SPRING 2014 UPDATE
Strengthening the Smith College Libraries since 1942
Upcoming Events
Thursday, April 10, 4:30 p.m., Neilson Browsing Room
The Inaugural Enid Epstein Mark ’54 Lecture
Enid Mark, a very good friend of the Libraries and a former member of the
Friends’ Executive Committee, was an important graphic artist who excelled
in combining her drawings, photographs and computer skills to create rich
illustrations for her own books. In 1986, Enid, with the assistance of then-curator of rare books
Ruth Mortimer, created a wonderful artist’s book, The Bewildering Thread. This was the first in
an acclaimed series of finely-wrought books to be published under her ELM Press imprint over the
next 24 years, until her death in 2008.
Now an annual lecture on the Book Arts and Poetry will honor Enid’s life and work. This has been
made possible by a gift, for that purpose, from her husband, Eugene Mark. We are very pleased to
announce that the inaugural lecture will be given by the learned and delightful Mark Dimunation,
Chief of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress. His talk will
focus on one of the key features of Enid’s oeuvre: “Single Voice, Many Hands: the Nature of
Vision and Collaboration in Contemporary Book Arts.”
A gala reception will follow.
Wednesday, April 16, 7:30 p.m., Weinstein Auditorium
Report from the Front Lines: Gender, Sexuality and Immigration Reform
Marielena Hincapié of the National Immigration Law Center and Miriam Yeung of the National Asian
Pacific American Women’s Forum will consider history, memory and the role of gender in today’s
struggles around citizenship status and the sustainability of immigrant communities. Sponsored by
the Sophia Smith Collection.
Elizabeth (Beth) Myers has
been named Director of Special
Collections and will assume her
position in May. In this new position, she will oversee the college’s three special collections:
the Sophia Smith Collection, the
Smith College Archives and the
Mortimer Rare Book Room;
and serve as chief curator of
the Sophia Smith Collection.
“Her experience and research
interests make Beth the perfect
candidate for this important
leadership position within the
Libraries and the college,” said
Director of Libraries Chris Loring. Myers comes to Smith from
Detroit where she served as Director of the Walter P. Reuther
Library of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University.
Prior to that, she served for six
years as Director of the Women and Leadership Archives at
Loyola University Chicago. She
holds a Ph.D in 20th Century
U.S. history with concentrations
in Women’s History and Public
History.
A Special Benefit for Alumnae
One facet of life at Smith that recent graduates say they miss is easy access to scholarly journals. Fortunately, scholarly
publishers are now beginning to include alumni in academic licensing contracts. The Libraries are delighted to be able to offer
alums the e-resources of Project Muse with hundreds of current, full-text journals in the humanities and social sciences from
over 120 publishers; Sage Knowledge with hundreds of e-books and e-reference sources, largely in the social sciences; and
Sage Journals, which provides access to humanities, social sciences and science journals from Sage Publications, a leading
independent academic and professional publisher. All are available once you login on the Alumnae Association’s website.
Alumnae access to JSTOR is still fee-based, and the Friends continue to underwrite this popular service. Read more about
library services for alumnae at www.smith.edu/libraries/services/alumnae.
FSCL News
By Jenny Frost ’78, Chair
One aspect of the work of the Friends of the Libraries’ Executive Committee is
to build connections between the libraries and the various communities that
make up the Smith universe. While fundraising is certainly a motivation for
this outreach, perhaps the most important outcome of our efforts is to foster a better understanding
of the exceptional resources as well as the opportunities for learning that the Libraries provide: for
students, for faculty, and increasingly, for alumnae too. (see Page 1.)
Brenda Shapiro
Ushers in the
Renaissance
We had a wonderful visit with
Brenda Shapiro ’61 in the Mortimer Rare Book Room a few years
ago, showing her a variety of books
from all periods. Afterwards she
wrote the kind of letter that curators pray for, asking what subject
gaps in our collection are the most
in need of filling. Since we already
have a respectable collection of
medieval manuscripts, we determined that we should build up
our collection of Renaissance-era
books, which do not grow on trees.
Now, after several years’ hunt we
have acquired two sixteenth-century manuscripts—one a collection of mostly unpublished verse
by the Italian humanist Antonio Tebaldeo and the other a description
of the fortifications of the town of
Nola near Naples—and a single
printed book, Habiti delle donne venetiane by Giacomo Franco
(ca. 1592), which featured prominently in the symposium honoring the retirement of professor
Ann Jones last fall. All three of
these books are immensely interesting from both history of art and
literary points of view. [MA]
Historically, we have focused our outreach on the alumnae community. This is, of course, terribly
important. We want alumnae to understand and feel excited (as we are!) about what is happening on
campus at the libraries. But we have also focused more recently on building connections with current
students. Today’s students are, after all, the alumnae of the future.
