The headline gave me the impression that this story on the MinnPost.com website was going to be a straight news story about a guy who donated 40,000 comics to the University of Minnesota … but in fact it’s a nicely written column by his wife, Judith Yates Borger, that details the history of their relationship and her husband’s love for comics:
There’s no debating the logic of donating the comics. They’ll be far safer in the high-security, fireproof library. And besides, I keep telling John, books are meant to be read, not sit in our basement. People will be able to study John’s books in the Andersen reading room, as long as they leave their packs outside, use only a pencil or a computer to take notes, and wear white cotton gloves while handling them. That’s a far cry from the days when my son read his copies in the bathtub.
After John had made all the arrangements to donate the books, I visited their final resting place. A delightful young woman took me to the lowest cavern, which is two stories high and the length of two football fields. This is where the books are kept at the optimum 62 degrees Fahrenheit and approximately 50 percent relative humidity, in acid free boxes on shelves lit by lights on timers like the knob you turn in a hotel bathroom for a sunlamp. Collections appraised at more than $100,000 carry the donor’s name.
“When a collection is assembled by an expert who has spent a lifetime collecting and cares about the collection, it’s an event,” said Karen Nelson Hoyle, curator.
Side by side with her column is one written by her husband. Go check it out.
March 4th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Wow, what a great read.
The most interesting and telling lines in the essay:
“One night at dinner we told the kids that we were writing our wills, and thinking about what would happen with the comic books. The older kids were in high school, and had pretty much quit reading them.”
March 7th, 2008 at 11:36 am
This piece has been picked up by a lot of websites, but your take on it is one of my favorites. Thanks.
Also, to Tim O’Shea: two of my three kids had stopped reading comic books by high school, but one of them had moved on to other reading, including poetry. The youngest one, now almost 22 and on his way to law school, still reads them.