Retired Librarian Donates
The former head of special collections for the Homer Babbidge Library has made his second significant donation of books, more than 350 volumes of Aesop's Fables, to the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center.
Richard Schimmelpfeng previously donated more than 400 volumes dealing with calligraphy and writing. In addition, he continues his regular contributions to the University of Connecticut's libraries by volunteering 16 hours per week cataloging rare and special materials, a task he began the day after he retired in 1992. He joined the UConn library staff in 1965.
Schimmelpfeng's interest in Aesop's Fables began more than 15 years ago when he was asked to speak about the topic at the library. Finding the existing fable collection "a sorry mess," with ripped covers, highlighted pages and other damage, Schimmelpfeng began to collect his own library of the tales.
Most of the titles donated are current American productions, but others date back to the eighteenth century or come from around the world.The books are illustrated by some of the most important illustrators of the last 200 years, including Randolph Caldecott, Walter Crane,Arthur Rackham,Marc Chagall, Edward Gorey and others.The collection has an estimated value of more than $17,000.
"This donation adds an important dimension to the Dodd Center's Northeast Children's Literature Collection," says Thomas Wilsted, director of the Dodd Center."It will be used by English and fine arts students and faculty as well as scholars who visit from across the United States and around the world."
"The library is the core of the University," Schimmelpfeng says, reflecting on a career stretching more than 50 years, which has seen library science move from card catalogs and hand-filing to massive online databases. "There's a role for book collectors who have built their collections to consider donating them instead of just selling through an auction house or a book dealer."
In his time as the head of special collections for UConn, Schimmelpfeng was known for his ability to see the value in unconventional collections.Among the finds for his admittedly "magpie" mind was a long-neglected Civil War-era caboose and freight train in East Windsor, which contained records relating to the New Haven Railroad missing for decades.Thematerials later provided the foundation of the Railroad History Archive at the Dodd Center, which draws researchers and railroad aficionados from across the nation.
Wilsted says that Schimmelpfeng is a "prodigious" volunteer. For his part, Schimmelpfeng in turn relishes the role, which allows him to stay close to his lifelong profession without having administrative duties or other work tasks.
"When they [library management] ask me questions or seek my advice, I'll tell them what I think, but otherwise I'm busy cataloging. I'm treated very well and enjoy what I do," he says.
