THE ONE PLACE ON EARTH: A TALE OF FIVE ARCHIVES AND HENRY DAVID THOREAU

Abstract

I recount these brief stories of acquisition because I think they are in their different ways interesting, unusual, and even entertaining, at least to RBM’s distinctive audience. As I retired in September 2001, this essay is also a look back over what was, for me, the most enjoyable, rewarding, and often surprising aspect of a 23 year career heading Rare Books and Special Collections at the University of Rochester Library—the acquisition of significant collections and the development of durable friendships with writers, collectors, and others in books. If a didactic strain has infiltrated these pages, it urges what most rare . . .