For its annual open house on Wednesday, Oct. 8, UCLA’s William Andrews Clark Memorial Library will celebrate the legacy of Robert Cowan, a legendary bookseller and California historian who served as the Clark’s first librarian.
The open house, which runs from 4:30 to 7 p.m., offers a rare glimpse inside the library, which is typically open only by appointment or during scholarly lectures. Located in L.A.'s historic West Adams District and operated under the aegis of UCLA's Center for 17th- and 18th-Century Studies, the Clark is one of UCLA's major libraries for rare books and manuscripts, with particular strengths in English literature and history (1641-1800), Oscar Wilde and fine printing.
During the open house, Gary Kurutz, special collections curator at the California State Library in Sacramento and faculty member at UCLA’s California Rare Book School, will discuss Cowan's legacy at the Clark, where he served from 1919 until 1933. An awarded California historian himself, Kurutz will deliver a lecture entitled: "’Sir’ Robert Cowan, Prince of California Bookmen, and the Genesis of the UCLA Californiana Collection,” based on a book by Kurutz.
Cowan was the author of the seminal 1914 annotated bibliography of 1,000 of the most important books about California that had been written up to that point in history. His own personal book collection seeded the UCLA Libraries’ collection of books about California.
The lecture, which is timed to mark the centennial of the publication of Cowan' A Bibliography of California and the Pacific West,” begins at 5:30 p.m. The Clark will also unveil a new exhibit: “Copper, Gold, and Diamonds: Celebrating Cowan and California at the Clark, 1914-2014,” which will be on view through Dec. 19.
Learn more about the Clark at the library's website. For more information about the open house or to confirm that you will attend, email c1718cs@humnet.ucla.edu.
