August 4th, 2020
Parrish Library’s Featured Database aims to give a very brief introduction to the basic features of one of the Purdue Libraries and the School of Information Studies (PULSIS) specialized subscription databases. This Featured Database highlights CountryWatch, brought to you by CountryWatch, Inc.
CountryWatch provides critical country-specific intelligence and data through key publications produced by CountryWatch. Publications include Country Reviews, an up-to-date series of publications for each country including demographic, political, economic, business, cultural and environmental information; and Country Wire, which provides daily news coverage for every country in the word and a significant news archive made up of the compendium of regional news carriers.
The List of Business Databases is the alphabetical list of the databases specially selected for those in a business program of study. Access the databases off-campus with your Purdue login and password.
Click Getting Started with CountryWatch to see the basics of using CountryWatch.
Our CountryWatch subscription also includes Elections Central which can be used to find current and past election data by country.
Some other resources you might want to explore, are:
You can find additional tutorials for a variety of our subscription resources on our YouTube channel.
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Featured Database comes to you from the Roland G. Parrish Library of Management & Economics. If you would like more information about this database, or if you would like a demonstration of it for a class, contact parrlib@purdue.edu. Also let us know if you know of a colleague who would benefit from this, or future Featured Databases.
Since usage statistics are an important barometer when databases are up for renewal, tell us your favorite database, and we will gladly promote it. Send an email to parrlib@purdue.edu.
Filed under: database, general, MGMTJuly 31st, 2020
Purdue University Press is pleased to announce the list of new books for our Fall/Winter 2020 season. This new season of books will cover subjects including Jewish studies, central european studies, aeronautics and astronautics, Indiana, politics, library sciences, and literature.
This season adds to our collection of Holocaust memoirs with Escaping Extermination: Hungarian Prodigy to American Musician, Feminist, and Activist by Agi Jambor. Written shortly after the close of World War II but unpublished until now, this memoir by acclaimed Jewish Hungarian concert pianist Agi Jambor describes how she and her husband escaped the extermination of Hungary’s Jews during the Holocaust.
The season also includes two new titles that serve as essential resources for those affected by Parkinson’s Disease, The Complete Guide for People with Parkinson’s Disease and Their Loved Ones and Everything You Need to Know About Caregiving for Parkinson’s Disease. Both books are written by Lianna Marie, a trained nurse who served as her mother’s caregiver and advocate for over twenty years through the many stages of Parkinson’s Disease.
A Round Indiana: Round Barns in the Hoosier State, Second Edition by John Hanou will add to our great collection of books on Purdue & Indiana. This book documents the 266 round barns identified in the history of Indiana, containing more than 300 modern and historical photographs alongside nearly 40 line drawings and plans.
To learn more about these books download the seasonal catalog or subscribe to our newsletter at www.press.purdue.edu/newsletter.
Filed under: PurduePress
July 15th, 2020
The stories of Holocaust survivors are as inspiring as they are haunting, but the common thread holding them together is persistence in the face of unthinkable devastation and suffering. Purdue University Press is proud of our part helping preserve their stories, several of which you can find below.
by Agi Jambor, Edited by Frances Pinter
Written shortly after the close of World War II, Escaping Extermination tells the poignant story of war, survival, and rebirth for a young, already acclaimed, Jewish Hungarian concert pianist, Agi Jambor. From the hell that was the siege of Budapest to a fresh start in America, the author describes how she and her husband escaped the extermination of Hungary’s Jews through a combination of luck and wit.
Unpublished until now but written in the immediacy of the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust, Escaping Extermination is a story of hope, resilience, and even humor in the fight against evil.
by Tom Pfister, Kathy Pfister, and Peter Pfister
Eva and Otto is a true story about German opposition and resistance to Hitler as revealed through the early lives of Eva Lewinski Pfister and Otto Pfister, who worked with a little-known German political group that resisted and fought against Hitler in Germany before 1933 and then in exile in Paris before the German invasion of France in May 1940.
