Van Wylen Library

Interested in the library’s newest materials? Look no farther than the new acquisitions shelves, located on the first floor to the right of the Project Room. The materials on these shelves are arranged by the date they were added to the library’s collection, with the new books on the left, the newer books in the middle, and the newest books on the right. A list of new books is also available on HopeCat.

The music library is a specialized branch of Van Wylen that, as the name suggests, contains the library’s music collection. Located on the east side of Nykerk Hall, this branch of the library includes performance materials such as scores, CDs and DVDs of a musical nature, and a substantial amount of scholarly and instructional material used by both students and faculty.

The materials in the music library aren’t limited to classical recordings made by prominent orchestras. In fact, the library actually has a large collection of Broadway recordings and recordings made by Hope ensembles, faculty members, and guest performers.

The music library is staffed by twelve student workers and John Hoyer, the Music Library Associate. Hoyer has been working at Hope for ten years. He began working for libraries about twenty years ago doing telephone reference for a public library in Grand Rapids. He came to Hope after hearing about the job from a friend. Now, he performs a variety of tasks related to the music library, including cataloging, supervising student workers, collection development, and music reference work for students and faculty.

“Music reference work, in fact, is what Hoyer considers to be the most interesting part about his job.

“I like helping people find materials and get answers,” Hoyer said.

The music library is open from 8 a.m to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, Friday 8-5, Saturday 1-4, and Sunday 3-11. Feel free to stop by some time and discover all that the music library has to offer!

Another recently updated display in Van Wylen Library is the Japanese ceramics display, located on the first floor to the left of the staircase. The bowl and platter that are currently featured were both created by artist Ito Motohiko. Though interested in drawing as a child, Motohiko studied ceramics at Tokyo Art University and has since won prizes and been featured in department stores and one-man shows in both Japan and other countries. One of the distinctive features of Motohiko’s artwork is the textured, cheesecloth-impressed surface that can be seen on his ceramics. Other characteristics of Motohiko’s work include autumn maple leaves, flowers, grasses, and bamboo, in addition to other nature-inspired decorations.

Hope College came to own these ceramics through a donation from Maurice M. Kawashima. Kawashima was born in Tokyo, Japan. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo before moving to the United States, where he earned an associate’s degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology and a certificate in fashion design from Parson’s School of Design, both in New York City. He was a professor at FIT for fifteen years and started his own fashion company, Masaaki New York, in addition to working as a designer for other clothing lines. He has a particular interest in ceramics due to their cultural importance in daily life in Japan. In 1999, Hope awarded Kawashima with an honorary Doctor of Letters degree.

— Bethany Stripp, Library Student Blogger

John James Audubon (1785-1851) is one of the best-known ornithologists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Born in present-day Haiti as the illegitimate son of a French merchant and Creole woman, Audubon moved to France with his father when he was five years old. It was there that he first developed a particular interest in birds and drawing. When he was eighteen, Audubon moved to his father’s estate in Pennsylvania to avoid being drafted into Napoleon’s army. As an adult, Audubon tried several business ventures with different partners but failed at all of them. Eventually, he began to devote the majority of his time to the study and drawing of birds. Over the course of several years, Audubon drew many pictures of birds throughout America. These drawings were published between 1827 and 1838 in the four volume collection, The Birds of America. During this period, Audubon split his time between Europe, where his publisher and patrons for the collection were located, and America, where he continued his study of birds. In 1839 Audubon moved to New York City, where he created a smaller-sized edition of The Birds of America and a three volume work entitled Viviparous Quadrapeds of North America. Audubon died in New York City in 1851.

Van Wylen Library has one of the volumes of The Birds of America. Formerly located on the north end of the first floor, the display was recently moved to the south side of the staircase on the second floor to prevent overexposure to sunlight. UV filters have been installed on the florescent lights near the volume to protect the book. Because the book is under a glass case, it is not possible to browse through the plates yourself. However, if you would like to see the images, the University of Pittsburgh has a website with the plates and accompanying text from Ornithological Biography. If you would like to learn more about Audubon and The Birds of America, we have several books in our collection on this topic.

One of the most influential books in the English language is the King James, or Authorized, Version of the Bible. This version of the Bible came about as a result of the Hampton Court, held in 1603 by King James I of England. Over the course of three and a half years, 47 individuals split among three committees worked on revising existing English translations of the Bible rather than creating an entirely new translation. The finished product, first printed in 1611, became the Authorized Version of the Bible, though today it is commonly known as the King James Version. This version, which made a conscious effort to stay faithful to the original Hebrew and Greek, became the definitive English translation of the Bible for over 200 years.

Two editions of the Authorized Version of the Bible were printed: the “He” Bible and the “She” Bible. The difference between these two Bibles lies in Ruth 3:15, where the “He” edition says, “and he went into the citie” while the “She” edition says, “and she went into the citie.”

Van Wylen Library came to own a 1611 “She” edition of the King James Bible when it was given as a gift by Everett T. Welmers (’32), the initiator of Hope College’s Rare Book Collection. This edition of the Bible, currently on display to the right of the staircase on the first floor of the library, features a particularly interesting misprint in Matthew 26:36, which reads, “Then cameth Judas with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, sit yee here, while I goe and pray yonder.” The Bible is open to this page in the display, so be sure to stop by and see it.

— Bethany Stripp, Library Student Blogger