The Sidney P. Albert-Bernard Shaw Collection

Abstract

In November 1991, Brown University announced the addition of the Sidney P. Albert-G. B. Shaw Collection to its Special Collections. The purchase of the private collection of Sidney P. Albert was accomplished with the support and encouragement of the then president of Brown, Vartan Gregorian. At the same time, and upon Albert's recommendation, Brown acquired the correspondence and other documents relating to Shaw's dealings with his American publisher, Dodd, Mead & Company (and, by extension, other publishers). An inaugural exhibit of material from the Albert Collection (“Quintessential Shaw”) was mounted in Brown's John Hay Library, 5 May –28 July, 1995, curated by former Brown Curator for Printed Books, Jennifer Lee. To celebrate the opening of the exhibit and to mark the addition of the Albert-Shaw Collection to Brown's holdings, the Friends of Brown Library hosted a dinner-reception on 5 May with readings from Shaw plays and a brief talk (“100 Years Ago: G.B.S. in 1895”) by Albert, followed by a public lecture (“Shaw's Utopia”) delivered by Shaw biographer Michael Holroyd.