The book provides a sobering insight into the personal risks and costs of a commitment to the duty of helping others threatened by fascism. Their unusually beautiful writing—directed to each other in diaries and correspondence during two long periods of wartime separation—also reveals an unlikely and inspiring love story.
by Edith Mayer Cord
Finding Edith is the coming-of-age story of a young Jewish girl chased in Europe during World War II. Like a great adventure story, the book describes the childhood and adolescence of a Viennese girl growing up against the backdrop of the Great Depression, the rise of Nazism, World War II, and the religious persecution of Jews throughout Europe.
by Fred Behrend with Larry Hanover
Fred Behrend’s childhood came to a crashing end with Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass) and his father’s harrowing internment at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. But he would not be defined by these harrowing circumstances. Behrend would go on to experience brushes with history involving the defeated Germans. By the age of twenty, he had run a POW camp full of Nazis, been an instructor in a program aimed at denazifying specially selected prisoners, and been assigned by the U.S. Army to watch over Wernher von Braun, the designer of the V-2 rocket that terrorized Europe and later chief architect of the Saturn V rocket that sent Americans to the moon. This book tells his story.
by Eva Mayer Schay
This fascinating autobiography is set against the backdrop of some of the most dramatic episodes of the twentieth century. It is the story of a stubborn struggle against unjust regimes, sustained by a deep belief in the strength of the human spirit and the transcendental power of music. It is also an account of a rich spiritual life, during which the author has built upon her Jewish roots through the study of Eastern philosophy and meditation.
You can get 30% off all Purdue University Press titles by entering the code PURDUE30 at checkout on our website.
Filed under: PurduePressJuly 14th, 2020
REDLANDS, Calif.—July 13, 2020—Esri, the global leader in location intelligence, presented Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies (LSIS) with Esri’s Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award on July 13, 2020, at the annual Esri User Conference, which moved to a completely virtual format this year. Selected from over 300,000 eligible candidates, LSIS received the award for its innovative application of mapping and analytics technology, as well as thought leadership in the field of GIS education.
The SAG Awards are meant to show appreciation for organizations using GIS to understand complex data and meet challenges around the world. Through their unique approaches to geospatial science, the users honored with awards are demonstrating groundbreaking possibilities of GIS software.
“Esri User Conference has always given our users an opportunity to share the ways they are implementing GIS and using it to improve their organizations and the world around them,” said Jack Dangermond, Esri founder and president. “I am inspired by the amazing work our users are doing, and I am honored to present these awards to all the organizations recognized for their commitment to technological leadership in government, business, and nonprofit work.”
LSIS supports GIS teaching and research efforts across Purdue’s West Lafayette campus. The LSIS GIS team works with all colleges and departments interested in GIS to coordinate teaching efforts, provide teaching resources, and collaborate on GIS education programming. Undergraduate and graduate students are then introduced to interdisciplinary concepts of geographic information and trained in spatial thinking, research and analytical skills through LSIS-driven GIS coursework. Through these courses, students develop skills beneficial to their disciplinary research, future careers and everyday lives. There are over 2,000 GIS users on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus and LSIS engages with this broad community through annual GIS Day outreach events. These include both a high school program and a single day university-wide conference. All 2020 GIS Day activities will be held virtually for the first time during the upcoming fall semester.
The LSIS GIS team is led by Dr. Nicole Kong, associate professor. Kong has dedicated her career to improving geospatial information literacy education and adapting GIS technology for innovative use across various disciplines. She has received two National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) grants to introduce GIS to humanities scholars and secondary school teachers. She is assisted by GIS Instruction Coordinator Yue (Shirley) Li. Li helps design and coordinate teaching activities through technology support, teaching material preparation, and research data management.
