Columbia Library columns (v.42(1992Nov-1993May))

(New York :  Friends of the Columbia Libraries.  )

Tools


 

Jump to page:

Table of Contents

  v.42,no.1(1992:Nov): Page 12  



12                                      Dallas Pratt

are talking about the addition of several hundred thousand items
each year. How does your Library cope with these paper ava¬
lanches?" Ken, who is a prodigious worker himself is always appre¬
ciative of the efforts of others, and he answered characteristically,
"Because I have such a dedicated staff headed by Bernard Crystal
and Rudolph Ellenbogen, aided by their colleagues and a steady
stream of student assistants, and with a little help from our friends
the computers. Even though we are sometimes overwhelmed by the
large gifts, they always remind us of the generosity of our thought¬
ful and loyal donors. Further, these gifts satisfy and encourage us
because we know that students and scholars will make effective use
of these resources in their studies and publications."

During his three and a half decades in the Rare Book and Manu¬
script Library, which he has headed for the past twenty-five years.
Ken has directed much progress in constructing a new library, in
building collections, and in encouraging research. The great original
collections—Plimpton, Smith, Lodge, Brander Matthews,
Seligman, Epstean, et al.—have been better cared for and more
thoroughly used by several generations of Columbians and visiting
scholars from across this country and from abroad. His encourage¬
ment for the establishment of endowed book purchase funds—such
as the Solton and Julia Engel, Friends of the Libraries, Albert
Ulmann, Louis and Marguerite Cohn, Herman and Aveve Cohen,
and Jack Harris Samuels funds, to name those represented in the
catalogue—has stimulated an ever-increasing inflow of gifts in cash
and in kind, which amounted to $1.6 million last year.

Ken retires at the end of the year. He leaves behind a gift which is
not mentioned in the catalogue yet may be the most valuable of all.
Let me record it here: good will toward the Library, based on affec¬
tion for Ken, of many hundreds of friends.
  v.42,no.1(1992:Nov): Page 12