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The three floors of tiny rooms form what Ron Chapman calls "a little jewel" in the cultural crown that is the Honolulu Academy of Arts.
Renovated archive rooms
of Honolulu Academy of
Arts speak volumes
By Cynthia OiStar-Bulletin
The Robert Allerton Library does sparkle in white new-ness and Chapman intends to return the renovated facility to its glory not only visually but in content.
The library holds more than 35,000 volumes on art -- from biographies of artists, magazines and catalogs to a 1758 French-Italian dictionary and a page from a King James Bible published in 1611. The books cover myriad artistic expressions -- Tiffany windows, Maine seascapes, furniture, weaving and textiles, photographs, lithographs, jewelry, ceramics, mirrors, sculpture.
Chapman, who has been the academy's librarian for about five months, oversaw the renovation.
"When I took the job, the library was in decline," he said. "So they gave me a free hand in setting it up."
Chapman's pleasure in the results is palpable as he gives a tour of his domain."I come to work and walk to my office through all these beautiful pieces of art," he said as he strolled through the galleries.
The new library is housed mostly in the original 1927 section of the building. The rooms, spartan and utilitarian, spiral around three flights of stairs. There is no elevator. An ancient dumb waiter carries books from one floor to the next.
"It gives me exercise for my arms," Chapman said.
The library has two major projects on the horizon. The first is to wade through a roomful of books and catalog them. The second is to archive all the academy's papers, posters, letters to and from artists, donation records, published materials and other artifacts for the celebration of its 75th anniversary in 2002.
A professional archivist will undertake the project, which Chapman considers "hugely important.""An archive is the history, the progress of an institution," he said.
Although the library is primarily for use by the academy staff and curators, it is open to the public from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays.
People may request materials and review them in the library reading room. Chapman said the closed stacks are necessary.
"We have such treasures here," he said.
Some of the volumes are historic, others have art work on plates that can be detached from a book's pages.
"People have been known to steal them and sell them," he said, appalled by such disrespect of a publication.Chapman, who worked with the University of Hawaii library system for decades before retiring last year, clearly loves books. He can't imagine replacing them with computer images.
"You feel a connection with real books," he said. He pointed to the page from the King James Bible.
"Here's something from 1611 and you can stand here and you can read it. You don't need technology for this."
The academy facility, he said, "is not only a library of art, but the art of the book."
The renovated Robert Allerton Library at the Honolulu Academy of Arts will open at 1 p.m. Wednesday. Call 532-8754. Opening day
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