{"id":489,"date":"2023-07-18T09:13:27","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T16:13:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/?p=489"},"modified":"2023-07-19T14:39:24","modified_gmt":"2023-07-19T21:39:24","slug":"angling-and-adventure-one-collectors-journey-to-making-wsu-libraries-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/2023\/07\/18\/angling-and-adventure-one-collectors-journey-to-making-wsu-libraries-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Angling and Adventure: One collector\u2019s journey to making WSU Libraries history"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Vernon Gallup wanted something different. Something unique. Something no one else had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2008, he made history at the WSU Libraries by donating the largest single gift of rare books in the Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections\u2019 120-year past\u2014about 20,000 volumes valued at $1.8 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe had a love affair with his books. I\u2019ve never known anyone who was so proud of what he had collected,\u201d said Corinne Hensley, Gallup\u2019s daughter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gallup Collection\u2014filled with tomes on angling, fishing, outdoor sports, and the environment\u2014ranges from the 1400s to present day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Vernon Gallup was a wonderful fly fisherman. Courtesy of Corinne Hensley.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Gallup subscribed to nearly every fly-fishing magazine across the nation, and his love of the sport sparked his interest in book collecting, Hensley said. When Gallup and his partners at the Wire Installation Contractors company accumulated a large nest egg, they could finally pursue their passions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe could get that fly just where you told him to drop it,\u201d she said. \u201cHe would always go just there<\/em>. You\u2019d point to a spot, [and] he got that fish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hensley said her father was the most wonderful fly fisherman she had ever seen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hensley said fishing with her father was \u201cjust a blast.\u201d She remembers fishing at her family\u2019s ranch in Argentina, casting her line five feet from the shore and catching a fish with every cast, which was unusual. She also recalled a time when she and her brother threw rocks in the water, and Gallup yelled at them to stop scaring the fish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
“The Compleat Angler” by Izaak Walton. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Fishing and collecting his way around the world, Gallup made his way to Europe, where he sifted through libraries to find angling books they no longer needed. He then ordered them through the mail, where even rare volumes like the first edition of Izaak Walton\u2019s \u201cThe Compleat Angler\u201d<\/a>\u2014considered one of the most popular books published in English alongside the Bible\u2014were shipped to his house, Hensley said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe eye of the Gallups for collecting so carefully and also buying books that were expensive at the time but have only gone up in value, like the first edition of \u201cThe Compleat Angler,\u201d<\/a> really is a testament to their persistence and also something that would be very difficult\u2014if not impossible\u2014to recreate in the future,\u201d said Trevor Bond, associate dean for digital initiatives and special collections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gallup\u2019s eye for detail extended to his meticulous card catalog of each book in his library, leaving behind an invaluable record for WSU librarians who are still sorting through the books, Bond said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
“The Fresh-Water Fishes of Great Britain” by Sarah Bowdich.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

His catalog rested in a closet next to his office. Hensley said for every book that came in, Gallup wrote a card for it and placed it in alphabetical order. Although he did not read every book he collected, he looked through each bibliography and index to see where its research came from, who printed it, and why. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As someone who earned a bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degree in English literature, Gallup simply had to do everything \u201cthe right way,\u201d Hensley said. He redid his online catalog every few years, spending nearly eight hours a day for three months at his computer, even on vacation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy God, it was a lot of work for him, but it kept him out of trouble,\u201d Hensley said with a smile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether it was donating money to fishing magazines going through tough times or sneaking Hensley desserts, Gallup was extremely kind and patient, Hensley said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She remembers being a picky eater as a child, and her mother would not let her have dessert until she finished her food, she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo my dad would give me his dessert,\u201d she said. \u201cMy hero.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Gallup Collection. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Gallup\u2019s collection grew until he and Joan, his wife, purchased a new house in Bigfork, Mont., building a special wing specifically for their books. Across three floors, every nook and cranny was filled, and a dumbwaiter carried books from the bottom floor to the top, Hensley said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2008, the Gallups decided to donate the collection to WSU. On three separate trips, Bond said moving crews brought the books to the WSU Libraries\u2019 archives, the vans groaning under the weight of so many books. Librarians realized it would take more than 10 years to catalog the collection. Bond\u2019s colleague is still making his way through authors beginning with the letter \u201cA\u201d after six months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bond said the collection has tremendous potential for research, given people are becoming more interested in the environment. Earlier descriptions of rivers and fish species are indicators of changes in the natural world today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
“A Book of Small Flies”<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A bibliographic group from Germany studied \u201cBlacker\u2019s Art of Fly Making\u201d while a researcher in Scotland examined the detailed illustrations of \u201cThe Fresh-Water Fishes of Great Britain.\u201d Sarah Bowdich, the author, ground scales from fish species and mixed them into her paint to create vivid renderings of the fish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long after Gallup\u2019s donation, Hensley used her father\u2019s excess money to purchase a scanner, allowing WSU Libraries to digitize the books for consortias like the HathiTrust Digital Library<\/a>. She said she wanted to provide greater remote access for researchers around the world and reduce damage to the physical books. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always a good investment to give to libraries because that\u2019s where students learn the most,\u201d Hensley said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Gallup was a reserved man who would rather stay anonymous, Hensley said he would be glad to witness his legacy unfold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think he\u2019d be very happy with the way it\u2019s going, and the wealth of knowledge going out from the university because of it,\u201d she said. \u201cI know I am.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vernon Gallup wanted something different. Something unique. Something no one else had. In 2008, he made history at the WSU Libraries by donating the largest single gift of rare books in the Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections\u2019 120-year past\u2014about 20,000 volumes valued at $1.8 million.  \u201cHe had a love affair with his books. I\u2019ve never […]","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[79,78,76,42,54,77],"class_list":["post-489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-browse","tag-angling","tag-fishing","tag-gallup-collection","tag-manuscripts-archives-and-special-collections","tag-research","tag-vernon-gallup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":506,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489\/revisions\/506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}