May’s additions to JSTOR offered new ways to engage with the materials people have used to document their experiences. This month’s content included magazines, manuscripts, films, and photographs. These sources reflect how individuals have shaped public narratives, built relationships, and created records that speak to specific historical contexts. They can be used in formal research or explored independently, with each item presenting a different perspective on the past.
Reveal Digital spotlight: Bridge and the Asian American Movement
In recognition of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, JSTOR featured Bridge: Asian American Perspectives. This title is part of Reveal Digital’s open access collection Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights Movements.
Bridge was created in the 1970s in response to the needs of the Asian American Movement. The magazine features articles on immigration, labor, education, and collective organizing. Its editors sought to document shared experiences and promote dialogue across different Asian American communities. The publication contributes to ongoing conversations in Asian American studies and social movement history.
Book of the month: Slaves to Fashion
This month’s featured title is Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity by Monica L. Miller. The book is available through Duke University Press.
Miller explores how Black writers, performers, and public figures have used fashion as a mode of expression. The book addresses how clothing and appearance shape conversations about identity, representation, and social visibility. It provides historical grounding for recent scholarship in Black fashion studies.
Shared collections: New materials from Rollins College and the University of Leicester
Winter Park and Florida Collection
This collection from Rollins College includes documents, photographs, and postcards related to Winter Park’s development. The materials reflect the town’s early history and its connections with the school.
University of Leicester Special Collections
This collection from the University of Leicester includes illustrated books, travel journals, and religious manuscripts. Items of note include William Fry’s travel diary and an Ethiopic manuscript recording the life of St. Cyriacus. The contents reflect the region’s academic, cultural, and spiritual heritage.
Audiovisual archives: Stop-motion in the lab
Looking Around
A segment from Looking Around, a video in the Wellcome Collection, introduces viewers to pharmaceutical production. Using stop-motion animation and color footage, the film presents the process of pill manufacturing through a stylized lens.
Computers and the Workplace
This 1988 lecture by Prof. Margrethe Olson, preserved by Trinity College, invites listeners to imagine a work-from-home infrastructure. It provides striking foresight into today’s work culture.
Our May highlights encourage close reading of visual, written, and filmed sources. Each collection and item allows for different types of engagement, whether through focused study or open-ended exploration. They also call for attention to detail and offer materials that support a range of learning goals.
We’ll return next month with new materials to explore.
