All posts by Uyen Nguyen

[Applestein-Sweren Contest] Indochina to Vietnam: A (re-telling) search for identity through narratives

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We are raised and familiarized ourselves with the narratives we are told, given and taught. So when those narratives are challenged, we are confused and forced to step out of our comfort zone. Or at least that what happened to me in my high school U.S History class where I first experienced an identity crisis at sixteen; that was the first time I heard stories from the “other side of the battlefield.” Continue reading [Applestein-Sweren Contest] Indochina to Vietnam: A (re-telling) search for identity through narratives →

Julia Rogers’ “Playtime Picture-Book” (London: Dean & Sons, 1885-7)–Cultural uplift and a strange dose of the future Edward Gorey

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Julia Rebecca Rogers (1854-1944) played a crucial role in founding Goucher College by leaving to the college the bulk of her fortune, over $900,000, which was used to build a Library at the new Towson campus.  Daughter of an iron and steel magnate, she devoted her life to philanthropic causes in aid of women’s education and the arts. Generally, we do not know much about the childhoods of famous and generous donors, but in this case, Julia Rogers left the college a copy of what may be one of her earliest childhood books: “The Playtime Picture-Book.”  Continue reading Julia Rogers’ “Playtime Picture-Book” (London: Dean & Sons, 1885-7)–Cultural uplift and a strange dose of the future Edward Gorey →

Did anyone notice when Spenser’s and Shakespeare’s Early Modern English became Modern English?

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[ … ] “In the mean time, ‘tis a surprizing Reflection, that between what Spencer wrote last [1599?], and Waller first [ca. 1625?], there should not be much above twenty years distance: and yet one’s Language, like the Money of that time, is as currant now as ever; whilst the other’s words are like old Coyns, one must go to an Antiquary to understand their true meaning and value. Such advances may a great Genius make, when it undertakes any thing in earnest. Continue reading Did anyone notice when Spenser’s and Shakespeare’s Early Modern English became Modern English? →

Jane Austen and family, “Charades &c.,” London: Spottiswode, [1895]. Want to match wits with the Austens? Try number V

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J. David Grey’s large donation to Goucher’s Burke Austen Collection is slowly being processed, and amid the usual editions of “Emma” or “Sense and Sensibility” in Icelandic or Persian which this “completist” collector loved, we also find the occasional small press run edition of Austeniana made expressly for Janeites. In this case, it’s an anonymous collection of charades or riddles, many accompanied by engravings giving clues before the answer key on the final page. Continue reading Jane Austen and family, “Charades &c.,” London: Spottiswode, [1895]. Want to match wits with the Austens? Try number V →

Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Early and Notable Editions. Washington DC, National Museum of African American History and Culture, February 28, 2020 – May 6, 2021 [Exhibtion]

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Uncle’s Tom Cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896) and first published in March 1852 to inform readers of the appalling realities of American slavery. Continue reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Early and Notable Editions. Washington DC, National Museum of African American History and Culture, February 28, 2020 – May 6, 2021 [Exhibtion] →