#exhibits

Certain exhibits being removed from Harpers Ferry under Trump administration order

by: Sam Kirk

Posted: Sep 18, 2025 / 11:14 AM EDT

Updated: Sep 18, 2025 / 04:40 PM EDT

HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. (WBOY) — The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia has spoken out against a move by the Trump administration to remove references to slavery from exhibits in the state’s only national historic park.

Harpers Ferry National Historic Park is the location of John Brown’s raid, a significant move in the war against slavery in 1859 that helped catapult the nation into Civil War. It was also a major battle ground during the Civil Way in 1861-1865, changing hands eight times during the war, according to the National Park Service’s website.

After an order from President Donald Trump’s administration, certain exhibits, photos and references to slavery are being removed from the national historic park, the ACLU-WV said in a statement Wednesday.

This month’s recipe offers a preview of Special Collections’ Fall exhibit: Faster and More Fun: American Home Cooking in the 1920s, which will open September 21, 2026!

Marie P. Hill. Fun in the Kitchen: A Record Cook Book of Easy Recipes for Little Girls. Chicago: Reilly & Lee Co., 1927. Gift of Eunice Burns. 

Fun in the Kitchen is one of several books in this exhibit that exemplifies authors’ and publishers’ efforts to make cooking seem like a fun activity that was practically a kind of leisure, with updated appliances and the novelty of temperature-controlled gas and electric ranges. 

In this book, author Marie Hill offers “easy recipes for little girls,” with pages decorated by drawings of girls with bobbed hair in oversized aprons and whimsical depictions of cats, monkeys, and toys.

An inscription on the front paste-down of JBLCA's copy reads “To Jan / Love Dad / 1927.” Jan, or Janet as she writes her own name in the book, apparently prepared several of the recipes. Her descriptions are not verbose, but she described the Chocolate Blanc Mange as “good” and recorded that it was eaten by “Janet, Grandpa, and Grandmother.”

Chocolate Blanc Mange from Fun in the Kitchen: A Record Cook Book of Easy Recipes for Little Girls (1927)  Two cups milk Two tablespoons corn-starch One half cup sugar One fourth teaspoon salt Three tablespoons cocoa One half teaspoon vanilla Mix the corn-starch, sugar, salt and cocoa together in the top of the double boiler. Smooth out this mixture with a little of the cold milk. When all the lumps are removed add the rest of the milk slowly.  Put two cups of hot water in the bottom of the double boiler and place over a lighted burner. Put the top part of the boiler in the lower part.  When it begins to thicken on the bottom, stir constantly until it is all about as thick as custard.  Take from the stove and add vanilla. This should be smooth, but if it isn’t, strain through a strainer. Let cool a few minutes and pour into a large serving dish or into individual glasses. When cold set in the ice box or a cool place.  Serve with cream. 

Each recipe in this book is credited to a little girl between the ages 8 and 12, so I decided to call on a child assistant to take the lead on this recipe. To a 21st century parent (at least to this one), age 8 seems young to operate a range, so I wasn’t prepared to leave my assistant chef entirely to her own devices. However, she measured and mixed the cornstarch, sugar, salt, and cocoa (perhaps not quite to Fanny Farmer’s level-measurement standard, but close enough for purposes of pudding) and poured in the milk. However, she rather lost interest during the (admittedly prolonged) stirring and waiting stage. I called her back when the pudding began to thicken and she excitedly stirred in the vanilla, and was eager to try to results, which she declared “great!”

H is for HDS Library Book on Display in New York!

We are honored to have one of our rare books displayed as part of an exhibit titled, "The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt" at the Jewish Museum of New York until August 10, 2025!

In the age of Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 – 1669), the biblical Book of Esther was a key source of inspiration for diverse communities in Holland, both Jewish and Christian. Traditionally, the Esther story is read annually on the Jewish holiday of Purim. For immigrant Jewish communities living with new freedom in more tolerant Amsterdam, celebrating Purim—notably through finely produced Esther scrolls and theater productions—became meaningful expressions of Jewish culture. For the Dutch, Queen Esther’s heroism came to represent their emerging nation’s identity. Rembrandt and his contemporaries depicted essential scenes of Esther’s story in paintings, prints, drawings, and decorative arts. This exhibition gives expression to this full range of the Book of Esther’s popularity and meaning in Rembrandt’s time.

The HDS Library contribution is a Dutch bible from 1649 that includes a lovely initial H illustrated with a scene of Esther before the king.

More info about the exhibit is here.

Photo credit (images 1 & 2): Installation view of "The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt," at the Jewish Museum, NY, March 7–August 10, 2025. Photo by Kris Graves.

October 2019

Nature in human creativity🕊