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

Julius Seelye Bixler (President 1942-1960)

JSB dancing with Homecoming Queen 1956
President Bixler dancing with the 1956 Homecoming Queen. A skilled cellist, his deep love of music and the arts was well known, on campus and beyond Colby.

Julius Seelye Bixler (1894-1985) was the 16th President of Colby and a high-respected administrator and academic colleague. Read a brief biography here.

PRESIDENT BIXLER AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Bixler served as President at a time of robust growth in the college’s rare book and literary manuscript holdings. He took a keen interest in Special Collections and his excellent academic reputation facilitated new acquisitions. Bixler was himself a donor of materials, most notably those associated with the James Family, to which the Bixlers were connected through marriage. In addition to family correspondence, he also donated two handsome bookcases that were originally owned by William James of Albany. The bookcases reside in our Special Collections lobby.  A March 1970 article in the Colby Library Quarterly, written by Bixler, gives details of his James Family donations.

ASSOCIATED COLLECTIONS

Mary Ellen Chase

James Family

Waldo Peirce

Thomas Sergeant Perry

Ben Ames Williams

 

 

 

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

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