The Evolution of the Concept of Special Collections in American Research Libraries

In an address delivered on Alumni University Day in 1924, English Professor Chauncey Brewster Tinker, later Yale’s first Keeper of Rare Books, outlined the relationship among University faculty, students, and books: There are three distinguishing marks of a university: a group of students, a corps of instructors, and a collection of books; and of these the most important is the collection of books. By the interaction of these three factors the university manifests its twofold activity to the world. Its scholars, by means of the books provided for them, advance the cause of knowledge and the reign of truth, and . . .