by Newberry
First published 1970
Edward E Ayer stands in the halls of Chicago's Newberry Library, surrounded by the fruits of decades of passionate collecting. The businessman turned bibliophile has assembled one of America's most significant collections of materials documenting Native American history and the American West. Ayer moves through rooms filled with rare manuscripts, early printed books, and unique documents that tell the story of indigenous peoples and frontier life. He faces the challenge of organizing and cataloging thousands of items that span centuries of North American experience. Each acquisition represents both a triumph of discovery and a responsibility to preserve knowledge that might otherwise vanish. The collection grows as Ayer pursues elusive texts and competes with other collectors for precious materials. His work becomes a race against time to save the written record of cultures and experiences that shaped the continent. At its heart, this is the story of one man's dedication to preserving the diverse voices of American history.
Genres: biography, history, 20th-century, 19th-century, native-american, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: preservation, race-against-time
Setting: America, Chicago, North America
Period: 19th Century, 20th Century
Hardcover · Gale