Rare book librarianship in the United States

Abstract

Rare book librarianship appears in American librarianship as an independent professional specialization during the 1930s. At that time many libraries in the United States were already in possession of considerable collections of rare books and manuscripts, both due to the progressive ageing of their collections, and because of the frequency with which private collectors make contact with public libraries, donating books that they have acquired, often for reasons of exploiting tax exemptions. The first American libraries to collect rare books and documents are, however, the special libraries, connected to historical societies, who from the first half of the nineteenth century take over the function of preserving the documents of American history; during that same century, American private collectors also begin to amass huge book and document collections, both brought from Europe, and the fruit of local production. A number of private collections are thus handed over for public use either directly through a trust (the Morgan Library, the Huntington Library, etc.), or through a donation to an institutional library (Lilly Library at the University of Indiana, Widener Library at Harvard, and so on).

During the Twenties and Thirties the first great rare book librarians are active. Personages such as W. Eames, C.S. Brigham, G.P. Winship and B. Greene are able to strongly and even directly influence the details of the most important collections of manuscripts and rare books in America. But even, and above all, subsequently, at least until the Sixties, the American libraries are able to invest huge resources in purchases in this sector, so that the fundamental role of the rare book librarians in the United States is that of actual builders of collections, institutional collectors. More recently, these librarians become true bibliographers, participating in the activity of the Bibliographic Society of America, or preparing masterly catalogues such as the Third Census of the American incunabula.

The American rare book librarianship has been working intensely since its beginnings to identify the field of its expertise and its main characteristics, seeking an often uneasy harmonization with the general librarianship, with which, however, it pursues a constant dialogue. Through its professional association, the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (a division of the Association of College and Research Libraries of the ALA), founded in 1958, a whole series of tools (standards and guidelines) have been prepared over time. These are aimed at facilitating the work in common, both in cataloguing and in the management of the so-called special collections. Among the main scopes of the professional association are the facilitation of contacts between rare book librarians and constant attention to the problems of professional education, the lack of which has always been a serious cause for complaint.