Dion Boucicault: playwright, plagiarist, and pioneer

Reading Time: 3 minutes Boucicault was both a prolific playwright and a flagrant plagiarist. He wrote at a time when appropriating plays and literary works across country borders was almost the norm. However, his activities pirating other author’s works, and also protecting his own, contributed to changes in copyright law that would give greater protection to playwrights after Boucicault. USF Libraries has one of the largest publicly accessible collections of Boucicault’s work, despite Boucicaults attempts to prevent piracy of his works by resisting publication.

Celebrating Women’s History Month with the Burgert Brothers Collection of Tampa Photographs

Reading Time: 5 minutes The Burgert Brothers Collection of Tampa Photographs pictorially captures the history of our city during the first half of the twentieth century. From 1917 until the 1960s, Burgert Brothers was the leading commercial photographic firm in Tampa. The photographs in this collection focus on communities at work and at play. From grocery stores, cigar factories, and cargo ships to citrus fields, universities, and company buildings, this collection provides a look at a changing society. Documenting Tampa in times of war, economic booms, cultural changes, and economic hardships, this collection shows how a marginalized group could enter into new spaces and flourish. With 863 digitized items, Digital Dialogs would like to celebrate Women’s History Month with the Burgert Brothers’ Collection in recognition of its many depictions of women at work and women’s collegiate education… (Continue Reading)