Category: Miscellany

Science and History of Shipwrecks

Posted on by Jessica O'Connor

 

Check out the video below of Marie Zahn’s talk from Please Tuesday, January 25th from 7pm-8pm as she discussed the Science and History of Shipwrecks: Archaeology and Conservation and answered audience questions!

The journey of an artifact from the past into the present.  When it comes to shipwrecks, archaeologists have a potential time capsule of the past.  It’s a safe assumption to claim that most shipwrecks happen unintentionally – all of the objects on board, from the parts of the ships themselves to the cargo and personal items of the crew, sink together.  What you have is a single slice of history preserved in one place.  A small moment in time captured unexpectedly.  This discussion into the world of underwater archaeology focusses on the challenges of artifact conservation and the effects of different underwater environments on ships and their artifacts.  See how material objects deteriorate and decay over time by looking at shipwrecks from diverse time periods throughout history as well as spanning the globe in terms of construction and final resting places – from ancient Greece to pirate treasure!

Marie Zahn, a Cape Cod native, is the Director of the Brooks Academy Museum and A. Elmer Crowell Decoy Barn Museum for the Harwich Historical Society, as well as serving as the Administrator for the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth. Prior to this, she spent several years working on an early 18th century shipwreck as an archaeologist, conservator, and science education coordinator.  When she’s not talking about history, Marie volunteers as a Solar System Ambassador for NASA, acting as a liaison between the space agency and the public, spreading awareness of current and upcoming NASA missions and sharing news about ongoing work in the space sciences and space exploration.  Marie’s work in science and archaeology has given her a unique perspective and appreciation for history. She believes that history is a continuous narrative, and that it is of the utmost importance to make connections between the past and where we are today. Marie aims to make science open, inclusive, and accessible to anyone that’s curious about the past, present, and future.

Cape Cod and New England Shipwreck Reading List:

Shipwrecks of Cape Cod: Stories of Tragedy and Triumph by Don Wilding

Dangerous Shallows: In Search of the Ghost Ships of Cape Cod by Eric Takakjian and Randall Peffer

The Wreck of the Portland: A Doomed Ship, a Violent Storm, and New England’s Worst Maritime Disaster by J. North Conway

The Palatine Wreck: The Legend of the New England Ghost Ship by Jill Farinelli

The Sol e Mar tragedy off Martha’s Vineyard by Captain W. Russell Webster (U.S. Coast Guard, Ret.) and Elizabeth B. Webster

Disaster off Martha’s Vineyard: The Sinking of the City of Columbus by Thomas Dresser

The Anthology of Cape Cod Shipwrecks by Donald L. Ferris

Storms and Shipwrecks of New England by Edward Rowe Snow; updated by Jeremy D’Entremon

The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea by Sebastian Junger

Expedition Whydah: The Story of the World’s First Excavation of a Pirate Treasure Ship and the Man Who Found Her by Barry Clifford with Paul Berry

Exploring the Waters of Cape Cod: Shipwrecks & Dive Sites: The Complete Guide to Scuba Diving & Shipwreck Locations around Cape Cod & the Islands by Donald L. Ferris

The Pirate Prince: Discovering the Priceless Treasures of the Sunken Ship Whydah: An Adventure by Barry Clifford with Peter Turchi

Cape Cod Maritime Disasters: A Collection of Photographs of Maritime Accidents Around Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard by William P. Quinn

Treasure Wreck: The Fortunes and Fate of the Pirate Ship Whydah by Arthur T. Vanderbilt II

Shipwrecks around New England: A Chronology of Marine Accidents and Disasters from Grand Manan to Sandy Hook by by William P. Quinn

Shipwrecks on Cape Cod: The Story of a Few of the Many Hundred Shipwrecks Which Have Occurred on Cape Cod by Isaac M. Small

Great Storms and Famous Shipwrecks of the New England Coast by Edward Rowe Snow

 

East Falmouth Branch Library Survey

Posted on by Jessica O'Connor

 

ThThe Falmouth Public Library is considering a Planning and Design Grant to study the East Falmouth Branch Library for possible improvement, expansion or replacement in the future. We would like your help in determining how best to proceed. Please take this short, eight question, survey by clicking on the

East Falmouth Survey Square.    We want to know what you think! 

