Weeks 10-13: John Ford, Fifth Graders, and John Ford

So, I've been continuing my work on the John Ford exhibit.  The five movies we're focusing on are Stagecoach, Fort Apache, The Searchers, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.  When I began work on the exhibit, I had not seen a single John Ford film.  I had to read Becky's books about Ford to know anything about these movies.  I have now seen eight and have enjoyed them all.  The exhibit is meant to go along with the opening of the IU Cinema next term.  As part of its inaugural season next year, the Cinema will be doing a John Ford series, including all five of the films we're featuring in the exhibit.  I may have to go see a few of them on the big screen!  For those who are interested, you can find the Cinema schedule for next year here.

Working on John Ford's Westerns keeps making me think of the M*A*S*H episode "Movie Tonight."  To improve morale, Col. Potter gets a hold of his favorite movie, which he describes as having the three things that make a movie great, "horses, cowboys, and horses."  It's John Ford's My Darling Clementine .  The whole company gets really excited to see it, and they all cheer when Henry Fonda comes up o the screen (see above).  That's always been one of my favorite episodes, but it now give me some perspective on just how influential Ford and his films were.  I don't know if any troops in Korea actually watched Ford films there, but I know that the people who wrote the show did their research.  If they chose a John Ford film, it was likely representative of what was popular at the time.

A surprisingly fun break in my normal round of work came a few Mondays ago.  I gave two tours of the current exhibit to two groups of fifth graders.  I was pretty nervous in advance, not being entirely certain that I would be able to get fifth graders interested in medieval manuscripts.  I was pleasantly surprised.  They were some of the most inquisitive, interested kids I had seen in a long time.  They had heard of a Gutenberg Bible before and were suitably impressed that we had one.  They were astonished by all of the writing done by hand, particularly the really small writing.  A lot of them asked questions, many of them very good questions.  I think all of the students' favorite piece, which I saved for near the end both times, was the giant psalter.  It has the advantage of being both huge and being music.  Both groups were able to give really good answers when I asked them what made it different from modern music.  I have to admit that I am a bit cynical about the modern technology age and children.  These kids restored my faith.  I was so energized after working with both groups that going back to doing work on John Ford was anti-climactic.

It's experiences like that that make working at the Lilly such a treat.  Where else could I show off such rare and valuable items to fifth graders, and be able to tell them that they could come back any time with their parents and actually touch the things they were looking at?  This truly is a special place.

Exhibit Notes: Robert Heinlein

Lilly call number: PS3503.R18

Items in the exhibit:
The Puppet Masters
The Green Hills of Earth
The Man Who Sold the Moon
Letter to Boucher
The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag
Stranger in a Strange Land

Robert Heinlein was  famous for a series of short stories called his "future history" stories.  They, along with The Lord of the Rings and Asimov's Foundation trilogy, were nominated for a special Hugo award for best all time series.  Though set in the future, the stories all share a set history of what happened with humanity between Heinlein's present and the times of the stories.  As with most science fiction, it can be amusing and educational to see where they expected humanity to be at various points in their future and now our past.  Heinlein's timeline calls for interplanetary imperialism between 1970 and 2020.  Obviously, that hasn't happened yet.  Man has not yet made it beyond the moon.  But that does not make these stories any less interesting, simply because the timeline was off.  Science fiction tells us more about the time in which it was written than about an potential future.

Heinlein was also a controversial author in his time.  His novel Stranger in a Strange Land, with it's polyamorous views on sexuality, was included in Billy Joel's song "We Didn't Start the Fire" along with Catcher in the Rye and Peyton Place, two other novels that were sensations when they were written.  Another well-known novel of his that I could not put in the exhibit because the Lilly did not have a copy was Starship Troopers, which was also made into a movie.  But science fiction as a genre has always been on the side, so it's authors could more or less write whatever they wanted, because so few of them were taken seriously.  And though some science fiction novels have entered the cannon, genre novels still tend to not be taken as seriously as straight fiction, which is of course grossly unfair.  Sure, Stranger in a Strange Land may present some interesting views about human nature, but it is also a well-written book.  And what good is literature if it doesn't make us think?  I can only hope that visitors to my exhibit will realize that science fiction is as serious a literary genre as straight fiction and leave with a greater respect for it and its authors.

