By Matthew Laurrie
Features Editor
Perched atop the shelves in the rare books collection of the library sit thousands of stories spanning the course of history.
The Holy Name Library for the Franciscan Institute, which was built as an addition to the Friedsam Memorial Library in 2008, houses the university’s archive of rare books. The library contains more than 10,000 pieces of literature, mainly from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
Paul Spaeth, director of the library, said the rare books wing in the library protects about 100 late medieval manuscripts, which are handwritten books that originated around the 1500s, in addition to manuscripts leading up to the present day. The archive also contains almost 300 printed volumes called incunabula, which refers to books produced within the first 50 years of the printing era, according to Spaeth.
“This is the largest old rare book collection like this in New York State outside of the New York City area,” he said.
Spaeth said the entire collection is a compilation of several different rare book archives. Each collection has a unique history regarding how and why it ended up at St. Bonaventure.
“There are different parts to the collection,” Spaeth said. “The St. Bonaventure University collection was started when the university was starting up in the mid-1800s, (and was) put together mainly by an Italian friar who was here for a time. The collection marked ‘Franciscan Institute’ was put together when the Franciscan Institute was first being formed in the 1940s. The Holy Name Province collection came from Holy Name College in Washington, D.C.”
St. Bonaventure has long been recognized as a premiere Franciscan institution. The extensive collection of literary materials from the time of St. Francis of Assisi found in the library has helped Bona’s earn and retain that distinction.
“We’ve gotten collections from other Franciscan provinces,” Spaeth said. “These are collections that came from other Franciscan institutions that had closed, and because we had this established collection of material, were given here.”
The impressive assortment of Franciscan literature collected by the library culminated in the creation of one of the most impressive archives of Franciscan studies in the world, according to Spaeth.
“St. Bonaventure is a Franciscan school – that’s the basis of it – and this is the premiere collection in relation to things Franciscan in North and South America,” Spaeth said. “There isn’t another collection that can compare with it, and there’s only a few European collections that can match it.”
Spaeth encouraged anyone interested in touring the facility to email him to set up an appointment. He urged the campus community to take advantage of the amenities the library has to offer, especially since it boasts such an amazing collection.
Rick Simpson, professor of English, expressed his belief that the rare books archive on campus truly sets Bonaventure apart from other educational establishments.
“The university’s splendid collections of rare Franciscan materials are especially important to the character of St. Bonaventure as an institution,” Simpson said. “Rare books generally convey the excitement and beauty of books as objects and as communicators of human experience and understanding.”
