Binet, Maurice Emmanuel Hippolyte, 1877-

Revolutionary letterhead

During the revolutionary era of 1789-1848, Belgium was ensnared in power politics on a continental scale, with all the drama and turbulence entailed. As part of the Austrian Netherlands, the province of Brabant rose up in revolution in 1789 over political reforms instituted by Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II and for a year, the revolutionaries were successful at expelling their occupiers. Although the Austrians reasserted dominion over the Brabant in 1790, their phase of Belgian history was to be short-lived. In 1794, the region was conquered by French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte, becoming the first territory added to the expansionist Republic.

The Département de la Dyle was one of nine departments organized by a the French decree of Fructidor 14, An III (Aug. 31, 1795) and the region was officially "reunited" with -- or annexed to -- the Republic by the act of Vendémiaire 9, An 4 (Oct. 1, 1795). With 38 cantons organized into three arrondissements named after the department's largest cities, Bruxelles (Brussels), Louvain, and Nivelles, the Dyle was significant to the Republic due to its rich resource base and strategic location. Its virtues were touted in a description that appeared in the Almanach du Département de la Dyle (1804):

L'aspect du pays offer dans son ensemble une des plus belles et des plus riches contrées de l'Europe. Si l'on en except les hauteurs steriles d'Aerschot et de Montaigu, et l'extremité nord-est du department, le sol est part-tout d'une fécondité égale à l'habileté du cultivateur. Le department de la Dyle est arrosé par trois rivières et un grand nombre de courans d'eau plus ou moins considerable: il communique à la mer du nord par deux canaux. Il renferme une forêt d'une vaste étendue; et sur un terrain extrêmement varié, sand être montueux, il présente successivement des près, des bois, des vallons et des plaines. Un pays aussi riche doit être animé par une grande population; aussi trouve-t-on répandu sue une surface de 116 lieues carrées, 387 communes, 558 hameaux, 398 fermes isolées, 302 moulins à eau, 115 moulins à vent, 139 châteaux, et un nombre considérables de maisons de campagne.

The French occupation of the Brabant was no less turbulent than the Austrian, in part due to local resistance to French rule and in part due to imperial conflict. A coalition of English, Dutch, and German forces liberated Belgium in the spring 1814, and the region was absorbed into the United Kingdom of the Netherlands after the Battle of Waterloo, reuniting the southern and northern provinces of the Pays Bas that had separated in the sixteenth century. Even that union dissolved, however, in the revolution of 1830, when Belgium finally won its independence.

From the guide to the Maurice Emmanuel Hippolyte Binet Collection MS 738., 1784-1852, 1794-1814, (Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries)

Hotel at Monte Ne, Ark., 1962

Lucille "Sidney" Eslinger was born in Albany, Missouri, on November 9, 1922, the daughter of Delano R. and Alice M. Willoughby Eslinger. After graduating from high school in 1941, Eslinger turned down an opportunity to attend college to accept a job at the Caterpillar Tractor Company in Peoria, Ill., in part so that she could for the Caterpillar Dieselettes, the renowned fast-pitch softball team sponsored by the company. As a mainstay of the pitching staff, Eslinger toured the nation, and at work, she became the company's first female line inspector.

Through a co-worker, Eslinger developed a passion for history, and during her free time, became involved with several historical societies and with the cause of historic preservation. As a charter member of the Central Illinois Landmark Foundation, she helped preserve and commemorate local sites, and she was active in the Peoria County Old Settlers Association, the Tazewell County Genealogy Society, the Association for Gravestone Studies, and the Peoria Historical Society, for whom she led tours of Springdale Cemetery. After retiring from Caterpillar, Eslinger and her friend Doris Scobee operated a dog grooming business for several years, and she became an active supporter of the Humane Society. Sidney died in Peoria on August 14, 2011.

From the guide to the L. Sidney Eslinger Collection PH 040., 1905-2003, (Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries)

Wildcat

Best known as the artist behind Dondi, a long running comic strip co-authored with Don Edson, Irwin Hasen was born in New York City on July 8, 1918 and grew up on West 110th Street, fascinated with art from a young age. After studying at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League, Hasen worked for a time as a sports artist before being drafted into the army during the Second World War. Too short for combat duty, he was assigned to Fort Dix, N.J., and worked as editor of the camp newspaper, the Fort Dix Gazette .

Upon returning to civilian life, Hasen resumed his work in advertising illustration and comic books, becoming a staff artist for some of the major series of the day, including The Green Lantern, Wildcat, Wonder Woman, and Detective Comics, along with a host of other publications from DC Comics, Fawcett, and Bert Whitman Associates. As a member of the National Cartoonists Society in 1955, he was touring Korea on a USO-sponsored trip when he met Gus Edson and the two immediately hit it off. Edson proposed the idea of comic strip based on a war orphan, and Hasen soon agreed. For the next 31 years, Hasen drew Dondi, originally described as a World War II orphan, later as an orphan of the Korean War or Vietnam, with Edson writing the story until his death in 1966, followed by Bob Oksner. A daily strip, Dondi reached its peak circulation in the early 1960s and continued until cancellation in 1986.

Hasen received numerous awards for his illustration, including recognition by the National Cartoonists Society as the best newspaper story strip in 1961 and 1962 and the Silver T-Square Award in 1969 for "outstanding dedication or service to the Society or the profession." At the San Diego Comicon in 1999, he received the Inkpot Award for lifetime achievement.

From the guide to the Irwin Hasen: A Legacy Portfolio MS 744., 2005, (Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries)