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The United States is a representative democracy, meaning that government officials are elected by citizens. These officials then are to represent the ideas and concerns of the citizens. To work well, though, our democracy requires not just the work of government officials but also active citizens.

Citizens can participate in their democracy in a number of ways. First, one can stay informed. This involves things like reading or listening to a variety of news sources, researching the views and positions of political candidates and officials, and participating in public discussions and town halls. Citizens can also participate in the process. One can communicate with elected officials, advocate for policies and laws, and even run for office. Finally, the active citizen votes.

Voting is both an important right and responsibility of US citizens. At the founding of the nation, only white, male citizens over the age of 21 were eligible to vote. Later, the Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in 1870 after the Civil War, declared that the right to vote could not be denied on account of race, thus giving African American men the right to vote.  This was not the end of the voting rights struggle for African Americans, however. Because of widespread discrimination in many states, including the use of poll taxes, grandfather clauses, and literacy tests, and other more violent means, African Americans were not assured basic voting rights until President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Likewise, women were denied the right to vote until 1920, when the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified. Today, citizens over the age of 18 cannot be denied the right to vote on the basis of race, religion, sex, disability, or sexual orientation.

While local elections may take place more often, federal elections occur every two years. These elections are overseen by state and local governments and so the specifics on how elections are conducted differ from state to state. The next election takes place on November 8. For information on how elections occur in your home, you can go to the website of your state’s secretary of state. There are also resources such as Rock the Vote or Vote411 to guide you to the appropriate information. Ballotpedia can help you find a sample ballot so you can do your research before you vote. Likewise, Vote Smart is a website that seeks “to provide free, factual, unbiased information on candidates and elected officials to all Americans.”

For more information on democracy and citizenship please visit our book display on the main floor of the library.

Today we know of arsenic, chromium, lead, and mercury as dangerous chemicals and not ones you’d come into contact with frequently, but it wasn’t that long ago that they were included in makeup, paint, and fabric. The colors they produce – emerald green, chrome yellow and red, cinnabar, and white – were highly prized and used extensively in décor, especially during the 1800s. These days we know how dangerous these materials are and no longer use them in most applications.

Of the chemicals, arsenic was the deadliest and has two interesting ties to literature. First, it was a very common poison since it could be purchased easily for rat control, so it is used in many novels including:

• The 4:50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie
• Fly Paper by Dashiell Hammett
• The Landlady by Roald Dahl
• Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring (or the movie)

Second, it was used in the production of a beautiful, emerald green cloth used to cover books. The investigation of arsenic and other chemicals used to color book cloth is the mission behind the Poison Book Project at Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library. Their project began in 2019 when they examined around 350 books using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy to determine if the cover contained both arsenic and copper. If both were identified, Raman spectroscopy was used to confirm copper acetoarsenite, an extremely toxic pigment. Using this process, they were able to identify 39 books that contained the pigment.

Since their discovery, they have worked to publicize their results to help other libraries identify these potentially toxic books in their own collections. Their findings indicate that these books typically have:

• Vibrant green book cloth covering the boards (front and back covers)
• Vibrant green or faded brownish book cloth on the spine
• Gold and blind stamped decoration, often paired with gilt text block edges
• Publication date primarily between the 1840s and 1860s
• Variations on a morocco grain pattern are common, although other book cloth grains have also been identified

This summer we surveyed the library collection to identify books that might have this emerald green book cloth. First, we identified over 1,100 books that met the timeframe qualifications. Then we located the books, noted if they were green, and used a tool published by Winterthur to determine if they were the specific green. We didn't locate any items in the circulating collection but found three potential matches in Special Collections. For now, we have sequestered the books until we can do further testing.

You can learn more about the original project at wiki.winterthur.org/wiki/Poison_Book_Project or explore the history of arsenic in one of the following books:

• Victorian murderesses: a true history of thirteen respectable French and English women accused of unspeakable crimes by Mary S Hartman
• Chemistry of the elements by Greenwood and Earnshaw
• Lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic in the environment by Thomas C. Hutchinson and K M Meema
• Chemistry and crime: from Sherlock Holmes to today's courtroom by Samuel M Gerber and the American Chemical Society.
• The arsenic century: how Victorian Britain was poisoned at home, work, and play by James C Whorton (ebook)
• Color: a natural history of the palette by Victoria Finlay
• Bright earth: art and the invention of color by Philip Ball
• King of Poisons: A History of Arsenic by John Parascandola (ebook)
• Is arsenic an aphrodisiac?: the sociochemistry of an element by William R Cullen (ebook)
• The elements of murder: a history of poison by John Emsley

If you are interested in learning more about Loras Special Collections please join us for "From The Outside In: Uncovering the Hidden Stories Within Loras College’s Rare Books Collection" presented by Rare Book Cataloger, Andrea Martin. Tuesday, October 25, 4pm, MARC 3rd Floor Commons. In this presentation, we’ll look at how the materials of the book, from the binding to the paper, can be entry points into a world of stories that exist above, beneath, and alongside the primary content of the text.  

