{"id":272,"date":"2024-10-27T23:46:16","date_gmt":"2024-10-27T23:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/node615.namehero.net\/~wodehous\/?p=272"},"modified":"2025-02-12T16:18:24","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T22:18:24","slug":"international-p-g-wodehouse-society-dedicates-collection-at-vanderbilts-heard-libraries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wodehouse.org\/test\/international-p-g-wodehouse-society-dedicates-collection-at-vanderbilts-heard-libraries\/","title":{"rendered":"International P. G. Wodehouse Society Dedicates Collection at Vanderbilt\u2019s Heard Libraries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Attributed to Kara Furlong<\/a> from the Vanderbilt Library <\/a>published October 4, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n

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The Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries<\/a> hosted members of The Wodehouse Society<\/a> on Sept. 27 as part of the organization\u2019s biennial convention held in Nashville. The gathering at Vanderbilt\u2019s Central Library drew members from 23 U.S. states and seven countries.<\/p>\n

Founded more than four decades ago in appreciation of popular 20th-century British humorist P. G. Wodehouse, the international society includes lifelong fans as well as those who have recently discovered the writer\u2019s works, serious book collectors, and academic scholars of literature.<\/p>\n

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University Librarian Jon Shaw addresses members of The Wodehouse Society Sept. 27 in Vanderbilt\u2019s Central Library. (Tim Gollins\/Vanderbilt)<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2018, the Heard Libraries entered a collaboration with the Wodehouse Society to develop a collection of Wodehouse materials, including rare first editions of published works and artifacts owned by the author. In addition to pieces generously donated by society members from their personal collections, the university\u2019s Special Collections and University Archives<\/a> has grown the current P. G. Wodehouse Collection<\/a> at Vanderbilt to more than 1,300 items through purchased acquisitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take great care to preserve the physical materials you\u2019ve sent us, and that care means they\u2019ll last much longer than they otherwise would,\u201d said University Librarian Jon Shaw<\/a> at the Sept. 27 event. Shaw detailed the Heard Libraries\u2019 climate-controlled archival facilities and meticulous cataloging and preservation practices. \u201cAnd because we\u2019re an academic library, we\u2019re committed to digitizing as many of these materials as we can and making them accessible online.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Members of The Wodehouse Society get an up-close view of artifacts from Vanderbilt\u2019s P.G Wodehouse Collection. (Tim Gollins\/Vanderbilt)<\/p><\/div>\n

Special Collections has created digital images of the photographs, letters, objects and ephemera in the collection and made all items with copyright clearance available online<\/a> while it works to obtain the necessary permissions for the other materials. The libraries also have digitized first-edition copies of Wodehouse\u2019s Leave It to Psmith<\/em> and The Inimitable Jeeves<\/em>\u2014both published in 1923\u2014and will make these available in February 2025 to mark the 50th anniversary of the author\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

In addition, the Heard Libraries are teaming with the British Library<\/a>, where Wodehouse\u2019s personal archive is on loan, in this digital preservation initiative. The British Library recently completed digitizing several items from his collection including a letter Wodehouse penned to his daughter, Lenora, as well as story outlines, manuscript and typescript drafts, and corrections. The two libraries will promote one another\u2019s efforts and seek opportunities for trans-institutional research collaborations.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to your entrusting Vanderbilt with this collection, we are bringing people together and ensuring that Wodehouse remains relevant today and for many years to come,\u201d Shaw said. \u201cOur ultimate goal is to make these materials accessible as broadly as possible and to preserve them in perpetuity for the rest of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Special Collections and University Archives Curator of Manuscripts Mary McSparran (left) speaks with a Wodehouse Society member. (Tim Gollins\/Vanderbilt)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Attributed to Kara Furlong from the Vanderbilt Library published October 4, 2024 The Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries hosted members of The Wodehouse Society on Sept. 27 as part of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wodehouse.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wodehouse.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wodehouse.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wodehouse.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wodehouse.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wodehouse.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wodehouse.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wodehouse.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wodehouse.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wodehouse.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}