It is Archives Month and as an archivist I get to celebrate however I like.  Today I would like to share some treats with you from around the world.  Today, from the University of Cambridge, listen to recordings of modern scholars reading ancient Babylonian and Assyrian poetry in the original language. You can hear The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Codex Hammurabi, among other texts, read in languages spoken 4,000 years ago!

Also, fascinating find on CNN: “Blood letting, tobacco smoke blown into the lungs, rum rubs and even the sight of Australia were some of the treatments used – with varying degrees of success – by surgeons of Britain’s Royal Navy to treat patients from the late 1700s to the late 1800s, government records released Friday show.

Britain’s National Archives has cataloged and made available to the public journals and diaries from surgeons who served on ships and in shore installations from 1793 to 1880. The archive represents “probably the most significant collection of records for the study of health and medicine at sea for the 19th century,” said Bruno Pappalardo, naval records specialist at the National Archives.”

And finally, I thought you folks might enjoy a look at some of the hard-working librarians and archivists at Cincinnati State:

We were on display at Books by the Banks this weekend.  What did you do?

Thanks to Karen B for sending in the photo!  (Next time tell that one girl to take her sunglasses off her head!)