To this end, we recently co-sponsored “I Love My Library
Day” with the College Archives. Despite cancellation of the
original date due to one of this year’s major snow storms,
the re-scheduled events took place February 14 in all of
the campus libraries. There were library teas, cupcake
decorating, photo booths, button-making and a performance,
“My Josten Valentine: Songs from the Heart.” Love-themed
exhibits exploring courtly love, the art of love, the language
Anastasia Konefal ’17 and Abigail Pratt ’ 14
of love and the chemistry of love enlivened the four libraries
at “I Love my Library Day”
through the month of February. The celebration was initially
conceived of as an opportunity for current students to realize how important the libraries are to their
academic lives. This goal was achieved. But “I Love My Library Day” also became a giant Valentine
Thank You from the students to the library staff who make the libraries both function and vibrate with
life. It was a dramatic reminder of the irreplaceable role the Libraries play in the life of Smith as both
a learning institution and a community. The celebration extended to the virtual world of social media
as well. See more photos on our Facebook page and watch the video “Why I Love the Libraries” on
the SmithCollegeLibraries You Tube channel.
New Arrivals at the Sophia Smith Collection
The Sophia Smith Collection continues to expand its holdings documenting the breadth of women’s experiences. Among the wealth of new materials received this past year are the papers of four important
feminist activists. Swanee Hunt, who will be awarded a Smith honorary degree at Commencement this
year, is, among other things, a former U.S. ambassador, founding director of the Women and Public
Policy Program at Harvard, and co-founder of the Hunt Alternatives Fund which works to strengthen
youth arts organizations, support leaders of social movements, combat human trafficking, and increase
philanthropy. Virginia “Ginny” Apuzzo has dedicated her life to gay and lesbian issues, working on
civil rights, health care, HIV/AIDS, and the concerns of aging members of the LGBT community. For
more than three decades, Miriam Ching Yoon Louie has worked to advance movements of women
of color, immigrant women workers, and grassroots Asian communities. The Papers of Puerto Rican
writer Rosario Morales (1930-2011) document her many writing projects as well as work as a
feminist and Marxist activist. [MG]
2012-2013 FSCL Executive Committee
Jenny Frost ’78, Chair; Elisabeth Doucett ’80; Julie Iatron ’97;
Marcia MacHarg ’70; Carolina Miranda ’93; Susan Novick ’81; Bethanne Patrick ’85; Betsy Pepper ’67. Ex-Officio: Kathy MacCartney,
Honorary Chair; Christopher B. Loring, Director of Libraries; Mary Irwin, Executive Secretary.
News from Around the Libraries
The Sophia Smith Collection hosts Sara K. Gould this spring for a series of discussions exploring the archives’ potential to promote social justice. Gould is the
former president and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women. She is a frequent
speaker in the areas of social justice philanthropy, organizational effectiveness,
women’s economic security, and advocacy and public policy.
The Libraries bid a fond farewell to Bruce Sajdak, information literacy coordinator and fabled reference librarian, at a Shakespearean-themed retirement party
on January 16. Beloved by colleagues, faculty and students alike, Bruce served
the Smith community with grace and wit for thirty-four years. Besides teaching,
and assisting faculty and students with their work, he spear-headed an ambitious
Information Literacy program for academic departments. Professor emeritus of
Government Tom Riddell summed up the sense of collective loss thus: “Neilson
won’t be the same without ‘that Bruce force and presence.’”
Neilson Circulation Manager, Reese Julian received the 2014 Elizabeth B. Wyandt
Gavel Award at Rally Day. This award is given annually by students to Smith staff
members “who have given extraordinarily of themselves to the Smith College community as a whole.” He was cited for making Neilson one of the “cheeriest places”
on campus.
Curator of Rare Books and Interim Head of Special Collections, Martin Antonetti
has been elected President of The Bibliographical Society of America (BSA), the
oldest scholarly society in North America dedicated to the study of books and manuscripts as physical objects. He will serve a two-year term.
Director of Digital Strategies and Services Elisa Lanzi has been accepted to attend Educause’s Leading Change Institute in June. This highly selective program
explores current and future challenges in higher education with academic leaders.
