue will discuss the economic impact these brutal acts of nature will have on Japan’s future, and illustrate what the country will look like post-disaster. Nobel Prize-winning author Kenzaburo Oe also contributes a short essay on earthquakes and nuclear power in Japan. In a supplemental post on the The New Yorker website, Macy Halford comments on the deluge of images showing battered library stacks posted on the popular Japanese social network site Togetter.com. “Why libraries?, I wondered, as I scrolled through the images. I think it has to do with what is not shown in the pictures more than with what is. Books shaken to the floor provide a good visual measurement of the power of the quake…” she writes. Read more…

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