Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · 9d

Guidelines for contributing to future issues are here, and I definitely encourage writers to explore what the magazine is about before pitching! If you don't have the funds to buy an issue, just send me an email and I can share information www.finebooksmagazine.com/writing

Guidelines for Writers

Fine Books & Collections FineBooksMagazine.com 100 Europa Drive, Suite 290 Chapel Hill, NC 27517-2310 Editor: Allison C. Meier: [email protected] Publisher: Kimberly Draper

www.finebooksmagazine.com

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · 9d

If you want to read all about why cemetery ledgers matter, the people keeping metal type making alive, the joys of collecting well-worn books, medieval fragmentology & much more, pick up the fall issue of @finebooks.bsky.social , edited by me! store.finebooksmagazine.com/autumn-2025/...

Cover of Fine Books & Collections magazine with a black and white photo of a woman standing among ruins

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · 19d

If you want to lift your spirits by having a drink & perusing excellent zines, the Pete's Mini Zine Fest is tomorrow at Pete's Candy Store hosted by Quimby's! I'll be bringing my zines on cemeteries, manhole covers, spirit photography & more. www.instagram.com/p/DOtlLgVEZx...

Pete's Mini Zine Fest: September 20, 2025, 2pm-7pm, Pete's Candy Store, 709 Lorimer St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · Sep 5

Delightful surprise to open a Brooklyn Public Library book & find it was once Pete Hamill’s! (And inscribed to him by Max Gordon of the Village Vanguard.) Love that this is just part of the circulating collection.

Title page for Live at the Village Vanguard by Max Gordon with inscription by Gordon to Hamill

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · Aug 29

I don't think Lee Hays has got his due as compost burial pioneer, with his last wishes for his ashes to be mixed with a compost pile. He even wrote a farewell poem about it: "If I should die before I wake, / All my bone and sinew take: / Put them in the compost pile / To decompose a little while.

Lee Hays - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · Aug 26

This is just a sampling, but especially grim & depressing are the ones pitching my own articles, this one about poisonous books, to me.

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · Aug 26

I remember getting two pitches from this "author" this year & naively responded to the first until there was a weird question about Paypal payments. But I feel like this is only the tip of what most editors are seeing of AI pitches, it's such a waste of time & burying everything else

Wired and Business Insider remove articles by AI-generated ‘freelancer’

At least six publications have taken down articles under the name Margaux Blanchard that were AI-generated

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Allison C. Meier

The Public Domain Review @publicdomainrev.bsky.social · Aug 3

#SundayReads: For more than half a millennium, the dance of death in European visual art has imagined a tango between the quick and the dead. @AllisonCMeier explores: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/our-mortal-waltz-the-dance-of-death-across-centuries

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · Aug 5

Some new reporting by me on the preservation of Black churches

The Art Newspaper @theartnewspaper.bsky.social · Aug 4

Efforts to preserve and repair historic US Black churches get $8.5m boost – The National Trust for Historic Preservation is helping 30 congregations shore up their buildings and share their stories, with their communities and the world buff.ly/VfLiejy

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · Aug 4

Just want to celebrate that the NYPL Performing Arts Library has an incredible offering of album liner notes that you can examine in their research collections! Saved me a lot of time/money tracking things down.

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · Jul 12

Yeah! $200-600 depending on length/reporting needs.

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · Jul 11

I've spent much of this year on a Folk Art Museum project rethinking biographies for "outsider" artists & I'm proud these are now coming online! It was inspiring in this time of undervaluing human creativity to commune with those who made their own paths collection.folkartmuseum.org/search/meier

Search meier (Artists) – Search – American Folk Art Museum

eMuseum is a powerful web publishing toolkit that integrates seamlessly with TMS to bring dynamic collection content and images to your website, intranet, and kiosks.

collection.folkartmuseum.org

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · Jul 9

I’m always looking for new writers & ideas at [email protected]! Tell me your timely tales about rare books and ephemera

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · Jul 9

The summer issue of @finebooks.bsky.social I edited is out, with tales of literary Portugal, people who love endpapers, poisonous books, Route 66 maps & more! Get a copy now in beautiful print www.finebooksmagazine.com/issue

Hand holding a magazine titled Fine Books & Collections with a woman driving a car on the cover

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · Jul 5

That’s comic books editor Julius Schwartz buried in Queens! www.findagrave.com/memorial/837... I did indeed include him in my NYC epitaphs zine www.etsy.com/listing/1437...

Julius Schwartz (1915-2004) - Find a Grave...

Literary Editor. He was a pioneering force in the Silver Age revival of the comic book industry in the 1950s when he introduced new versions of The Flash, Green Lantern and many other characters for D...

www.findagrave.com

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · Jun 11

Never not a weird time to promote projects these days but I am proud of this brand new Modernist NYC Map I authored for Blue Crow Media! Has over 50 sites for you to wander actoss the five boroughs bluecrowmedia.com/products/mod...

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · Jun 4

Did some reporting on very old house news

The Art Newspaper @theartnewspaper.bsky.social · Jun 2

One of New York City’s oldest houses to open as its neighbourhood’s first museum

The Hendrick I. Lott House in southeast Brooklyn—former home to a family of enslavers will undergo a major preservation and renovation project next year

buff.ly/uuuVmFc

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · May 17

The Matta-Clark roses are now blooming!

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · May 6

I didn't intend for this account just to become a monthly bulletin board of happenings for me, but scrolling has taken a toll in these days...

Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · May 6

This Thursday my online deep dive on cemetery symbols begins! We'll discover the ancient rites, memento mori meaning, and often overlooked art of how we express the afterlife on our graves. Join live or on your own time: www.morbidanatomy.org/classes/p/sp...

Speak with the Dead: Understanding Cemetery Symbolism with Cemetery Expert Allison C. Meier, Begins May 8 — Morbid Anatomy

Four week class taught online via Zoom Thursdays, May 8 - 29, 2025 7 - 9 pm ET (NYC time) $125 Paid Patreon Members / $145 General Admission Classes will be recorded and archived for studen...

www.morbidanatomy.org

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · Apr 11

I also spent far too long last night figuring out how to have a working website menu on mobile so you can also find all my upcoming events, online and in person, through June here! allisoncmeier.com/cemetery-tou...

Events – Allison C. Meier

allisoncmeier.com

Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · Apr 11

Cemetery walk season returns this weekend! I'm leading the spring tree wander at Green-Wood in Brooklyn, hopefully giving time to think about our connections to trees and death www.green-wood.com/event/buds-a...

Buds and Blossoms: A Spring Walk at Green-Wood - Green-Wood

Spring is here, and it’s time to experience Green-Wood’s stunning transformation! The Cemetery bursts into a bouquet of colors as hundreds of flowering trees and plants come to life in a dazzling disp...

www.green-wood.com

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · Mar 31

From this weekend: the manhole covers of New Orleans!

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · Mar 20

As long as I’m around there will always be more weird storytelling events ahead!

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Allison C. Meier @allisoncmeier.bsky.social · Mar 19

This Saturday night! I'm leaving my home to co-host a storytelling event at Chinatown Soup as part of the Goblin Market. Please join & bring any tales you would like to share of Uncanny Journeys. My zines will also be among the market's wares from March 21-30 www.eventbrite.com/e/goblin-mar...

Green square with text for the Goblin Market by Interesting Editions: March 21-30, with text from Christina Rossetti's poem

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