Finders & Keepers: The Foundation and Building of the Collections

Alexandra Mason, Spencer Librarian and Head, Department of Special Collections

To the memory of Joseph Rubinstein, 1918-1973, librarian, scholar, teacher, bookseller, friend.

A library is not just a building or a collection of books; it is a place where past and present are woven together in the timeless fabric of human thought and experience, where the efforts of writers, collectors, booksellers, librarians, and readers exist inseparable from one another, creating the future. It is this view of the library which Special Collections has selected for its Spencer Library celebration exhibition. Each book or manuscript shown has a history of people behind it, sometimes people with known histories, sometimes people whose only record is their ownership of a book. For every book shown, hundreds more must be imagined; for every donor mentioned, dozens more must be thanked; for every bookseller named, many more must be remembered — a whole world of people who built the library.

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