Begin forwarded message:

From: Laurence McGilvery <[log in to unmask]>

Date: May 27, 2012 9:05:08 PM EDT

To: "Ann Abid" <[log in to unmask]>, Caroline Backlund <[log in to unmask]>, "Craig, Susan V" <[log in to unmask]>, Wolfgang Freitag <[log in to unmask]>, William Walker <[log in to unmask]>

Subject: ARLIS prehistory

Dear Friends,

I was going to send the following to ARLIS-L unvetted but then thought I would run it past the five of you first:

ARLIS/NA-Prehistory

Dear Friends,

The 40th anniversary of ARLIS and some recent correspondence with Ann Abid have inspired me to unearth some of the prehistory of this wonderful organization.

ARLIS/UK was founded in 1969 by Trevor Fawcett, according to the website, though another source seems to credit Philip Pacey. 1969 was a pretty darned good year for art libraries and librarians: ARLIS/UK was founded in 1969 by Trevor Fawcett and/or Philip[Pacey,

Meanwhile in Buffalo NY the art librarian at SUNY Buffalo, Florence DaLuiso (prompted by Wolfgang Freitag and Herb Scherer at the 1968 ALA conference) had the vision and initiative to secure a grant of $7,500 in 1969 from the U.S Dept of Education to fund an Institute for Training in Librarianship. This was "Art Libraries: Their Comprehensive Role in Preserving Contemporary Visual Resources."

The institute took place in Buffalo from June 16 to the 20th, with a faculty of seven librarians and VR curators, three art museum directors, and one art curator. The "class" consisted of a seasoned, interactive group of 24 art librarians and VR curators from all over the U.S. (footnote: It was at the Buffalo Institute that I met Judy Hoffberg. WW)

(Larry's text resumed here WW.)

I personally attended an event that must have been in January, 1972. Judy Hoffberg had organized a meeting of perhaps twelve or fifteen people in San Francisco. It took place at a long table in a high, old-fashioned room somewhere in the city-perhaps at the public library or the old San Francisco Art Museum. The guest of honor, and the occasion for the meeting, was Philip Pacey, who was visiting from England. The other person I am absolutely certain of was the glamorous Contessa Alessandra Marchi of Centro Di, who entered the room as though she had just stepped out of a Fellini movie.

CAA was meeting at the San Francisco Hilton. My diary for Wednesday, January 26, 1972, notes a "CAA library session-lunch, to 6 p.m." but, alas, names no specific individuals. On Thursday and Friday I exhibited all day. From Saturday on I was out on other business around the Bay Area.

On Thursday, the 27th, I had lunch with Roger Gardiner, the art librarian at the University of Western Ontario in London. He attended the early ARLIS conferences and quite likely was at Judy's meeting. At 6:00 that evening I drove Kate Steinitz to her hotel. She must also have been at the Wednesday event. Judy would have pulled any strings necessary for Kate's support, and she would have given it wholeheartedly. At 7:00 I had dinner with Bill Treese of the University of California, Santa Barbara. It was he who formed the collection of exhibition catalogues that graces the art library now. He also was an early exponent of computer cataloguing.

Among the other people who might have been present, Mary Ashe of the San Francisco Public Library seems certain. A message to her a few weeks ago has not produced a reply yet. Other likely candidates are David Patten of Art Index, or the late John Larsen.

Here, from http://www.arlis.org.uk/about.php, is a relevant quotation: "ARLIS has held an annual conference since 1972, when it was in Aberystwyth. Judy Hoffberg was among the participants there and, upon her return to the US, established ARLIS/NA." This was in April 1972.

The first meeting under the aegis ARLIS/NA was at ALA in Chicago in 1972 -- in June?

Volume 1, number 1 of the ARLIS/NA Newsletter appeared in November 1972.

The following year, in Las Vegas, with the temperature around 113 degrees, if memory serves right, I recall a rather contentious meeting at ACRL. The Las Vegas conference was approximately Monday, June 25, to Thursday, June 28. I have notes about the wonderful Jacqueline Sisson and the very different but equally wonderful Lo Parr of Fort Worth who brought a measure of sanity at a particularly stressful moment; also, Jean Finch of Stanford. Ann Abid says she did not attend because she didn't want the City Museum in St. Louis paying for a trip to Las Vegas, but I might first have met Susan Craig and several other old friends there. I remember Robert Daw of Topeka Public Library. Perhaps Daphne Roloff was there, or Caroline.

What must have been the first directory came out in August 1973 and listed about 300 members. It was a looseleaf, letter-size affair of 48 pages edited by David Patten. He produced two supplements of 10 and 19 pages.

There were other early efforts that led to the founding of ARLIS/NA. Florence Da Luisa of Buffalo had a class or workshop that people have said was very influential. There also were librarians who opposed the whole program. Elizabeth Usher, then-librarian at the Met, was quite dismissive of the fledgling organization wthin my hearing, and she certainly was not alone. However, she was on board in time for that first directory, in August 1973.

My copy of the 1974 directory is date-stamped "Oct 7 1974." Again, David Patten was the editor. It is thick at 121 saddle-stitched pages, 8.5 x 5.5 inches. The membership had more than doubled to 651.

I hope others will add to and correct this small archaeological excavation. Please post anything relevant on ARLIS-L, rather than sending it to me personally. Your recollection may jog someone else's memory

That's the end of my letter. Anything any of you can contribute will go into the above e-mail, with full credit, or we can all sign it. In case the header on your e-mail doesn't display the other names, you are Ann, Caroline, Susan, Wolfgang, and Bill W.

Ann wrote me: "My first ARLIS experience was the meeting at the classroom at Columbia. Earlier, I had attended a CAA session devoted to art libraries but that was unrelated to Judy H. and her vision for ARLIS. I was going to attend ALA the year it was in Las Vegas but backed out when I heard to venue - didn't want to ask the St. Louis Art Museum to send me to LV." When was that Columbia meeting, and who was there? Ann also wrote: "I always thought that ARLIS began at an ALA in CA and that whichever art librarians were there coincidentally became the kind of founding members." That doesn't match, however, because the ALA conferences during those years were: 1970, Detroit; 1971, Dallas; 1972, Chicago; 1973, Las Vegas; 1974, New York. Could it have been CAA in San Francisco in 1972?

With warmest regards,

Larry

--

Laurence McGilvery

Member, Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America

Post Office Box 852

La Jolla, California 92038

USA

(858) 454-4443

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www.mcgilvery.com

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