Monthly Archives: February 2008

A is for Archive: One Hundred Years of Alphabet Books

Posted on by

Alphabet of CelebritiesThis selection of alphabet books spans a hundred years and is probably of more interest to adults than children. Two of the more unusual books are the Anti-Slavery Alphabet published at the height of the American abolition movement and Little People: An Alphabet which could as easily be titled, “An Alphabet of Racism.”  This popular form of educating (and sometimes indoctrinating) children has endured for over two centuries. The form has also been used to amuse adults as can be seen in An Alphabet of Celebrities.

— Renata

Classic Television

Posted on by

Cavalcade of StarsThe Archive’s patrons, along with our excellent volunteer curator, twainbough, have been helping us build up a nifty collection of Classic Television episodes, and we think it’s time to unveil it!

Here are a few choice morsels for you to peruse:

— Alexis

Recitals

Posted on by

Becca StevensYou probably remember your first recital, whether it was on the piano, the violin, a recorder, or a dance floor. Your parents ooohed and ahhhed over your every little mistake and thought you were a virtuoso in the making. Well, the archive has an interesting selection of recitals to choose from, with nary a cute kid to be found. Okay, that’s a lie – I’ve included at least one 8 year old, but he doesn’t make any mistakes.

— Alexis

Dating for Dummies

Posted on by

How Much Affection? If you haven’t been having much luck in the dating arena lately, maybe it’s time for a little brushup on your skills (ladies, apparently we’re supposed to invite our dates in and make them sandwiches at the end of the evening). We’ve got videos to teach you everything from how to ask for your first date, what to do on a date, and how to decide when you should go steady. But please, for everyone’s sake, watch “VD is For Everybody” first.

— Alexis

Tribute to Edison

Posted on by

Annie OakleyThomas Edison was born on February 11th, 1847. As the inventor of the phonograph (1877), the kinetoscope (1891) (the first motion pictures), and the first talking motion pictures (1913)–not to mention his significant contributions to the commercial use of electricity–it is fair to say that the Archive would not exist as it does today without him. As a birthday tribute we present this selection of early Edison films:Kissing

— Renata

Attack of the Giant Archive!

Posted on by

Bloody Pit of Horror

I recently discovered that the Internet Archive has quite a selection of B Horror movies from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. These are films of unparalleled cheesiness, perfect for conducting a round of Mystery Science Theater in your own home. A few gems you might like to make fun of:

— Alexis

Whistling through the Archive

Posted on by

78 RPM Collection

One of our volunteer curators, Diana Hamilton, put together a playlist from the 78 RPM and Cylinder Archive collections featuring expert whistlers. You can download an m3u playlist, or visit the individual song pages below to download the audio files themselves.

— Alexis