Jo Porter

Publication Date

3-23-2016

Comments

An abstract of this interview is available below. A time-annotated index is linked above and to the right. A transcription will be posted as soon as it becomes available. An essay summarizing themes that emerged from interviews conducted about Myers in 2016 is available: Portrait of a Collector: Reflections on an Influential Bibliophile.

This interview subject is affiliated with IWU and/or President Myers in the following ways: Director of Grants and Foundation Relations, 1989-2011.

Abstract

Porter tells the story of how her position in Corporate and Foundation Relations got started. She recalls Myers as a strategic fundraiser who had good ideas for her to try out and that he follow up on. She shared an interest in cookbooks with him and says he made gifts of books and other things to her. She recalls his lack of interest in condition and remarks on the poor quality of the musical instruments he had. Porter describes going on trips with Myers and how he managed to find book stores, even if it meant staying at a location longer. After learning of her family history, Myers looked further and found out they were related. [n.b., she references a document she brought to the interview that was a report to the Board of Trustees and not an address to faculty as indicated in the conversation.] In response to a final question, Porter makes observations on how Myers might have responded to the book collection's dispersal at auction.

Streaming Media

Duration

01:25:54

Keywords

travel, book buying, library stats, geneaology, gifts, auction, instruments, trains, management, leadership, library philosophy, Portrait of a Collector, Staff

Disciplines

United States History

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