Date & Time:
April 13, 2022
12:00pm – 1:00pm
Virtual
REGISTER HERE
Join Drew Griffin, Senior Librarian at the Cambridge Public Library, as he delves into the history of book collection in Cambridge. By 1850 two of the finest book collections in the Boston area were located within half a mile of one another on Mass Ave between Central and Harvard Squares. The two bibliophiles, Thomas Dowse and George Livermore, show a distinctly American approach to book collecting. Unlike their British peers they came from humble backgrounds, didn’t attended college, and emphasized the democratic nature of their bookish pursuits by opening their libraries to the public (Dowse) and writing articles on book collecting for the nascent Cambridge Chronicle (Livermore).
Drew Griffin has worked at the Cambridge Public Library for the past 15 years in various capacities. Since 2016, he has served as Senior Librarian in the Adult Services Department. Drew’s area of expertise is genealogy and rare book librarianship. Over the past 3 years, Drew has taught many of the Library’s popular genealogy workshops, including beginner’s genealogy and DNA testing and genealogical research. Also, in his spare time, Drew is an avid rare book collector. He is a member several bibliophile clubs, including the Grolier Club in New York City and the Ticknor Society in Boston.
The Cambridge Room 