“It is a tremendous honor to be recognized by Esri for our contribution to GIS education,” said Beth McNeil, Esther Ellis Norton professor of library sciences and dean of libraries. “Dr. Kong and her team have built a thriving, interdisciplinary GIS program that benefits students, faculty, and staff across campus. With its broad applications in research and industry, GIS is a pillar of the growing information resource needs of the future. Purdue LSIS is proud to be an educational leader in this field.”
This year’s Esri User Conference was the world’s largest, virtual GIS event. Purdue University LSIS was one of over 180 organizations in areas such as commercial industry, defense, transportation, nonprofit work, telecommunications, and government to be honored {remove field if your organization referenced it above}. Recipients were recognized by Dangermond during the event.
Esri staff annually nominate hundreds of candidates from around the world for consideration, and Dangermond selects the finalists.
For more information on how Purdue University LSIS is innovating through the use of geospatial technology, visit https://www.lib.purdue.edu/gis.
Filed under: general, GISJuly 6th, 2020
We talked to Mate Nikola Tokić, the author of Croatian Radical Separatism and Diaspora Terrorism During the Cold War.
Croatian Radical Separatism and Diaspora Terrorism During the Cold War examines one of the most active but least remembered groups of terrorists of the Cold War: radical anti-Yugoslav Croatian separatists. At its core, this book is concerned with the discourses and practices of radicalization—the ways in which both individuals and groups who engage in terrorism construct a particular image of the world to justify their actions.
Q: What is the goal of your book? What motivated you to write it?
Mate Nikola Tokić: Like many projects, my initial interest in exploring the history found in Croatian Radical Separatism and Diaspora Terrorism During the Cold War actually arose from something of a chance encounter. During archival research for my doctoral dissertation, I happened upon a quote from socialist Yugoslavia’s leader Josip Broz Tito where he stated that Croatian terrorism posed an existential threat to the country. The document I was reading had nothing to do with the subject, and the quote was actually a throw-away line, made to emphasize a quite different point. Nevertheless, I was struck by the observation. I had long been aware of the terror campaign Croat emigrants waged against socialist Yugoslavia during the Cold War, but had always seen the violence as more or less insignificant and little more than a nuisance to the Yugoslav regime. The comment by Tito, however, suggested a more complex story. Once I completed my doctoral thesis, I had the opportunity to follow up on the reference, and soon discovered an intricate and fascinating history that had hitherto been neglected in historiography. And the deeper I dug, the more intricate and fascinating the history became. First and foremost, my motivation for writing the book was bringing this history and its many entanglements to light.
Q: Why do you think this part of history was relatively overlooked?
Tokić: In many ways, it remains a surprise to me that this history has thus far been mostly ignored in academia. But I think there are some clear reasons for this. In terms of Yugoslav historiography, clearly the focus for many years has been on the country’s violent break-up. Scholars have had to struggle with contending why a country that so long was touted as a success story ultimately collapsed so acrimoniously. As interesting as the story I explore is, it is understandable that historians and others would focus on the causes and context of arguably Europe’s worst tragedy since World War II. In terms of the history of political violence and terrorism, in part the issue relates to the degree to which radical Croatian separatists were able to keep their cause in the spotlight. In short, they were unable to, or at least not to the degree better remembered groups of the era such as the RAF, Brigate Rosse, PLO, or ETA did. For numerous reasons, Croatian separatists rarely landed on the front page of newspapers the world over despite having been as active or even more so than these other groups. Over time, this has led them to fall into relative obscurity.
Q: You start the introduction of the book by acknowledging that many would like us to believe our current “age of terror” is unprecedented. How could your book help us understand modern terror more?
