Going to the library or me I usually am there for one thing: studying. I never really think of all the great material it has to offer with endless books and old collections. So when we took a class trip to Hillman's Special collections section, I was very excited and intrigued. The different types of … Continue reading The Old Seventeen Magazine – Special Collections Edition →

On our visit to Special Collections, I was immediately drawn to one of the big books of magazines. It was a collection of various issues of Collier’s magazine from the 1950’s in basically perfect condition, no tears, no creases, no writing. I wanted to learn a little more about Collier’s and I found their website! … Continue reading Where Do You Put “Teen-age Punks”? →

The item from our trip to Special Collections that most jumped out at me were the two issues of Calling All Girls, a magazine from the early 1940s.  The specific issues that I looked at were the July-August and November issues from 1944, both of which were very similar in terms of content and structure.  … Continue reading Culture and Comics in Calling All Girls →

Archives and Special Collections consists of two departments in the Pittsburgh area. The two locations house rare comics, magazines, historical documents, novels, and other types of primary sources. The aim of Archives and Special Collections is to give readers an opportunity to read and analyze different materials relevant to past time periods. Privileged to have … Continue reading Becoming an Expert in Etiquette →

Who’s the most handsome, asks LIFE Magazine readers: Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, or Scott Brady? With the rise of mass entertainment through the radio and then the television, celebrity culture began to blossom in the mid-twentieth century. Also, at rise at the time was teenage culture. Because of the Post-WWII economic boom, teenagers had more … Continue reading Celebrity Culture and Its Influence Over Adolescence →

Word Count: 742 Our trip to special collections opened up dialogue to what 120-years of history means to us with a focus on the emergence of the word teenager, and concept of adolescence. By examining each individual artifact closely, the greater societal and cultural impact each artifact served to this emergence, became evident. After visiting … Continue reading Archival Visual Expression →

I have had quite a bit of experience with primary sources before, so I was very excited to visit special collections. My mom has worked in various small museums over the years and I would volunteer at them and sometimes I was able to hold artifacts like books. Also, in my freshman and sophomore year … Continue reading Teenage Comic Books for Females →

Within our trip to special collections I was exposed to main books, magazines and comics that helped me to get a glimpse into the past. However, the item that I decided to look at most closely was the etiquette book Stand Up, Shake Hands, Say "How Do You Do" by Marajabelle Young and Ann Buchwald. … Continue reading The “Proper” Etiquette Throughout Time →

Up until last week, the oldest book I’ve ever held was published in 1908 -- a collection of Pascal’s cacophonous philosophy from a larger series of writings by influential thinkers, its pages prickly-bound and falling apart. The new title-holder is a copy of Charlotte Temple that was printed in 1827.  Charlotte Temple  wasn’t open when … Continue reading Getting Old: Examining an 1827 Edition of Charlotte Temple →