New This Week
November 28, 2011
Column: At the Library
From: Cranbrook Public Library
By Mike Selby
The Library offers two posthumously published books this week: J. R. R. Tolkien’s“The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrun” was written in the 1920s, when Tolkien was a young professor. Here has taken the Norse Saga of Volsunga, and created two English tales about it.
“Everything On It” is a collection of never seen before drawings and poems of Shel Silverstein, who passes away in 1999.
Preschool Story Time this Wednesday at 11:00 am, 1:15 pm, & 6:30 pm, and Toddler Story this Friday at 10:30 am will be all about Dragons!
The Library is currently offering one on one computer training sessions for anyone who is interested in any aspect of computers and the internet. Training is available on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Please contact the Library to book a session, or contact Jenna at 426-4063 for more information.
This month’s display at the Library is the fantastic artwork of Jeannette Oostlander. Jeannette began painting in 1977, after receiving a set of acrylics for her birthday. Her first work was of her dog. Since then she has painted flowers, buildings, animals and people; with the mountains and backcountry of the Kootenays being her favorite.
She states she loves plein air (in the open air) paining most of all, but is often defeated by cold weather, hail storms, and of the course the wind. Jeanette has paintings in the Fisher Peak Gallery and will be hosting her 20th annual solo exhibition at the Days Inn during the third weekend of November.
Cranbrook Friends of the Library presents the next Travelogue on Monday, November 28th, at the College of the Rockies, 7pm in the Lecture Theatre. Come and join Sabine & Gebhard Pfeiffer as they talk about their adventures from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
ADULT NEWLY AQUIRED SHELF:
Locating the Producers -- Paul O\'Neill (700.411)
Everyday Folk Art -- Polly Minick (746.74)
The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrun " J. R. R. Tolkien (821.912)
Audacious and Adamant: The Story of Maverick Alberta (971.23)
Dog’s Make Us Human -- Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (636.7)
Concussion Crisis: Anatomy of a Silent Epidemic " Linda Carrol (617.481)
1001 Inventions that Changed the World (609)
Willpower " Roy F. Baumeister (153.8)
The CODE: Unlocking the Ancient Power of Your Birthday (133.3354)
The Good Muslim -- Tahmima Anam (fic)
Reign of Madness " Lynn Cullen (fic)
Guilty Pleasures " Beatrice small (fic)
Gamble: A Dick Francis Novel " Felix Francis (mys)
Reviving Ophelia (DVD)
YOUNG ADULT & CHILDREN’S NEWLY ACQUIRED ITEMS:
Style Yourself: Inspired Advice from the World\'s Top Fashion Bloggers (ya 646.3)
Seventeen’s Ultimate Guide to Style (ya 646.3)
Shorter, Faster, Funnier: Comic Plays & Monologues (ya 812)
Last Dance " Melody Carson (ya fic)
Dreams of Significant Girls " Cristina Garcia (ya fic)
Ten Things We Did & Probably Shouldn’t Have -- Sarah Mlynowski (ya fic)
Not Fair, Won’t Share -- Desideria Guicciardini (j 152.4)
I’m Not Happy " Sue Graves (j 152.4).
I’m Adopted " Shelley Rotner (j 362.734)
Everything On It: Poems & Drawings " Shel Silverstein (j 811.54)
Mission Unpopular " Anna Humphrey (j fic)
Floors " Patrick Carman (j fic)
Spaceheadz: Book 2 & 3 -- Jon Scieszka (j fic)
Williams Midsummer Dreams -- Zilpha Keatley Snyder (j fic)
MIKE’S BOOKNOTES:
It was the morning of April 4th, 1865, when 1,500 Union troops arrived at the University of Alabama campus. The American Civil War had raged for four long and bloody years; not a strategic location, Alabama had avoided any major conflicts. All this was about to change.
As the Confederate states continued to be defeated, Alabama knew what was coming. They also knew that the campus would be the North’s major target. The president of the University had requested extra protection from Alabama’s governor, writing “If the enemy ever reach this place, they would not leave at this University one brick standing upon the other.” The president’s fears were about to be realized.
Following the orders to destroy the University, and “whatever else may be of benefit to the rebel cause,” the Union troops began to systematically torch every single structure they could find. After razing the entire campus to the ground, the Union troops uncharacteristically hesitated outside one of the University’s largest structures: The school’s library.
Built in 1831, the University Library was 3-stories high, surrounded by a dome with dozens of pillars and columns surrounding it. Featuring a natural history museum and an auditorium, the Library had over 7,000 books and original manuscripts, making it the largest and most renowned collection of literature in the South.
Realizing its historical importance, the troops sent a message to their General, basically pleading for permission to spare the Library. The troops were convinced their request would be met, as their General was a university professor from Mississippi. Their hearts sank when they received the General’s reply, stating their orders were to “destroy all public buildings.”
As the torches were lit, and the greatest collection of Southern literature was about to be destroyed, another message arrived from the General. Although this one confirmed his original one, he also told the troops to allow a faculty member to save one book from the library; a testament to what once stood here. A grateful professor ran in and rescued one book, and the Union troops burned the last remaining building of the University of Alabama.
Compounding this tragedy, the Civil War ended 4 days later.
The Library"now known as the Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library"was rebuilt over the site of the former one. Ruins of the original are preserved and clearly visible on the new Library’s steps.
Whatever became of the one book that was rescued from the flames? It too resides in the new Library, prominently displayed. All incoming students are asked to guess as to just which book was saved that fateful day. And for 100 years, no one yet has answered right.
It was “The Koran.”
