Have you ever opened a Library book and wondered about the significance
of its specially printed bookplate? This is our way of identifying
Library materials that were purchased with funds from one of over
380 endowments. Endowments are gifts that are held in perpetuity by
the University. The principal is invested in a consolidated endowment
pool, and a portion of the income realized by the investment is used
each year to support the program specified by the person or persons
making the gift. The remainder of the income is re-invested.
The gifts are essential to the Library. Of this yearâs $5.8 information
resources budget, $1.1 million comes from endowments. The minimum
required to establish a new Library endowment is $100,000. While support
for the collections has been the primary focus of the endowments,
there are funds that support preservation, publications, salaries,
staff development, technology, and general operating expenses.
The first endowment was established in 1831, when the Universityâs
President, Francis Wayland, called for subscriptions to a permanent
Library fund. Nicholas Brown provided an early boost with a $10,000
contribution. By 1839, the fund had reached its goal of $25,000 through
gifts and accumulated interest, and in 1840, the Corporation named
it The Library Fund.
Recently, an endowment established in 1882 by the Class of 1880 as
a memorial to J. Lewis Diman, Class of 1851 and professor of History
and Political Economy from 1864 to 1881, provided funds towards the
purchase of a facsimile of the major manuscript of the Cantigas de
Santa Maria of Alfonso X of Spain. The facsimile, purchased for some
$6,000 at the request of several faculty members in Medieval Studies,
contains many illustrations, music, and texts venerating the Virgin
Mary. It is accompanied by recordings of the music. The original manuscript,
commissioned in the 13th century by Alfonso the Wise, King of Castile
and Leon, is in the library of the Escorial Palace near Madrid. The
facsimile was used extensively in the Spring in the team-taught course
entitled "Medieval Perspectives". History professor Amy Remensnyder
had students using the texts and illustrations as sources for the
history of medieval Spain, after which professors Sheila Bonde (History
of Art) and Mercedes Vacquero (Hispanic Studies), had their students
studying the artistic and literary aspects of the work.
Last year, the Robert Lewis, M.D. Electronic Library Fund provided
support for online access to "MD Consult". This is one of the most
important medical resources added to the Brown collection, providing
medical students and faculty with 37 major medical textbooks, over
40 journals, and clinical guidelines and patient information. Access
is available from on or off-campus: the user may be in his/her office,
on the wards seeing a patient or in the Library doing research. It
has been shown that timely access to information does improve patient
care, since it affects clinical outcomes and the length of stay in
hospitals. Access to MD Consult is one of the ways Brown is utilizing
technology to contribute to its success.
Douglas Squires '73 has generously endowed two funds for the enhancement
of the McLellan Lincoln Collection. The Squires Preservation Fund
has already generated enough income to provide custom-built, acid-free
boxes for the hundreds of prints and photographs in that collection,
as well as containers for 20th century pamphlets relating to the 16th
President. This year, the fund's income will be used to retain an
expert to assist the Library in planning future conservation and preservation
work. In only its first year, the Squires Acquisition Fund was used
to buy a rare, broadside edition of Carl Schurz's famed 1860 campaign
speech "Douglas and Popular Sovereignty." It also contributed significantly
toward the purchase of the January 1865 manuscript contracts arranging
the engraved edition of Francis Bicknell Carpenter's famed painting
"President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation before the Cabinet".
These contracts were also signed by Alexander Hay Ritchie, whose oil
painting "Death of President Lincoln" is one of the premier works
of art in the Lincoln Collection.
These are but a few recent highlights of the wealth of resources made
possible through endowments. The Library is very fortunate to have
a long history of donors who recognized the need to establish funds
that provide such lasting support. If you are interested in knowing
more about Library endowments, please contact 
Patricia_Putney@brown.edu
(x3-2954) and watch for a link to the list of endowments from the
Library's website.
---Patricia Putney, Head of Acquisitions
http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library
