Janet Crayne: The Years at the University of Michigan, 1993-2019

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis narrative celebrates the career of Janet Crayne, the bulk of whose service was at the University of Michigan (U-M). Written by Janet’s successor as U-M’s Librarian for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, it offers a unique perspective on Janet’s many achievements and her legacy at U-M and beyond. Through conversations with Janet and her colleagues, the author finds that, even more than her love of books, her intimate knowledge of the SEEE region, and her belief in the many vital roles that libraries play, what made this great collector truly great was her passion for people and for service.KEYWORDS: Collection developmentYugoslav wars (1991-2001)BosniaCrayneUniversity of MichiganArdis Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. East View Information Services actually began in 1989, dealing heavily in cartography; but Janet recalls their very rapid growth, including pioneering service automation, after the collapse.2. Placek was a native Michigander, with degrees from University of Detroit (BA), Catholic University of America (MLS), and Georgetown University (MS). Along with Donald R. Mandich, Placek authored Russian Heraldry and Nobility (1992), based on ten-volume Obschii gerbovnik dvorianskikh rodov Vserossiiskoi Imperii (1797–1840). Placek was a devout Roman Catholic, too, and also helped compose the annotated bibliography The Guide to Catholic Literature (1962).3. Peter Kudrik was born Petr Aleksandrovich Kudrin in 1914 in Russia. The Hoover Institution at Stanford University holds his papers, and an excerpt from the description of that collection summarizes his remarkable experience: “[Kudrik’s] family lived in Vilnius (now Lithuania) between the two world wars. […] After World War II, Kudrik lived in a displaced-persons camp in Germany and moved to the United States in 1950. He studied at the University of North Carolina, where he received his degree in library science. He later found employment as a Slavic librarian and curator at the University of Michigan and at Stanford University. After retiring, he worked for a time as manager of the San Francisco – based Russian newspaper Russkaia zhizn’. Kudrik died in San Francisco in 1991. His papers consist of photographs, personal documents, correspondence, and reports (in part relating to Soviet book trade and librarianship).” Read more about Kudrik and his papers at Anatol Shmelev, “Peter Kudrik Papers in the Hoover Institution Archives,” News from the Hoover Institution Library & Archives [online], https://www.hoover.org/news/peter-kudrik-papers-hoover-institution-archives (accessed January 16, 2020).4. The Oriental Institute was shelled on 18 May 1992. The National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina suffered the same fate during the night of 25–26 August 1992, when most of the 2 million volumes held in the building were destroyed.5. Aleksandar Stipčević, “The Oriental Books and Libraries in Bosnia during the War, 1992–1994,” Libraries & Culture 33, no. 3 (Summer, 1998): 277–282.6. For more on these and similar efforts see András Riedlmayer, “Libraries Are Not for Burning: International Librarianship and the Recovery of the Destroyed Heritage of Bosnia-Herzegovina,” Art Libraries Journal 21, no. 2 (1996): 19–23, DOI: 10.1017/S0307472200009834; Kimberly Sweet, “Volumes of Hope,” The University of Chicago Magazine [online], https://magazine.uchicago.edu/9810/CollegeReport/volumes.htm (accessed October, 1998).7. “Yugoslav phone books: perhaps the last record of a people,” University of Michigan News [online], https://news.umich.edu/yugoslav-phone-books-perhaps-the-last-record-of-a-people/ (accessed January 20, 2000).8. “UNESCO Mobilizes Support for Sarajevo Library,” The UNESCO Courier 48, no. 2 (February, 1995): 45, https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf00000996929. International Crisis Group (ICG), “Managing the Risks of Instability in the Western Balkans,” Europe & Central Asia Report Nº 265, https://www.crisisgroup.org/europe-central-asia/balkans/managing-risks-instability-western-balkans (accessed July 07, 2022).10. For more about Arzoumanian and his papers, see the lengthy description in the materials’ finding aid (University of Michigan Library, Special Collections Research Center): https://findingaids.lib.umich.edu/catalog/umich-scl-arzoumanian.11. As I’m learning from the Centering the Northern Realms group, and as their name indeed suggests, theirs reflects a larger movement pushing against the centuries-old idee recue which insists that China is and always has been the axis of cultural generation, influence, and transmission for all of East Asia. Instead, the scholarly movement strives to demonstrate that the region always had multiple axes and that culture evolved in a process of mutually productive exchange. In other words, Janet’s collecting strategy is now being met by research priorities; and I am well set up to capitalize on this circumstance further enhance the collections.12. This quote is drawn from the digital collection’s introductory comments. Read those and explore the collection here: https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/144578/preface.html13. The Regents of the University of Michigan, “Report of Faculty Retirement,” https://regents.umich.edu/files/meetings/12–19/2019–12-VI-Crayne.pdf (accessed December 05, 2019).14 Ardis Publishers was launched at the University of Michigan by Professor Carl Proffer and his wife Ellendea, a fellow scholar of Russian literature, in 1971.15. For more about the Fan Parker donation see “Nabokov Collection Donated to U-M,” University of Michigan News, https://news.umich.edu/nabokov-collection-donated-to-u-m/ (accessed March 29, 2004).16. Jon Giullian worked closely with Stephen Parker’s widow to assess the scholar’s private collection, which included personal papers of a correspondence with Nabokov’s son Dmitri. In consultation with the remaining Parker family, it was determined that the research community would be best served if the Stephen Parker papers were held together with his mother’s.17. One of the initiatives was a Superman comic, the product of a partnership between DC Comics and the Department of Defense, meant to warn Bosnian children of the danger of landmines. The other was a “partnership between Buffalo General Hospital and the Tuzla Clinical Center to provide health care for the Bosnians in Tuzla.” “Hillary unveils comic book for Bosnia,” United Press International, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1996/10/21/Hillary-unveils-comic-book-for-Bosnia/4280845870400/ (accessed October 21, 1996).18. The quoted text comes straight from the letter of invitation Janet received from First Lady Clinton. See Janet Crayne, “Janet Crayne Visits the White House,” The University of Michigan Library Newsletter, 6–7, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015082936223&view=1up&seq=479 (accessed November 04,1996).19. At the University of Michigan, Librarians’ Forum is a venue, led by the Forum Board, for staff with librarian appointments to discuss concerns, share work, and advocate for needs.20. At the University of Michigan, Librarians, Archivists, and Curators (LACs) all have faculty appointments, though they do not enjoy all the same benefits such as tenure. Nor do all LACs enjoy the same place in faculty governance. While librarians have long been voting members of the Faculty Senate Assembly, archivists and curators have been denied the same voice. However, as I write this, the Senate is debating extending the vote to all LACs.