Meet Our Donors
Jeanne Colette Collester: Parents' Dedication to Music Spurs Gift to Fund Scholarly Research
Jeanne Colette Collester’s parents, an influential vocal instructor and a pioneering pianist and conductor, were serious about music. Now a generous bequest from their daughter will allow the Newberry to propel its music collections to the front ranks of American independent research libraries for music scholarship.
Cindy Mitchell: Opening Doors Into History
Newberry Trustee Cindy Mitchell tells the story of how her son’s family history project for school brought her closer to the Newberry and to her ancestors.
I had lived near the Newberry for three years, yet had never walked in the door. Then my son was assigned a project in eighth grade to create a family history. I had a few names and some family stories that I wasn’t sure were true, but that was all.
Peggy Sullivan: Blatchford Society Member and Collector
Peggy Sullivan approaches collecting as a librarian. “When I started collecting, I would weed out my collection regularly. I thought, ‘I’m a librarian, I can get any book I want.’ But books go out of print or you can’t get them again for some reason, so I realized I needed to keep them,” says Sullivan. “Still, I’m afraid my collection isn’t that large, because my approach is still to collect things so that I can loan them back out!”
2009 Book Fair Co-Chair Tom Swanstrom
“There aren’t that many research libraries in the world,” says Tom Swanstrom, who, with his wife Nancy, is a long-standing donor to the Newberry’s Annual Fund. “The Newberry fills an important role, and we believe in supporting that.”