Exhibit Notes: Ray Bradbury

Lilly call number: PS3503.R18

Items in the exhibit:

• The Halloween Tree
• Fahrenheit 451
• Something Wicked This Way Comes
• I Sing the Body Electric
• The Illustrated Man
• The Martian Chronicles
• A letter and a postcard to Anthony Boucher

Ray Bradbury was a first, obvious choice for my exhibit.  As I sci-fi writer, he is popular and well-known outside of the general science fiction fandom.  That's a pretty impressive feat.  Not surprisingly because of this popularity, the Lilly has a lot of his books.  The difficulty for him was in deciding which books I wanted to put in the exhibit.  There were so many to choose from!  And, two of the ones I chose are not strictly science fiction.  Both The Halloween Tree and Something Wicked This Way Comes are better described as fantasy.  I ended up using them because they demonstrate the breadth of Bradbury's writing style and ability.

"It was a pleasure to burn."

In an earlier post, I mentioned that images are more interesting in an exhibit that words.  For my books, this tended to mean that I needed to use the covers, since not that many novels are illustrated.  But I think visual diversity adds as much interest to an exhibit as images do, and I wanted to open up some books for Bradbury.  Much to my pleased surprise, the first edition of Fahrenheit 451 features an awesome illustration opposite the first page, creating a great opening.  See if you can spot the woman trying to escape from the burning house.

I was encouraged to try and mix books and manuscript materials in my collection, but after seeing the things that these men wrote, I would have done it anyway.  The postcard to Boucher that I've included in the exhibit discusses some publicity plans for Bradbury visiting Berkeley.  Boucher has apparently asked about his interest in a "autograph party" (book signing) and Bradbury finds it surprising that anyone would care about him that much.  The letter I've included is a response to Boucher's criticism of Fahrenheit 451.  He and his fellow editor at The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction were less than thrilled with the book.  Bradbury's response to the criticism is humble and gracious.  This is why reading manuscript materials is such a treat.  Seeing what these people were like outside the public eye is quite simply fascinating.  It's also rewarding to see when people on admires prove to be genuinely nice people.

Weeks 8 & 9: Westerns and Science Fiction Totally Go Together, Right?

The past few weeks I finished up the work on my exhibit.  I finished writing my labels, and Becky made a few comments but approved them.  I was given my own shelf and a half in the stacks to place my materials until the exhibit can go up (which ought to be in the Spring semester).  I am very pleased with how the process went, and I cannot wait to see it on display.  Writing the labels was difficult, but I think I managed to make them interesting and informative without having them be too insanely long.  I decided to do a few longer narrative labels instead of having individual labels for each item.  Each author and each theme has a label.  I hope that successfully provide useful overviews of each author's work that can be appreciated by both sci-fi fans and non-fans alike.  The other weekend, my parents came to visit and in addition to seeing some of the exciting items in the collection (such as the Oscar you can now see me holding on the blog sidebar), I also showed them some of the items that will be in my exhibit, as well as items I like but didn't think fit into the exhibit thematically.  They were duly impressed :)

Last week, after I moved my items, Becky decided that, in addition to returning to some reference duties, I could start to help her with an exhibit on John Ford's films that she is curating for the spring.   IU is opening a new film center in January (assuming it doesn't get delayed) and this exhibit will go along with that.  Working with the Ford manuscript collection has been a lot of fun.  My favorite part is looking through the movie stills we have, though the print materials we have are fun, too.  A few of my favorite items are the notices about foreign release and censorship.  Apparently, there were a few complaints from abroad that The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance being in black and white hurt its marketability.  The one comment speculated that it was probably for financial reasons, though everything I've read since said that it was a stylistic choice on Ford's part, and one that he had to fight for.  There were also a few letters relating to the fact that Stagecoach's story did not fit well with the Production Code.  Apparently, nice prostitutes and sympathetic revenge killings are bad...

