RBS Receives Largest Donation in School’s History
$3.1 Million Gift Endows Permanent Curator Position
Glen (left) and Cathy Miranker (right) view the teaching collections with RBS Miranker Family Director of Collections, Exhibitions & Scholarly Initiatives Barbara Heritage (center). Photo by Stephanie Gross, 2024.
Rare Book School has received a groundbreaking $3.1 million donation to endow a full-time curatorial chair for the School’s teaching collection and exhibitions program. It is the largest single gift in Rare Book School’s 41-year history.
The contribution secures the continued educational use, growth, conservation, and exhibition of the RBS teaching collection of more than 100,000 items and represents a powerful vote of confidence in the School’s unique approach to instruction, through hands-on student use of materials ranging from a third-century BCE Egyptian papyrus fragment to 21st-century born-digital material.
The donation comes from longtime RBS supporters Cathy and Glen Miranker, bibliophiles and collectors with a passion for book history.
According to RBS Executive Director Michael F. Suarez, S.J., “Endowing this key position gives Rare Book School greater financial sustainability over the long term, and so may be understood as a perpetual gift to our current and future students. My hope is that others will be inspired by Cathy’s and Glen’s leadership to further safeguard the future of RBS and its mission into the 21st century.”
The Mirankers have long been engaged with Rare Book School’s instructional programs, its financial support, and its governance. Glen is both a board member and frequent RBS student, and the family’s support extends from the School’s online offerings to annual match contributions for RBS operating expenses. “We have high hopes of our gift setting off a chain reaction of support from other donors,” the couple said.
“We value the power of touch as a way of learning,” they explained, “and to us, the up-close-and-personal exploration of a book can bring unparalleled insights into its life and times, and to the community—authors, illustrators, designers, papermakers, bookbinders, printers, publishers, booksellers, collectors—that had a hand in its production.”
The new curatorial position will be known as the Miranker Family Director of Collections, Exhibitions & Scholarly Initiatives, a post currently held by Barbara Heritage, who has worked at RBS since 2002.
The gift coincides with the School’s move back into UVA’s renovated Edgar Shannon Library. Rare Book School’s new second-floor suite includes three state-of-the-art seminar rooms, a dedicated printing office, adjacent staff offices, space for exhibitions and storage for the teaching collection. RBS welcomed 530 students to 42 courses this summer, which took place in Charlottesville, at nine partner institutions, and online.