MARBL

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1853,
red morocco Kelliegram Binding by Kelly & Sons.

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It's summertime, and either you're finding yourself lounging around on vacation with a good book, or you've been handed a list of "classics" to read before school starts. Whether you're approaching your next read from a place of leisure or education, we'd like to show you some staff favorites which can be found, most in their first edition glory, right here in the MARBL stacks.  We invite scholars and casual observers alike to experience all of our collections, and hope that if you have an interest in first editions, you'll find your way to MARBL to see how some of your favorite books looked when they were first printed. Here are a few staff selections to get you started:

MARBL has two copies of Toni Morrison's first novel, The Bluest Eye, one from the library of Louise Thompson Patterson, and one with the autograph of Lucille Clifton. The personal papers of both Patterson and Clifton can also be found in MARBL.

The Catcher in the Rye is a summer reading list staple. MARBL has both the first edition pictured here, as well as a second edition signed by the author.

There are many iterations of The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner depending on its edition, but did you know the first edition's cover was so intense?

Contrasting The Sound and the Fury's cover is this simple fabric one for MARBL's first edition, second issue of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

MARBL is home to a number of first edition copies of Atlanta native Margaret Mitchell's classic Civil War-era novel, Gone With the Wind. This one in particular is signed by Mitchell herself.

Not only do we have first published editions of books, but we also have proof copies which were sent to authors prior to publication. This is William S. Burrough's proof copy of Naked Lunch which is part of the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library.

While the contents of a book may remain the same, what makes one copy more interesting or more rare than another can depend on a great number of factors, with edition being only one of them. Previous ownership, inscriptions, binding, or the presence (or lack) of a dust jacket could all come into play. An example of this is the exquisite cover of Uncle Tom's Cabin above. It's not a first edition, though it is an early imprint, but it's a treasure to us because of the craftsmanship involved in the binding, which was done later by Kelly & Sons. 

There are many things to take into consideration when designating something "rare", and we hope that you'll come up and visit us to learn more about what can't be seen and enjoyed simply by reading a classic on a Kindle (though we love those, too!) Enjoy the rest of the summer, and come up and see us soon!

The Southern Confederacy, October 5, 1861

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The Southern Confederacy was a newspaper published in Atlanta during the Civil War from 1861-1865. It was strongly Southern Democrat and functioned during the War as one of the main newspaper outlets in Atlanta, with the other being the Daily Intelligencer. 

The original version of the Southern Confederacy was first published in 1859 by James P. Hambleton. Franklin Garrett mentions the highly talked about newspaper in Atlanta and Its Environs by stating that Hambleton "was a fire-eater, and his editorials were highly intemperate in tone." (Garrett, p.454) Hambleton was a strong voice in a city which was growing rapidly, in a country which was heading towards war. In May, 1861, Hambleton joined the Confederate Army and the title for the paper was transferred to C.R. Hanleiter and George W. Adair who at the time were publishers of the Gate City Guardian. The papers merged and retained the name Southern Confederacy. You can find Hanleiter's diary from 1861-1865 on microfilm in MARBL.

MARBL has a bound volume of the Southern Confederacy from August 13, 1861-February 11, 1862. Though this doesn't cover the bulk of the war and the Battle of Atlanta, it is a fascinating look at how Atlanta reported on the war when it wasn't right on the city's doorstep.

The cost for the paper was $5.00 a year for a daily subscription or $2.00 a year to get the paper weekly. It was made up largely of advertisements and classifieds including this one for W.F. Herring and Co. selling military goods for cash only.  Railroad schedules and ticket prices were listed on the front page as well as a Fraternal Record which included local lodges and meeting information.

The articles written brought news of the war and also of the newly-formed Confederate government including the unopposed Jefferson Davis electoral ticket for President. Other news included articles about a new postage act enacted by the Confederate Congress, as well as opinion pieces about how Atlanta and Georgia should be involving themselves in the war effort.

Though the Southern Confederacy did not survive the war, it is a solid record of Atlanta during a period of tremendous unrest and upheaval. It is a study in not only how the war was being relayed to the people of Atlanta, but also of the daily functions of a young, Southern city in the early 1860s.

Reference:
Garrett, F. (1954). Atlanta and environs: A chronicle of its people and events, vol. 1. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc.

Lucille Clifton's Word Processor and Monitor, Digital Archives, MARBL

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MARBL'S Digital Archives program is still new, only in its second year, deeply collaborative, and, in keeping with the larger field, constantly evolving. Our collections are part of hybrid archives that consist of both paper materials and born-digital content, files that are created and maintained in a digital medium. These digital archives appear in many of MARBL's manuscript collections, including the "papers" of Salman Rushdie, Lucille Clifton, Eamon Grennan, and Turner Cassity.

The material can take a surprising range of forms both physical and digital. We house hardware (such as old desktops, laptops and even older word processors) and store digital files created with computer applications that have long since gone out of use.

The challenge and opportunity of digital archives is to respect and leverage what makes this kind of archival content different while also integrating it into the broader collection for the benefit of patrons and researchers. Achieving this balance within the ever-changing landscape of digital archives demands broad cooperative efforts and regular surveys for new developments in the field . If we want to be effective stewards of our collections, we must attend to our own objects, archive, and researchers but we must also remain engaged with the larger field and, even more broadly, other sectors that may advance our work in the archives, such as digital forensics and personal information management.

I am always elated when a change within the Digital Archives program coincides with new developments within the broader digital archives field. For instance, MARBL's Digital Archives staff will soon be expanding to include a digital archivist/metadata specialist and a Woodruff Research Library Fellow, both of whom are relatively new to digital preservation. Just as I am preparing orientation and training documentation for this new staff, the National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA) announces the official launch of its new outreach program, Digital Preservation in a Box . This resource acts as a sort of anthology of digital preservation concepts, glossaries, tools, and resources that will prove invaluable as I orient new staff to the work of MARBL's Digital Archives program and to our ongoing professional development as we grow. The kind of cooperation that creates such open-source tools (and ensures their ongoing relevance and maintenance) drives the field of digital archives and makes it a dynamic space in which to work and learn.