Donors and Libraries

Course Description

Particularly aimed at rare book and special collections librarians who deal on a regular basis with donors (or who would like to increase their level of activity in this area); also open to donors (and prospective donors) who would like to know more about how libraries and institutional personnel deal with gifts (and with prospective gifts). Topics include: needs and opportunities (the American tradition of gifts to libraries, privileges and responsibilities of donors and libraries, and dealing with bureaucracies); the institutional framework (institutional realities, dealing with changing priorities); library-donor relations (building working relationships, fulfilling obligations, coping with staff changes); tax and legal matters (tax incentives, deeds of gift, gift/purchase arrangements, gift vs. deposit, appraisals, institutional record-keeping). The course is not intended to be a how-to-raise-money workshop; it is an extended examination of the philosophy of giving, and receiving, collections and other donations in a library context. The 2009 November course will be held at the Grolier Club in New York City.

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Advance Reading List

Preliminary Advices

Please read the following before coming to class:

1. ACRL Code of Ethics for Special Collections Librarians. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries/American Library Association, October 2003.
2. ACRL Guidelines for the Security of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Other Special Collections. July 1999.
3. ACRL Guidelines Regarding Theft in Libraries. January 2003.
4. Barlow, William P., Jr. Book Collecting: Personal Rewards and Public Benefits. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1986, rep 1988. (Available from the Library of Congress)
5. Basbanes, Nicholas A. A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books. New York: Henry Holt, 1995, rep 1996. (Also, other works by Basbanes)
6. Browar, Lisa. “An Oral Contract Isn’t Worth the Paper It’s Printed On.” Rare Books and Manuscripts Librarianship 6: 100-107 (2, 1991).
7. Dickinson, Donald C. Dictionary of American Book Collectors. New York: Greenwood Press, 1986.
   [Especially the entries for Samuel Putnam Avery; Hubert Howe Bancroft; Edwin J. Beinecke, Sr. and Frederick W. Beinecke; James Ford Bell; Albert Bender; Albert A. Berg; John Carter Brown; William A. Clark, Jr.; William W. Clary; William L. Clements; Everitt, DeGolyer; Estelle Doheny; Henry Clay Folger; Philip Hofer; Henry E. Huntington; Thomas Jefferson; James Lenox; Amy Lowell; Tracy McGregor; John Pierpont Morgan and John Pierpont Morgan, Jr.; A.S.W. Rosenbach; Lessing J. Rosenwald; John Hinsdale Scheide and William Taylor Scheide; Isaiah Thomas; and Henry R. Wagner.]
8. Freudenheim, Susan. “Romancing the Collector: Will There Be a Storybook Ending?” The New York Times, March 31, 2004.
9. Schreyer, Alice. Elective Affinities: Private Collectors & Special Collections in Libraries. Chicago: The University of Chicago Library, 2001.
10. Steele, Victoria, and Stephen D. Elder. “Fundraising with Friends Groups,” in Becoming a Fundraiser: The Principles and Practice of Library Development, 77-90. 2d. ed. Chicago: American Library Association, 2000.
11. Stoddard, Roger E. “The American Book and the American Bookman: for Marcus McCorison on His Retirement,” in A Library-Keeper’s Business: Essays by Roger E. Stoddard, selected and edited by Carol Z. Rothkopf. New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 2002.
12. Wroth, Lawrence C. “The Chief End of Book Madness.” The Library of Congress Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions 3: (October 1945).

NB: All admitted students will be mailed a copy of a memorandum written by Wm P Barlow, Jr, on tax issues relevant to the course. Please also read this memo before coming to class.

And, please browse the following before coming to class:

• Auction and sales catalogues (collections that got away), especially:
  Estelle Doheny (Christie, Manson & Woods International Inc., 1989)
  Robert Hoe, III (Anderson, 1911-1912)
  A. Edward Newton (Parke-Bernet, 1941)
  Thomas W. Streeter (Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1966-1969)
  Tony Zwicker (Books Do Furnish A Room, Granary Books, 2001)
• Burlingham, Cynthia and Bruce Whiteman, eds. The World from Here: Treasures of the Great Libraries of Los Angeles. Los Angeles: UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum, 2001.
• The First Twenty Years: The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, an Anniversary Catalogue compiled by Ralph W. Franklin et al. New Haven: Yale University Library, 1983.
• Thompson, Neville et al. The Winterthur Library Revealed: Five Centuries of Design and Inspiration. New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 2003.

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Course History