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Article: Collector of the century Howard Gotlieb decides who counts, then raids their attics
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- May 23, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Thirty-three years ago, Howard Gotlieb had a revelation. As the
new head of Boston University's Department of Special Collections, a
k a the BU archives, he realized he was in charge of rare books by
famous dead white males. The few personal papers were scattered
presidential autographs, ergo, DWM signatures.
Acquiring old papers, he knew, was both difficult and expensive.
What to do? What to do?
And the light bulb that suddenly glowed, very simply put, was that
Howard Gotlieb, himself, personally, idiosyncratically, would decide
which living writers and public figures and performers would be, or
should be, famous in the 21st century, and start collecting them
while they were alive, before ...