The Ninety-Nine comic books in Library Special Collections
Currently on display in Library Special Collections (Charles E. Young Research Library) are comic books of The 99 (Arabic: الـ ٩٩ al 99), also written as The Ninety-Nine (Arabic: التسعة وتسعون al-tis'ah wa-tis'ūn). The 99 is published by the Kuwait based company Teshkeel Media, featuring a team of 99 superheroes based on Islamic culture and religion. The heroes including Jabbar the Powerful and Noora the Light who must collect 99 gems encrypted with the wisdom and power of the ancient Dar Al-Hikma library of Baghdad, which are spread across the globe. The series takes a look at the lives of individual young characters from many different cultures which reflect the diversity of the Islamic world. The name 99 comes from the 99 names of Allah. Each of the superheroes has a special power based on one of the attributes of Allah. According to the creator of the series, Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, “the 99 is a bold attempt to teach Muslim children about what the culture of Islam truly values.” In the crossover mini-series, Justice League of America-The 99, the award-winning Islamic superhero team unites with DC comics flagship characters. Issues 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 of the crossover issues are on display.
Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, creator of THE 99 and founder / CEO of Teshkeel Media superheroes has appeared on the list of ‘The 500 Most Influential Muslims’ by the Royal Islamic Strategic Center, Jordan. This is the third time that Dr. Naif has found his name in the prestigious list of The Most Influential Muslims in the world. Al-Mutawa was also commended by President Barack Obama at the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in April 2010, during which praised The 99 for its ability to capture the imaginations of young people through a message of tolerance. Gift of Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa and David Hirsch.
Public Science: Peepshows, Caskets, and Microscopes
An undergraduate student-curated exhibition of scientific objects from UCLA Library Special Collections continues through September in three locations on campus: Biomedical Library (4th floor), Powell Library Building Rotunda, and Department of Special Collections (A-level, Young Research Library). Marissa Petrou, the History of Science doctoral student whose GE Cluster seminar students created the project from concept to completion, provided an introduction to the exhibit, which we share here with her permission: Peepshows, caskets, and microscopes all are things found in vaults and back-room storage areas in UCLA Library Special Collections that have a wealth of historical value. Yet the lives of these objects extend beyond the Library. Microscopes are a pervasive emblem of contemporary science, but the microscopic worlds that they make visible are not easily accessible to the broader public without additional technologies such as woodblock and other forms of illustration, film and photographs. The Biomedical Library’s microscopes collection ranges from the 17th to 20th centuries, and includes those used by merchants and gentleman of science, to those found in modern laboratories. Peepshows were a mobile form of entertainment encountered in the streets and on fairgrounds. The one in the exhibit’s poster portrays the Thames tunnel, which was an engineering marvel completed in the 1843. For two decades before and after its completion, this underwater thoroughfare was a source of inspiration for peepshows in England, France, Germany, and Russia. And lastly, caskets: the casket is a technology of collection, display, organization and conservation. Its place in the title highlights the idea that the cases are part of the exhibit, too. In the museum context, the term was first used by nineteenth century German natural history museum directors to refer to the small cases used to organize items such as shells and birds’ eggs, so that these small items didn’t get swallowed up in the large display cases. Public Science: Peepshows, Caskets, and Microscopes started as the title of the 2012 Spring quarter seminar for freshman in GE Cluster 21CW: History of Modern Thought. The students were asked to consider how and where the public and science overlap, where the distinction between science and non science blur, and they were asked to focus on the production and use of images and objects as the sites where science and the public meet. To do this, the class entered the archive and brought the archive out with them. The students’ assignment was to work with objects in the UCLA Library Special Collections to determine what history of science can be told through three-dimensional objects, and how these objects should be displayed in the libraries of a public university. Russell Johnson History & Special Collections for the Sciences UCLA Library Special Collections
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