Literary Treasures To Be Buried in New Library

Author: Ken Anderson, Jr. '66

Middlebury College is indeed fortunate to have one of the best 'special collections' in the country: the Abernethy Rare Book Library and the Robert Frost Room.

Two of the crown jewels of American literature are among the many literary finds that Abernethy was fortunate enough to secure to Middlebury: Thoreau's own copy of "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers" and his own copy of his masterpiece "Walden," with his numerous handwritten annotations. For many, many people around the globe, Middlebury possesses the Holy Grail, this particular copy of "Walden," a true priceless treasure.

Not to be outdone, the Robert Frost material Middlebury possesses is outstanding, much of it unique. To commerate Frost's 85th birthday, Middlebury College honored Frost with "a special room in the library." Frost, as many of you know, had a close relationship with Bread Loaf over many years. But you may not have known that he was a four-time Abernethy Lecturer at the College from 1929 to 1957. The Frost Room contains immeasurable treasures on view, including artifacts, books and artwork, which add greatly to Middlebury's reputation.

Yet, despite the desire of the American Literature faculty and the current curator to give the Collection a prominent place in the new library, a decision was made to shoehorn it all into the cellar of the new building. Because of space considerations there, most of the precious material is destined to end up in compact shelving, basically in storage, with no more than eight of the many handsome glass fronted bookcases saved for display from the Abernethy Room. In addition, the Robert Frost Room will also be dismantled, with some items put in a locked seminar room, others in a few of the cases and the rest of the material out of sight in compact shelving. The real tragedy of this proposed policy is that you students now and those in the future will be deprived of the pleasure of browsing. You'll have to know what you want before you can access it, and so, in effect, you'll never know what you've missed.

How could such a situation come about? Schools which Middlebury admires, such as Harvard and Yale, have separate, grandiose buildings — the Houghton and the Beinecke, respectively — to house their rare book collections. Closer to home, Williams College built a new library next to their existing one and, I'm told, gave over their existing one entirely to their rare book collection. Smith College similarly renovated their high ceiling gymnasium, one of the oldest in the country, as a tastefully refurbished home for their collection of literary treasures. Amherst College was so proud of its association with Frost that its library is named after him.

There is a better way. Starr Library, in the new configuration, is to become a home for American and English literary studies, among others. So why not leave the Abernethy Library where it is, in its appropriately distinguished surroundings? According to the current, long-time curator of the Collection, Robert Buckeye, climate control and preservation factors are satisfactory there — only an elevator needs to be installed for those who are disabled and more room needs to be made available. A sensible proposal, according to him, would be to divide the Abernethy Collection between its original location and the handsome index room (with the balconies) in Starr, in this way being able to manage the ever increasing additions to the Collection. Further, the entrance room to Starr Library would be converted into a reception area, a room for speakers and a place for exhibits. Nonetheless, at this writing, plans are going forward to move everything into the basement of the new library. I urge concerned students to make their views known before this decision, which I feel will harm Middlebury College in many ways both here and nationally, becomes a reality.