Mining a few riches from the Library’s vault

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Tucked away in a corner of the sixth floor of the Central Library is my favorite haunt there, the Texana and Genealogy Department. The stunning blond entry room named in honor of donors Joan and Herb Kelleher welcomes you into a world where often forgotten tales emerge from yellowed pages of precious books.

Research needs have left me hunched over microfiche readers for hours, distracted by fascinating newspaper headlines unrelated to my original quests. So many people from our colorful history, all with their own stories waiting to resurface. Shelves lined with rare books, rare enough to be unavailable for checkout, beg you to linger longer as the librarian announces it is already 15 minutes until closing time. Digging for clues will have to resume another day.

And yet, behind another door, is a more amazing world to explore – the vault. While materials from the vault can be requested for viewing within Texana, the general public does not simply get to wander through what lies locked within.

But this week, the San Antonio Public Library Foundation and the Texana Department shared a few samples of the amazingly varied treasures, most irreplaceable.

“Indian Tribes of North America,” Thomas L. McKenney, Hertzberg Collection
“The Alameda,” one of five Hermann Lungwitz paintings of San Antonio from the 1850s, donated by Louis Ulrich
“Costumi de Roma e suoi Contorni,” Salvatore Marroni, 1820
“The Life and Letters of Captain John Brown,” edited by Richard D. Webb, 1861, donated by J.R. Keach
“Lucinda, The Orphan,”1812
“Well-Known Features of Many Creatures,” Emily Harding and E.W. Andrews, donated by Frances Rosengren
“Mexican Silhouettes,” Josephina Niggli, 1931
leaf from an Armenian Bible, 1121
Casino Club program from 1868
pop-up illustration from “Peepshow Pictures: A Novel Picture Book for Children,” 1895, Rosengren Collection
photograph of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, circa 1892
1861 letter from Joseph Wood
“Lucinda, The Orphan,” 1812
“Les Fleurs Animees,” J.J. Grandville, 1847
Gebhardt’s Beans
Mrs. Eli Hertzberg’s copy of “Megillat Esther” in Hebrew
“Officers Training Camp: Camp Funston 1917”
“La Cocinera Poblana,” Herrero Hermanos Sugesores
leaf from a French Bible, 1240
San Antonio’s original Carnegie Library opened June 15, 1903
“Wake Up, America!,” part of Harry Hertzberg’s collection of posters from World War I

These riches all require special care and extremely knowledgeable librarians to assist with access, a budget-stretcher for the Library. The Library Foundation wants your help in preserving the collections in Texana for generations to come.

Hoping for another show-and-tell session in the future, and sure wish the ongoing celebration of the 150th anniversary of the San Antonio Express-News included digitalizing the first century of newspapers for the Library before some of us become microfiche hunchbacks.

Holy Cards from Oaxaca: The magical burro delivered parts of the patron saint

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As the man from the countryside drove his pack mules down the dusty street in Oaxaca in the year 1620, one dropped to its knees. There, in front of the church of Saint Sebastian.

But, wait, this was not one of his burros. It was a volunteer laden with a heavy chest. The burro refused to budge, rolling over dead, knocking open the chest to reveal its contents. The hands and beautifully carved face of the Virgin Mary appeared. Surely a miracle.

A church would have to be built here. And it was. A grand church now known as the Basilica de La Virgen de la Soledad.

And the Virgin was cloaked in splendor, her garment designed to conceal her lack of corporal substance.

Many who have prayed to the Virgen de la Soledad through the centuries since credit her with miraculous cures. In the belief that she, the patron saint of Oaxaca, protects them, mariners would trek from the coast on foot to bring her tributes of pearls and gold.

When the Constitution of 1857 authorized confiscation of the church’s assets, her bejeweled garments and tributes were spirited away by some of her faithful. The tattered remnants of her gown, gems intact, were rediscovered by a merchant remodeling his shop in 1888. He ordered the finest velvet from France to present to the nuns who stitched the jewels back into the luxurious garment that is her hallmark.

The Feast Day of La Virgen de las Soledad on December 18 is one of Oaxaca’s most important celebrations. We never were able to determine at what hour she arrived by float paraded through the streets, perhaps midnight? A few spent fireworks littered the stones the next day. We found her enthroned in a corner of the Basilica’s plaza on her day, the faithful filing by to lay floral tributes before her.

In addition to the behemoth Basilica built in her honor, a smaller plaza in front of the church always beckons – the ice cream plaza, properly known as Plaza Socrates. Stalls of vendors of imaginative flavors of ice cream – such as rosa or aguacate – competitively beckon families to sit at their tables for some of the best people-watching in the city. Marimba minstrels generally set up in the middle of the neverias.

A plaza full of ice cream makes Socrates seem a wise man indeed.

Postcard from Oaxaca, Mexico: Random shots from random walks and the one that rode away

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He was too swift racing toward the altar in the Cathedral. Caught with camera tucked away in my purse as he sped down the main aisles and then over to this side chapel so sacred there is often a waiting line of faithful outside. But in he zipped on his tricycle, unaccompanied and unreprimanded.

Yes, this photo is so poor it should not be included and certainly not front and center. But the moment was so memorable, it demands to be shared with this equally undisciplined grouping of images from our wanderings in Oaxaca.