#west mifflin

[geminicollisionworks]

Farewell to the great Joe Flaherty.

[alles7ist7vorbei]

[countesspetofi]

Highlights of the 2017 Drive-In Super Monster-Rama, including the Black Lagoon raffle basket.

[pittsburghbeautiful]

Kennywood Park

Exploring the Magic of Kennywood: Pittsburgh’s Amusement Park Imagine a place where nostalgia and thrill blend so perfectly it feels like stepping into another world. This is no mere daydream; it’s Kennywood, Pittsburgh’s premier amusement park and a place of both yesteryear charm and modern excitement. Whether you’re seeking the adrenaline rush of roller coasters or a leisurely stroll down…

[bigglesworld]

Helen Richey. In 1934 she became the first female pilot to be hired by a US airline. Pictured at Bettis Field, West Mifflin, PA in 1933

[uwmspeccoll]

Publishers’ Binding Thursday

This week’s Publishers’ Binding Thursday post comes on the heels of last week’s post, which was translated by the author of this week’s book, Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904). Hearn is an interesting figure—born on the Greek island Lefkada, his family moved to Dublin where he was abandoned first by his mother and then by his father, left to live with his great aunt. He ended up penniless in London as a teenager, until he was given a one-way ticket to New York by his now-infirm guardian’s financial manager, Henry Molyneux, and told to find Molyneux’s relatives in Cincinnati. Those relatives gave Hearn $5 and sent him on his way and he ended up working for a printer and writing sensational stories for the Cincinnati Daily Enquirer. He later moved on to New Orleans, where he continued writing for newspapers and began translation and other writing work. Harper’s sent him to the West Indies for two years, and later Hearn traveled to Japan on commission to write a story (that never materialized) and never left. He married into a Japanese family, who eventually adopted him so that he could become a Japanese citizen, taking the name Koizumi Yakumo. To learn more about Hearn, there is a nice piece from the New Yorker that goes into more detail about him and this work, as well as a piece in the Paris Review.

His time in Japan is the origin of this book, Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, published by Houghton, Mifflin, and Co. in 1905. The book was designed by Bruce Rogers. Hearn wrote these Japanese ghost stories from traditional tales he may have heard from his wife, Koizumi Setsuko. From the New Yorker:

“Our primal fear when it comes to ghosts, Hearn wrote, is not of seeing or hearing them but of being touched by them; the kaidan both exploit that revulsion and offer the heroic spectacle of characters whose passions enable them to overcome it. A mother dies during a cholera epidemic, yet her love for her infant son is so powerful that she continues to nurse him for three years after her death—an outcome, as in many of the tales, somehow both sentimental and horrifying.”

Hearn is well remembered in Japan, where there are museums named for him in the places he lived, and in Ireland there are the Lafcadio Hearn Japanese Gardens in Tramore, where his father was from. 

Keep an eye out here for another version of this text tomorrow for Fine Press Friday!

View more Publishers’ Binding Thursday posts. 

View more books designed by Bruce Rogers. 

-- Alice, Special Collections Department Manager

[tacomanarrows]

And now that Art Fight is over, I figured it's time to share some more of the photography I've done in the past! You guys really seemed to like the last time I shared my pictures, so here are some more! These are all from over the last couple of years or so :]

Flywheel Ventilators at the SteelStacks - Bethlehem, PA - Apr 30, 2022

Sunset at Cedar Point - Sandusky, OH - Jul 25, 2022

Steel Curtain with Halloween Fog - Kennywood, West Mifflin, PA - Oct 23, 2021

Fourth of July Fireworks - Washington Borough, NJ - Jul 4, 2022

Fountain at night - Charleston, SC - Jul 2, 2019

Angel Statue and Live Oak Tree - Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, GA - Apr 16, 2019

[horriblelittleman]

Kenny the Kangaroo reclaimed his throne in West Mifflin, and even got a sidekick.

Does he look familiar?

No?

It’s the sign.

It’s the Kennywood sign.

You can meet the sign!

[shiftythrifting]

Goodwill in West Mifflin, PA

[guerrerense]

Union; West Mifflin PA; 11/4/23 por Steve Barry Por Flickr: Union West Mifflin, Pennsylvania November 4, 2023 A caboose trails a Union Railroad train into the tunnel connecting West Mifflin with Dravosburg.

[rollercoasterbirthdays]

Happy birthday to Phantom's Revenge from Kennywood (West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, USA) who is now 32, Woodstock Express from Cedar Point (Sandusky, Ohio, USA) who is now 24, Swamp Thing from Wild Adventures (Valdosta, Georgia, USA) who is now 20, and Electric Eel from SeaWorld San Diego (San Diego, California, USA) who is now 5!

[kangamommynow]

A lesson in Madison drinking geography

You may have heard that Wisconsin is a state where beer culture and drinking culture are dominant. That's quite true. The rates of binge drinking are higher here than most other states.

Let me tell you a bit about Madison downtown.

Madison is centered on an isthmus. The state Capitol is in the middle of it, and the University of Wisconsin is on the west end, spreading out. It's a very large university and we have a lot of bars.

The area I've circled in red is some of the primarily student area, which continues farther west. Most of the student housing is there, ranging from recently built 5-8 story apartment buildings to a shit ton of older houses than are now divided into apartments. Most of the bars in this area are student focused. I've learned, as an Uber driver, what the reputation is for most of the bars, which ones are known to be for upperclassmen, which for freshmen and sophomores (underage).

The area circled in green around the state Capitol building still has a lot of student housing, but most of the bars and restaurants are more adult focused (young professionals, couples out for date night, etc).

There are two really big drinking events each school year.

Freakfest. The Halloween for UW. This used to be a wilder and more dangerous situation, but now it's more controlled. There are stages with bands and heavy police presence. It generally takes place along State Street (highlighted in purple), a pedestrian street running from the Capitol to the campus. It's definitely a wild party. Officially one weekend, but tends to run to a full week.

Freakfest photo, looking towards the Capitol.

The other big event is the Mifflin Street Block Party. This started as an informal, big block party. Then it got bigger and bigger. There were assaults, lots of kids getting drunk enough to die, and property damage. Mifflin Street, in blue, is mostly old houses, and with the number of students who come from out of town for the party it is completely overrun. Eventually there was a collapse of a deck and several students were killed. Now they do extra inspections, but still.

Turns out tomorrow is Mifflin Street Block Party day. Downtown will be a mess. Rain or not, there are many thousand students who come from other states and all over the UW system for this thing and the amount of alcohol consumed is truly astonishing.

Mifflin Street Block Party

At both Freakfest and Block Party, the primary purpose is to get completely hammered and have a good time. In Wisconsin, many people feel that drinking heavily is a prerequisite for having a good time.

Both are interesting for people watching, as long as you a) don't drive and b) aren't claustrophobic.

[countesspetofi]

Blood Sucking Monkeys from West Mifflin PA!!!

Count Floyd at his absolute best.

[bighermie]

You can’t even pay people enough to get them to attend a Biden event.

[mrdirtybear]

‘Master Diver’ was the best selling novel in the USA of 1898. It was written by Francis Hopkinson Smith and it sold so well partly through it being serialized in The Atlantic Monthly between October 1897 and March 1898 and partly because it was published as a book by Houghton Mifflin in April 1898. The book featured illustrations by Malcolm Fraser and Arthur I. Keller. The book is based on Smith's experience in the building of the Race Rock Light near Fishers Island, New York in the 1870s. About the poster; ‘Caleb West master diver by F. Hopkinson Smith. For sale here (1900)’ was designed by American illustrator and author Frank Berkeley Smith (1869-1931). Here is a selection of other posters by him.