Top of page
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
It may sound clichéd, but as a librarian, one of the best gifts you can give me is a book. For Christmas one year, I received a re-issue of Rachel Carson’s 1965 Sense of Wonder . This book is an expansion of her 1956 essay “Help Your Child to Wonder” published in the July issue …
Posted in: Biography, Heritage Months, Holidays, and Today in History, Women's History
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
In observance of Mother’s Day many of us in the United States will be buying and sending flowers to the mothers in our lives. You might not know it, but this tradition of sending flowers started back in the early 1900’s before ‘Mother’s Day’ was proclaimed. The connection of flowers to Mother’s Day can partially …
Posted in: Heritage Months, Holidays, and Today in History, Women's History
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
Big blue marble, blue planet, Gaia, terra firma, terrestrial sphere, world- these are some of the words we use to describe Earth. On April 22 we will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, which was first initiated on April 22, 1970 by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson. Back in 1990, in celebration of 20 …
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
Today’s post is written by science reference librarian and gardener, Alison Kelly. With the forsythia in bloom once again it seems like a good time to reconsider Beatrix Farrand and some of the other women who have played an important role in horticulture. Farrand, who was the only woman founding member of the American Society …
Posted in: Gardening, Heritage Months, Holidays, and Today in History, Women's History
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
The desire to tinker, create and invent is universal. It doesn’t matter who or what you are–a scientist, business person, layperson, man, woman or child–if there’s a problem, we want to figure out how to solve it by inventing a new way of doing things or improving on an existing way. Women inventors have had …
Posted in: Heritage Months, Holidays, and Today in History, Women's History
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
As I was compiling our resources related to women and science, I discovered that we have a lot of material on this topic. It would be a true test of my writing abilities to describe all of our guides, reading lists, Web casts and the like in a single blog post without creating an information …
Posted in: Heritage Months, Holidays, and Today in History, Lunchtime Lectures and Videos, Women's History
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
4 Star French Chocolate Ice Cream? Chiffon and Velvet Pie?Pots de Chocolat (mousse)? Stuffed Figs au Chocolat? Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake? Valentine’s Day is coming up. If you are looking for something special to do for the ones you love I suggest including chocolate and home cooking straight from the heart (hearth). Our Chocolate: A Resource Guide …
Posted in: Business Reference Guides, Census and Statistics, Heritage Months, Holidays, and Today in History
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
February is African American History Month. During this month, we frequently receive questions from students working on school projects related to African Americans in science and business. In general, students seek biographical information about a specific Black scientist, inventor or business person. Before my time, back in the 1980’s, LC science librarian Vivian Ovelton Sammons …
Posted in: African American History, African Americans, Heritage Months, Holidays, and Today in History, Science
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
January 1 begins the new year of the Gregorian calendar. Many of us who celebrate this day have traditions for bringing in the New Year such as banging pots and pans, blowing horns, kissing the person next to you, and making resolutions. We also have food traditions and special meals that we prepare and serve on …
Posted in: Cookbooks and Food, Heritage Months, Holidays, and Today in History