#govpubfinds

This book celebrates the centennial of the totem pole collection at what is now Sitka National Historical Park. First it traces the history and cultural significance of totem carving among the Tlingit and Haida people, including how totem carving was influenced by the fur trade and then extended contact with White settlers.  Next, it traces Governor John G. Brady’s drive to collect totem poles from tribal leaders for Alaska exhibits at two world’s fairs: the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis and the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland, Oregon. This is followed by an introduction to Sika National Historical Park’s history. Its first iteration was as a public park created in 1890, before it was elevated to a National monument in 1910. In the 1930’s, the park’s deteriorating totem collection was restored, if initially sometimes inexpertly, by a cadre of workers under New Deal programs which also led to the revitalization of totem carving as an artform. In 1972, Sitka National Monument became Sitka National Historical Park. Greater funding in the 1970’s and 1980’s secured better preservation for totem carvings and more professional reproductions of deteriorated work. In the 1990’s preservationists experimented with better wood preservation techniques and the park’s visitor center was revamped.

Patrick, A. (2002). The most striking of objects: the totem poles of Sitka National Historical Park. Anchorage: National Park Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior.

A publication produced by the National Security Agency’s (NSA) Center for Cryptologic History. This document explores the NSA’s involvement in the Cuban Missile Crisis. It highlights the NSA’s interception of Soviet and Cuban communications, and explains how this information was used to identify the weapons that were being delivered to Havana.

“Beginning late in 1960 and extending through 1961, NSA intercepted messages concerning Soviet ships headed for Havana. The cargo manifests were suspiciously blank, indicating that what they carried was more than just palm oil or farm equipment.“

Works Progress Administration (WPA) Art Program for the Federal Theater Project (FTP) (1936-1939). “The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse” by Barré Lyndon at the Hollywood Playhouse, Hollywood, California.

More information available on the Library of Congress WPA posters collection website HERE. The playbill from this play can be found also on the Library of Congress website HERE. The script for the movie version of this play can be found HERE through the UW Libraries.

Dr. Clitterhouse is a 1936 play by British writer Barré Lyndon. Before you ask… yes. The main character's name is a pun on that organ. Apparently Lyndon was actively trying to avoid censorship and thought the pun was funny. He once stated that:

"My view was that he [the censor] was no more likely to locate the pun in my title as to locate the source of it on his beloved bedfellow".

The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse is a thriller about desire (who would have thought). The rights were brought by Warner Brothers and made into a movie staring Humphrey Bogart.

This play was put on by the WPA through the Federal Theater Project which was made possible by Federal Project Number One (part of the New Deal) which ran from 1935 to 1939. The FTP funded live artistic performances and entertainment programs. This project was created as a relief measure to employ artists, writers, directors, musicians, actors, and theater workers. They made pertinent art, welcomed innovation in new forms and techniques, and made it possible for millions to see theater for the first time. In its prime Federal Project Number One had over 40,000 employees because as the Secretary of Commerce at the time Harry Hopkins put it:

“Hell, they’ve got to eat, too”.

Although the FTP and Federal Project Number One only used 0.5% of their allocated funds from the WPA, being nothing less than an astounding success, the project became a source of political contention. Congress responded to the project's racial integration and accusations of Communist infiltration and canceled its funding effective June 30, 1939.

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Federal project number one. (2024). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Federal_Project_Number_One&oldid=1256566750

Federal theatre project. (2024). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Federal_Theatre_Project&oldid=1245552232

Lyndon, B., & Project (U.S.), F. T. (1936). “The amazing dr. Clitterhouse” by barre lyndon [Still image]. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/98507342/

Drug Prevention Videos: Elementary, Junior High, High School

US Department of Education publication from 1988 outlining newly produced drug prevention videos available for use in schools. Videos were distributed to schools for free, were broadcasted on PBS in October and November 1988, and were also available for purchase from the producers. Different video series were produced for different age groups and ranged from 5-44 minutes in length. Topics covered include the dangers of drug use, peer pressure, drug use in family members, creating goals to resist drug pressures, and drug use of athletes.

United States. Department of Education. (1988). Drug prevention videos : Elementary, junior high, high school. Washington, D.C.]: U.S. Dept. of Education.

Before there was Bill the bill, Congressional Quarterly was educating readers about the legislative process. How a Bill Becomes Law tracks the legislative process from introduction to enactment.

“In essence, the “stress” of weightlessness is the removal of forces to which the body is adapted and for which the body is genetically designed to counteract. Adaptation to the weightless environment involves disuse or modified use of these structures and mechanisms. Rapid and complete adaptation to a weightless environment is desirable for enhanced performance during space flight. However, the degree of adaptation during weightless exposure may affect the severity of problems encountered upon return and re-adaptation to the one-g environment.“

This government publication documents results from experiments conducted in Skylab and other manned space missions, as well as input from other programs on isolated crew habitation and confined quarters, like in the Antarctic or submarine missions. A series of tables in the “Inventory of Human Responses to Space Flight” section provide a detailed analysis of the body’s reaction to various stimuli and conditions. Do you have what it takes to survive a trip into space?

“The Children’s Literature Center organizes symposia and celebrations; it issues publications and raises funds for special projects, such as programs featuring authors, illustrators, and others who contribute to the making of children’s books...Underlying all of the center’s work is its goal to further the development of children’s literature as a scholarly resource and to raise the level of awareness of children’s books as educational and recreational assets.”

This government publication is an illustrated print book published by the Library of Congress that records a lecture given by Antonio Frasconi on International Children’s Book Day, for a program series that celebrates “the art and design of picture-book-makers who come to America from cultures around the world.” 

You can read other pamphlets or exhibition catalogs commemorating past exhibits or lectures from the Library of Congress, as well as museums like the Smithsonian, in our Government Publications Stacks!

In the mid-1990s, pressure was mounting from the Mariners’ ownership to replace or supplement Seattle’s existing stadium, the Kingdome, with a new facility. Through several difficult rounds of funding measures and threats of sale or departure from the team, eventually the state approved a public funding mechanism for a new stadium. This Environmental Impact Statement report discusses the suitability of three alternative (to the Kingdome) sites, including the site ultimately chosen for what would become Safeco Field.