As much as I enjoyed working on my own exhibit, it has been nice to get back to doing some reference work.  One question which Dave passed along to me was from a man coming to do some research on extraterrestrial intelligence, both in non-fiction and fiction.  Finding materials for him was fun.  I was pleased with some of the cool non-fiction items I found, and I hope he enjoys working with them.  I am glad that this internship has confirmed that I enjoy doing reference work (at least, online reference work).  Even if I'm doing something potentially tedious, like pulling items to scan for patrons, I get to go into the stacks and work with the collections, which is always fun.

Exhibit Notes: Harlan Ellison

 Lilly call number: PS3555.L62

Items in the exhibit:

• "The City on the Edge of Forever"
• Twilight Zone: Crazier than a Soup Sandwich
• Strange Wine
• Love Ain't Nothing but Sex Misspelled
• Alone Against Tomorrow

"Here I stand before them...a man with a substantial body of work behind him, books that express the artist's view of the world (and after all, isn't that why they paid me to come speak?  Surely it can't be my winsome manner!), and they persist in asking me what it was like to work on Star Trek or what Jimmy Caan is really like...I get angry with them...And they don't like me for it." - Harlan Ellison, in "Revealed at Last! What Killed the Dinosaurs! And You Don't Look So Terrific Yourself," the introduction to Strange Wine (1978).

When I read Isaac Asimov's letters to Anthony Boucher, I wanted to meet him because he seemed like he would be the nicest, sweetest man I would have ever met.  When I read stories by Harlan Ellison, or his introductions to these stories, I want to meet him because he seems like a guy who it would be fun to have an argument with.  He is that most frustrating of people: someone who thinks highly of himself and has the talent to justify it. 

I always saw Ellison's books on my parents' bookcase growing up.  In high school, they convinced me to read two stories by him: "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream," and "Repent, Harlequin! said the Ticktockman."  I only remembered the first as being pretty strange, and I remembered the second being funny and involving Harlequin throwing jelly beans at people.  I have re-read both since starting this exhibit.  The first was profoundly disturbing and I must not have understood it all when I first read it, or I would have remembered it as more than just "strange."  The second was just as wonderful as I remembered it being. I have read more of his work since, and I have enjoyed it all (I highly recommend "A to Z in the Chocolate Alphabet." It's priceless).

Because I like his work so much, I was saddened that the Lilly had comparatively few items by Ellison.  Whereas there was a treasure trove of items to choose from for Clarke, Asimov, and Bradbury, Ellison was underrepresented.  I had to request some of what I wanted from the ALF (Auxiliary Library Facility, which is off-site storage).  Things only end up in the ALF if they are items that are not in high demand.  Since exhibits are meant to expose people to the variety of collections available at the library, I'm hoping that seeing his work in the exhibit will inspire more people to read him.  After all, who can resist a short story collection called Love Ain't Nothing But Sex Misspelled?  If I could easily get a copy of it (which I cannot, at least not form local libraries) I would be reading it.  So, to everyone who is reading this: read some Harlan Ellison.  Check out some of the most brilliant, twisted writing you will ever encounter.  And then move on to some of the sane writers.

Week 7: Laying it on the Line

I spent most of last week putting together the layouts for my exhibit. Four cases, four layouts. I have two different kinds of cases to work with, both of which presented pluses and challenges. Two of them are Foyer/Portrait Gallery cases. I used one case of this style for my Manuscripts exhibit in the spring. The other two are Lincoln Room cases (which makes sense because the exhibit will be in the Lincoln Room). The Foyer style cases are long and thin, and they have a wooden bar down the middle of the top, visually dividing the case in half. They are tall, which means that you can angle materials, but the sides are wooden, so you can't put anything too close to the front if you want people to be able to see the bottom of it without craning their necks. The Lincoln Room cases aren't as long, but they are wider. They are also shorter. But the sides are glass and the entire top is glass. It's easier to look at the whole case in one go, which you cannot easily do with the Foyer cases. I popped into the Lincoln Room a few times to look at the cases to get an idea of how things would look in them.

