The Ingalls Library recently reached a significant milestone. On January 5th, I cataloged the 500,000th item to enter the collection. A four volume set entitled Moriyama Daidō zensakuhinshū, the complete works of Daido Moriyama, pushed the library's volume count over a half million. Not surprisingly it took over a century to reach this number. The first book accessioned by the library on February 16, 1914 was a Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary, published in 1913.

Much like Themes and Variations explores music’s representations in art from the fifteenth century through the twentieth, the Performing Arts, Music & Film Department of the museum has long explored musical styles from around the world and throughout history.

At approximately 12:44am on March 24, 1970 University Circle Police responded to a loud explosion emanating from the vicinity of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Witnesses later reported hearing the explosion from over two miles away, certainly close enough to wake then museum director Sherman Lee at his home in Cleveland Heights. Upon arriving at the museum he found the museum’s iconic sculpture the Thinker had been blown off the pedestal on which it had sat for fifty-three years by a pipe bomb. In addition to considerable damage to the legs of the sculpture, shrapnel from the explosion scarred the marble columns and front door of the museum.

The Ingalls Library collection includes approximately 1,200 currently received periodical titles. That is quite simply, an overwhelming number. This ongoing series features articles that discuss objects included in the museum’s collection of more than 46,000 objects, as well as articles written by museum staff members. Additionally, articles about the museum, its history and activities are noted.