UA may land nation's largest private library

by Sarah Nixon
Arizona Daily Wildcat, October 14, 2002, 1A

   The personal library of the late Heiko Oberman, former Regents' professor of history, will be donated to the UA Special Collections Library, if UA can raise $2 million to sustain a faculty position for the Late Medieval and Reformation Studies Division that Oberman founded.
   The collection, worth approximately $1.2 million, is comprised of over 10,000 15th-century volumes relating to the medieval and reformation period, most of which are one-of-a-kind works.
   Until his death in 2001, Oberman was renowned as one of the world's foremost experts on the Protestant Reformation.
   His library is internationally recognized as one of the largest and most unique compilations in existence.
   "Harvard University offered to purchase the library years ago," said Susan Karant-Nunn, director of the Division for Late Medieval and Reformation Studies. "I believe Professor Oberman thought UA needed the books more."
   A meeting to launch fundraising for the Heiko A. Oberman Chair was held at the UA Special Collections Library Sunday afternoon.
   Speakers included Ed Donnerstein, dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Carla Stoffle, dean of the University Libraries and Toetie Oberman, Heiko Oberman's widow.
   The UA has set a $2 million minimum to substantially endow a faculty chair, meaning that the faculty member would be paid out of interest generated on a $2 million donation.
   Oberman and his family announced their intent to donate the research and reference library to UA, under the stipulation that an endowed chair be appointed at his 70th birthday in October 2000.
   The Special Collections Library would become the home of Heiko Oberman's library, the largest privately owned collection in North America.
   Roger Myers, special collections librarian, said accommodating Prof. Oberman's library would not be a problem, after the recent renovation to the Special Collection Library.
   Approximately 70 books of Heiko Oberman's collection, largely Latin and Dutch-language texts are currently held in humidity and temperature-controlled vaults in the Special Collections Library, Myers said.
   "Books of this kind are best preserved in cool temperature. Students are able to view these books in our study rooms upon request," Myers said.
   "It was my husband's wishes for the work of the division to be preserved. We do not want it to be endangered," Toetie Oberman said.
   She believes that once a chair is in place, the books will be safeguarded and readily used by UA faculty and students.
   "The presence of this center on the UA campus has made the university one of the leading places in the world for studying the Reformation and its late medieval roots," Karant-Nunn said.
   Heiko Oberman founded the Late Medieval and Reformation Studies Division in 1989, four years after he arrived at UA.
   He was awarded the Heineken Prize for History, Europe's most prestigious award for historical research while teaching at UA.
   He donated a portion of the $160,000 prize to the division at UA.
   A past recipient of UA's Five Star Faculty Award, Heiko Oberman authored over 30 books, spoke five languages and was regarded as a brilliant and renowned scholar by his colleagues.

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