 

Postcards from Falmouth: Greetings from the Waquoit Congregational Church

Posted on by K.C. DeWall

 

“It takes a name to make a town.  It takes people to make a community.  Falmouth is a community rich with people, places and memories.”
                                                                Succanessett Snapshot, by Troy Clarkson
 
The Falmouth Public Library is delighted to roll out the first Postcards from Falmouth oral history, which is part of a series recently added to the Digital Collections@FPL.  As recently featured in the Falmouth Enterprise, the oral history project is truly a community effort and definitely illustrates Troy’s take on our community as quoted above.
 
So without further ado….

If your first thought of Waquoit is the white steeple of Waquoit Congregational Church, you’re in good company. Join Reverend Nell Fields for a tour through the history of this iconic church, from summer-only services to remote outreach during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Learn about the quirks of its restoration, the personal touches left by congregations past, and just what kind of church you could build for for $1300 in 1848.

Again, the Library thanks all our historians (past, present, and future), our interviewers (Barbara Kanellopoulos, Troy Clarkson, and Anna Lee), and the Staff at FCTV (Bob Fenstermaker, Allen Russell, and Andrew Richards). We also thank the MBLC for awarding us this lovely grant because we are now better enabled to realize a new paradigm for the Library’s approach to local history collections–the active facilitation, preservation, and celebration of Falmouth, its history, its people, and most especially its evolving local story told through the eyes of current and future residents.   

Explore more of the Library’s postcard collection here.

 

 

 

This Postcards from Falmouth Oral History was funded by a LSTA grant & administered by the MBLC.  The content around it was provided by Anna Lee, the FPL grant assistant.  Contact Anna for more information about the project at alee@falmouthpubliclibrary.org

 

Owls of Cape Cod with Mass Audubon (via Zoom)

Posted on by Sue

We had a great Zoom talk by Chris Walz from Mass Audubon back, on Wednesday, January 19th!

You can view the recording here!

We learned how to identify Cape Cod’s owl species, gain into insight their life histories and discover the art of owling!

Chris Walz is the property manager and a naturalist at Mass Audubon’s Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary. He has been birding for over 20 years and has taught many birding classes for birders of all backgrounds and abilities.

This event was free and sponsored by the Trustees of the Falmouth Public Library.  

Welcoming New Staff at FPL

Posted on by K.C. DeWall

We are happy to welcome Anna Lee to the Falmouth Public Library staff as a cataloger.

Anna began working at the Library this past summer helping out with the  Postcards from Falmouth project.  Responsible for scheduling oral histories and working in the digital archives, Anna also pushed out the most intriguing and delightful posts on Instagram from our historical postcard collection.

With her background as an English major, with emphases in both linguistics and creative writing, Anna has acclimated quickly to cataloging, especially fiction.  Anna’s favorite  genres are Fantasy, Science Fiction, and nature writing–“anything with an environment you can get lost in, real or not.” Some of her favorite books are Watership Down, by Richard Adams, and Dime-Store Alchemy, by Charles Simic.

 Anna thinks the “best thing about public libraries is how varied their services can be, and how librarians are always working to offer more.”  The most surprising thing about libraries now that Anna works in one is “just how many things change behind the scenes that a casual visitor might never notice.”  Indeed! Things sure have changed for new FPL catalogers–just consider examples found in the Library’s historical documents of Anna’s predecessor‘s practicing the “Rules for Library Hand” at the turn of the century.

Welcome Anna!

Meet FPL’s new Youth Services staff!

Posted on by Library User

Falmouth Public Library welcomes two new staff members to the Children’s Room. Marissa Antosh is our new Children’s Librarian and Department Head and Deirdre Detjens is FPL’s new Children’s Program Assistant. 

Who are Ms. Marissa and Ms. Deirdre?

Ms. Marissa joins the Falmouth Public Library from her most recent position as Children’s Librarian in Duxbury. She has lived in Falmouth for the past 3 years and in Massachusetts since 2013. In Duxbury, her favorite programs were Read-to-a-Dog and anything related to making art. A few years ago, Ms. Marissa dressed up as a dinosaur for a special Dinosaur Tea Party at the Duxbury Senior Center and wrote and performed a rap about being a librarian (but not at the same time)!

