New(s) @ Axe

News and Events of the Leonard H. Axe Library, and of the
Kansas Technology Center Library - Pittsburg (KS) State University

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Friends of Axe Continues to Enhance DVD Collection

Friends of the Leonard H. Axe Library, at its last Board Meeting, continued to pursue its ambition of enhancement of the DVD collection of Axe Library. All films check out for three weeks with three renewals. Here is the latest list of classic films which the Friends hope that University and community patrons will enjoy:

Abstract Art 1999- Artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Jason Martin, and Fiona Rae are profiled in this brief overview. Includes footage of artists at work along with a wide selection of paintings and sculpture.

Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman 1974 - Story of a black woman in the South who was born into slavery in the 1850s and lives to become a part of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

The Battle of Algiers (Italian: La battaglia di Algeri) 1966 - Classic film by Gillo Pontecorvo based on events during the 1954-1962 Algerian War against French rule.

Beckett 1964 – Famous film adaptation of Jean Anouilh’s play . Henry II appoints his best friend Thomas Beckett to be Archbishop of Canterbury, thinking he’ll rubber stamp all royal policies. But The new job transforms Thomas into a faithful and honorable prince of the church who’s not afraid to face down the king.

Ben-Hur 1959 – Charlton Heston’s famous film about a Jewish prince who is betrayed and sold into slavery by a Roman friend. By his strength and intelligence, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.

El Cid 1961 – Charlton Heston rides again in this epic/biopic of the career and trials of El Cid
Campeador, a Castilian nobleman, military leader, diplomat, and conqueror of the city of Valencia.

Civilisation 1969 --Kenneth Clark’s groundbreaking television series about Western art, architecture and philosophy since the Dark Ages.

Death of a Salesman 1966- Broadway Theatre Archive – Lee J. Cobb’s riveting performance as Willy Loman, a travelling salesman struggling to make a living as he slides into old age and madness.

Lord of the Flies (Criterion Collection) -
Classic 1963 adaptation of William Golding's novel. A planeload of schoolboys is stranded on a tropical island where they try to set up a Western style democracy, but promptly descend into barbarism and brutality.

Godspell 1973- The film adaptation of the Off-Broadway musical Godspell. Jesus sings and dances his parables in modern New York City,

Great Stars of Opera - Telecasts from the Bell Telephone Hour 1959-1966 – Groundbreaking TV series from the fifties and sixties. Joan Sutherland sings the Mad Scene from Lucia di Lammermoor, George London sings from Boris Godunov and Leontyne Price sings from Aida and Il Trovatore.



Inherit the Wind 1960 – Spencer Tracy faces down Frederick March in a Tennessee courtroom in this film adaptation of the notorious Scopes trial of 1925.

Jesus Christ Superstar (Special ed.) 1973 – The great Andrew Lloyd Webber ‘s take on the Crucifixion, brought to the screen.

A Man for All Seasons 1966 – Paul Scofield stars as Thomas More in director Fred Zimmerman’s film adaptation of Robert Bolt’s play.

Les Miserables, directed by Glenn Jordan (in English) 1978 - Richard Jordan is escaped convict Jean Valjean and Anthony Perkins relentless pursuer Inspector Javert in this film version of Victor Hugo's novel.

Monteverdi - L'Orfeo, L'Incoronazione di Poppea, Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria (Boxset) 2007,
directed by Jean Pierre Ponnelle – Complete surviving operas of Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi, 1567-1643, brilliant Renaissance/Baroque composer and father of opera as we know it.

Le Nozze de Figaro 1976 - directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. The vocal talents of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Maria Ewing, Mirella Freni, Kiri Te Kanawa, and Hermann Prey as Figaro enhance this production made especially for television.

Rules of the Game 1939 -Directed by Jean Renoir, Criterion Collection – Jean Renoir’s 1939 classic about a group of sexually entangled French couples who meet at a country estate for the weekend, with devastating consequences.

Simon Schama’s Power of Art 2007- Scholar and writer Simon Schama profiles Van Gogh’s Wheatfield with Crows, Picasso’s Guernica, Caravaggio’s David with the head of Goliath, Bernini’s The Ecstasy of St. Theresa, Rembrandt’s The Conspiracy of the Batavian, David’s The Death of Marat, Turner’s Slave Ship…and Rothko’s Seagram Murals in order to pinpoint the “creative Moment” which made these works so great.

In 1941, during the Nazi occupation of Paris, the Gestapo visited Pablo Picasso's Left Bank flat, where a member of the secret police spied a postcard of the artist's most famous work, Guernica. The giant mural memorialized Germany's 1937 aerial obliteration of a small Basque village. "Was it you who did this?" the Nazi demanded of Picasso, to which he replied, "No. It was you."


Zulu – 1964 Historical film depicting extraordinary valor of outnumbered remnant of British forces who were pinned down at the missionary station of Rorke’s Drift in Natal, South Africa during the Zulu Wars. Stanley Baker and Michael Caine star.


Upcoming events for Friends of Axe: Gene DeGruson Memorial Lecture, October 9, 2008, 7PM: Shelby Horn lectures on the cultural journal founded by Gene, The Little Balkans Review.

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Friday, May 09, 2008

"Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography" Now Online

The Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography is an excellent scholarly work, known for its accuracy and reliability. The Dictionary provides the history of science through the lives of scientists from antiquity to modern times. Scientists from all areas are included, particularly mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and earth sciences. The biographies are extensive (1-5 or more pages) and focus on the scientific contribution the person made as well as their personal life. The keyword approach and use of the index allows for more than name searching. For example, searching for paleobotany brings up 16 paleobotantists from 8 countries as well as sections on paleobotany research, history and study and teaching. See references at the end of the article will link to other related entries on the person or topic.



John Frank Adams, a leading figure in algebraic topology
b. Woolwich U.K., 5 Nov 1930; d near Brampton U.K. 7 Jan 1989

Access from the Library homepage: http://library.pittstate.edu> Online Catalog > Title.

Or use the Online Reference Sources > Biography.

Add to ANGEL course resources: The direct link to Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography is: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?prodId=GVRL.scibio&userGroupName=psu_main&authCount=1

The library’s proxy string to add in front of the link is: http://library.pittstate.edu:2048/login?url=

For more information, check the Library’s ANGEL page.

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