Feel that cool air? Yes, ready or not, winter is coming! While anyone can get bummed about cold weather, many find it to be a bit more than distressing. The Mayo Clinic defines Seasonal Affective Disorder as “a type of depression that's related to changes in seasons […] sapping your energy and making you feel moody.” Some of the symptoms include:

• Feeling listless, sad or down most of the day, nearly every day
• Losing interest in activities you once enjoyed
• Having low energy and feeling sluggish
• Having problems with sleeping too much
• Experiencing carbohydrate cravings, overeating, and weight gain
• Having difficulty concentrating

If this sounds familiar to you, here are some recommended tips to help alleviate these winter blues:

• Light Therapy - a special light designed to expose bright light within the first hour of the day. Light therapy mimics natural outdoor light and has been shown to have positive effects on mood. Look! The library has a therapy lamp available to check out.
• Talk Therapy (Psychotherapy) – a practice in which a patient explores their feelings by talking about them. The aim is to gain a better understanding of your feelings and find potential paths forward. The Counseling Center (ACC 470) is available to help all students.
• Exercise – A healthy body begets a healthy mind. Remember your brain and body are symbiotically linked, your activity (or lack thereof) will greatly influence how you are feeling. If running outside in the cold doesn’t sound fun, take advantage of the Loras Athletic & Wellness Center!

For more information about coping with Season Affective Disorder and other ways to promote brain health, check out our book display on the Library’s third floor.

In a recent study of online evaluation skills, professional fact-checkers easily beat out undergraduate students and historians with PhDs in a contest to identify the trustworthiness of online information. How? Lateral reading.

Reading laterally means evaluating a source by leaving the site and consulting what other sources have to say about it. Lateral reading is often contrasted with vertical reading. 

Here’s an example of vertical reading. When evaluating a web site, if you’re making judgements based on features internal to the site, such as content, design, URL, you’re reading vertically. Most students have learned and practiced this type of evaluation at some point.

Contrast that with lateral reading, where you research the source on other sites before deciding whether you use or share the source.

To try lateral reading:

• Search Google and Wikipedia to find additional new commentary about the original source. Try searching on publication names, funding organization, author, specific controversial facts in the content or the original source.
• Try to find 3 to 5 new sources that comment on your original source. If you find it difficult to find these secondary sources, then conclude that your original sources is not well established, and be cautious about using it.
• Make a judgment call about the original source's trustworthiness based on the information you found from secondary sources.

Want to learn more? Contact the library!

Sue M. Wilson Brown (1877-1941) was a prominent leader in Iowa’s women’s suffrage movement and an activist for civil rights. While born in Virginia, her family soon moved to the area near Buxton, Iowa, an integrated coal mining town in Mahaska County. She later attended high school in Oskaloosa and then moved to Des Moines after marrying Samuel Joe Brown, a lawyer who shared her commitment to improving the situation of Iowa’s African American community.

In Des Moines, Brown became involved in the Iowa Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, including editing the Iowa Colored Woman, the organization's publication. She also founded several other groups including the Des Moines Intellectual Improvement Club, the Mary B. Talbert Club, the Des Moines Mary Church Terrell Club, and an African American Red Cross auxiliary.

In 1915, Brown became president of the Iowa Federation of Colored Women. During her tenure she led efforts to provide housing for African American women attending the University of Iowa, which did not allow them to live in the dorms until 1945. In this role she likewise worked with the Polk County Suffrage Association.

This was only the beginning of her involvement in the suffrage movement. In 1919, she established the Des Moines League of Colored Women Voters and served as the first president. She spoke at the Iowa Equal Suffrage Association's convention and was a delegate to the first convention of the Iowa League of Women Voters in 1920.

Additionally, Brown was an active member of the Republican Party, serving as a delegate to both county and state conventions. She also was the first vice president of the National League of Republican Colored Women and chair of the Polk County Republican Committee. 

Brown was active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She established the Des Moines NAACP Junior Chapter in 1922, and served as the first female president from 1925 to 1930. Her advocacy likewise made her a strong supporter of efforts to improve race relations in Des Moines. She was on the executive committee of the Des Moines Interracial Committee and was president of the first Interracial Commission on Civil Rights in Iowa.

To learn more about Brown’s work and the efforts of her fellow Iowa suffragists, please come to the Klauer Commons on the Library’s main level from October 3-17 to view the exhibit, Toward a Universal Suffrage: African American Women in Iowa and the Vote for All. Also, come to the 3^rd Floor Commons on Monday, October 3 at 7pm to hear Professor Kristin Anderson-Bricker’s presentation “Increasing the Intelligent Vote:” Losing the 1916 Fight for Woman Suffrage in Iowa and the Resulting Appeal to Enfranchise White, Native-Born Women.