Ohrstrom Library marks the upcoming Martin Luther King, Jr. Day remembrance with a look into the St. Paul’s School Archives. SPS Archivist, David Levesque has assembled a display of books about Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement combined with related Archives materials from the history of St. Paul’s. The display is on view in the Baker Reading Room starting today and will be available through the end of the month. Be sure to give yourself a few minutes to look over the materials on display and see how the day has been observed at SPS in years past.
Nothing relaxes and quenches the thirsty mind like a quick read before dozing off at night. There are plenty of yarns numbering only four and five pages long. Some pack a wallop and some sooth the soul. Reading something short just for fun before bedtime is both healthy and habit-forming!
Get addicted quickly by going to the Ohrstrom Library Catalog. Type in Short Stories, American and hit “Subject”.
Need a specific recommendation? Begin with 60 Stories by Donald Barthelme (Fiction B28) and turn directly to his short story, The School (pp. 309-312). It is not only hilarious, but forces the reader to ask, “What’s grammar got to do with it?” The School is a satirical take on correct thinking in the classroom and will bring back memories! The structure of Barthelme’s narrative is a “take off” on the constraints of sanctioned grammar and syntactical rules that can inhibit discourse. Indeed, Barthelme’s weird, loopy syntax enhances his story and renders it more engaging. While his innovative use of phrases may at times seem disharmonious and goofy, they are also exceptionally effective and energetic.
The prissy grade school narrator tells a story with fragmented syntax that countermands his intended message of stability, rationality, and unity of thought. Indeed, it serves as an unintentional proxy for his students’ resistance and demand for meaning. The School rushes along at breakneck speed with one “surprising” event surpassing the next. From the moment the teacher speaks of “root systems”, the narrative shifts from one element to another – from orange trees to soil to sticks to snakes to herb gardens to fish, gerbils and then puppies, – all curiously tied to an ascending order up the evolutionary ladder. Barthelme’s writing resembles wild strawberries sprawling in segments across the page the way a root system meanders across the yard making it impossible to identify at times where the thing starts and stops. In the end, the students in The School’s classroom cheer “wildly” and you will too after reading this wonderful tale.
Today St. Paul’s School welcomes Christopher Buckley, second Conroy Visitor of the academic year. Ohrstrom library staff have put together a display in the Baker Reading Room – be sure to stop by and check out our selection of Christopher Buckley’s books. For a full list of his published titles see this Google Books page.
Mr. Buckley will be speaking at 11:00 AM today in Memorial Hall, and undoubtedly, this will be an interesting and humorous presentation.
Christopher Buckley is a novelist and editor of Forbes FYI magazine. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and two children and dog, Duck. In 1998, he was inducted into the Légion d’honneur by the president of the Republic of France for “extraordinary contributions to French culture,” despite the fact that his French is barely sufficient to order a meal in a restaurant. He has been an adviser to every president since William Howard Taft, a remarkable achievement, since he was born in 1952. His next book, a refutation of the theories of the physicist Stephen Hawking, will be published this fall by Princeton University Press.
The New Yorker has a essay written by Mr. Buckley available to read online HERE. Called College Essay, it provides an introduction to his humorous writing style on a topic that will surely resonate with many at SPS.
You can also see Mr. Buckley being interviewed CNN back in October about the controversy generated by choosing to vote for Obama in the November election:
Enjoy this opportunity to hear this celebrated writer talk about his work and his life.
Atlas of the World’s Religions, Second Edition edited by Ninian Smart & Frederick Denny, Oxford University Press, 2007.
Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 200 Sm2a
This visually arresting atlas provides an overview of the religious traditions of the world. Using maps, charts, and photos, The Atlas of the World’s Religions highlights all major world religions and geographical distributions of religious practices.
Three examples from its many entries: Ancient Palestine, Islam and European Christian Missions.
Three facts from its many offerings: In 2007 over 25,378,000 of the world population were Sikh (pg 15), 90% of those living in Bali practice Hindu (pg 19), in 1998 “20% of Australians claimed to be regular churchgoers” (pg 107).
Helpful for: Humanities, Religious Studies, Data hounds
On first seeing the St. Paul’s School grounds it is easy to believe that it has always looked the same – there is a timeless feeling to the architecture here. So it can be quite surprising when looking through photographs from the Archives to see just how much things have changed in Millville since the first classes were held in the spring of 1856. So much has changed architecturally at St. Paul’s that Ohrstrom staff created an online exhibit a number of years ago documenting the buildings that have vanished from common memory.
The Vanished Buildings of St. Paul’s Schoolonline exhibit has now been updated to reflect the redesign of the Ohrstrom Library website. It features nearly fifty images and maps from the SPS Archives covering over a century and a half of St. Paul’s School history. By browsing through the exhibit, you catch a glimpse of a past that offers up a very different collection of buildings from what you see on the grounds today.
For instance, you will discover that your favorite expanse of lawn for tossing a Frisbee was once a crowded cluster of brick buildings connected by a cloistered walkway. Also, while we all know that Coit is called “The Upper”, doesn’t it make more sense knowing that there was once a “Lower”?
While looking through the redesigned online exhibit try to imagine what it was like to be a student here in years past. Walking through School grounds may take on a different look and feel when seen through the lens of these old images.
During the excavations for the new building this summer, a ring was found, bearing the initials of the Hon. Benjamin R. Curtis, who was here as a boy in 1867. It was returned to the owner after having been lost twenty years.
Atlas of the World’s Religions, Second Edition edited by Ninian Smart & Frederick Denny, Oxford University Press, 2007.
The Vanished Buildings of St. Paul’s School 
