Friday, June 22, 2012

Fund Raising Auction and Edith Hamilton's Mythology

Edith Hamilton's portrait
in the Bryn Mawr lilbrary
By Lydia Field Emmet

I cannot find the date of the painting,
but Emmet painted mostly 1900 and 1920,
so I would place this portrait in that period


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I've been doing some moving recently, and somehow misplaced my Edith Hamilton's Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. I went and bought another copy, before I found the original at the bottom of a suitcase.

I've been doing some fundraising drives, mainly to help me with my book project.

I will send this copy of Hamilton's concise, useful and interesting book on Greek and Roman mythology (with a final section on Norse mythology) to the highest donor in my second fundraising drive.

Hamilton's book was the small guide I used when I recently maneuvered through the Royal Ontario Museum's Greek and Roman sections.


http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x267/BlogPhotos_2007/BookCover.jpg

Camera Lucida: Views on Art
Culture and Society

By Kidist Paulos Asrat






Things are more urgent than they seem. While looking for a portrait of Hamilton, I came across the image below of "students studying" in the library named after her, and which has her portrait on the wall.

Hamilton would have been deeply saddened that young girls, in sloppy clothing, "read" books lounging on the seats with their shoddily shod feet sullying the library tables. A closer inspection of the photo shows that they are using the library as a lounge to rummage through their class notes rather than a place to read books. I suspect there is a lot of "notes sharing" going on, with full blown discussions. That is why I no longer use libraries, public or university. They have become gossipy social hubs rather than study centers.