Special Gifts
A Splendid Book Honors the Memory of
Paul Alpers
Family, friends, and former colleagues responded warmly to Carol Christ’s request that donations in memory of
her husband Paul be made to the Friends of the Libraries. Since Paul was such a bibliophile and habitué of the
Mortimer Rare Book Room, we decided to use a portion of
the funds received to acquire a book that he himself would
have found interesting and beautiful, and that we could use
for teaching and research. This gorgeous book is an illustrated bilingual French-English edition of Milton’s Paradise Lost, printed in Paris in 1792, a magnificent edition
in two volumes, said to be one of the finest examples of
color printing produced in the eighteenth century. Printed
on heavy paper, this copy is bound in the original Spanish
calfskin with gold tooling and marbled endpapers. [MA]
A Key Role of Libraries: Stewardship of the Records of Knowledge
By Christopher B. Loring, Director of Libraries
Academic libraries, librarians and archivists have many roles. We collect and provide access to knowledge, however it is manifested; we collaborate
with faculty to teach students research skills, we provide services and physical spaces that support faculty teaching and research and student learning and creativity. One fundamental role we have is to act as stewards of the “records of knowledge.” Prior to the digital revolution, those records
were largely physical: books, periodicals, archival materials, film, LPs, CDs, etc. Now that the records are both physical and digital, librarians are
working hard to be responsible stewards in both spheres.
At Smith we have focused our preservation efforts largely on the unique materials held in our special collections. We pay close attention to the
environmental conditions in which these materials are housed. We digitize audio and video media that are at risk of deterioration in their original
formats. We also digitize heavily used materials so that the originals can be protected from the wear and tear of frequent use.
Recently we have been sharpening our focus on the digital material in our archives, as well as capturing the output of our faculty, students and staff,
that is now born digital. This effort, digital preservation, requires that we develop policies, strategies, infrastructure and actions to ensure long
term access to digital content.
It’s helpful therefore that Smith participates in national preservation efforts. We are, for example, a lead participant in a Mellon Foundation-funded
planning effort to develop strategies for the shared stewardship of unique and significant, but less frequently used, items currently held within
libraries of the Northeast. The goal here is to ensure their availability to scholars well into the future.
We are proud of the preservation work we do and are heartened by the support the Friends provide us through the FSCL Preservation Fund.
We thank all of you who support our preservation efforts!
EXHIBITIONS
Creative Colleagues:
An exhibition featuring the
creative pursuits of Smith
College Libraries Staff
Book Arts Gallery, Neilson Level 3
February 10 - May 29, 2014
Beyond the Baby-sitters Club: the
Other Books of Ann M. Martin
Mortimer Rare Book Room foyer,
Neilson Level 3
March 24 – May 27, 2014
An exhibition curated by Su Meck, AC 2014
Capstone Projects by Seniors
in the Archives Concentration
Program
Alumnae Gym, Level A
May 10 - September 30, 2014
If you love the Smith
College Libraries,
like us on Facebook!
www.facebook.com/FSCLib
The Gundersheimer
Collection of
Italian Travels
Werner Gundersheimer, director emeritus of
the Folger Shakespeare Library, has donated his
remarkable collection of nearly 600 books of
Italian travels to the Mortimer Rare Book Room.
The collection is composed of the accounts of
mostly English and American travelers to all
parts of Italy from the seventeenth through the
A view of Naples from Lewis Engelbach, Naples
twentieth century, with special reference to the
and the Campagna Felice in a Series of Letters
(London: Ackermann, 1815)
Grand Tour, later American cultural tourism,
and the rise of women travelers. Over the course
of several decades of discerning and scrupulous collecting, Dr. Gundersheimer has
assembled not only the most famous descriptions of travel but also many lesserknown accounts that shed new light on early travelers’ motivations and interests.
This is certainly the most significant collection of rare books to come to the libraries
in recent years, and also the most fertile for student and faculty research. Many of
the books are illustrated, sometimes profusely, and all are in impeccable original
condition. A symposium and exhibition to honor both the collection and the collector
is being planned. [MA]
The Friends News Update is published twice yearly, in the fall and in the spring. Contributors
include: Martin Antonetti, curator of rare books; Jenny Frost ’78 Chair, FSCL Executive committee;
Maida Goodwin ’83, interim director, Sophia Smith Collection; Chris Loring, Director of Libraries.
Comments may be sent to Mary Irwin, Friends of the Smith College Libraries, Neilson Library,
Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063, Telephone: (413) 585-2903 or email: mirwin@smith.edu.
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