Books for the Artist in Your Life

Opened in 1913, Grand Central Terminal is a world-famous landmark building with a magnificent 48-foot-high, 1,500-ton statuary group on top of the main facade.

Designed by sculptor Jules-Felix Coutan, a 13-foot-wide Tiffany clock serves as the centerpiece.The figure above the clock is Mercury, with Hercules to the left and Minerva to the right.In the late 1990s, a historic restoration was performed on the terminal after which two cast-iron eagle statues were placed over entrances at Lexington Avenue and Forty-Second Street/Vanderbilt Avenue.These eagles were from the 1898 Grand Central Station building that was demolished in 1910 to make room for the construction of the new Grand Central Terminal structure.Penn Station, which opened in 1910, covered two full city blocks and had statuary groups, designed by sculptor Adolph Weinman, on all four sides of the building.After Penn Station was demolished in the mid-1960s, the statuary was dispersed throughout various locations, mainly in the Northeast.

Syracuse Television features the zaniness of Baron Daemon, lessons from the Magic Toy Shop, and live fun from Jim Deline and the Gang and The Markert Place.

Central New Yorkers have been treated to many memorable television moments since December 1, 1948, when WHEN-TV Channel 8 signed on the air for the first time. In a record 16 days after equipment arrived at its 101 Court Street site, the station was miraculously up and running. Syracuse's pioneer broadcasters were eager to explore this bold, new world with programs that would entertain, educate, and inform.  Over the years, personalities and programs became familiar to Central New Yorkers. There was news coverage from Fred Hillegas, Ron Curtis, Rod Wood, and Carrie Lazarus and weather forecasts from Stormy Meredith, Big Al Roker, Dave Eichorn, and Wayne Mahar.

Detroit broadcasting history is rich with character . . . and characters.

It began atop the Penobscot Building on October 23, 1946, when WWDT shot a signal to the convention center, part of a ""New Postwar Products Exposition."" WWJ-TV offered scheduled programming in June 1947, and WXYZ-TV and WJBK-TV jumped in a year later. The medium has influenced the city's personality and social agenda ever since. Soupy Sales turned getting a pie in the face into an art form. Mort Neff celebrated the state's outdoor charms. George Pierrot showed Detroiters the world. Other beloved personalities include: Milky the Clown, Ed McKenzie, Sonny Eliot, John Kelly, Marilyn Turner, Robin Seymour, Bill Bonds, Dick Westerkamp, Jingles, Bill Kennedy, Lou Gordon, Captain Jolly, Johnny Ginger, Auntie Dee, and many more.

Cincinnati Television provides an informative entertaining look at Cincinnati's broadcast history through the images and stories of its participants.

Cincinnati has a distinguished television history. Beginning before WLW-T signed on the air in February 1948, its experimental station W8XCT broadcast from the 46th floor of the Carew Tower. WKRC-TV and WCPO-TV signed on in 1949, WCET in 1954, and WXIX-TV in 1968. Since then, television has become part of the family.

Uncle Al, Skipper Ryle, Batty Hattie from Cincinnati, the Cool Ghoul, Peter Grant, Al Schottelkotte, Nick Clooney, Ruth Lyons, Paul Baby, Bob Braun, and Jerry Springer visited Cincinnati living rooms on television. Remember Midwestern Hayride, TV Dance Party, PM Magazine, Juvenile Court, Young People's Specials, Lilias, Dotty Mack, Bob Shreve, Mr. Hop, Bean's Clubhouse, The Last Prom, and Ira Joe? They are part of the collective Cincinnati history, part of the Cincinnati culture, and part of the Cincinnati family.

Jim Friedman is a Cincinnati native and resident wordsmith who has created television shows since 1979. He has won 56 regional Emmy Awards for writing, directing, and producing television shows for WCPO-TV, WKRC-TV, WLWT, WXIX, and WCET. He created The Celebrate Series, The Dooley Show, Everyday Freedom Heroes, and the Dreambuilder movies. In Cincinnati Television, he shares memories from in front of the camera, behind the scenes, and all over town.

Since 1925, the John C. Campbell Folk School has invited people to explore their creative potential in the serene setting of Brasstown, North Carolina. Those pursuits began with education, agriculture, and traditional Appalachian crafts, including wood carving and blacksmithing. One hundred years later, the school expanded into more than 50 subject areas, from cooking and clay to shoemaking and stained glass. Friends and cofounders Olive Dame Campbell and Marguerite Butler were influenced by the Danish folkehøjskole, or “folk high school,” and set out to create a similar opportunity in Appalachia where learning would be noncompetitive and meals would be communal. The folk school has provided the foundation for the internationally recognized Brasstown Carvers, created a music and dance program with regular offerings for concerts and contras, and now welcomes thousands of students while holding over 800 weeklong and weekend classes per year. 

It continues to be, as Olive once described, “an experiment in adult education” that seeks to enliven and enlighten the world. 

Kitty Taylor served as the programs development manager and creative program advisor for writing. She selected photographs and materials from the Fain Archives to provide a glimpse at the John C. Campbell Folk School’s first 100 years. 

As Florida Southern College embarked upon an ambitious building program in the 1930s, the serendipitous arrival of Frank Lloyd Wright transformed the future of the school.

Pres. Ludd Myrl Spivey was a leader with limitless imagination, and he realized the virtue in bringing an architect of Wright's renown to Lakeland. Wright's first visit to the lakeside campus was in 1938. He envisioned a grand 18-unit Child of the Sun campus, where buildings would grow from the Florida sand into the light. The buildings are especially suited to the landscape and are connected thematically by a series of covered walkways Wright called the Esplanade. Over the next 20 years, 12 of these unique structures were constructed at Florida Southern, and today they comprise the world's largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright's work. The campus attracts thousands of visitors annually, and preservation and restoration projects are ongoing. The Florida Southern College Architectural District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

Authors Deb Schillo and Barbara Miller take the reader through the fascinating history of the Southern Highland Craft Guild through a series of charming images and narratives of the craftspeople and artists throughout the 20th and into the 21st century that have made the Guild the world-renown cultural staple that it is today.

As Florida Southern College embarked upon an ambitious building program in the 1930s, the serendipitous arrival of Frank Lloyd Wright transformed the future of the school.

Pres. Ludd Myrl Spivey was a leader with limitless imagination, and he realized the virtue in bringing an architect of Wright's renown to Lakeland. Wright's first visit to the lakeside campus was in 1938. He envisioned a grand 18-unit Child of the Sun campus, where buildings would grow from the Florida sand into the light. The buildings are especially suited to the landscape and are connected thematically by a series of covered walkways Wright called the Esplanade. Over the next 20 years, 12 of these unique structures were constructed at Florida Southern, and today they comprise the world's largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright's work. The campus attracts thousands of visitors annually, and preservation and restoration projects are ongoing. The Florida Southern College Architectural District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Enjoy the rich legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work at Florida Southern College in this collection of 15 historic black-and-white postcards.