Fall/Winter 2007

Among THE NEWSLETTER OF THEFriends FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY VOLUME 20 NUMBER 2 • FALL/WINTER 2007 Forward with Faculty ½ 19th Century Relic Gets a Virtual Makeover ½ David Lewis on Building a Collection From the Ground Up ½ Treasures From the Ancient World: Pingree Collection Comes to Brown Jeffrey Schreck ’73 From the University Librarian’s Office Chair Linda Aro ’81, MA ’83 Vice-Chair Harriette Hemmasi Joukowsky Family University Librarian Honorary Directors Maurice Glicksman ScD ’97, P ’78 Forward Martha S. Joukowsky ’58, P ’87 Chair Emerita with Faculty Fraser Lang ’67, P ’04 Chair Emeritus t is fitting that the Brown straddles past and present, providing John F. Mastroianni, Jr. ’71 Library’s first book, Valentin access to cutting edge technology Barbara Mosbacher ’45 I Schindler’s Lexicon Pentaglotton and enabling today’s students and Henry D. Sharpe, Jr. ’45, LLD ’70 Hon., Hebraicum, Chadaicum, Syriacum, scholars to create the research that P ’77, P ’88, P ’MAT ’86 Talmudico-Rabbinicum & Arabicum will inspire future generations. Chair Emeritus was a gift from the University’s first We talk a great deal in higher President Ruth Simmons President, James Manning. From that education about facilities, about the Directors act of generosity, the Library and its desperate need to improve our Board ofBoard Directors collections have grown exponentially. physical spaces. Make no mistake Constance Andrews ’48, P ’78 We now house some 3.5 million these needs are real, but what can be Prof. Thomas Banchoff, P ’91 volumes spread out over five distinct overlooked in our commitment to Alice H. R. H. Beckwith ’69 libraries. Even as our physical spaces revitalizing our buildings and John Berylson ’75 have altered dramatically and our grounds is that an institution is only Sophie Blistein ’41 collections have become world as strong as the men and women, Thomas Bryson ’72 renowned, the commitment by the students and faculty, who believe in Seth Dorsky ’03 faculty to the Library’s mission, its mission and who make use of the Mary Ann Ehrlich P ’85 exemplified by President Manning’s wisdom contained within its walls. Gary Enos ’83 initial offering, has only intensified. President Francis Wayland wrote Herbert Iselin ’42, P ’79, P ’81 In the pages of this issue of presciently of this very goal of S.T. (Sunand Tryambak) Joshi ’80, MA ’82 Among Friends you will find stories academic libraries: “It must be the Jon Land ’79 about the diverse ways that faculty accumulated wisdom of past ages, Brent Lang ’04 members rely on the Library for added to the wisdom of our own. Christy Law-Blanchard their scholarship, collaborate with Such a Library can only be procured Bernicestine McLeod ’68, P ’99, P ’03 Library staff to create new digital by public munificence.” President Ryan Roth ’05 initiatives, and, in one particularly Wayland’s words still ring true today. Daniel Siegel ’57 stirring example, do the hard work Each year, thousands of people use Fredi Solod ’50, P ’78 necessary to build a world-recognized our holdings to conduct ground- Dennis Stark collection. The people responsible breaking research, draw on the Andrew Wendel ’85 for creating the University Library in teachings of the past to engage in Leslie Wendel ’55, P ’85 1767, when it was housed inside a the great debates of the present, and Robert Wigod ’54, P ’84, P ’88 Baptist parsonage in Warren, RI, challenge the hegemony of conven- Hon. Frank Williams could scarcely have imagined the tional wisdom by forging new lines Richard Williamson ’65, P ’03 changes that would take place. of academic inquiry. People such as Prof. Emeritus Don Wilmeth There exist certain prejudices David Lewis, Massimo Riva, David Constance Worthington ’68 and misconceptions about libraries: Pingree, and each one of our many Member Ex-Officio that they are relics of a distant past, Friends help us to better understand Edward Widmer reeking of anachronism in an age the meaning of President Wayland’s Director and Librarian, dominated by Google and Wikipedia, words and the enduring value and John Carter Brown Library less temples to learning, than mauso- relevance of the University Library. Staff leums for books. I believe that the stories recounted in this issue counter Jane Cabral Friends of the Library and Events that viewpoint. Whether it’s making Coordinator an example of panoramic art available Harriette Hemmasi Brent Lang to virtual visitors, or exhibiting Joukowsky Family University Librarian Communications Specialist paintings and sculptures, Brown faculty members are engaging with Cover: Professor David Pingree makes a makeshift library in Sayles Gymnasium, now the Library in new and vital ways. Smith-Buonanno Hall. Image: John Forasté Their work shows how the Library 2 Among Friends Fall/Winter 2007 Illustrating the Good Life: View from the Chair The Pissarros’ Eragny Press, 1894 – 1914 John Hay Library September 5 – October 26, 2007 Esther Bensusan (1870 – 1951) and