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

Curators

Our first two curators, English professors Carl Weber and Richard Cary, faced different circumstances, each with challenges and advantages.

Entrance to MH - early 30s
Entrance to Mayflower Hill, before construction began in the late 1930s. The college’s new campus was built upon farmlands and interrupted by wartime exigencies.

Weber’s tenure (1940-1958) included constrained resources on the old campus, temporary quarters during the move to Mayflower Hill and issues within the newly-constructed Treasure Room. His efforts to build a remarkable rare book and manuscript repository were aided by the college’s desire to re-envision itself on the new campus and his serendipitous encounters with generous benefactors.

Cary’s curacy (1958-1975) faced inadequate staffing, ongoing Miller Library construction and a rapidly changing cultural landscape. However, he had strong foundations upon which to build and new collecting directions to explore.

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

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