$20,000,000
That’s how much we need to raise from private and foundation sources for the renewal of Bancroft’s home, the Doe Annex. This is approximately half of the cost of the total renovation project. The rest ($17 million for seismic work and $4 million for moving into and out of temporary quarters) will come from campus resources and from last year’s Proposition 47 bond act.
Much of my time over the past six months has been devoted to the twin efforts of defining the scope of the renovation and organizing a capital campaign in support it. Piggy-backing on the seismic funding will allow us to gut the building down to the bare walls and floors and reconfigure it so that it functions more efficiently for Bancroft’s special uses, provides greater security for both collections and people, and addresses urgently needed deferred maintenance problems. Bancroft will acquire 25% more storage space, chiefly on the first two floors of the building, because the current occupant of those floors, The Newspaper/Microfilm/Periodical Library, will move into the Doe building. The ground floor will be dedicated to public services, with an enlarged reading room, a bigger exhibition gallery, and new seminar rooms. Upper floors will be reserved for semi-public and back-office space. Collections will be concentrated on the three floors below ground level; while the entire building will be outfitted with state-of-the-art climate control and security systems to provide for the long-term preservation and conservation of the collections. If funding permits, a roof-top addition will provide an additional 8,000 square feet of new space.
This ambitious project is contingent upon raising enough private money to carry it out—a big job, but I am enormously pleased to report that the response from virtually everyone I’ve asked to serve on the campaign leadership committee has been positive, even enthusiastic. I am particularly happy that Chancellor Emeritus Ira Michael Heyman has agreed to chair the committee. For those of you who are not familiar with the Berkeley campus, you should also know that after Chancellor Heyman left Berkeley he served as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
In announcing his support for the campaign, Chancellor Heyman stated that “Bancroft is approaching its Centennial on the Berkeley campus in 2005-06. A successful campaign to honor that Centennial will help meet both facility and program challenges that will serve the Bancroft well for the next 100 years. In my years as Chancellor in California Hall and as Secretary of the Smithsonian, I have been involved in very significant efforts to raise public support and certainly appreciate the difficulties. I decided I should accept this job primarily because it would help the Bancroft, a jewel of the Berkeley campus. What clinched my decision was that Mac Laetsch, my Vice Chancellor for both Undergraduate Affairs and Development, agreed to co-chair the Committee with me.” He went on to say that he and Mac Laetsch were “impressed with the membership of the Friends Council and the Campaign Leadership Committee. I have known some of you for a long time and look forward to getting to know everyone well. In addition to Cal alumni who have served the University and Library well for many years, there are those of you on the Council without other Cal ties who believe in Bancroft and its mission of preserving California’s past as a beacon to the future.”
We held several meetings over the summer with a core group of the leadership committee in order to get the campaign off to a flying start. Because of the intense nature of the campaign, which must have all of the money in hand by the start of construction in spring 2005, we shall focus initially on the Committee itself, the Library Advisory Board, and the Council of the Friends. Our goal is to achieve 100% participation from these core constituencies. At the same time, we shall start to schedule meetings with potential major donors in order to shape proposals that will interest them.
In addition to Chancellor Heyman and Vice Chancellor Laetsch, the committee consists of members of the Development Committee of the Friends of The Bancroft Library and the Advancement Committee of the Library Advisory Board. The latter is especially important, since it represents full support of the project by University Librarian Tom Leonard as the Berkeley Library’s highest priority. We are still adding members to the committee, but those who have agreed to serve so far include Paul (Pete) Bancroft III, Jesse Choper, Bill Coblentz, Mollie Collins, Harry Conger, John Davies, Mike Drew, Peter Frazier, Gordon Getty, Bob Haas, Paul Hazen, Jim Holliday, Al Johnson, Russell Keil, Larry Kramer, Mel Levine, Charlene Liebau, Bill Lyman, Rocky Main, Sylvia McLaughlin, Bob O’Donnell, Terry O’Reilly, Dick Otter, Connie Peabody, Lila Rich, Jack Rosston, Steve Silberstein, Bruce Smith, Camilla Smith, Cathy Spieker, R.G. Sproul III, Carl Stoney, Dan Volkmann, Ann Witter, Sheryl Wong, and Tom Woodhouse.
Every single person on this list has committed untold amounts of time, effort, and in many cases significant amounts of money in support of Bancroft, of the Library, or of Cal. Neither Bancroft nor Cal could survive without this kind of selfless devotion to the common good. I stand in awe of their energy and dedication.
Volume 123
Fall 2003
Table of Contents
Rare Pahlavi Texts Now at Bancroft
From the Director: A Bancroft Library for the 21st Century
Moving The Bancroft Library: 1950
Towards Estimating the Demand for California Wine: 1870–1920
Collecting Baedeker Travel Guides
Friends Annual Meeting: April 19, 2003
“A beautiful dream and vividly real” New Mark Twain Notebook, Letters, and Other Items
Bancroft Partners with Zazzle.com
Irving Stone’s Lust for Learning
The Bancroft Library–KQED Radio Lecture Series, 2003
Math Majors Chill with Rare Editions
