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William J. Dane, head of Special Collections and former Supervising Librarian of the Art and Music Department at the Newark Public Library (and a longtime friend to artists, curators and librarians in New Jersey, New York and beyond), has announced that he will be retiring at the end of 2009.  Bill Dane helped shape a fabulous collection at the Newark Public Library over the course of his decades here.  Not only did he add art reference tomes and catalog raisonnés, but he also added prints to the Library’s large Fine Print Collection (now over 25,000 prints) and books, broadsides and printing specimens to the Richard C. Jenkinson Collection on the History of Fine Printing (now over 3,600 titles).  Bill also helped forge new collections at the Library. These included shopping bags (for which he curated eight very popular exhibitions), pop-up and movable books, and artists’ books.   

Bill Dane was instrumental in working with many regional artists, not only in purchasing prints and books from them, but also providing reference help and encouragement in their artistic efforts.  Over the course of his career, Bill has curated hundreds upon hundreds of exhibits on art education, graphic arts, the history of printing, poster design, architecture, book illustration, travel, history and many other subjects.  He was one of the founding members of the ARLIS/NA, for which he served as treasurer in its early years; he is a member of the Grolier Club; and he belongs to the Victorian Society in America, where he is, likewise, a former officer. He still maintains memberships in many museums and organizations to this day.

Although Bill Dane asked for no official retirement party or program, he will be giving the 2009 John Cotton Dana lecture for the Friends of the Newark Public Library and the Library plans to honor him at this time.  The lecture is on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. in Centennial Hall on the 2nd floor of the Newark Public Library, Newark, N.J.  Tickets to the event are $25 and proceeds benefit the Gertrude Fund, a fund set up by Bill Dane in memory of his sister for the future acquisition of graphic artwork for the Fine Print Collection.   

Interested persons should contact: (973) 733-7793 or [log in to unmask].  For directions to the Library, see: http://www.npl.org/Pages/AboutLibrary/directions.html.

Chad Leinaweaver

Special Collections Division

Newark Public Library

5 Washington Street

PO Box 630

Newark, NJ  07101-0630

(973) 733-7745

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http://specialcollections.npl.org