From Gutenberg to Grisham
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THE SEARCH for a new director of the Boston Public Library last fall exposed fault lines between the library’s 27 neighborhood branches and the more rarefied research library in Copley Square. Which deserved more attention and resources? Which provided the “true’’ library experience? This being Boston, the debate devolved into factions. Charges of elitism and philistinism flew.
“Cool and Collected,’’ an exhibit in the entrance lobby of the Copley branch, is beginning to heal that gap.
The modest display of treasures from the library’s special collections has a high “wow factor’’ - you mean that’s an original Winslow Homer? - and broad cross-generation appeal. There’s Robert McCloskey’s 1940 sketchbook for “Make Way for Ducklings,’’ complete with smudge prints; the original sheet music to “Take Me Out to the Ball Game’’ (1908); and a 600-year-old page from an illuminated manuscript, still resplendent in gold leaf.
The BPL has holdings of 14 million items, including 20,000 music scores, a schematic of the Boston Massacre drawn by Paul Revere, hand-written slave narratives, and the entire 3,500-book personal library of John Adams, intact.
Obviously, this kind of trove can be daunting. Few who aren’t researching a specific topic know how to access the special collections on the third floor. The “Cool and Collected’’ exhibit, which will rotate three times over the next year, descends from Mt. Olympus to greet the visitor at eye level.
“It’s a model for how the whole library is coming to the people,’’ said Beth Prindle, manager of the John Adams Library Project. “We don’t just sit behind a desk.’’
Above the keystone of the building’s central entrance is the inscription “Free to All.’’ The new team at the Boston Public Library understands the word “free’’ to mean not just “without charge’’ but “available.’’
