Sender: Rare book and manuscripts <EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Everett,
I agree this is a serious question. You may recall this quote from the first paragraph of the New Yorker article on the Ransom Center and Dr. Staley:
"Putting a price on the collection would be impossible: What is the value of a first edition of "Comus," containing corrections in Milton's own hand? Or the manuscript for "The Green Dwarf," a story that Charlotte Brontë wrote in minuscule lettering, to discourage adult eyes, and then made into a book for her siblings? Or the corrected proofs of "Ulysses," on which James Joyce rewrote parts of the novel? The university insures the center's archival holdings, as a whole, for a billion dollars."
This from http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/06/11/070611fa_fact_max?printable=true.
I wonder whether the value of our collections AS collections may be something more (or less?) than the sum of prices for items, although I find Rich's analysis sensible. (Using this method, I once estimated the current price of the Clark's collection of Wilde manuscripts.) Our booksellers might have an opinion here. And what might be the monetary value of assembling our collections?
Jennifer Schaffner
Program Officer
RLG Programs
777 Mariners Island Blvd., Suite 550
San Mateo, California 94404
650.287.2140
jennifer_schaffner@oclc.org
http://www.oclc.org/programs/
-----Original Message-----
From: Rare book and manuscripts [mailto:EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU] On Behalf Of Everett Wilkie
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 7:53 PM
To: EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU
Subject: [EXLIBRIS-L] What are special collections worth?
This question is for those of you who work in special collections that are part of a larger unit, such as a college or university library or a public library. It is not an appropriate question for those of you who work in stand-alone libraries not connected to a parent institution. Please feel free to answer me privately or post a reponse to the list at large.
Do you think that the monetary value of your collections equals or exceeds the monetary value of all the institution's other, general library collections? In other words, are the materials in special collections worth more than all the other resources the general library has? And I would factor into that equation all special collections on, say, a university campus, which may have multiple specials collections libraries and multiple general libraries. Harvard, for example, springs to mind in that case.
This is actually a fairly serious security question relating to a general administration's view of special collections.
Everett Wilkie
PO Box 11
Bluffton, TX 78607
325-379-1810
Cell: 717-419-9419
ewilkie@ix.netcom.com
"Garnished with dicey tomatoes."
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