Undergraduate
Saint Michael's receives gift of 4,000 classics books valued at $207,000
The collection includes new volumes and rare books from the 18th and 19th Centuries
Contact Information:
Buff Lindau, Public Relations
802.654.2536
blindau@smcvt.edu
A retired couple, formerly professors at another university, have donated their collection of some 4,000 classics books, appraised at a value of $207,000, to Saint Michael's College. The donors met Saint Michael's classics professors, Ronald Begley of St. Albans and James Conley of Essex Junction, at several conferences and were so impressed with their conversations that they decided Saint Michael's would be a suitable recipient for their collection.
Robert and Michelle Wilhelm of Rhinecliff, N.Y., and their daughter Celeste Wilhelm, gave their collection of Greek and Roman history, language and literature, including new volumes and rare books from the 18th and 19th Centuries, to the college late this summer. The books are now being catalogued and assessed by Saint Michael's Library Director John Payne, Associate Director Laura Crain and Archivist Elizabeth Scott.
The collection was built by the Wilhelm's during Robert and Michelle's time as faculty members in the classics department of Miami University of Ohio. The collection represents "a broad swath of interests within the world of classics," said James Conley, associate professor of classics. Some are rare editions, he said, "for example an 18th Century edition of Cicero."
Passionate for the classics, Professor Conley said, "Classics is wondrously broad in its consideration of a full spectrum of human activities within areas such as language, literature, myth and religion, philosophy, economics history and more."
Saint Michael's Librarian John Payne said the collection will be housed in the library, the archives, and the classics department, and will be made available to students, faculty and other researchers.
Saint Michael's College, founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nation's Best 368 Colleges. A liberal arts, residential, Catholic college, Saint Michael's is located just outside of Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns and less than two hours from Montreal. As one of only 270 institutions nationwide with a prestigious Phi Beta Kappa chapter on campus, Saint Michael's has 2,000 full-time undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 200 international students. In recent years Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Guggenheim, Fulbright, National Science Foundation and other grants, and Saint Michael's professors have been named Vermont Professor of the Year in four of the last eight years. The college is currently listed as one of the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2009 U.S. News & World Report rankings.
Buff Lindau, Public Relations
802.654.2536
blindau@smcvt.edu
A retired couple, formerly professors at another university, have donated their collection of some 4,000 classics books, appraised at a value of $207,000, to Saint Michael's College. The donors met Saint Michael's classics professors, Ronald Begley of St. Albans and James Conley of Essex Junction, at several conferences and were so impressed with their conversations that they decided Saint Michael's would be a suitable recipient for their collection.
Robert and Michelle Wilhelm of Rhinecliff, N.Y., and their daughter Celeste Wilhelm, gave their collection of Greek and Roman history, language and literature, including new volumes and rare books from the 18th and 19th Centuries, to the college late this summer. The books are now being catalogued and assessed by Saint Michael's Library Director John Payne, Associate Director Laura Crain and Archivist Elizabeth Scott.
The collection was built by the Wilhelm's during Robert and Michelle's time as faculty members in the classics department of Miami University of Ohio. The collection represents "a broad swath of interests within the world of classics," said James Conley, associate professor of classics. Some are rare editions, he said, "for example an 18th Century edition of Cicero."
Passionate for the classics, Professor Conley said, "Classics is wondrously broad in its consideration of a full spectrum of human activities within areas such as language, literature, myth and religion, philosophy, economics history and more."
Saint Michael's Librarian John Payne said the collection will be housed in the library, the archives, and the classics department, and will be made available to students, faculty and other researchers.
Saint Michael's College, founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nation's Best 368 Colleges. A liberal arts, residential, Catholic college, Saint Michael's is located just outside of Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns and less than two hours from Montreal. As one of only 270 institutions nationwide with a prestigious Phi Beta Kappa chapter on campus, Saint Michael's has 2,000 full-time undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 200 international students. In recent years Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Guggenheim, Fulbright, National Science Foundation and other grants, and Saint Michael's professors have been named Vermont Professor of the Year in four of the last eight years. The college is currently listed as one of the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2009 U.S. News & World Report rankings.
