Melbert B. Cary, Jr. Graphic Arts Collection guestbook

Collection — Box: 1

Identifier: RITArc-0361

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Because of the signatures in the register, it is likely the guestbook is from an event at the Melbert B Cary, Jr. Graphic Arts Collection. Signatures include RIT alumni and cultural notables including: Catherine Tyler Brody (New York City Technical College), Caroline Backlund (National Gallery of Art), Marcus McCorison (American Antiquarian Society), and Bernard Middleton (bookbinder). RIT luminairies include Mark Ellingson, Shirley and Robert Panara, and Richard Rose.

Dates

Creation: circa 1985

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to researchers.

Biographical / Historical

The Cary Collection is one of the country's premier libraries on the history and practice of printing.The original collection of 2,300 volumes was assembled by the New York City businessman Melbert B. Cary, Jr. during the 1920s and 1930s.

Cary was director of Continental Type Founders Association, a former president of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, and proprietor of the private Press of the Woolly Whale. His professional and personal interests in printing led him to collect printer's manuals and type specimens, as well as great books of the printer's art.

In 1969, the Cary Collection was presented to RIT by the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust as a memorial to Mr. Cary, together with funds to support use of the collection. Today the library houses some 20,000 volumes and a growing number of manuscripts and correspondence collections. Also included are holdings on bookbinding, papermaking, type design, calligraphy and book illustration.