Tokić: In many ways, my desire to challenge prevailing claims about the unprecedented nature of contemporary terrorism has less to do with furthering our understanding of political violence itself and more to do with understanding how political violence and terrorism have been politicized in current politics and society. From its very inception, modern terrorism has been as much about labels and symbolic politics as it has been about social, political, economic, and cultural change. The rather hackneyed phrase “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”—to give just the most obvious example—puts this into sharp relief. A striking feature of both state and media responses to contemporary terrorism has been how ahistoricized their treatment of the phenomenon has been. The result of this, in my view, has been that our understanding of the genesis and aim of terrorism as political act in contemporary world politics lacks sufficient context. The point of the book is less that we learn from the past in order not to repeat it (to paraphrase George Santayana’s famous quote) and more simply to help create a more complete framework for how to think about pressing issues of the day, in this case the relationship between migration and radicalization. Despite its rather narrow empirical focus, ultimately the aim of the book is to provide new insights and perspectives on how to think about the link between population flows and political violence. From this, we can not only understand modern terrorism better, but more critically reflect upon how best to respond to that terrorism.
Q: Where there any particularly surprising or interesting things you found when researching?
Tokić: I’m not sure that I would say that it was particularly surprising, but one thing that definitely struck me was how little the state security services of various countries either knew about or understood radical Croatian separatist groups. There is, I believe, a general belief that intelligence agencies are generally efficient and effective, if not in fact omniscient. This notion has developed through both popular culture and state efforts to propagate the idea that their security services are resourceful and competent. From what I was able to see of classified and top-secret documents (which of course was limited) it is clear that not only did the intelligence agencies have little idea about the organization and activities of radical groups, what they did know they often misunderstood. This is not to say, of course, that security services were completely ignorant or blind to the threat posed by extremist organizations in their countries. Rather, like any governmental bureaucracy or agency they were hampered by a variety of ideological, partisan, financial, administrative, and even managerial limitations and shortcomings. The end result was an understanding of radical groups that was often at best imperfect, if not outright distorted.
You can get 30% off Croatian Radical Separatism and Diaspora Terrorism During the Cold War and any other Purdue University Press book by ordering from our website and using the code PURDUE30 at checkout.
June 23rd, 2020
The EBSCO Research Databases issue has been resolved. See https://status.ebsco.com for more information.
Filed under: Alerts: ExpiredJune 18th, 2020
We talked to Alex M. Spencer, the author of British Imperial Air Power: The Royal Air Forces and the Defense of Australia and New Zealand Between the World Wars.
British Imperial Air Power examines the air defense of Australia and New Zealand during the interwar period. It also demonstrates the difficulty of applying new military aviation technology to the defense of the global Empire and provides insight into the nature of the political relationship between the Pacific Dominions and Britain.
Q: What motivated you to take on this project?
Spencer: Distilled down from the book’s introduction:
The inspiration of this work comes out of my interest in the Royal Navy during the interwar period. The terrible loss of HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse to waves of Japanese torpedo bombers on December 10, 1941 and the surrender of 84,000 British and Commonwealth troops resulted in many books about the failed “Fleet to Singapore” strategy conceived by Fleet Admiral John Jellicoe in 1919. After my arrival at the National Air and Space Museum, my interests turned to aviation and I wanted to discover why the Royal Air Force was equipped with inadequate aircraft at Singapore and why this topic tended to receive less treatment by historians. After reading the studies about Singapore, I began to wonder if the RAF was making similar efforts, concerning the defense of the Pacific Empire. The answer was yes in an almost forgotten survey by Group Captain Arthur Bettington. Like Jellicoe, Bettington toured the Pacific Dominions in the immediate post World War I period and made recommendations concerning the future of aerial defenses of the Dominions. With century passed since these events, I’ve became more interested in the Royal Air Force during the interwar period and wanted to trace its defense planning for the Empire.
Q: Air combat was relatively novel in WWI, what are some things that may help us understand how different things were at that time?
Spencer: One aspect that I found interesting about aviation technology during World War I was how aircraft made dramatic advances in speed, performance and increased armament. Throughout the war, airmen on both had to invent tactics and strategies for this new technology. Even though there were demonstrations on the potential of aircraft they still remained inadequate to perform the tasks that the airmen envisioned. It was not until the middle of the 1930s when new all metal aircraft with powerful engines and resulted in higher performance and the ability for aircraft to carry heavier payloads. With new specialized designs, aircraft at the opening of the new World War could actually deliver upon the promises made by the air power advocates.
