Rare Book School Lecture: Bookish Solidarity in a Time of Institutional Crisis

Rare Book School is founded on a shared commitment to “responsible stewardship of the historical record in all its richness and many forms,” a mission made more urgent by the present instability of our national institutions, from the Library of Congress to the Smithsonian to the National Endowment for the Humanities. Heather O’Donnell of Honey & Wax Booksellers highlights a number of resourceful women in American book history, some celebrated and some whose names we’ll never know, who found ways to preserve and share aspects of the historical record outside the established institutions of their own day. Whether barred from full participation in professional fields and private clubs on account of their sex, or simply focused on historical material deemed unworthy of serious attention, these women took the work of cultural preservation into their own hands in creative and surprising ways, to our collective benefit. In 2026, what practical and strategic lessons can we draw from the communities these women built?

This lecture is also available by Zoom livestream.