Effective August 16, 2008, the Eighteenth-Century Reading Room will be closed to the public and the collection will be returned to its owner, Charles Tanenbaum, shortly thereafter. The Eighteenth-Century Reading Room blog (http://18thcenturyreadingroom.wordpress.com/) will remain accessible but there are no plans to update it at this time. Information about the Speaker Series will be posted shortly.
We apologize for the serious inconvenience this event will cause to those of you who have come to depend upon these resources.
Although certainly not a replacement for this collection, Graduate Center students and faculty are encouraged to use the database, Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) which contains over 150,000 books printed in the 18th century.
Is anyone free to further discuss why the Eighteenth Century Reading Room collection is transferring back to its owner? Was this part of the deed of gift? As a Mina Rees user and Graduate Center student, I’d appreciate more details about this change taking place in the special collections.
Thanks you
TL
There never was a deed of gift for the materials in the 18thc Reading Room. The materials were on loan to the Graduate Center with the expectation that these materials [and additional materials from the owners collection] would eventually be deeded to us.
Unfortunately, the owner decided otherwise and made arrangements for their return to his collection.