Ms. Marissa has worked in libraries since 2008. She grew up in Connecticut and after graduating from college decided to pursue a career as a librarian. After visiting Falmouth for many years, she decided she wanted to live and work here, and now she does!

On her own time, Marissa likes to make all sorts of art. From knitting, spinning, and dyeing fabric with natural materials to bookbinding, sewing, and mending, she likes anything that, as she likes to say, is “tedious and old-fashioned.” Most recently, she entered a box in the Falmouth Art Center’s “Out of the Box” exhibit and sale. She has also submitted art to the Woods Hole Public Library Community Art Project twice. This past summer, her piece “The Roaring 2020s” featured a flapper-style dress embellished with KN95 masks and elastic as fringe to highlight the ways the 2020s are reflecting the 1920s in a variety of ways. 

Ms. Marissa also enjoys reading non-fiction and spending time with her family. She loves dogs and has a Yorkie named Ruby. Her parents have a Labradoodle named Maisie who is a CAP Certified Therapy Dog and she hopes to bring back FPL’s Read-to-a-Dog program and maybe Maisie will get to visit the library in the future! Ms. Marissa’s favorite middle grade book she read this year was Frankie & Bug by Gayle Forman.

—

Ms. Deirdre is very excited to join the Falmouth Public Library’s Youth Services staff and has lived in Massachusetts, Vermont, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Washington & Alaska. Ms. Deirdre’s last position was in the school library at a very diverse K-3 elementary school in the Mid-Cape area. In her school library, besides having books, bean bag chairs, puzzles, games & Legos, she fostered Diamondback Terrapin turtles. These turtles hatched from eggs laid at Sandy Neck Beach Park, West Barnstable. She fostered up to 3 hatchlings and her 3rd graders participated in a naming contest every year! 

When not at work, Ms. Deirdre likes to garden. She volunteers as a Cape Cod Master Gardener participating with the School Garden Committee, as well as at Hyannis West Elementary’s School Garden by helping to prepare classroom kits, teach classes, and maintain the garden area. 

For the past 7 summers, Ms. Deirdre guided kayak trips for RideAway Adventures and was a member of both MassAudubon’s Long Pasture and Cape Cod Maritime Museum’s Education Department.  Two books that Ms. Deirdre enjoyed this year were The Backyard Parables: Lessons on Gardening, and Life by Margaret Roach (adult nonfiction) and Aaron Slater, Illustrator by Andrea Beaty (children’s picture book).

They are excited to meet you! 

Next time you are downtown, drop by the Children’s Room at the Main Library to say hello to Ms. Marissa and Ms. Deirdre. 

Books About Radio on The Point With Mindy Todd

Posted on by Library User

(written by Jill Erickson)

This morning was the last regular WCAI radio show that I will be doing-you can listen to it here! As of October 30th I retired from the Falmouth Public Library. You can take a look at two blogs I wrote about this departure. One is about my being a reference librarian and one is about my time on WCAI. It has been an absolute pleasure to spend time every month with Mindy Todd and whichever book talker happens to be there that month. When Mindy asked me last month what book topic I would like to talk about for my last show, I immediately came up with RADIO! How it is possible that we had never done this topic, I’m not quite sure, but it was the perfect topic for the last show. 

Here is the article that includes the Jack Binns Tribute song we mentioned! Scroll to the very bottom to hear it. 
 

