Well, another Spring Break has come and gone and we hope everyone had an enjoyable week long break from classes and that everyone made it through the holiday no worse for the wear.  Spring Break has been a much welcomed vacation for as long as I can remember, and so as I prepared to write this post I decided to do a little looking around to find a little information about the history of Spring Break.  One interesting piece that I found is this article from the Orange County Register.

Speaking of history, vacations, and holidays--today is St. Patrick’s Day which celebrates the life of the patron saint of Ireland who, according to the "Encyclopedia of Holidays and Celebrations",  is believed to have died on March 17th, 461 A.D..  One story of St. Patrick claims that he used the shamrock to explain the Christian belief of the Holy Trinity (pg. 608).  The shamrock as a symbol of St. Patrick’s Day persists to this day, but I suspect that many in this country, myself included until now, aren’t aware of the meaning behind this symbol.  Perhaps in Ireland, where the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day is a 4 day festival running from the 15th to the 18th, the symbology is not lost on the celebrants.

Irish immigrants brought the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day  to what is now the United States in the 1700’s.  According to "The Encyclopedia of American Holidays and National Days", Irish gentlemen in Boston met on March 17th, 1737 to honor St. Patrick and form a group for the benefit of the Irish Protestants (pg. 79).  While this is one of the earliest known acknowledgements of the holiday in this country, it wasn’t until several years later that the day began to be observed regularly.  The St. Patrick’s Day Parade website claims that the first St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City took place in 1762, with this year’s parade marking the 247th consecutive year for this particular spectacle.  It’s interesting to think that a holiday that started as a celebration of Irish national heritage is now often celebrated with green beer, pinches for not wearing green, and a lot of "Kiss Me I’m Irish" t-shirts.

Ball State University Libraries’ Digital Media Repository gets makeover

Since we’re on the subject of history, the Ball State University Libraries’ "Digital Media Repository" has unveiled its new interface today.  The Digital Media Repository is essentially a database of various digital media collections put together by the Ball State University Libraries.  It includes several collections pertaining to local and campus history (including historical campus images) as well as various other collections of images and digitized documents.  Check it out, it’s full of some rather rare and unique resources.