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Conclusion
The scrapbooks of
Charles Bird King present a treasure trove of information for art historians,
historians, conservators, connoisseurs, and collectors. The Library chose
to draw attention to the condition of the scrapbooks to educate its public
about the richness of the collection and to demonstrate the rigors of proper
stewardship of our nation's cultural heritage. The Library staff hoped
that the exhibition of the scrapbooks would mark the beginning of a project
to catalog and to preserve this unique treasure.
This catalog outlines some
preliminary thoughts about methodology. It points out in a very general
way both the enormity of the collection and the extent of the problems
facing it. Solving the problems will require dedicated, skilled work and
a large expenditure of capital.
The Library is still not
able to launch into a project to catalog, to rehouse, and to preserve the
scrapbooks. The next step is to ascertain the full extent of the task at
hand and to estimate precisely the time, staff, and resources necessary
to proceed. Once this is done, the Library can begin to put the pieces
in line to see to the preservation of one of its great hidden treasures.
This publication is made
possible in part by a grant from the
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the
Rhode Island Commitee for the Humanities |
an
affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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