Library Receives Record Gift for Special Collections

The Library announced on Monday that it has received a landmark gift from Suzanne Deal Booth and David G. Booth (P'2012). The $3 million gift for the renovation of the Special Collections Research Center is largest monetary gift the Library has received since its doors opened in 1970.

The extraordinary gift will fund the expansion and renovation of the Special Collections Research Center. The new Center, which will be named the Suzanne Deal Booth and David G. Booth Center for Special Collections, will be 1,200 square feet larger than the existing space, and include a new technology-equipped teaching classroom, an enhanced reading room for researchers, museum-quality climate controls, a secure shelving area and vault, expanded exhibition space and collaborative workspace for library staff and student interns. It is scheduled to open in spring 2015.

“In the digital age, when research libraries acquire many of the same materials, it is special collections that will distinguish libraries and their universities,” says University Librarian Artemis Kirk. “We have a responsibility at Georgetown not only to protect and preserve these rare treasures but also to make them readily available for our scholars and students to conduct their primary source research – for generations to come.”

Georgetown's special collections holds many rare and unique materials such as: a first edition of St. Ignatius’s Ratio Studiorum (1586); Mark Twain’s original handwritten manuscript of Tom Sawyer (ca. 1873-1876); 20,000 volumes on the history of intelligence and espionage; the University Archives with originals of the University’s founding documents; and much more.

“The past has always informed the present,” Suzanne Deal Booth says. “We will lose a part of our history and cultural identity if we, as stewards of culture, do not take care to preserve these rare and valuable writings. A collection of Georgetown’s caliber truly deserves a world-class facility for the storage, display and research of these priceless works.”

In addition to the Booths' gift, the $5 million Special Collections renovation is funded by a $1 million gift from Barbara Ellis Jones, a $500,000 gift from the Lauinger family, and numerous donations from Library friends and supporters.

Learn more about Special Collections and the renovation on the Library's website.