Blogs

World Book Day
By Olivia Gillingham, Library Specialist in the Marian Library
Today the Marian Library can boast of an impressive selection of more than 95,000 circulating volumes about Mary and more than 12,000 rare books, but it wasn’t always this way. The Library was founded with the gift of a single book on October 20, 1943, when Rev. John A Elbert, S.M., then President of the University of Dayton, presented a copy of his book Devotion to Mary in the Twentieth Century, to Rev. Lawrence W. Monheim, S.M., the Library’s founding director.
Our circulating collection began to grow thanks to the help of volunteers who, in the early days of the Marian Library, typed letters asking publishing companies and Catholic college librarians for book lists and donations of their duplicate copies. After its first year, the Library had acquired 500 books and pamphlets.
Much of the credit for the rare book collection goes to the late Brother William Fackovec, S.M., who served as a librarian for the Marian Library for more than 30 years. At one time Brother Bill directed all phases of library acquisitions and cataloging, and fostered important relationships with book dealers during his trips to Europe, which helped develop our significant collection. The Brother William Fackovec, S.M., Rare Book Collection now contains more than 5,800 books devoted primarily to the Virgin Mary, most printed between 1500 and 1800 and are written in a variety of languages.
The Clugnet Collection accounts for the remainder of the rare books and is named after the late Leon Clugnet, a French bibliographer. Over his lifetime, Clugnet amassed more than 6,500 books related to Marian Shrines around the world. The Marian Library acquired his collection, which includes books, pamphlets, prints and photos, in 1954.
We recently moved the rare books to a climate controlled space on the third floor of Roesch Library, while the circulating collection remains on the seventh floor. Like the rest of the Library’s holdings, the rare book collection continues to grow. Two recent acquisitions include De Laudibus Beate Marie Virginis from 1493 and Hore in Laudem beatissime virginis Marie, a Book of Hours from 1523. These and the rest of the rare books will be better preserved in their new space to support continued scholarship.
See photos of some of our rare book collection below!