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

Other Colby People

DEKE centennial -1946 - E F Stevens '89
DKE centennial celebration in 1946. Edward F Stevens ’89 (far right) played a central role in hiring the college’s librarians. He donated fine press items to the Treasure Room, contributed articles to the CLQ and served on the advisory board of the CLA.

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.

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

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