Friends of Library issue Tippo book

By Emily Silverman, special to the Chronicle

he Friends of the Library has published its first "occasional paper," a profile of the late Oswald Tippo, the Class of 1932 graduate who became a campus institution as provost, its first chancellor and as a well-regarded Botany professor.

     "Oswald Tippo and the Early Promise of the University of Massachusetts" was crafted by Irving Seidman, professor of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, who based the work on a series of interviews with Tippo in 1983.

     The book traces Tippo's path from Milo, Maine, through his undergraduate years at Mass Aggie to his return 32 years later as provost. The volume also covers his years as chancellor and as faculty member.

     Tippo tells of the unparalleled growth of the campus and the stories behind decisions that shaped the University as it is known today. The book clearly reflects Tippo's great love for his alma mater.

     Professor emeritus of English Ellsworth "Dutchy" Barnard, '28, calls the memoir "the story of a remarkable individual" that offers "an inside view of the problems and procedures involved in the administration of institutions of higher education in the United States ..."

     According to Margo Crist, director of Libraries, Tippo was "a firm believer in the library's vital role in the academic mission of the University. He believed that a first-rate faculty and a first-rate library were essential to the ongoing perfection of the school he had first known as a botany student. He was, as provost, the moving spirit behind building the 'tower' library."

     "The Friends are a volunteer organization dedicated to the view, embodied in Tippo's life, that a fine library is essential to a fine university. The Tippo memoir is a most appropriate initial publication by the Friends," said Lewis Mainzer, president of the Friends of the Library board and professor emeritus of Political Science.

     The group is in the midst of a campaign to raise $1 million in new gifts and pledges for the Library's endowed funds by 2005. As of September, gifts and pledges totaled $407,275.

     Copies of the 116-page book are available for purchase at the Jeffery Amherst Bookshop, 55 South Pleasant St., or as a gift to anyone who makes a tax-deductible contribution to the Oswald Tippo Library Endowment Fund.

     The Tippo Endowment was established in 2000 with an initial gift from Randolph W. Bromery for acquisition of special materials to build Library collections. Gifts to the endowment may be sent to Friends of the Library, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, 154 Hicks Way.