American Newspaper Repository

                  AMERICAN NEWSPAPER REPOSITORY
                       NICHOLSON BAKER, DIRECTOR
                                      1 FRONT ST.
                                      P.O. BOX 643
                 ROLLINSFORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE 03869
                                  www.oldpapers.org
                                    newsrep@gwi.net

March 30, 2004

Dear Friend of the
American Newspaper Repository,

      We have some news! After a month and a half of packing and shipping, our entire newspaper collection, over fifty tons of American headlines, scandals, sporting triumphs, pulp fiction, poems, rotogravure photography, comics, caricatures, interviews, beauty tips, and fashion illustrations--a feast of dailiness--is now safely housed at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina, where it is stored on the climate-controlled shelves of the Library Services Center and overseen by the Rare Books and Special Collections division of the Duke's well-managed library.
      Under the terms of our contractual agreement with Duke, the collection remains the property of the American Newspaper Repository through the end of 2004. After that, assuming the papers are being well taken care of--which I fully expect they will be--the collection becomes a gift to the university. The gift agreement stipulates that the collection is to be kept together in perpetuity and made available to scholars in accordance with Duke's policies for rare books. It prohibits disbinding for purposes of photography, and it prohibits experimental deacidification. The collection will continue to be called the American Newspaper Repository. Duke will officially announce the acquisition on April 22 at its annual Friends of the Library Dinner.
     Getting five tractor-trailer loads of newspapers onto pallets, wrapped and ready for shipment to Durham, was a lot of work. We had the help of Duke's librarians, who made several trips up to Rollinsford, and the help of many volunteers from Robert Mennel's honors history class at the University of New Hampshire. Individual donations, along with a substantial one-time grant from the Knight Foundation, are paying for the shipping costs.
      David Ferriero, Duke's University Librarian, and Robert Byrd, Director of Special Collections, have been a delight to work with during all phases of this move. They understand why these exceptionally beautiful volumes are worth keeping. Under their guidance, Duke has recently acquired a number of interesting collections of Americana--collections of print advertising and of comic books, for example. It took considerable courage on their part to assume this large new responsibility. If you would like to support their work, please consider a gift to Duke's library fund.
      My wife Margaret and I miss the collection already--we love the newspapers, and it was a pleasure to meet the visitors and students who came to Rollinsford to do research on all sorts of historical topics. But this is unquestionably the right thing to do. Our job was to make sure that this singular resource wasn't destroyed by dealers but kept safe for future scholarly use. The move to Duke ensures that outcome; we're elated that it has turned out this way.
      I would like to thank all of you very much for your generous encouragement and support over the years--we couldn't have done it without your help.

Kindest regards,

Nicholson Baker

P.S. Inquiries about doing research using the newspaper collection should go to:

Rare Book, Manuscript, and
Special Collections Library
Duke University
Box 90185
Durham, NC 27708-0185
Telephone: 919-660-5820
Fax: 919-660-5934
Email: special-collections@duke.edu
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu

Although we have moved out of the Rollinsford mill, we will still be getting mail at the Rollinsford address for several months, or at newsrep@gwi.net.

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