History of Special Collections @ Colby

  • INTRO
    • Goals
    • Student Scholars Wanted
    • Acknowledgments
    • Contact Us
  • CHRONOLOGY & CONTEXT
    • What Happened (early on)
      • The First Library & Edward Hall
      • The “Rare Book” Section (early 1930s)
    • Our Chronology (1935-1975)
    • Some Context
  • THE PEOPLE
    • Curators
      • Carl Jefferson Weber (Curator 1940-1958)
      • Richard Cary (Curator 1958-1975)
    • Librarians
      • N Orwin Rush (Librarian 1936-1945)
      • Gilmore Warner (Librarian 1945-1947)
      • James Humphry III (Librarian 1947-1957)
      • John R McKenna (Librarian 1957-1964)
      • Kenneth P Blake, Jr (Librarian 1964-1973)
      • Eileen M Curran (Acting Librarian, 1973-1976)
    • Other Colby People
      • Ernest C Marriner ’13
      • Frederick A Pottle ’17
      • Carroll A Wilson ’40 LLD
      • Franklin Winslow Johnson (President 1929-1942)
      • Julius Seelye Bixler (President 1942-1960)
      • Robert Edward Lee Strider II (President 1960-1979)
    • The Colby Library Associates
    • Highlighted Donors
  • HIGHLIGHTED COLLECTIONS
    • Rare Book Collections
      • Early Books
      • Thomas Hardy
      • Book Arts
      • The Rubáiyát
    • Personal Libraries
      • Library of Edwin Arlington Robinson
      • Library of Thomas Sergeant Perry
      • Library of Harold Trowbridge Pulsifer
      • Library of James Augustine Healy
      • Library of Ben Ames Williams
    • Manuscript Collections
    • “A Recent Accession”: The Colby Library Quarterly

Library of Harold Trowbridge Pulsifer

The poetry library of Harold Trowbridge Pulsifer was given to Colby College starting in 1948 by his widow, Susan Nichols Pulsifer. Although the Pulsifers lived near Bowdoin College and had a relationship with that campus, Harold had close friendships with Presidents Johnson and Bixler and respected the literature and arts curricula at Colby.

A condition of the gift was the construction of a dedicated room for the Pulsifer library. The room was completed in 1963, on the third floor of Miller Library, and dedicated in 1964. The room would remain intact until the early 1980s when Miller was extensively renovated.

Works consulted:

Annual Report of the Curator of Rare Books. Colbiana Collection. Colby College Special Collections.

Annual Report of the Librarian. Colbiana Collection. Colby College Special Collections.

Susan N Pulsifer donor file. Colby College Special Collections.

“Two Friends of Robinson.” Colby Library Quarterly.  Waterville, ME: Colby College Library. February 1949. Print and web.

IN THE CATALOG…

Books in Pulsifer’s library are described in the Colby Libraries web catalog and are designated with a PULSIFER prestamp before the call number.

RELATED MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION

The Harold Trowbridge Pulsifer Collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, and clippings.

Explore Common Threads – and Student Scholarship – in our Manuscript Collections

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