History of Special Collections @ Colby

  • INTRO
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  • 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

Thomas Hardy

Hardy1897
1897 portrait of Hardy.

Starting in the 1920s, the academic interests of Professor Carl Weber resulted in library acquisitions that came to form the core of our remarkable Thomas Hardy collection. Weber published a checklist of Colby’s Hardiana in 1936. The collection at that time comprised hundreds of published prose and verse writings by Hardy, and books and articles about him. The published materials were complemented by handwritten letters and manuscripts. The work of the Colby Library Associates, via the Colby Library Quarterly and other venues, brought in additional published and unpublished items including periodicals, musical scores, photographs and numerous translations into non-English languages. Weber desired to amass a comprehensive Hardy collection in order to trace Hardy’s literary career and scope of influence as Hardy’s works went through various editions and formats.

Works consulted:

Colby Library Quarterly. Waterville, ME: Colby College Library. Print and web.

Weber, Carl J. Hardy at Colby: A Checklist of the Writings By and About Thomas Hardy Now in the Library of Colby College. Waterville, ME: Colby College Library, 1936. Print.

Weber, Carl J. Thomas Hardy in Maine. 1941. New York: Haskell House, 1975. Print.

IN THE CATALOG…

Published items in our Hardy Collection are described in the Colby Libraries web catalog. Each item is designated with a HARDY prestamp before the call number.

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

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