Browne Popular Culture Library News

Diplomacy zines (or dipzines) are based on the board game Diplomacy created by Allan B. Calhamer in 1958. The board game is set in Europe in the era before the beginning of WWI and is played by 7 or fewer players. Each player controls armed forces of a European power: France, Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Turkey or England. Diplomacy was the first board game to generate an active hobby with amateur fanzines (dipzines) being played by mail. The first dipzine title published was Graustark, published by Dr. John Boardman in 1963. Other titles followed in the 1960s and some continue today, either by mail or electronically by e-mail or online.

The Browne Popular Culture Library holds the Hoosier Archives collection and other donations of dipzines.

A portion of these zines are cataloged and available by title in the BGSU Libraries Catalog or browsable by the call number dipzines.  The rest of the collection will be in the catalog as soon as possible.  Stay tuned!

Tags: News // Comments Off

The BPCL has a large collection of movie press kits, both print and electronic, available for research use.  For those who are not sure what a movie press kit is, it is a collection of materials to advertise a new film.  They typically, with some exceptions, contain cast and crew listings, still photographs from the film, information on the production itself, biographical information on the cast (the more major characters) and on the main members of the crew (director, producers, writers, editors, cinematographers, production designers, soundtrack composers, costume designers), and, oftentimes, scripts that can be read on the radio or posted in theaters to promote the film.  Newer press kits on CD or DVD often include the above items, but also color photographs, downloadable images or files, a link to the film’s website, and the film’s trailer.

Some of this information cannot be found anywhere else (e.g. production information, biographical information), which is why movie press kits can be a valuable resource for film researchers.

The BPCL is in the process of cataloging our press kits which can be browsed by a local call number search on presskitsbox.  For those press kits not yet cataloged, we have a master list in our reference area.  For assistance with this collection, stop by our Reference/Service Desk.

Tags: News // Comments Off

We’ve been very busy getting more of our finding aids and research guides (those things that tell you what we have in our special collections and manuscript collections) online. If you want to get a good idea of what we have in our library, try these featured guides:

• Beauty Pageant Collection
• Spider-Man Collection
• Star Trek Memorabilia Collection
• Somerville Gates Collection

We have many other online guides to help you with our collection.  Take a look at our Pop Culture Research Guides!

Tags: News // Comments Off

Academy Award-winning director, Sydney Pollack, has died at the age of 73.  Click on the following links to read more about this prolific director, who was also an accomplished producer and actor.

• Director Sydney Pollack dies at 73 in Los Angeles
  
• Sydney Pollack (IMDb)
• Sydney Pollack, Film Director, is Dead at 73 (New York Times)
• Sydney Pollack (Wikipedia)

Stop by the library and read about Mr. Pollack in a number of resources.

Tags: News // Comments Off

With the end of the spring semester coming soon, we will be adjusting our hours of operation accordingly.  Next week begins our intersession hours, then our summer hours begin on May 19, so please check our hours before visiting.  They are different than the main library hours.

Hope to see you this summer!

Tags: News // Comments Off

We have the finding aid done for one of our most extensive manuscript collections - the collection of Ray B. Browne, pioneer in the field of popular culture studies. The Ray B. Browne Collection is comprised of over 43 cubic feet of correspondence, files, literary manuscripts and printed materials dating from 1950 to 1992.

The finding aid can be found on our web site at Ray B. Browne, MS-107.

Tags: News // Comments Off

Noted author and visionary, Arthur C. Clarke, died Wednesday, March 19, 2008. He is most well-known for his 2001: A Space Odyssey and for hosting the British television series Mysterious World. University Libraries and the BPCL hold many of his writings and other projects - see this search in the library catalog. Take a look at some of these resources and find out what made this man such a well-respected member of society.

Here are a few other sites about Arthur C. Clarke.
The Arthur C. Clarke Foundation
Arthur C. Clarke (Wikipedia)
Final thoughts from Arthur C. Clarke

Tags: News // Comments Off

The BPCL blog still looks different, but all of the posts are back in the blog.  If you have any questions about anything you’ve read here, please let us know.  We’re at 419-372-2450 or email us.

Tags: News // Comments Off

You might be wondering what’s up with this blog? Why does it look different and where are all of the posts? Well, we’ve had some technical problems and it will be some time before the blog is entirely restored. Please, be patient with us. Stay tuned.

Tags: News // Comments Off

It’s the holiday season, so many things to see and do. But, did you know there are lots of other holidays besides Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa in and around December?

Other December holidays for the first week of December

• December 1 - Central African Republic - Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic (independence from France, 1958)
• December 1 - Portugal - Restoration of Independence
• December 2 - Laos - National Day
• December 2 - United Arab Emirates - National Day (independence from Great Britain, 1971)
• December 4 - Mexico - Day of the Artisans (honors the workers of the nation)
• December 5 - Haiti - Discovery Day (celebrates the discovery of the island by Christopher Columbus, 1492)
• December 5 - USSR - Commemorates promulgation of the Russian Constitution, 1936)
• December 6 - Ecuador - Day of Quito (founding of the city)
• December 6 - Finland - Independence Day (independence from Russia, 1917)
• December 6 - Ivory Coast Republic - Independence Day (independence from France, 1960)
• December 7 - United States - Delaware Day

View Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary, pop REF GT3925.T46 1997 and Holidays and Anniversaries of the World, pop REF GT3930.H65 1985 for more information on these and other holidays.

For additional resources on holidays in the BPCL, try this search.

Tags: News // Comments Off