by Suzanne Sawyer

Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections & University Archives (SCUA) began collecting artists’ books in earnest during the 1970s. Within the collection, which falls under SCUA’s larger Book Arts Collection, are a rich variety of items by various book artists. The collection includes many different book structures and the content spans many different topics. While the Artists’ Books Collection is a category in and of itself, the larger Book Arts Collection includes a variety of materials, such as fine bindings, books about the history or making of books, exhibition catalogs, and livres d’artistes.

Charles M. Adams, the Library Director from 1940s-1960s, was known as a “book man.” Along with many other books, he bought private press and artists’ books for the Rare Books collection. When SCUA formed in the 1970s, Emmy Mills, Special Collections Librarian at the time, conducted a survey of the holdings and realized that there was a collecting focus of Book Arts, so she led the way for continuing to build and develop the collection. Rare Books Specialist, Carolyn Shankle, took the collecting baton after Mills retired and she has continued to expand SCUA’s holdings of artists’ books and book arts related materials.

Using a broad definition of artists’ books, SCUA’s holdings date from a 19th century book by Kelmscott Press, to current publications. The collection includes works published by Eragny at the turn of the 20th century, Vollard from the 1930s, Ward in the 1930s-1950s, Black Mountain College and Jargon Society in the 1950s, and artists from the 21st century.

Women book artists are featured in the collection, as are artists’ books based on women’s writings and the domestic sphere as those relate to holdings in our Woman’s Collection of rare books. Likewise, since SCUA has a collection of juvenile works, there are artists’ books focused on fairy tales, Alice in Wonderland, and alphabet books among other topics. SCUA continues to expand the Book Arts and Artists’ Books collections and holds artists’ books of the late 20th century along with the work of contemporary book artists, such as Julie Chen and Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.

In 2020, inspired by the many treasures in SCUA’s collections and my background as a book artist, I embarked on a journey to more fully discover the Artists’ Books Collection (ABC) at UNCG. Due to the wide range of subject areas covered by the ABC and by artists’s books in general, the books are not always housed together in one location nor is there a handy guide to which books or book artists are represented in the collection. Some are stored with books about folktales, some with poetry books, others are in the oversized books, and yet others may be among history titles or juvenile fiction. Aside from the diverse collection of artists’ books stored in various locations within SCUA, a number of artists’ books were (and some still are) located in Jackson Library’s general circulating collections rather than among the rare books in SCUA.

Somewhat selfishly, and of course to benefit our library’s researchers and patrons, I wanted to create an inventory of the collection of artists’ books. Though my primary role in SCUA is as a Preservation Specialist, I am also a student in UNCG’s Master of Library and Information Science program. Due to my interest in the artists’ books collection I am conducting an independent study during the Spring 2021 semester to create the collection inventory as well as to draft a collection development policy specific to the ABC.

If you are interested in following along on my journey of Discovering the Artists’ Books Collection at UNCG, please subscribe to my related blog here: https://uncgartistsbookscollection.blogspot.com/.

Suzanne Sawyer, Preservation Specialist

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With gratitude to Carolyn Shankle for sharing her knowledge of the history of the artists’ books collection at UNC Greensboro.

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Bury, S., & Art Libraries Society. (1989). Descriptive cataloguing of artists’ books. ARLIS/UK and Eire.