I don't think anything about Howard Gotlieb was posted on exlibris, so:
Howard Gotlieb, an Archivist With Persistence, Dies at 79
By DOUGLAS MARTIN (NYT) 919 words
Published: December 5, 2005
Howard B. Gotlieb, a Boston University archivist who cajoled,
charmed, wheedled and -- most effectively, he said -- groveled to
snare the papers of notables like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
and Bette Davis, not to mention Fred Astaire's dancing shoes, died
Thursday at a Boston hospital. He was 79.
The cause was complications of surgery, the university said.
Over four decades, Dr. Gotlieb gathered papers and artifacts from
more than 2,000 American and European individuals; they occupy seven
miles of shelves at what in 2003 was named the Howard Gotlieb
Archival Research Center.
His own exuberant public personality was matched by the blithe
eclecticism of his finds, which included Groucho Marx's jokes, George
Bernard Shaw's scribbled instructions and John Barrymore on how to
play Hamlet.
The Library Journal in 2003 said, ''Since Gotlieb began his work,
most college and university special collections have followed his lead.''
Other major archives of popular culture include the University of
Texas; the University of California, Los Angeles; and Stanford. But
these collections, while perhaps larger, are not so famously the
product of a single archivist's ingenuity, perseverance and idiosyncrasy.
Dr. Gottlieb stopped at virtually nothing to capture his prey. He
wrote letters of protest to critics of writers or performers whom he
was pursuing. He sent flowers and other gifts to potential donors,
including a bed for James Mason. He told prospective donors that he
was certain they would win a Nobel Prize.
About once a year he held parties for donors and potential donors in
four different cities, New York (perhaps in the Rose Room of the
Plaza Hotel); Palm Beach, Fla. (the Gold Room of the Breakers), Los
Angeles or San Francisco and London (Claridge's).
In an interview last week, Thomas F. Staley, director of the Harry
Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas,
mentioned Dr. Gotlieb's personal charm and early recognition of the
importance of collecting popular culture. He called Dr. Gotlieb ''a
substantial figure in the world of archives, particularly in the area
of celebrity archives.''
Dr. Gotlieb realized when he arrived at Boston University from Yale
in 1963 that he was unlikely to capture the valuable books, papers
and manuscripts of famous authors, particularly with what at first
were glaringly meager resources. His idea was that he himself would
choose living writers and public figures, some almost unknown when he
identified them, and persuade them to donate papers and possessions
before they were discarded or dispersed.
He necessarily ended up with more than a few near-nonentities, but as
a result of his early-bird technique, Dr. King agreed to donate
important papers before he had marched to Selma. David Halberstam had
not yet written a book when Dr. Gotlieb guessed his potential and
signed him up, and James Clavell had written one. Dan Rather was a
32-year-old reporter who at first answered that he had no papers. He
ended up sending hundreds of boxes, one a month for many years.
Dr. Gotlieb was also a pioneer in rounding up the tantalizing
ephemera of popular culture before it became so sought after. One
prize was is Peter Benchley's notes for a book he first titled
''Great White'' but later changed to ''Jaws.'' Mr. Gotlieb eagerly
grabbed even the laundry slips of movie stars.
He soon had plenty of company. The University of Wyoming has the
papers of Jack Benny, the University of Miami has Jackie Gleason's
occult collection and Indiana University has the papers of Orson Welles.
Howard Bernard Gotlieb, who left no immediate survivors, was born in
Bangor, Me., on Oct. 24, 1926, and collected stamps as a child. He
discovered archival work as a member of the Army Signal Corps in
postwar Germany, where his job was gathering the papers of Nazi officials.
He earned a bachelor's degree in history from George Washington
University, a master's in history from Columbia and a doctorate in
international relations from Oxford. After working for several years
as a foreign correspondent for a small press agency in Europe, Dr.
Gotlieb was hired by Yale as a teaching associate in history and as
an archivist of historical manuscripts.
He eventually had a staff of nearly two dozen, but he personally
hunted his most desired quarry. He pursued Bette Davis for a decade,
visiting her repeatedly in her homes in Westport, Conn., and West
Hollywood, Calif. She sent people to look him over again and again.
''She finally called one day and said: 'I can't stand it anymore. You
may have them,' '' Dr. Gotlieb said in 2000 in an interview with The
New York Times.
Gloria Swanson broke his heart. For years, he pursued her, staying at
her Park Avenue apartment for as much as week at a time. He abstained
from drinking and smoking, and choked down her macrobiotic foods. But
Miss Swanson chose Texas.
''They loved me more than you did,'' she explained. ''They bought them.''