I did not use as many items as I'd taken notes on, which is what I anticipated would happen. I'm a firm believer in having more things than you can actually use. Taking things out is easier than finding things to put in. On Friday, Becky okayed my layouts, which meant that I could start writing labels. Since I finally had my items selected, I began to put flags in them, identifying what item number they are (to match with the layout and the item list), what number case they will be in, and if they will be open to a certain page or remain closed. I also began working on the explanatory labels. Instead of having an individual label for each item, I'm putting in narrative labels. Each author will have a label discussing their work, and each theme will also have a label. The picture above is what my table looked like on Friday. Those are the items I've selected for the Ray Bradbury section of the exhibit (well, most of them. The manuscript pieces aren't out). There's my notebook with my notes about the books, the item list with the item slips sitting on top, Fahrenheit 451 open on foam rests, and the other books piled up on the side.

I will make a point of saying that being able to have so many items out on the table at once is highly unusual. When a patron is using items in the reading room, they can have one item on the table at once (or one folder if it is manuscript materials). If they need to compare two items, they can receive special permission to have both items out at once. Exceptions are made for super special researchers and for people who work at the library, particularly if they're working on an exhibit. I love being able to have so many of my items out at once. They may not be centuries old, but I find them exciting. Of the six books I've pulled for Bradbury, four are first editions and two of them are signed. I know that not everyone finds this super exciting. And that's completely fine. But these are books and authors that I grew up hearing about or seeing on my parents' bookcases. That, if nothing else, makes them special to me.

What Is Science Fiction?

So the first specific section of my exhibit that I'm going to discuss is the only one that is not dedicated to a specific author. When I first decided to include this section in my exhibit, it sounded easy and necessary enough. Tell my audience what science fiction is, both in case they do not know and to help put the items and authors in context. The problem is that defining anything, particularly as diffuse a concept as science fiction, is nigh impossible.

A quick look at the beginning of Robert Heinlein's essay "Science Fiction: Its Nature, Faults and Virtues" shows that not even science fiction authors can agree on the definition of what it is they write. Heinlein even accused Theodore Sturgeon of creating a definition so narrow that it excluded some of Sturgeon's own work. Heinlein also brings up the distinction (or lack there of) between the terms "science fiction" and "speculative fiction." Heinlein believed the phrases should be used interchangeably, but he does describe some work as more speculative rather than scientific, which implies that there is a difference. That is an issue which I will be addressing in the portion of the exhibit devoted to Harlan Ellison, as he was an acknowledged master of speculative fiction.

This part of the exhibit will have the most boring text on display. I will use the tombstones (the official term for exhibit labels) to try and draw the viewers attention to passages and phrases in the text to look for. Unfortunately, showing a closed book of science fiction criticism might look more interesting, but it does not convey the same level of meaning that the body of the work can. My favorite piece in this section of the exhibit is not a book, however. It is a transcript of an award acceptance speech made by Arthur C. Clarke, and in it he rhapsodizes about the importance of science fiction. It's rather beautiful.

Assembling this portion of the exhibit has clarified in my mind that I have no idea what the definition of science fiction actually is. And I am okay with that. I also think it will make it more interesting for the viewers this way. If they begin with this section, it will not prescribe for them how to interpret the rest of the exhibit. If they see it at the end, they might feel willing to draw their own conclusions or form their own definition based on what they saw in the rest of the exhibit. Either way, I am all about making viewers think! I confess that I am worried that this will be the weakest part of the entire exhibit. But I hope that the other parts are quite simply awesome, so "weakest" being a relative term, this part of the exhibit will be fine.