with Sandra Kroupa, Book Arts & Rare Books Curator, University of Washington Libraries
Thursday February 18, 2021. 7:00pm
More than 52 years ago a young woman, a Creative Writing major at the University of Washington, needed a short-term job to save up money to move to San Francisco & join the counter-culture movement. She got a position at UW Libraries reading newspapers & turning facts into 3 x 5 cards typed on a manual typewriter. This "short-term" job became a lifelong commitment & passion. Whether serendipity, poor planning, divine intervention or dumb luck, Sandra Kroupa stumbled into her life's work accidentally. This online presentation will be one of several about Special Collections & its major holdings available to the Book Arts Guild -- alerting members to resources & providing inspiration for artistic work. The difficult part will be selecting what to highlight in the various sections of historical materials, various formats & artists' books while mentioning collections of handmade paper, broadsides, decorated paper, medieval manuscripts, and book bindings. All who know Sandra knows she can talk endlessly on these topics. She promises to keep it under control.
UW Libraries' Book Arts Collection, housed in Suzzallo Library (above), comprises 21,000 historical and modern pieces encompassing all aspects of the physical book: typography, paper making, letterpress and offset printing, illustration, book design, paper decoration, calligraphy, sculptural and conceptual work, artist's books, bookbinding history, and 19th century publishers' decorated bindings.
This free online presentation is open to Book Arts Guild members and the public. To attend, please register here:
