The Bookseller Oral History Project, which collects interviews with current and former booksellers about their historical experiences, insights, and perspectives, will be part of a new initiative to build an archive on the history of bookselling at the University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections and Archive. The Project's audio files and transcripts will eventually be available to researchers and the public.
The University of Iowa Library Special Collections is expanding its archive with a focus on the history of bookselling. Beginning with the Bookseller Oral History Project, the Library seeks donations of papers and other materials that document and preserve the history of booksellers and bookstores. Prairie Lights Books, Iowa City, Iowa, and Rainy Day Books, Fairway, Kan., are making the first contributions, committing to donate more than 40 years of materials to the collection. Other independent bookstores, past and present, are encouraged to participate.
What can be donated:
- Documents, ledgers, handwritten or typed documentation of business practices
- Correspondence
- Bookstore marketing materials (newsletters, print ads, flyers, posters, brochures, bookmarks, etc.)
- Print media articles only if they are pertinent to the bookstore.
- Digital material, including spreadsheets, e-mail, etc.
- Photographs, print or digital
- Other media, including audio, video
The University of Iowa is home to the Center for the Book and the Library's special collections has an extensive archive on the history of the book, which includes records from the Iowa City Book Festival, Torch Press Book Shop, as well as papers and manuscripts from numerous Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni.
For more information, contact Lanora Jennings, director of the Bookseller Oral History Project, or J. Eric Ensley, MLS, PhD, curator of Rare Books & Maps, Special Collections & Archives, University of Iowa.