Lucien Pissarro (1863 – 1944) crossed national boundaries to marry. She was English; he was French. Their marriage and their books merged English Arts and Crafts Movement and French Neo-Impressionist forms and ideals. The exhibition at Brown University’s John Hay Library is enriched by letters from Lucien Pissarro and the fine press s a Brown University universities. books assembled by nineteenth and affiliated blogger recently Events such as the attacks of early twentieth century graduates of A observed, it is the tenth September 11, 2001, the wars in Brown, Philip Darrel Sherman and anniversary of the termination of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the John M. Crawford Jr. the tenure-equivalent position at disputes in the Middle East bring Baudelaire & the Arts Brown of David Kern, M.D. by the this always relevant topic to the John Hay Library presidents of Memorial Hospital and surface. There are numerous October 8 – November 2, 2007 Brown University. Termination complaints of censorship of faculty Exhibits Calendar An exhibition in commemoration of followed Dr. Kern’s study of members who hold unpopular the 150th anniversary of the publication occupational lung disease among views, complaints that arise both of Les Fleurs du mal.Charles Baudelaire the workers of a local manufacturer. from the left and right. Brown found inspiration in both classical and The company threatened Dr. Kern Professor of Comparative Literature modern sources, in art and in everyday with litigation if he and his colleagues Elliott Colla recently reported on life. He embraced the power of the imagination to transform reality and informed the public of a potentially problems he and a colleague faced create new worlds based on its fatal disease they had identified. in organizing a workshop entitled perception. Hospital and university administrators “The Study of the Middle East and directed Dr. Kern to withdraw his Islam: Challenges after 9-11” and the Positivism in Brazil professional communication about challenges facing those who research John Hay Library the disease, closed the occupational and teach these topics. We must November 1 – December 21, 2007 health center at Memorial Hospital safeguard the freedoms of people on This exhibit highlights the wide ranging that Dr. Kern directed, and demand- all sides of these and other political interests and activities of the Positivist movement in Brazil by displaying ed that he stop providing medical disputes, not least in the university Positivist holdings in Brown University’s care to company employees. Dr. Kern setting. Special Collections. The collection was terminated shortly after he It is our collective responsibility, reveals not only the varied interests of participated in a national meeting in addition to the responsibility we Positivist thinkers, which range from of the American Thoracic Society have delegated to our government, immigration and women’s rights to orthographic standardization, but also where he reported his group’s to protect the constitutional and the systematic approach and extent to identification of this serious personal rights of all people, and in which the Positivist Church in Brazil occupational health problem. that regard it is vital that Brown carried forth its plans for social Although Brown University and other academic institutions reformation. The Library acquired the “reiterate[d] its full and unequivocal vigorously support legitimate faculty majority of the materials on display from Brown alumnus Benjamin Moser. support for the academic freedom” research and teaching and the cause of Dr. Kern, and the right of “[a]ll of academic freedom. John Hay’s Lincoln, faculty … to conduct research and and Lincoln’s John Hay publish results,” its supportive John Hay Library statement did not change the January 3 – March 7, 2008 outcome. A retrospective on Brown’s most Brown Professor Luther Spoehr illustrious alumnus and how the values presently offers a course “Academic and aspirations he developed at Brown Jeffrey Schreck ’73 evolved during his years in the Lincoln Freedom On Trial: A Century Of White House, this exhibition will Campus Controversies” that takes a Chair provide an intimate look at the relation- broad look at the subject of academic ship between John Hay and the man freedom and its history. Part of the responsible for shaping his post-Brown course focuses on the way faculty career in public life. “research is affected by corporate The John Hay Library is open and governmental entanglements” Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. and and the effects of political issues and Sunday 1 – 5 p.m. beliefs on teaching and learning at Fall/Winter 2007 Among Friends 3 For the Holidays … The Confederate Flag Collection … or of the Museum of the Confederacy any time S. Waite Rawls III, Executive Director of the Museum of the Confederacy Lownes Room, John Hay Library Friday, November 2, 2007, 7 p.m.

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