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Rare Books and Special Collections

The American College of Greece - Libraries & Special Collections - Rare Books and Special Collections

The American College of Greece has unique holdings in rare books, special collections and archives that chronicle the origins and development of the College in relation to the cultural, political and social progress of both modern Greece and the United States. The various collections and archives focus on American and Greek arts and letters, and place in the context of modern history the expansion and evolution of these two newly emerging nations from the end of the 18th century to the present.

The Rare Book project was established in 1993 about one year after the inauguration of the Kimon Friar Lectures in Modern Greek Arts and Letters. The acquisition of Friar's personal library and private papers, in addition to previously donated collections belonging to A.D. Kalovidouris and John Koty, a much-loved professor at the school, provided an initial core of about 10,000 books and manuscripts.

An active acquisitions program increased holdings to more than 20,000 items in less than a decade, including author archives, first editions, rare books, pamphlets and other printed material; manuscripts, documents and letters; icons, sculpture, paintings, drawings, maps, photographs graphics, and other ephemera.

A publications program was simultaneously initiated to augment the lecture series, all under the auspices of the rare book library and under the direction of the Curator of Rare Books, which brought visiting scholars to the college and highlighted the unusual cultural and intellectual resource the rare book library represents.

Participants included Roderick Beaton of King's College, Edmund Keeley of Princeton, Peter Bien of Dartmouth, Stratis Haviaras of Harvard, poet Katerina Anghelaki-Rooke, Stavros Deligiorgis of the University of Iowa, Peter Accardo of the Harvard's Houghton Library, George Economou of The University of Oklahoma, and Patricia Willis of the Beinecke Library, Yale University. Professor Langdon Hammer of Yale is scheduled to speak in 2003. In addition to publishing works and exhibition catalogues related to these lecturers, the Rare Book program has published original works by and about Jon Westling, Patrick Leigh Fermor, the Rev Kallistos Ware, President John S. Bailey, and Gerard Haas.

The coordinated program emphasizes literature of all kinds, Greek and American politics from the Greek Revolution to the present day, the fine arts, the art of translation, and children's literature. Among hundreds of major collections, the following themes and personalities stand out: Kimon Friar, electronic sculptor Gerard Haas, Constantine Cavafy, Odysseas Elytis, Nikos Kazantzakis, Ghika, Yannis Tsarouchis, Yannis Ritsos, George Theotokas, American children's book author Edward Fenton, American diplomat George Horton, diplomat, revolutionary and artist W.J. Stillman, 19th century American philhellenism, Patrick Leigh Fermor, the Asia Minor experience, and the role of American education in the Near East from about 1830 to the present day. The collection is also particularly strong in all phases of the book arts including bindings, illustration, fine printing and design.