FOR RELEASE: IMMEDIATE DATE: 12/13/02

CONTACT: EMILY SILVERMAN, (413) 545-0995

UMASS AMHERST LIBRARY ANNOUNCES EXHIBITS

"The Sylph Deck - A Lepidopteran Tarot"
Main Floor, Du Bois Library, through January 31, 2003

     UMass Amherst undergraduate Tyran Grillo exhibits his exquisite black and white tarot cards, along with samples of other tarot decks and books related to the tradition and history of tarot.

"Whatcha Got Cookin? Recent Additions to the Regional Community Cookbook Collection"
Floor 25, Du Bois Library, through January 31, 2003

     Special Collections and Archives began building the Regional Community Cookbook Collection in 1998. Community cookbooks, those produced by church groups, school groups, women's clubs, and other community organizations, tell a great deal about the lives of the people who contribute the recipes. In its effort to document the social history of the region, the Library collects community cookbooks from Western Massachusetts for researchers to use as primary sources.

     The collection has grown substantially since 1998, thanks to the enthusiasm of Library staff and community members who scour flea markets, bookstalls, auction showrooms, and tag sales on our behalf and donate their finds. There are now nearly 400 items representing Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden, and Worcester counties. The oldest cookbooks in the collection include Choice Recipes by the Ladies of Baldwinville (1886) and Tried and True by Turners Falls' Ladies of the Unitarian Society (1888). For more information about the collection, see http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/ckbk.html.