Q: What are some of the principle conclusions of this project?
Spencer: The RAF designed their interwar air strategies to help maintain the long-established British foreign policy goals of a balance of power on the European continent and protect the vital trade routes throughout the Empire. The air services spent the entire interwar period attempting to create a strategy in the face of considerable economic restrictions.
The RAF answer to its limitations was an air strategy centered on the concept “air mobility.” Successful operations throughout the Middle East from 1919 to 1924 encouraged the Air Ministry assertions that air mobility offered an economical imperial defense. By 1928, air mobility became the cornerstone imperial air defense plans.
By the end of the 1920s, it was clear that the budget cuts were having a detrimental impact upon the operational capabilities of the RAF Even if increased funding were committed to the service it likely would not have improved its condition. Throughout the interwar period, military service remained unpopular and service in the RAF did not appeal to the public. As long as the international situation remained calm, the military economies did not seem detrimental to the security of the Empire.
As Germany, Italy, and Japan began their military preparation and expansions in the 1930s, the effects of economizing and disarmament became evident. The British government understood the danger that these three powers represented and by 1934, a new program of rearmament and expansion of the military industrial infrastructure began as well as renewed efforts to strengthen the bonds of the RAF, RAAF, and the RNZAF.
Central to the story of the Royal Air Force during the Interwar period is how this infant military service had to fight to maintain its independence and its very existence. The Air Force created by the unification of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War faced a battle against the two senior services to reclaim their air assets. The air defense of the Empire gave the RAF justification for its continued independence. The defense of Australian and New Zealand, Britain’s most distant imperial partners, was the most daunting test for the fledgling service. To survive the Empire’s military air services presented themselves as a viable and economical third option in the defense of Britain’s global Empire. The imperial air forces had to navigate the political and economic difficulties of the interwar period that forced their leaders to muddle through. During the war they achieved great victories and suffered humiliating defeats but by the end of the war they were larger and stronger than any prewar strategist could have imagined.
Thank you to Alex for his time! If you would like to know more about the book you can get your own copy or request it from your local library.
You can get 30% off British Imperial Air Power and any other Purdue University Press book by ordering from our website and using the code PURDUE30 at checkout.
Filed under: PurduePressJune 9th, 2020
Parrish Library’s Featured Database aims to give a very brief introduction to the basic features of one of the Purdue Libraries and the School of Information Studies (PULSIS) specialized subscription databases. This Featured Database highlights ABI Inform Collection, brought to you by ProQuest.
Featuring over 3,000 full-text journals, 25,000 dissertations, 14,000 SSRN working papers, key newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times, as well as country-and industry-focused reports and data.
The List of Business Databases is the alphabetical list of the databases specially selected for those in a business program of study. Access the databases off-campus with your Purdue Career account credentials.
Click Getting Started with ABI Inform Collection to see the basics of using this resource.
Some other resources you might want to explore, are:
You can find additional tutorials for a variety of our subscription resources on our YouTube channel.
Featured Database comes to you from the Roland G. Parrish Library of Management & Economics. If you would like more information about this database, or if you would like a demonstration of it for a class, contact parrlib@purdue.edu. Also let us know if you know of a colleague who would benefit from this, or future Featured Databases.
Since usage statistics are an important barometer when databases are up for renewal, tell us your favorite database, and we will gladly promote it. Send an email to parrlib@purdue.edu.
Filed under: database, general, MGMT
May 20th, 2020
We talked to Scott O. Moore, an assistant professor of history at Eastern Connecticut State University and author of Teaching the Empire: Education and State Loyalty in Late Habsburg Austria.
Teaching the Empire explores how Habsburg Austria utilized education to cultivate the patriotism of its people.
Q: What got you interested in studying and writing about civic education in Late Habsburg Austria?
