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Abbie Weinberg

was the managing editor of The Collation from 2015-2023. As a reference librarian and archivist, she spends a lot of her time assisting others with their research. When she has a few moments for her own, she can be found exploring book history, theatre history, the history of science, and the interesting ways those crash together sometimes.
Music Manuscripts
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Music Manuscripts

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Abbie Weinberg

Recently, I have found myself answering a number of reference questions concerning our musical holdings (a reference librarian manifestation of the frequency illusion perhaps?). Whatever the reason, it has been a nice reminder that some of our manuscript holdings contain…

In Defense of the Card Catalog
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In Defense of the Card Catalog

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Abbie Weinberg

Whenever I am giving a tour of our Reading Rooms, or introducing a new Reader to our collection, I always make it a point to mention that we still have a card catalog room (two, in fact—one primarily for our…

Letter Scraps
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Letter Scraps

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Abbie Weinberg

Yes, indeed. As several readers astutely figured out, this scrap of paper most likely bears the tail-end of the phrase “Sotheby sale.” As for why it’s in our collection? Well, part of that answer comes with one more piece of…

Documents, in microcosm
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Documents, in microcosm

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Abbie Weinberg

I have been part of the team that has been working to create Shakespeare Documented, which launched on January 20, 2016. In the last few weeks before launch, one of my main duties became the creation the thumbnail image for…

The Secret History (of a publication)
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The Secret History (of a publication)

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Abbie Weinberg

Yes. As our readers quickly reported, this month’s mystery image is the imprint on Procopius’s The secret history of the court of the Emperor Justinian. In fact, it is the imprint of the very first English translation of Procopius’s Secret work.…

'I Grapple him to my Soul with hooks of Steel'
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'I Grapple him to my Soul with hooks of Steel'

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Abbie Weinberg

I’m sure all of our readers know that moment when you’re looking for one thing but find something else entirely (some call it serendipity—I just call it research). Such as doing a Name Browse in Hamnet for “Adams” (I believe…

State Papers Online: tips and tricks, part 2
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State Papers Online: tips and tricks, part 2

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Abbie Weinberg

In my first post on the State Papers Online, I discussed how to search the database for a document that you already had some sort of reference to, whether that was the document/entry number, or a page number. In this…

State Papers Online: tips and tricks, part 1
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State Papers Online: tips and tricks, part 1

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Abbie Weinberg

The Calendar of State Papers is a well-known historical resource for early modernists across a variety of disciplines. This “calendar,” or register, documents the workings of the British government during the reigns of the Tudors and Stuarts, 1509–1714. For decades,…

Guten Tag! Como vai? Parlez-vous français?
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Guten Tag! Como vai? Parlez-vous français?

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Abbie Weinberg

Spring is Conference Season for many academics, allowing us to travel far and wide for our academic and professional enrichment. Sometimes, we find ourselves traveling in places where the local language is not one of the ones we are most…

Folger files; or, a fetch-quest come to life
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Folger files; or, a fetch-quest come to life

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Abbie Weinberg

“MS. corrections to the text, by the author (Folger files).” Such an innocuous note in the Folger copy note field of the record for our second copy of Philip Massinger’s The Bond-man (STC 17632). Meaghan Brown, the Folger’s CLIR Fellow,…

Pi(e) day, represented
Pi given as a ratio
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Pi(e) day, represented

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Abbie Weinberg

March 14th is Pi(e) Day, and this year we get an extra two digits (this year’s date being, in the American style, 3/14/15, taking us through the first 5 digits of pi). While many people (including our culinarily-inclined staff here…

Research round-up: February 2015
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Research round-up: February 2015

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Abbie Weinberg

The theme of this month’s post, which features two questions regarding 19th-century sources, is “We have materials beyond the early modern period!” As our collection development policy states, in addition to seeking primary source material on English and continental civilization…

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