Peter’s Picks

Hello, Everybody: the dawn of American radio by Anthony Rudel

On the Air: the encyclopedia of old-time radio by John Dunning

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

Raised on Radio: in quest of the Lone Ranger, Jack Benny….by Gerald Nachman

Howard Stern Comes Again by Howard Stern

Listening In: radio and the American imagination by Susan J. Douglas

Something in the Air: Radio, Rock and the Revolution…by Marc Fisher

Jill’s Picks

Radio On: A Listener’s Diary by Sarah Vowell (available via the Commonwealth Catalog)
Invasion From Mars: a study in the psychology of panic by Hadley Cantril
Broadcast Hysteria: Orson Welles’s “War of the Worlds” and the art of fake news by A. Brad Schwartz
Marconi: the man who networked the world by Marc Raboy
Out On the Wire: the storytelling secrets of the new masters of radio by Jessica Abel
The Radio Boys Trailing a Voice; Or, Solving a Wireless Mystery by Allen Chapman

Listener Picks

The Great American Broadcast: a celebration of radio’s golden age by Leonard Matlin

 

Graphic Novel Recommendation: ‘Hawkeye’ by Matt Fraction, et al.

Posted on by Sue
This Thanksgiving, Disney+ is set to drop the first two episodes of their newest Marvel television show, ‘Hawkeye’. The show is a loose adaptation of Matt Fraction’s 2012-2015 run on the comic book series, ‘Hawkeye’.
 
In this series, Hawkeye (a.k.a. Clint Barton) is a bit different than the character we know from the films. He’s more of a shaggy dog type — down on his luck, living in a run down apartment building in NYC, caring for a one eyed dog while fighting an endless string of random fistfights with various members of the local Russian mob. He’s still an exceptionally talented archer battling crime in a superhero outfit, only now his outfit is a wrinkled mess and he’s usually sporting a black eye. Or two.
 
Think: James Garner in ‘The Rockford Files’ or Elliot Gould in ‘The Long Goodbye’.
 
If you’ve seen the trailer for the Disney+ adaptation of ‘Hawkeye’, you’ll have no doubt noticed he’s got a young woman shooting explosive arrows alongside him — and that she is also calling herself Hawkeye. This Hawkeye is Kate Bishop, an equally talented archer, only with a MUCH more eager approach to crime-fighting and superheroics.
 
This unwanted and unexpected partnership has two equal yet opposite effects on Barton. 1. It makes him kinda old man cranky. Seeing as how he hadn’t realized he was an old man yet, that makes him doubly cranky. 2. It reignites a fire under his quiver, inspiring him to do more, do better, and to properly train this new Hawkeye for a life of shooting boxing glove arrows at ne’er do wells. It’s the classic comedic pairing of opposites, and the results are hilarious.
 
When it comes to comics, good writing is only half the equation. The art is equally important. And in ‘Hawkeye’, the art is phenomenal — stylish, minimalist, and often using only one or two colors to accentuate the thick, black linework. The first 11 issues are drawn by David Aja, and he is clearly having fun, designing clever panel layouts that sometimes read like those little maps in the old ‘Family Circus’ comic strips, and sometimes read like full-blown storyboards for big budget action flicks. The result is something akin to a New Yorker cartoonist adapting ‘The French Connection’.
 
So now you’ve got a decision to make. Do you patiently wait week to week to watch the story unfold on TV, or do you embrace your inner Veruca Salt and scream, “I don’t care how, I want it now!”?
 
If you’re the Veruca Salt type (spoilers: you are), have I got good news for you! Matt Fraction’s entire run on ‘Hawkeye’ comic book series has been collected into four graphic novels, and they’re all available as both old-timey paper versions AND as free ebooks. You can either request them for pick-up at your local library (we have ’em all at the main branch of the Falmouth Public Library), or visit Hoopla and read them there!
 
 
Hoopla links:
 
 
(reviewed by Josh M.)

Climate Change on Cape Cod

Posted on by Jessica O'Connor

Climate Change on Cape Cod: What’s at Stake and What Can We Do

Please join us on Tuesday, November 9th from 4pm to 5pm via Zoom as Dr. Heather Goldstone from the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Woods Hole presents a lecture on climate change on Cape Cod.

Two recent UN reports indicate that we are now committed to hitting 1.5C of warming by early next decade, and are on track to hit 2.7C this century. With the damaging impacts of climate change already apparent and increasing, it’s critical for communities to understand the risks they face—those that are inevitable and require adaptation, and those that we can still avert. This Climate Change on Cape Cod: What’s at Stake and What Can We Do lecture brings the risks, opportunities, and choices presented by the global challenge of climate change down to the local level.  A Q&A will follow the lecture.

