What's in a Name
Emory's literary library assumes a new identity
A rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but even Shakespeare would have to admit that it would not offer the breadth and depth of literary resources available in Emory’s newly named Rose Library.
This fall, the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (MARBL) was renamed in honor of Stuart A. Rose 76B. Rose was recognized for his ongoing support and recent significant gift to MARBL, now the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, or the Rose Library.
“Stuart Rose has been a generous supporter, a dedicated alumnus, and a guiding spirit. His commitment has helped us achieve international renown for the breadth and depth of our collections,” says Rosemary M. Magee 82PhD, director. “We are delighted to celebrate all he has bestowed upon us through the naming of the Rose Library.”
Rose himself is a rare book collector of international acclaim with a distinguished and extensive private library that spans centuries of the arts, literature, and the sciences. “Stuart Rose was educated at Emory and developed as a student a profound love of literature,” says Kevin Young, award-winning poet and professor, and curator of the Rose Library’s literary collections and of its Raymond Danowski Poetry Library. “His support recognizes the central role that engaging with these materials has in a liberal arts education.”
Rose has long championed the connections among rare books and research, teaching, and learning. “No great university can be without a great rare books library,” he says. “It preserves history; it’s what scholars all over the world are drawn to study. Over the past twenty years, Emory has done more than any other place I know of to develop and enhance its rare book library. I’m very honored to be associated with the people and the collections there.”
Rose’s gift was announced this fall as MARBL opened an expanded and renovated space on the top floor of Emory’s flagship library, the Robert W. Woodruff Library. Over time, Rose has made significant contributions to the library’s literary holdings, including in 2011 a collection of rare editions of works such as a 1653 first edition of Izaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler, held by fewer than twenty libraries in the United States.
In 2013, a gift from Rose made possible Emory’s purchase of a collection of rare manuscripts by some of the world’s great poets, from an unpublished poem by John Clare to drafts of works by Sylvia Path, Ted Hughes, Samuel Beckett, W. B. Yeats, Seamus Heaney, and Derek Mahon. A well-known leader in the Dayton, Ohio, business community, Rose is the former chief executive officer of REX American Resources Corp., a Dayton-based alternative energy investment company.
The holdings of Emory’s Rose Library have become “an interdisciplinary crossroads where people from all different backgrounds, lands, and languages come to engage in research, teaching, and learning,” says Magee.—P.P.P.
