Spring 2008
Main Level
“…UNLESS A COLLEGE” THE MUNIFICENCE OF DONORS,
THE ENRICHMENT OF A LIBRARY |
From the time of its founding in early 1800, the Library at Middlebury College has been built and enriched by generous gifts from countless donors, from founding fathers to trustees, faculty, students, alumni, parents, and friends. In his poem Build Soil (1932), Robert Frost adjures us to be judicious in forming close alliances.
Don’t join too many gangs. Join few if any.
Join the United States and join the family —
But not much in between, unless a college .
For more than 200 years, members of the Middlebury College community have instinctively followed Frost’s advice, maintaining ties to the College almost as strong as to family and country. In that time, the enduring loyalty and support of the Middlebury family has found no better focus than the College Library.
Six months before the founding of the College itself, the College and Town founding fathers, joined together to establish the College Library. Most of these learned men – Seth Storrs, Samuel Swift, Horatio Seymour, to name a few -- committed not only their financial support, but donated significant portions of their private libraries as well. It could be argued that for the first 50 years of the College’s existence, more of the slowly-growing library was built on gifts than on purchases from the meager College budget. The largest budgetary expenditure for the library came in 1860, when some $3000 was pledged in support of Pres. Benjamin Labaree’s book-buying sabbatical in Europe. This major infusion at last brought the Library collection to over 10,000 volumes. Throughout the 19th century, the library remained heavily dependent on gifts. In the 1870s, the library benefited immeasurably when the Philomathesian Society dissolved. As an enduring legacy, this most prestigious student literary and debate society, which for many years had maintained a larger and finer library than the institution itself, passed on its collection to the College. In the 20th century, budgetary support of the Library grew increasingly and, by the early 21st century could boast a catalog of 1,000,000 records. Yet, while the ratio of donation to purchasing shifted dramatically in favor of the latter, the tradition of gift-giving has remained strong.
Although many donated books and other materials traditionally are added to the Library’s circulating collection, the vast majority of important gifted collections, by virtue of their singularity, rarity, vulnerable condition, value, or any combination thereof, are protected and preserved in Special Collections in the College Library. Special Collections is comprised of five extraordinary collections : the Julian W. Abernethy Collection of American Literature, the Helen Hartness Flanders Ballad Collection, the College Archives, Rare Books and Manuscripts, and the Vermont Collection. One hopes that most members of the Middlebury College community have at least heard of these collections. What is not widely known, is how these remarkable collections found their way to Middlebury College and the means by which they continue to grow.
“Unless a College” celebrates how our special collections have grown – by gift.
It would be impossible to acknowledge, even in this expansive exhibit, the hundreds, if not thousands, of donors who have given to Special Collections. Instead, our focus has been to represent significant contributions from large collections to single items, and to include the extraordinary range of published and primary source materials from incunabula and rare books; to letters, diaries, and journals; to scrapbooks, ephemera, and realia; to photographs, maps, and original costume and set designs. In the attempt to provide the most complete picture of the myriad routes by which the materials have come to the College, the parameters of the word “gift” has been expanded for our purposes to include purchases made possible by bequests and financial donations, the most notable being the Abernethy Endowment and the Friends of the Library Fund. Without these generous resources the luster of Middlebury’s jewel collections might not remain so continuously bright.
In the 21st century, when colleges and universities become increasingly dependent on shared electronic resources and access to information has become more equitable, no matter the size of the institution, rare and primary source materials have moved to center stage in how one institutional library is distinguishable from another. The extraordinary electronic resources now available do not come cheap. Current library budgets reflect how acquiring and maintaining digital libraries comes at a much greater cost than print collections. As more and more resources are required to support 21st century libraries, the ability to build on our distinguished rare and unique collections, therefore, remains largely dependent upon gifts. Their long-range value remains priceless. Fortunately, members of the Middlebury College community continue to follow Frost’s advice.
Lower Level
The Middlebury Million: Celebrating a Library Milestone
(the one millionth catalog record)
The Middlebury College Library has supported the educational mission of the College since its inception over 200 years ago, and, given the naure of a liberal arts curriculum, it is appropriate that the first volumes added to the library in 1800 were an encyclopedia. The Library still purchases encyclopedias(although now they are more likely to be consulted online rather than in print), but today we also add DVDs, CDs, music scores, computer programs, microfilms, websites ... and even the occasional coconut doll.
This display illustrates a few of the milestones in the history of Middlebury College Library's collections, and shows how the growth of the library has increased exponentially over time. It took 100 years to amass somewhat more than 20,000 items, 40 years more to reach 100,000, another 40 to reach the half million mark. In just the last 20 years, the library's holdings have doubled. Now, new sharing agreements with several other New England colleges and universities increase the size of our effective holdings to over 3 million.
The explosion in the size of the library's holdings over the past few decades is one indication of the changing nature of libraries in the 21st century. In the past, books added to the library were painstakingly cataloged one at a time, and placed on shelves next to their kindred spirits in literature, or mathematics, or philosophy. Although this model is still relevant, it is no longer the sole - or even the primary - way the library develops is collections. Today, we might add thousands of itesm at a time to the library through the purchase of digital collections, and provide access to these resources using cataloging information contributed by any number of institutions all over the world. In addition, inter-library loand and consortial agreements make millions of other resoruces available to students and researchesr here at Middlebury.
Althought the way we operate has changed, and the library as a phsycial space has evolved from the hushed atmosphere of the nineteenth century to the bustling meeting place it is today, the baseic purpose remains the same: to support the teaching mission of the College - and the life of the mind in general - by providing the best and most useful resources we possibly can to the College community.
If you are interested in a detailed history of the Middlebury College Libreary, please consult Nicholas Basbanes' and Robert Buckeye's
A History of the Library at Middlebury College: 1800-2000 (Z722.M433 H58 2000)
Fall 2007
Main Level Alumnus Robert T. Stafford '35: U.S. Senator and Not-so-Quiet Environmentalist
Upper Level
A Torrent of Images: The Visionary Genius of Gustave Dore
Showing the work of the extraordinary 19th century illustrator, using the wealth of rare books illustrated by Dore in our Special Collections.
2006-2007
Main Level
Railroads and economic development in the Green Mountain State.
Beginning with the 1843 laws that chartered the first railroads in Vermont, the exhibit includes examples of stock certificates that provided funds needed for railroad development, and the subsequent growth of the marble, granite, slate and logging industries in the state. A freight ledger from 1868 shows that the railroads carried a lot of lumber and a little bit of leather, liquor and dairy products to destinations throughout New England and beyond. Photographs document the many accidents and the great Flood of 1927 that caused great financial hardships for railroads in the state. Several items in the display document the walkout by railroad union members in 1960 and the subsequent protracted litigation that eventually led to the temporary abandonment of the Rutland Railroad. The display includes several items from model railroads to tie in the exhibit with the holiday season and a favorite pastime for several generations of children.
Lower Level A Torrent of Images: the Visionary Genious of Gustave Dore Showing the work of the extraordinary 19th century illustrator, using the wealth of rare books illustrated by Dore in our Special Collections.
Lower Level
Searching for America Based on student work from a 2006 First Year Seminar (Searching for America in Contemporary Visual Culture), this exhibit explores modern America's selection of manufactured decorative objects for the home.
Presented by the Middlebury College Museum of Art.