To register to attend this virtual climate change lecture, click here. 

“Dr. Heather Goldstone oversees Woodwell Climate Research Center’s communications activities, bringing the rich stories of Woodwell scientists to diverse public audiences. Dr. Goldstone has extensive experience as both a scientist and a journalist, and she is passionate about melding data and narrative in climate change stories that build awareness and inspire action.” – Woodwell Climate Research Center

Climate Change and Global Warming Reading List:

How To Avoid A Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have And The Breakthroughs We Need  by Bill Gates (2021)

How To Prepare For Climate Change: A Practical Guide To Surviving The Chaos by David Pogue (2021)

Hurricane Lizards And Plastic Squid: The Fraught And Fascinating Biology of Climate Change by Thor Hanson (2021)

The New Climate War: The Fight To Take Back Our Planet by Michael E. Mann (2021)

Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case For Hope And Healing In A Divided World by Katherine Hayhoe (2021) 

Warmth: Coming Of Age At The End Of The World by Daniel Sherrell (2021)

Angry Weather: Heat Waves, Floods, Storms, And The New Science of Climate Change by Friederike Otto with Benjamin von Brackel (2020)

Disposable City: Miami’s Future On The Shores Of Climate Catastrophe by Mario Alejandro Ariza (2020)

The Fragile Earth: Writing From The New Yorker On Climate Change (2020)

The Future We Choose: Surviving The Climate Crisis by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac (2020) 

Solved: How The World’s Great Cities Are Fixing The Climate Crisis by David Miller (2020) 

The Story Of More: How We Got To Climate Change And Where To Go From Here by Hope Jahren (2020)

All Hell Breaking Loose: The Pentagon’s Perspective On Climate Change by Michael T. Klare (2019)

Climate Change Politics And Policies In America: Historical And Modern Documents In Context (2019)

Rising: Dispatches From The New American Shore by Elizabeth Rush (2019)

The Ice At The End Of The World: An Epic Journey Into Greenland’s Buried Past And Our Perilous Future by Jon Gertner (2019)

The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming by David Wallace-Wells (2019)

No Immediate Danger: Carbon Ideologies by William T. Vollmann (2018)

Climate Change: An Encyclopedia Of Science, Society, And Solutions (2017)

Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed To Reverse Global Warming by Paul Hawken (2017)

We Will Miss You Laura!

Posted on by Library User

Once upon a time I met a librarian at a workshop I was giving at the Brewster Ladies Library for the Southeastern Massachusetts Library System. Little did I know that the workshop would end up with my being introduced to Laura Ford, who eventually became the Head of the Children’s Department at FPL.  But let me just take a step back, because before she became the Head of the Children’s Department, I hired her as a part-time reference librarian! Thus I had the pleasure of working with her in that capacity for a few years, and one of the things I most loved about working with Laura, was she was the best reader’s advisory librarian I ever had. In fact, she recommended all kinds of books that I added to my staff picks over the years. 

Once Laura made the move to the Children’s Department she created all kinds of enchantment for children, and adults too! I remember one day she showed me how to make a fairy out of a clothespin. When our building was shut down, but we were still working in the building, Laura was a great sport when I asked her to pose with a pink elephant named Elly! As the Head of Adult Services and Reference, I was always delighted to find some fun project going on in the children’s room, and sometimes beyond the children’s room. Here are two turkeys I saw one day hanging around the library.

One of the most spectacular events that Laura and I worked on together was the night we had twelve kids in the library after hours. They had all entered a contest created around the book Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein, and the prize was getting to spend time in the library after it closed. What great fun it was! Here are all the kids with Chris Grabenstein himself! Laura even convinced her own husband to take part in the scavenger hunt festivities! And here is one of my favorite photos of Laura, taken on a very fun day when Mo Willems came to FPL!

This is only a small sampling of the fun I’ve had with Laura, and I know that our loss is a gain for the Plymouth Public Library, but we will miss her so much! I am guessing she will not miss her commute across the bridge every day, but she will miss having all that time to listen to books on CD. Wishing Miss Laura (as she was known in the children’s room) all the best as she begins her new adventure.