Scott O. Moore: I’ve always been fascinated by the issue of identity – how people think about themselves and others. This interest is part of the reason why I’ve always been attracted to the history of the Habsburg Monarchy. It was such a diverse country, and culturally it was defined by forces pulling its people together, but also pulling them apart. Because of the Monarchy’s collapse after World War I, historians have usually focused on the things that diminished the cohesion of Habsburg society. There has also been an enormous amount of interest in the development of national and ethnic identity, but not so much the development of a Habsburg or Austrian. Because of these trends, I thought it would be interesting to look at what was tying the Monarchy’s citizens together. That led me to look at civic education. I wanted to explore the way institutions, like schools, helped create a sense of cohesion and “togetherness” among the Monarchy’s population, even when that population spoke different languages, followed different religions, or adhered to different cultural customs.
Q: What was unique about Habsburg Austria’s system of civic education?
Moore: One of the most interesting things I discovered in my research is how similar Habsburg civic education was to its neighbors. Because the Monarchy was a multinational state, there has always been an assumption that it couldn’t develop civic education in the same way its more ethnically homogeneous neighbors did. The thought was that without language and culture to tie people together, it would be harder to make them share common heroes, a common view of their history, or share common values. I discovered the opposite. Like other European countries and the US, Habsburg Austria consciously used schools to teach a common, patriotic version of the past. It used holidays and public celebrations to enhance a sense of belonging. It also utilized all the tools of the modern state to achieve these goals. Habsburg civic education was a consciously crafted, well-engineered process. What was unique, of course, was that officials attempted to reach these goals in a multinational state, where they couldn’t rely on a common language or culture. Because of this, the teaching of things like history and civic values actually became more important. Habsburg officials wanted students to realize that even if their neighbors spoke a different language, everyone was bound by a common, shared history, that everyone who lived in Austria shared the common goal of making the state strong, that everyone had a common purpose.
Q: Do you feel there is a comparable civic education system now?
Moore: If you look at schools in the US, I think we can see the legacy of traditional civic education. We still use holidays, like President’s Day or the Fourth of July, to enhance the patriotism of students; we still teach civics and government with the hope of making well-informed citizens; and many would argue (much to the frustration of many professional historians) that teaching history in schools is a patriotic exercise. Obviously there are considerable differences, but I think that public schools still share many of the missions they had when they were created in the 19th century. That said, as Europe and the United States become increasingly diverse, I think that policy makers could learn from exploring the history of the Habsburg Monarchy. Prior to World War I, it was the only European state that embraced a multi-national, multi-ethnic identity, challenging the notion that linguistic or cultural unity was the best way to forge a sense of community.
Thank you so much to Scott for his time! If you would like to know more about the book you can get your own copy or request it from your local library.
You can get 40% off Teaching the Empire and any other Purdue University Press book by ordering from our website and using the code PURDUE40 at checkout.
Filed under: PurduePressMay 20th, 2020
We talked to Jennifer Levasseur, a museum curator in the Department of Space History at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC and the author of Through Astronaut Eyes: Photographing Early Human Spaceflight.
Through Astronaut Eyes explores the origins and impact of astronaut still photography from 1962 to 1972, the period when human spaceflight first captured the imagination of people around the world. Featuring over seventy images from the heroic age of space exploration, the book presents the story of how human daring along with technological ingenuity allowed people to see the Earth and stars as they never had before.
Q: How did this project start?
Jennifer Levasseur: As a graduate student intern at the National Portrait Gallery, I cataloged photographic portraits of notable figures, learning how to describe them in words for digital records. A few years later, I took over responsibility for the human spaceflight camera collection at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. That meant caring for material culture from human spaceflight, and it overlapped with thinking about the visual products and interpreting the messages in images. My questions began to include how astronauts, our representatives in space exploration, also had to capture what they saw to tell us stories. The cameras tell a technological story, but the images tell sublime stories also defined by the people who took them – people who defined themselves as pilots, engineers, or scientists, but not photographers. The reality of spaceflight complicated a narrative of exploration photography seen for almost a century prior to the 1960s, so that brought more intensity to how we remember that time, even if we weren’t alive.
