Official and informal ambassadors of the college facilitated donations for the Treasure Room from its earliest days and utilized the collections to further their own programs. President Johnson leveraged the Thomas Hardy and Edwin Arlington Robinson collections to reinforce Colby’s prestige and its new Mayflower Hill campus. Ernest Marriner was an early college contact for James Augustine Healy, who would become a major benefactor. Fred Pottle ’17 of Yale University spearheaded the formidable and significant Colby Library Associates.
In addition to their front-line and behind-the-scenes advocacy, many individuals other than curators and librarians were regular donors to the Treasure Room, members of the Colby Library Associates and contributors to the Colby Library Quarterly.