This blog is “not my job.” Not any longer, anyway. As of today, I haven’t been paid by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for a year. That is my explanation for letting this blog die.
I have recently read over all the posts I made to it, and I still think they’re interesting, informative, and nicely written. I regret that the list of Pennsylvania publishers from the collection’s Pa. Imprints Collection never got completely published. But other than that, I’m fine with it all.
There were difficulties at the State Library that led to my looking elsewhere for employment. And I’m very, very happy with my new job. We’re well supported (financially and otherwise). We have interesting things to do. We have an interesting collection to work with, on an interesting subject. There’s a building project that is funded, and will actually open on schedule. I have a nice place to live and a (usually) pleasant commute. What’s not to like?
One of the reasons this ‘Erudite and Eccentric’ blog stopped so abruptly was the paranoid attitude of the administration in Pennsylvania about information flowing in any channel other than the one that was strictly controlled by the administration. I am also free of that now. So I may be appearing soon at a blog near you (although I read today that young people are leaving blogs in droves, preferring the short attention span media of the tweet and its ilk).
Footnote of sorts: the most popular post on this blog … even today … is the one on Charles Dickens and fog. That’s just symptomatic of one of the things I always felt was wrong with the rare book collection at the State Library: that post and its subject wasn’t worth the pixels it was printed with to the head person there because it wasn’t about Pennsylvania and it wasn’t about Benjamin Franklin. There was no real vision, and the people perished.
I am sorry to hear this. I always read this with interest, because it made me interested in exploring the rare books there and in my local libraries (I live in FL).
I would much rather read about fog than Ben Franklin (and this coming from someone who has researched at the APS, HSP and LibCo). I know the administration type you are talking about. Old school historian types, too focused on a narrow notion of history and not all its odd permutations.
Hello,
I am unsure as to whether you would be interested in something like this, however we were able to find useful information about an item we listed on ebay (found here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290584911631) and we were able to find out more about it using some of the information you had posted about the publisher: Brobst and Blumer’s.
Wishing you further success in your endeavors,
Elders Antiques