April 15 at 3 p.m. a small celebration will be held in honor of Nolan A. Moore III’s birthday in the Moffett Library Special Collections Room 215.
The Collection features pieces like the Kelmscott Chaucer and an assortment of comics, cards, calendars, and ads. Its crown jewel, a printing press built around 1795 by Adam Ramage, is one of 70 American Common presses still intact in the world. It was found in a barn in northern Mexico after surviving a fire.
“We have carpenters on campus that I have talked to before who say they can fix it up really easily. But if you repair something like this, you lose the value, even though I would love to get my hands on it,” Cortny Bates, special collections librarian, said.
Moore collected comic books extensively.
“A lot of them [were drawn by] landmark artists who were very important in the development of drawing those pieces of art. For example, we have The Yellow Kid which is the first comic book character. There are some really neat original art,” Stacy Johnson, assistant Special Collections Librarian, said. “I think Moore had a good eye for knowing what was going to be important.”
At Moore’s birthday celebration, see if you can spot these three images: a child sitting on a dragon, a group of cannibals, and a cyclops woman. Come any other time Monday-Friday from 9-12AM and 2-5PM to see.
