MLS Hidden Treasures

When I came across this link: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/revealed-book-size-ladybug-135122227.html about the University of Iowa’s collection of miniature books, I agreed the tiny books were adorable, but did you know we have our own miniature book collection in the Oklahoma Room of the Downtown Library? These little books were probably donated to the France Room when it opened with the “new” Downtown Library in 1954. Although unrelated to Oklahoma history, these little jewels are among many odd items to be found tucked away in an acid-free archive box in the Oklahoma Room.

Librarians, do you ever feel overworked and underpaid? Take a look at one of the library’s many accounting ledgers preserved in the Oklahoma Room:

Our first librarian, Marion Rock, was paid a whopping $70.00 for September, 1908. This was a huge sum compared to the $8.25 J.C. Williams, probably a janitor, received for 5 ½ days work.

The crown jewel in our special collection unrelated to Oklahoma History is a 1450 French Book of Hours made by hand using vegetable dye pigments (very green of them!) on vellum and highlighted in gold.

Everyone knows our beloved library mascot Spoticus, but does anyone know Biblio, the little elf created by the Junior League and immortalized in their 1949 scrapbook created for us? I think we’ve come a long way in marketing design.

Public computer use is through the roof throughout the MLS, but non-book material has been with us since 1910. Buddy Johnson, Oklahoma Room Coordinator (I had to look up that title on Who’s Who) demonstrates this precursor to the computer in our library system, the stereograph, which came replete with 5 boxes of random photos from around the world.

Another random item found in this collection is Hough’s American Woods, a set of books containing a sample of every tree species in North America, and I don’t mean pictures of tree species, but actual cross sections.

More pertinent to Western American history are some beautiful paintings by the Kiowa Five https://www.jacobsonhouse.com/kiowa-five/ compiled by Oscar Jacobson, founder of the Jacobson House Art Center in Norman.

Consider a sample of drawings by Bad Heart Buffalo, purported witness to Custer’s Last Stand:

I have just presented you with a random sampling of the little treasures found in our Oklahoma Room collection, and it is just the tip of the iceberg. The Oklahoma Room at the Downtown Library is open Monday – Thursday from 1:30-4:30, or by special appointment. I called a week in advance for my appointment, and I even got to use the stereograph. If only I’d thought to brush my hair!

Tracy Stone is a Librarian at the Northwest Library and Investigative Reporter for MyMetrolibrary.