We regularly feature titles from the HathiTrust collection of 18+ million items and share them on our homepage. Some of the featured titles are recommended by researchers and readers like you, while others take inspiration from timely events, or highlight lesser-known or underrepresented and historically-marginalized voices preserved in the collection.
Thank you to our contributing member libraries without whom there would be no collection, and to all our member libraries whose support enables the preservation of and access to the HathiTrust collection to users around the world.
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At the time of this post’s writing, we in the U.S. are a week away from the scariest holiday and just a week and some days from the U.S. presidential election, which may outpace Halloween in adrenaline-piercing jump scares. Our featured titles recognize the specter and celebrations of this particular season.
The featured title in this fresh round of picks — One Thousand American Fungi — comes on recommendation from Swarthmore College Scholarly Communications Librarian, Maria Aghazarian, who shares this on her selection:
Ever since I learned about Charles “Ol’ Ironguts” McIlvaine, I love being able to share this book with people. It documents all of the mushrooms that McIlvaine prepared and ate (including Russula emetica, “the vomiter”) and the best part of all — he died of natural causes, not of poisoning. What a badass.
Where the Hummingbird Flies, the first novel by Frank Hercules, depicts colonial oppression in Trinidad, the Caribbean island nation where he was born and from which his father sought asylum in the United States. Hercules himself eventually moved to Harlem in New York City where his writing continued to address the effects of colonialism and racism.
For inspiration on all things Halloween, the Denison Manufacturing Company’s Bogie books are scary- relevant today with entertaining tips such as how to make your own Pumpkin Boy Nut Dish or Fortune Sandwiches. Equally relevant and, some might also say scary, is the 1965 Congressional publication by the Commission on Civil Rights reflecting on the successes and failures of the Voting Rights Act in its initial few months. While the report expresses the need for further action to combat entrenched racism and the disenfranchisement of Black voters, it also notes the enrollment of tens of thousands of Black voters throughout the southern states. Here’s to finding something to celebrate and to the beauty that breaks through soil despite the poison within.
Where the Hummingbird Flies
By Frank Hercules, 1911-1996
Contributed by University of California
Hercules also served as a writer-in-residence at Xavier University of Louisiana, a member of HathiTrust.
The Bogie Book, 1925
By Denison’s Manufacturing Company
Contributed by University of Virginia
Another edition of the Bogie Book includes a selection of “mirth-provoking head gear” — if the alternate meaning of mirth is absolute terror! Dare you to wear one of these to a party.
One Thousand American Fungi
By Charles McIlvaine, 1840-1909
Contributed by University of Michigan
The full title says it all: Toadstools, mushrooms, Fungi, edible and poisonous. One thousand American Fungi; how to select and cook the edible; how to distinguish and avoid the poisonous, giving full botanic illustrations.
For more info on McIlvaine and the fungi frenzy, check out this PBS video, Consider the Fungus.
The Voting Rights Act: The First Months
By U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1965
Contributed by University of Michigan
Find more primary sources in the U.S. Federal Documents collection.