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UD libraries director honored by Yaddo artists’ colony
3:54 p.m., Oct. 11, 2006--Susan Brynteson, the May Morris Director of Libraries at the University of Delaware, was elected to lifetime membership in the Founded in 1900 by financier Spencer Trask and his wife Katrina, herself a poet, Yaddo offers residencies to professional creative artists from anywhere in the world, working in choreography, film, literature, musical composition, painting, performance art, photography, printmaking, sculpture or video. Yaddo is governed by 91 members and directors, all of whom are elected to staggered terms. Occasionally, members who have shown exceptional commitment and service to the corporation are nominated for lifetime membership. “I was thrilled and honored,” Brynteson said. “Artists in residence at Yaddo have described to me over the years how being sequestered at Yaddo with both space and uninterrupted time has assisted their writing or painting or composing or other art, all enhanced by the quite magical interaction with other artists. It has been personally rewarding for me to interact with so many creative persons, ranging from having breakfast with a painter, to an afternoon walk around the lakes with a composer, to a swim with a sculptor, to having cocktails with a writer, and then having dinner with them all.” Yaddo President Elaina Richardson said, “Yaddo couldn't continue to provide this haven without many people's hard work, especially among our members. And sometimes certain people's efforts are so extraordinary, as with Susan Brynteson.” Peter Gould, chairman of the Yaddo board of directors, said Brynteson cared for and helped save the Yaddo archives, “one of the most important American collections of documents and objects spanning the history of 20th-century literature, music and art.” Brynteson has volunteered for many years as Yaddo's librarian and special adviser. She was elected as a member of the corporation in 1995 and elected to the board of directors in 1998. Under Brynteson's care, and with the help of several other members, Yaddo's extensive archives of 20th-century literary and artistic correspondence, objects, manuscripts, sound recordings and works of art were donated to the New York Public Library in 1999, through a gift of the Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund. "The Yaddo archive, which includes materials of the earliest days of the Trask family up through 1980, is an extraordinary cultural treasure for the history of the creative arts in the 20th century and an example of a highly unusual 19th-century philanthropy,” Brynteson said. “Since the archive has been held privately and not been available for scholarly research and public access, it has remained untouched for many decades. Now it will be of enormous benefit to scholars and researchers in the study of cultural history.” Brynteson has served as president of the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services and on its governing body, the American Library Association Council. She has chaired major American Library Association policy committees dealing with publishing, federal legislation and intellectual freedom. She is presently chairing the 75th Anniversary Program Planning Committee of the Association of Research Libraries. She is also on the board of directors of the Center for Research Libraries in Chicago and is a member of the Grolier Club in New York, America's oldest and largest society for bibliophiles and enthusiasts in the graphic arts. Article by Martin Mbugua |
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