Jeff Knapp, reference and
instruction librarian,
Penn State Altoona
Just Browsing: Adventures in Serendipity
by Jeff Knapp
One of my great joys as a librarian is all the cool stuff I stumble across in the stacks, either when I’m looking for something else or when I’m just passing through. The stuff I consider “cool” would likely differ from what most normal people would consider cool—I am a librarian after all—but I always like finding books that are visual collections of cultural artifacts of some sort.
A recent example was a series of books that collect old print advertisements broken down by decade (one of which is 70s: All-American Ads by Jim Heimann). I love seeing (and in some cases, remembering) the old clothing and hair styles, and how they illustrate the desires and values of society in those days. I would never have consciously gone searching for something like this, but the enjoyment I got from having found it was immense.This is serendipity, the “phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.” (Thank you, Merriam-Webster Online). As a librarian, I use the Internet constantly while assisting student and faculty research, and I serendipitously find cool stuff online, too. In “Just Browsing . . . ,” my new regular feature, I will be sharing with you online collections of cultural artifacts and interesting sources of information to capture your imagination.
For this, the maiden installment of “Just Browsing,” I will introduce to you the Internet Archive, “a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form.” This Web site is an amazing online repository of cultural content, including not only electronic texts of books, but also moving images and audio—all for the low, low price of FREE.
Granted, the material has to be in the public domain, but there are some fascinating finds in here: Edison’s newsreels of the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906; concession stand ads from drive-in movie theatres; and a section called AV Geeks, which includes old educational films and filmstrips (remember those?), and even classic animated shorts such as the Private SNAFU cartoons.
What’s significant about this material? To me, it’s important because it lets me peek into the lives of average folks during an earlier time. When we think of “historical films,” we often think of images of cataclysmic events such as wars or disasters; or “great people” such as world leaders. With content like this, I can see footage that might not have garnered a great deal of attention when it was made, but speaks volumes about how ordinary people lived their lives at the time.
As a practical tip for using this site, be sure to use the “Browse This Collection” links if you are just poking around. This will allow you to see what’s in the collection without having to type in specific search terms.
Happy browsing, everyone! Tell me what you think: drop me a line at knapp@psu.edu if there are things you’d like to see in future issues of this feature!
Note: Some collections are restricted to Penn State Alumni Association 
members only. Join the Alumni Association.