Are you a good witch or a bad witch?
Well, only a good witch would know that today is Wizard of Oz Day, and, of course, only a really, really good (and knowledgeable) witch would celebrate the day by posting lots of Oz-related information on her weblog.
Today in 1856, Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum was born in Chittenango, New York. The American Memory Today in History site at the Library of Congress has a lot of information and links concerning Baum and the Wizard of Oz.
For example, you can view the online exhibition “The Wizard of Oz: An American Fairytale” which was created in 2000 for the 100th anniversary of the first Oz book. If you have never read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz or if you would like to refresh your memory, you can read an online version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz or other books in the series at the Online Literature Library. (And at the Project Gutenberg site as well).
If you are curious about libraries with Oziana and Baumiana in their special collections holdings, check out this site. The library page is not complete (for example, the Laura Jane Musser Oziana Collection at the University of Minnesota is not listed) and there are no links, but it is a good starting point if you are truly interested in Oziana and not just looking for Ebay listings.
If you are longing for the fellowship of other Ozians, you can join the International Wizard of Oz Club. Found in 1957, the club has over 1300 members. Three times a year, it publishes The Baum Bugle, a journal devoted to Oziana (of course). The club also publishes the Bibliographia Oziana, an Oz series checklist for collectors and researchers.
And, last but not least, I cannot write an entire page about Oz-related information without mentioning Robert Sabuda and his pop-up version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This book was published when I was working at the Cambridge Public Library, and all of the library staff fell in love with this book. One day I will blog about the wonderful world of pop-ups, but, for now, I will just say that any pop-up that has a spinning tornado deserves a lot of attention.
I also have to add the disclaimer that I am not a collector of Baumiana or Oziana so please feel free to correct or add to anything I have written here. Experts (if they leave nice comments) are always welcome here.
1 comment May 15th, 2003