Rebecca Romney and Heather O’Donnell on “Building The Future of Rare Books: Two Booksellers’ Experiences in Outreach”

January (Tuesday) Evening Program

Rebecca Romney	Heather O'Donnell

In this presentation, Rebecca Romney of Type Punch Matrix and Heather O’Donnell of Honey & Wax Booksellers reflect on their participation in outreach programs designed to address marginalization in the rare book world, including the Women’s Initiative of the ABAA (Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America), the Antiquarian Book Seminar (CABS-Minnesota), and their own Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize for young women collectors. These programs, in addition to recent initiatives created by Rare Boo

k School, the Bibliographical Society of America, and RBMS, are part of a broader movement to attract and support booksellers, collectors, librarians, and archivists from communities historically underrepresented in the rare book world. In discussing what they have learned from recent projects — and their hopes for new ones, like the ABAA Diversity Initiative — Rebecca and Heather will consider the successes and challenges facing these efforts to build a more inclusive and representative rare book world for future generations.

Rebecca and Heather were featured in the documentary The Booksellers, which premiered at the New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center in 2019.