Re: Protocols regarding food and drink in rare book collections

[Anthony Bliss <abliss@library.berkeley.edu>]

Exlibrans...

At Bancroft, we too have been plagued by gastronomic follies in the reading
room. Bennett's mention of candles reminds me of one legendary scene:
having been imposed upon to admit a large group of donors for dinner in the
reading room, I pointed out to the caterer and to the Library
Administration that the presence of candles would set off every fire alarm
in the building and force them to evacuate the Dear Folks into the foggy
gloom of a Berkeley night. This at least was effective.

My personal feeling is that dinners and receptions in functioning rare book
spaces are inadvisable. At the same time, we must recognize that there are
great potential benefits (even though we may not see them in our curatorial
lifespans). A policy is no substitute for rational thought and pragmatic
action: we take every precaution to protect valuable material and clean up
after the revelers. The image of raccoons licking the guacamole off Briquet
is more than I can bear, but through staff vigilance we have avoided the
problem so far. 

		Tony Bliss






At 07:37 AM 10/28/98 -0800, you wrote:
>One of the other issues at the Duke dinners is that they are candle-lit.
I cannot imagine that burnt candle-smoke in any amount is acceptable in a
room in which valuable books are stored.  I'd be interested in comments on
this issue.
>
>In general, I have never seen a museum conduct such a dinner right in its
galleries.  Are our objects worthy of oless circumspection than those held
by museums?
>
>--
>*******************************************************
>       Bennett Gilbert (A.B.A.A., I.L.A.B.)
>       Bennett Gilbert Rare Books
>       Post Office Box 46056
>       Los Angeles, California
>       U. S. A. 90046
>
>       Tel.: 323-876-8677
>       Fax.: 323-876-8934
>
>e-mail:  gilbooks@ix.netcom.com
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>