Little-Known Treasures from Lewis Historical Library... The Methodist Circuit Rider's Writing Desk (The First Laptop?)

[NOTE: Members of the Theobald family visited Lewis Library recently to provide some historical background on a 19th Century writing desk they donated to Lewis Historical Library.]

By Jill Larson, Archivist

Josiah Adams left England after denouncing Queen Victoria in 1856. He migrated to America and settled in Fostoria, Ohio, where he married and raised four children: James, Carrie, Emma, and Thomas Henry Adams. In 1859, Josiah became a deacon of the Methodist-Episcopal Church in Fremont, Ohio and later served as a circuit rider.

Circuit riders were itinerant preachers of the Methodist denomination. A circuit consisted of 20-40 “appointments,” with circuit riders traveling the district and preaching in pioneer cabins, schoolhouses, and taverns. This circuit system, devised by John Wesley for his English societies in their formative period and later developed in America by Francis Asbury, proved especially adapted to the conditions of the American frontier and came into its own in the trans-Allegheny region. Its success was a factor in establishing Methodism in America. A circuit rider, traveling on horseback because it was economical and suited to the forest pathway, preached nearly every day and twice on Sundays, thus covering his circuit every 4-5 weeks. (Columbia Encyclopedia)

Josiah Adams carried a small, wooden writing desk on his circuit in Ohio (as shown in accompanying photograph). This solidly built desk (17 ½ inches by 8 ½ inches) is quite unique. It opens to a flat writing board complete with a small ink well and hollowed slots for quills. Underneath storage provides space for a Bible, hymnal, and writing paper, etc. Images come to one’s mind of Josiah resting by the fireside in the evening and working on sermons or writing letters home to the family.

Josiah Adams' youngest child was Thomas Henry Adams, who at age 14 came to Edwardsport, Indiana, in Knox County where he became a printer. He later founded the Vincennes Commercial newspaper as a weekly. He was recognized as an energetic, colorful editor who wrote extensively of the events in Knox County. Thomas' great-grandsons are Edward and Thomas Theobald of Vincennes (pictured below). The Theobald family donated Josiah Adams’ writing desk to Lewis Historical Library some years ago. We are very pleased to have “the first laptop,” as I call it! It is a fine treasure for us and for all who wish to come to our library to view the desk on display.

ARE YOUR STUDENTS FINDING IT? CONSIDER A MEETING WITH A LIBRARIAN IN YOUR CLASSROOM OR OURS

As Thanksgiving approaches, student writing/research projects start entering the frenzy phase at times. If your students are having trouble understanding the difference between valid library information sources and wacko google websites, if they "can't find anything" in the way of sources for their argumentation essay about national health care or their speech about the foibles of Lindsay Lohan, if they just don't Get It when trying to find their way around the library (whether physical or virtual/electronic), help is here!

Librarians are available to meet with your classes to conduct mini-workshops (or other presentations faculty desire) that are often very useful for upcoming student writing assignments. The format of these sessions can vary according to your needs, often combining demonstrations of how to use print and electronic resources for specific assignments with hands-on exercises students can complete during the learning session (often a good extra-credit opportunity).

Contact your Librarian Liaison (see left column of The Text Messenger) for more information (advance notice is always a good idea when scheduling a librarian-conducted training workshop).

FOCUS ON LIBRARY ELECTRONIC RESOURCES: CREDO REFERENCE EBOOK COLLECTION

Whether you are an on-campus student seeking information inside VU's physical library or on an aircraft carrier somewhere in the Pacific (yes, this happens) as a VU distance education student, CREDO Reference provides you with a collection of over 575 (and growing) electronic reference books on many topics including art, literature, science, technology, humanities, and the social sciences. Like most resources in VU's Virtual Library, these Credo ebooks may be searched collectively or viewed individually, and the articles you uncover may be printed or emailed to your own account, complete with MLA, APA or other citation formats.

The Credo collection represents a broad spectrum of information from books traditionally found in any good academic library's reference collection, ranging from definitions in dictionaries to lengthy encyclopedia articles (the resource even gives you the word count of each resource to help you choose longer articles for writing assignments).

Credo also acts as a portal to additional information sources, because after you complete a search on your topic, Credo offers you the choice of expanding your search to other library databases, including WebCat (VU's library catalog), EBSCOhost's Academic Search Premier, AccessScience, and other sources (see the sample search below on painter Vincent Van Gogh).

How to Access Credo Reference:

Visit the VU Home Page at http://www.vinu.edu and click on the library icon, lower right of page. Then select the Find Articles link (top left of VU Libraries home page), which will take you to a listing of electronic resources provided by VU Libraries, including Credo Reference. Remember, as with most resources in the Virtual Library, off-campus access is available after first logging on to your MyVU account. If you have any questions, please contact a librarian.

Robert Slayton, Former LRC Dean, Named Interim Provost

A longtime dean has been appointed as the interim provost at Vincennes University, according to an announcement from VU President Dick Helton. Robert A. Slayton, former dean of the Learning Resources Center, will assume the post. Slayton came to VU in 1972 before retiring this past spring. A state leader in the field of academic libraries and educational technologies, Slayton served three times as president of the board of the Indiana Cooperative Library Services Authority and has served on the board of the Academic Libraries of Indiana. He also has been an active participant with the Community College League for Innovation for many years. Slayton may be contacted by e-mail at provost@vinu.edu, or by calling 4262. (From Duane Chattin, VU Director of Public Information)

“Bob brings an extensive knowledge of VU and its faculty and staff to this position. He has been a leader in many of the efforts that have moved VU forward and I have confidence that he will continue to demonstrate such dedication as interim provost.”
--VU President Dick Helton

BANNED BOOKS WEEK A SUCCESS!

"Free People Read Freely"

By Anita Slack, Information Services Librarian

Although Banned Books Week 2011 has now come to a close, we had a great time and got the word out on the VU Campus about the historical and modern problem of censorship. Shake Library sponsored a Banned Books Week Matching Contest where students were asked to match the title of the book to the reason it was challenged or banned. The winners claimed five-dollar gift cards to Grinders and free meals at the Tecumseh Dining Center.

The Banned Books Readout took place on the library front stairs on September 30th. Members of the VU faculty and staff read passages from their favorite banned books. Participating readers included David Peter, Dean of Shake Learning Resources Center, who read from Orwell’s 1984; Andrew Bonvicini from the Department of English, reading from Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange; and John Livers, Dean of Students, shared a passage from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Michael Legate, the Technical Director of the Red Skelton Performing Arts Center, read an excerpt from Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut; Josh Williams from the Department of English read from Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, and Public Services Librarian Laura Hiatt-Smith read a passage from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling. Eric Margerum, the Dean of Social Sciences and Performing Arts, shared a passage from Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, and Technical Services Librarian Abby Creitz read from Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games. Reference Librarian Richard King read from James Jones’s From Here to Eternity, Chad Bebee (see photo above) from the Department of English read Ginsberg’s “Howl,” and Information Services Librarian Anita Slack read a passage from Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.

It has been estimated that around two hundred VU students, faculty, staff and community members dropped in to witness the Banned Books Readout. The library also collected twenty-eight signatures throughout the week and during the Readout on a Banned Books Week Proclamation. The Proclamation details the importance of our First Amendment rights to free access of information and free expression, and states that Shake Library encourages “free people to read freely, now and forever.”

For more photos about the event, see the Shake Library Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150837169910024.732436.15429730023&type=1 .