Q: Is there any single photograph, or even a couple, that you think encapsulate the unique and interesting subject that is astronaut photography?
Levasseur: Some images captured by astronauts hold special meaning because they’ve permeated our culture so deeply, they’re now almost part of our everyday lives. Most books still use the image of the whole Earth from Apollo 17 as the image of our planet even though it’s almost 50 years old. Or how we still think of the Buzz Aldrin image “Moonman” as the quintessential astronaut image. Those serve as the iconic, but I always love looking through those that seem mundane and yet reveal something new upon each viewing. Like a favorite movie you’ve seen hundreds of time, it’s awesome to look for something you haven’t caught before. I think Earth-facing photography can be that since our planet is incredibly diverse. But for the era my book examines, everything leading up to the end of the Apollo program, the image Michael Collins took looking towards Earth with the lunar module in the foreground is just beyond words in its sublimity. Sometimes called the “loneliest man” image because Collins is the only human in all of history to that point not captured in the photograph, the perspective is unique and almost unimaginable. That one really captures the story of the missions, the people, and our planet all in one frame.
Q: Given the stakes of traveling in space, what do you think is the best defense for time spent on astronaut photography, something that may not seem pertinent to mission success?
Levasseur: Astronauts opinions overall hovered at lukewarm on adding photography to their mission duties, with some very supportive and invested in the final products, and others preferring to mostly ignore it or find other tasks where they could specialize. But few of them could deny the privileged position it put them in, to see something just over 500 humans have ever seen even today. From that position, they can all contribute to seeing space to understand it better, and photographs are critical to that narrative. Astronauts tell stories in interviews, and have for decades after their missions, but that same message can be conveyed with a simple image. It brings the story to life, and inspires, and prompting new generations with that inspiration was a key factor in NASA’s mission, really their directive from Congress, to share with everyone what was learned through their work. NASA had that cultural/educational component from day one, so things like artwork, films, photographs, and eventually displays in museums were critical to fulfilling that part of their mission.
Q: Are there astronauts that are historically considered good or bad “space photographers”?
Levasseur: Two astronauts were significant contributors to showing the intent of the person behind the lens. Alan Bean was an artist and conceived of his photographs more like a professional photographer than any other astronaut of his generation. His photographs of Pete Conrad next to Surveyor 3 on the Moon with the lunar module in the background are particularly sublime. Much later, on the last servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009, John Grunsfeld took a photo of his reflection in Hubble that serves as a book-end of the images of Bean, showing a path from very classic landscape photography, thoughtful and considered, to something almost abstract and modern art-like. Astronauts really evolved as thoughtful participants in photography from the day of just pointing and shooting out the window.
Q: Why you think astronaut photography is so important for the public’s feelings towards space travel?
Levasseur: We can see space and our world and our universe through many eyes: described by astronauts from memories of what they saw, in photographs they took with cameras, and through telescopes directed at things we cannot see with our own eyes. The visible world around us, as seen through photographs, offers a sense of our place in it. When the languages of math or science are too complicated for some of us, the visual language of images simplifies that information and makes it possible for almost anyone to grasp. Knowing a person was on the other side of a camera lens, we connect to that event through that person. Their story is intertwined with what is seen in the images. The astronauts are part of the portal through which we see and understand the image content, and they can’t and shouldn’t be removed from the stories we tell about those images. In a time when the isolating experiences of being an astronaut seem more understandable than ever to the rest of us, the photographs they’ve captured prompt new thinking about their value to understanding the big picture of human life on Earth.
Thank you so much to Jennifer for her time! If you would like to know more about the book you can get your own copy or request it from your local library.
You can get 40% off Through Astronaut Eyes and any other Purdue University Press book by ordering from our website and using the code PURDUE40 at checkout.
Filed under: PurduePress