Museum Collections

Stoicism, a school of Hellenistic thought founded in Athens in the third century BC, was one of the most sublime philosophies in the history of Western civilization. It is a way of living that focuses on reality instead of fantasy or idealism. According to its teachings, the path to peace and happiness is found in accepting the moment as it presents itself, by not allowing oneself to be ruled by the desire for pleasure or by the fear of pain.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was a British writer, philosopher, lay theologian, and literary critic. Chesterton wrote around 80 books, several hundred poems, some 200 short stories, several plays, plus 4,000 essays and newspaper columns. He was a columnist for the Daily News and The Illustrated London News.

The word mythology is derived from the Greek words mythos, which means story, and logos, which means speech. Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Some of the oldest narratives in world history come from Babylon mythology.

Meet 13-year-old Agatha Oddly - a bold, determined heroine and the star of this stylish new detective series. The Secret Key. Agatha Oddlow has been a detective for as long as she can remember - she’s just been waiting for her first big case. And nothing gets bigger than saving the city of London from some strange goings-on.

Plato (428/427 BC-348/347 BC), whose original name was Aristocles, was an ancient Greek philosopher, the second of the great trio of ancient Greeks - succeeding Socrates and preceding Aristotle - who between them, laid the philosophical foundations of Western culture. Plato was also a mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Plato's brilliance as a writer and thinker can be witnessed by reading his Socratic dialogues.

Anarchism claims that there's no need for a state and that it would be better to have a society without central government. Anarchists dislike the authority of the state, but the dream of the stateless society is not a simple matter.

The Gunmen of the American Wild West Collection brings to life the history of the frontier west of the Mississippi in the latter parts of the 19th century. The gunmen ranged from lawmen to cowboys, ranchers, and outlaws. Most of the outlaws in the Old West preyed on banks, trains, and stagecoaches. Although spread thin, the law was present, usually on the level of deputy US marshal, county sheriff, and the town marshal or constable.

An epic poem is a lengthy narrative poem, usually set in a time beyond living memory in which the extraordinary ancestors, in their dealings with the gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants, the poet, and his audience in order to understand themselves as a people.

Pandemics have afflicted human civilizations throughout history, yet these health crises have also led to progress in medicine and society that improved people’s lives. History shows that scientific innovation often proceeds from the collaboration of researchers across disciplines, nations, and institutions.

The Fantasy Fiction Collection contains: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Jungle Book, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, Peter and Wendy, and Alice's Adventures Under Ground.

Book 1: Jane Eyre is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë from 1847. Book 2: Little Women is a novel by Louisa May Alcott who was also an abolitionist and a feminist. Book 3: The Odd Women is an 1893 novel by the English novelist George Gissing. Book 4: Anna Howard Shaw (1847-1919) was a leader in the campaign for women’s suffrage. Book 5: Sojourner Truth’s autobiographical Narrative chronicles her life as a slave, and her transformation into an abolitionist, women’s rights activist, orator, and preacher. Book 6: "The Crisis" is a speech....

In Bucak's dreamlike narratives, dead girls recount the effects of an earthquake and a chess-playing automaton falls in love. A student stops eating and no one knows whether her act is personal or political. A Turkish wrestler, a hero in the East, is seen as a brute in the West. The anguish of an Armenian refugee is "performed" at an American fund-raiser. An Ottoman ambassador in Paris amasses a tantalizing collection of erotic art. And Greek God Apollo confronts his personal history and bewails his Homeric reputation as he tries to memorialize, and make sense of, generations of war.

Many hybrid forms of the mystery-crime-thriller genre exists. All of them are narratives that keep one in suspense about what is about to happen. The thriller also shares a literary lineage with ancient epic and myth populated by monsters, terror and danger. Alexandre Dumas, Alfred Hitchcock, and Robert Ludlum are some of the masters of the genre.