Memo from Alexandra “Sandy” Sandy Mason, Head of the Department of Special Collections, to Assistant Library Director John Glinka, July 17, 1964.

Memo from Alexandra “Sandy” Sandy Mason, Head of the Department of Special Collections, to Assistant Library Director John Glinka, July 17, 1964.

In this memo, Mason argues strenuously for the need to better secure rare books and manuscripts from theft. Part of the problem? Special Collections had previously existed in “relative seclusion of the top level of the stacks,” located behind “a locked door at the top of stairs which few people ascended.” The new Special Collections space was “an obvious, attractive, and luxurious area” just “a few feet” from the front door. As a result, wrote Mason, “this department has had more, and more widespread, publicity than ever before in its existence.”

17 July 1964

RG 32/1/5 Special Collections 1963-1969