Posner Foundation Commits $8 Million to Carnegie University Libraries Special Collections

From a CMU Libraries Announcement:

The Posner Foundation of Pittsburgh has announced an $8 million commitment to support the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries Special Collections — the university’s repository for rare books, manuscripts, and early calculating devices and cryptographic machines.

“We are deeply grateful to the Posner Foundation and the Posner family for this incredible commitment and for their steadfast support of Carnegie Mellon University,” said Farnam Jahanian, president of Carnegie Mellon University. “Our special collections program offers a unique window into some of our nation’s greatest minds and milestones, and we are thrilled to continue advancing this work and elevating access to our intellectual and cultural treasures for the benefit of generations to come.”

The commitment includes $6 million to renovate the Posner Center for Special Collections and $2 million to support the care, display, and usage of the Libraries’ Special Collections.

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Support from the Posner family has also enabled the reinvention of library services and facilities to fully leverage the possibilities of promoting education and research in the digital era. In 2021, the Foundation established the Helen and Henry Posner, Jr. Dean’s Chair for the University Libraries as part of a $16 million gift to Carnegie Mellon. Carnegie Mellon installed Keith Webster as the inaugural Helen and Henry Posner, Jr. Dean’s Chair for the University Libraries the following year.

“Thanks to the continued generosity of the Posner family, the University Libraries has been uniquely situated to re-envision the future of an academic library in the 21st century, from championing open access and open science initiatives to supporting the research life cycle from grant application to sharing research results,” Webster said. “With this additional support for our Special Collections, we will be able to take our stewardship of rare and historical books and artifacts to the next level, offering transformative and accessible new ways for treasures of the past to contribute to the breakthroughs of the future.”

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The commitment will devote $2 million to creating a Posner Curator for Special Collections Fund, which will support [Curator of Special Collections Sam] Lemley’s oversight of the collection’s care, display and expansion.

“Special Collections has a reputation for being a bit mysterious. What this gift allows the Libraries to do is to not only grow the collection, but make it radically inclusive and visible in new and engaging ways,” said Lemley. “It’s really the start of a new era, one that will be defined by openness, student experience, and public programming. I couldn’t be more excited. And I am deeply grateful to the Posner family and Foundation for their exceptionally generous support.”

The fund will enable Lemley to make new and world-class acquisitions and support Special Collections programs, such as visiting fellowships, named lectures and micro research grants for students and visiting scholars. It will support major exhibitions, such as Shakespeare’s First Folio, Architecture Archives and Violins of Hope, which are three prior exhibitions mounted in the Posner Center. The fund will also further evolve the Posner Curatorial Internship, a program offering graduate students experience in cultural heritage institutions, including libraries, archives and museums. Under Lemley, interns have the opportunity to serve as a partner in the curatorial work done by Special Collections, coming away with tangible skills and a practiced ability to engage with a variety of cultural heritage work.

Learn More, Read the Complete Announcement (about 1100 words)

Filed under: Academic Libraries, Archives and Special Collections, Funding, Lecture, Libraries, News, Open Access