Happy New Year from SCRC!
By Grace Wagner, Reading Room Access Services Supervisor
Happy New Year from SCRC! We are excited to ring in the New Year and new decade at SCRC! The featured party invitation comes from our William Wallace Denslow Collection. Denslow was an artist and illustrator, best known for his collaborations with L. Frank Baum on Father Goose (1899) and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900).
Denslow sent this invitation to Baum for a party held on December 31, 1900 to ring in the "New Century," as there was some confusion at the end of the nineteenth century whether the new century officially began in the year 1900 or 1901.
The full text of Denslow's invitation to the new century reads:
A Happy New Century to You: 1900 – 1901
Time! – Wind up! The 20th century starts at Rector’s Tavern between the hour of 12, 1900 & 1901, come & assist Ann Waters & Hippocampus Den. to help the Old Man out. Time will be called promptly at 11:30 Dec. 31st 1900.
N.B. As usual, no speeches will be tolerated, so come unprepared: to enjoy yourself and in “Ali-Baba”-full-levant.
W.W. Denslow
The William Wallace Denslow Collection (William Wallace Denslow Collection, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries) are part of the Special Collections Research Center’s manuscript collections.