As an undergraduate at Oxford University, Irish antiquarian Lord Kingsborough (1795-1837) became fascinated by the Bodleian Library’s collection of Mesoamerican codices. These vividly illustrated manuscripts painted on animal hide or tree bark were created in the 15th and early 16th by the scribes and priests of Mexico and Central America chronicling the histories, religious beliefs,...

Between 1909 and 1948, the Grand Palais near the Champs-Elysées in Paris featured  remarkable decorative interiors which housed automotive, aeronautical and many other types of trade shows. For the buildings and other structures of the Paris Colonial Exposition of 1931, decorative lighting helped create a unity among the diverse architectures. The splendor of these temporary...

No one can resist flipping through the pages of a magazine—in waiting rooms, while traveling, or anywhere. One that I love to browse through, and one that is popular among our library’s users, is the “women’s magazine,” Modern Priscilla (1887-1930). Originally focused on dress patterns, china painting, and needlework, the magazine’s scope was subsequently enlarged to cover...

Turning the pages of this 1939 Armstrong pattern catalog brings me back to when I first moved into my apartment. The floors in every room were covered in old-fashioned linoleum, with well-worn paths marking where people had walked over time. Of course, this all had to go, so I started tearing up the old linoleum...