Event box

Join the Friends of Princeton University Library for a closer look at the motives of three collectors whose significant collections of global manuscripts were donated to Princeton University Library: Robert Garrett (1875-1961), William Gates (1863-1940), and Guion Moore Gest (1864-1948). These collectors’ global collecting achievements have played an important role in building PUL’s magnificent collections of Islamic, Mesoamerican, and East Asian manuscripts.

Mireille Djenno (Global Special Collections Librarian), Martin J. Heijdra (Director, East Asian Library), and Gabriel Swift (Librarian for Early American Collections) will discuss these collectors’ motives, their backgrounds, and how their collections ended up at Princeton. Dan Linke, Acting Associate University Library for Special Collections, will moderate the session.

Current Friends of PUL members are invited to attend in person. Registration is required.

The presentation will also be available by Zoom for non-members.

Please select the appropriate registration type below. Due to limited capacity, membership status will be checked after registration.

 

Date:
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
Time:
5:00pm - 6:00pm
Location:
Friend Center - The Convocation Room (Friend 113)
Audience:
  Friends of Princeton University Library     Student Friends of Princeton University Library  
Categories:
  Friends of the Princeton University Library Event  

Registration is required. There are 60 in-person seats available. There are 200 online seats available.

Mireille Djenno, Global Special Collections Librarian

 

Martin J. Heijdra, Director, East Asian Library

Heijdra studied sinology and japanology at Leiden, Beijing, and Kyōto before receiving a Ph.D. in Ming history at Princeton, partly published in the Cambridge History of China. From 1988 he was the Chinese bibliographer at the East Asian Library at Princeton; he became its director in 2015. In those capacities he has published on various aspects of the history of the East Asian book and non-Western typography. He currently is the book review editor for the journal East Asian Publishing and Society, Treasurer of the Society for Ming Studies, and member of the advisory board for the Bibliography of Asian Studies. For twenty years he was a Board member of the Geiss Hsu Foundation, which has become a major sponsor for activities in the field of Late Imperial China. He taught a Rare Book School course in summer 2024 on The Book in Ming China: History & Analysis.

Gabriel Swift, Librarian for Early American Collections

Swift is the Librarian for Early American Collections in Princeton University Library’s Special Collections. Prior to joining Princeton in 2010, he was a Reference Associate in the Public Services Department of the Lilly Library, Indiana University. He holds an MLS with a Rare Books and Manuscripts Librarianship Specialization from the School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University and a BA in English, Indiana University. His research interests include American Book History, Western Americana, and reference resources for rare books.
 

This event is part of the Friends of the Princeton University Library Small Talks Series.

View recordings of previous events.

Join the Friends of the Princeton University Library. Friends receive a newsletter, two issues of the Princeton University Library Chronicle, and are invited to participate in a variety of activities and events, including exhibition openings, lectures and talks, gala dinners, workshops on topics such as preservation, bookbinding, and print collecting.

To request disability-related accommodations for this event, please contact pulcomm@princeton.edu at least 3 working days in advance.