November 2011 Luncheon Meeting

Speaker: Sarah Pritchard and Jeffrey Garrett

“Acquisition Programs at Research Libraries: What Really Goes On”

How do great collections end up in libraries? What are some of the issues that both librarians and collectors confront, how do good connections get made and what are the things that go awry? In this illustrated presentation, Caxtonian Sarah Pritchard and Jeff Garrett, both  of Northwestern University Library, will talk about successes and failures experienced during their careers of assembling archives and library collections for several research institutions (some names will be changed to protect the innocent, and the guilty). Come and hear about the acquisitions of: the papers of Illinois politicians in the spotlight of world attention (including a US Vice President of the 1920’s and a Governor of more recent times), the papers of an Oscar-winning actress; the digital-only “papers” of a Nobel Prize winner; all this along with other real-life controversies and death-bed disappointments from several different libraries. Pritchard and Garrett will also discuss issues that potential donors of archivalia and rara need to keep in mind as they look to preserving their legacies. Pritchard is the Dean of Libraries and University Librarian; Garrett is the Director of Special Collections and Archives.

 Luncheon buffet (in the main dining room on
six) opens at 11:30 am.  Program (in a different room, to be announced) from 12:30-1:30