A Sitter for Little Liza

We were answering a reference question today out of Charles Jackson's papers and we stumbled on a sweet little moment. Jackson was friends with Judy Garland and Ira Gershwin, and in a letter dated April 15, [1946], Gershwin writes:

We went up to see Judy and the baby. The baby is lovely but Judy isn't recovering as well as she'd like. Nothing serious though as she and Vincente expect to come here for dinner during the week.

I guess little one-month-old Liza Minnelli had a baby sitter that week!

To see the letter, ask for MS-1070, Box 1, Folder 45. There are also some letters between Judy Garland and Charles Jackson in the collection.

Camp Fire Girls

The Camp Fire Girls were founded just up the road from here in Thetford, Vermont, to give girls the same opportunities their bothers had in the Boy Scouts. We just acquired this poster from their 1912 festival with "The First Fire Maker" as the main performance. This complements correspondence between Percy MacKaye and Camp Fire Girls founders, and Luther and Charlotte Gulick. Percy, a multi-talented writer contributed to the first Camp Fire Girls songbook, and appears to have been a friend of the fledgling progressive organization.

The poster is a great example of local printing (the Vermonter Press) from wood display type. It simple layout combines with the rich red ink to make an immediate impact.

We are still cataloging this one, but we will add the call number when we have it (and here it is! Broadside 912640). To see the Gulick's letters to Percy MacKaye, ask for ML-5, Box 39, Folder 10.