Opening Pandora’s Box

September 29, 2015

One of the best parts of working at a place like IHS is that there?s always something new to discover. Sometimes you stumble across cool images, collections or book titles. Other times you stumble across items that are a twist on a classic. Take this miniature book titled Pandora?s Box as an example. At 2 1/2 inches long and 1 inch high, a quote from Kurt Vonnegut?s Slaughterhouse-Five is revealed like a scroll. When the scroll is completely unrolled it is about 20 inches long. Exotic wood encases the marbled hand-made linen rag paper, making this miniature book a piece of art. The text included is:

I have told my sons that they are not under any circumstances to take part in massacres, and that the news of massacres of enemies is not to fill them with satisfaction or glee. I have also told them not to work for companies which make massacre machinery, and to express contempt for people who think we need machinery like that.?

Vonnegut, one of Indiana?s most beloved writers, appears on the American Library Association list for banned and challenged classics. Slaughterhouse-Five is number 29 on a list of 97. So it goes.?

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Chelsea Sutton is communications coordinator at the Indiana Historical Society. She started drinking coffee at age 3 with her dad and always stays up too late reading.

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