Fall Programs Popular
First Appraisal Day
Willis Van Devanter (left), expert appraiser, and George M. Barringer (center), head of library's Special Collections, are joined by participants in library's first appraisal day
The Library Associates sponsored a new kind of event in the fall of 1993: a Saturday morning set aside for Associates to bring in materials for a free appraisal.
More than a dozen members of the Associates plus a like number of members of the University community brought a wealth of books, manuscripts, and graphic arts to the library on Saturday, September 18. A team of experts including Willis Van Devanter, who has done many appraisals for gifts made to the library, Thomas Truxton Moebs (that mellifluously-named dealer in things American), and Donald Smith, a local print dealer, joined library staff members in giving verbal dollar appraisals and advice concerning disposition of various items.
The best compliment received: a number of participants expressed the hope that this will become a regular Associates' event.
Cartoonist Entertains
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Cartoonist Eric Smith in action |
All who attended the program featuring Eric McAllister Smith, C'67, L'72, and member of the Library Advisory Council, on October 28 got a real treat. Mr. Smith proved himself a standup comic as well as a first rate cartoonist. He claims he still doesn't know why he embarked on a cartoonist's career the day after he graduated from law school; his audience could only say they were pleased that he did. |
He let his audience into a cartoonist's way of thinking while he demonstrated his art as quickly as he could talk, tearing sheet after sheet off his easel pad as he illustrated how cartoonists have looked at all the U.S. presidents from Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton. President Clinton, by the way, was only a junior when Eric Smith was a senior at Georgetown --that about tells it all!
Many of Smith's original cartoons were on display in the Special Collections reading room on Lauinger's fifth floor during fall 1993.
Ribbon Cutting and Holiday Celebrations
Tuesday, December 14, marked the occasion of two events involving Library Associates.
During the afternoon the Library held an open house for the University community with light refreshments in the lobby and an exhibit of before/during/after photos, culminating in a ribbon-cutting ceremony by University President Leo J. O'Donovan, S.J., to celebrate the completion of the library renovation.
In the early evening, about 150 Associates and library staff attended a holiday reception in Riggs Library. Father O'Donovan brought greetings and expressed the University's appreciation for the Associates' strong support of the Library. The Georgetown University Chimes entertained with carols of the season. Old friendships were renewed and new ones begun as library lovers celebrated the season.