Earlier this month I was back at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, to speak about my book Lineage and the history of genealogy in early America at Swem Library. It was so much fun to be back on a campus and among friends and colleagues who have meant so much to me. But of course I also took a little time to do research in Special Collections. And I paused to appreciate this lovely portrait, which I’d seen before but hadn’t really looked at or understood. And now I know it connects not only my love of dogs and libraries, but also Virginia and Rhode Island.
This is Peter Chapin, a cocker spaniel owned and loved by Howard and Hope Chapin of Providence, and painted by Rhode Island artist Emma Levina Swan sometime in the 1910s or 20s? (The artist died in 1927). His portrait hangs in William & Mary’s Special Collections Research Center, where the Chapins gifted their huge collection, named for Peter, of dog books.
The Chapins donated about 3,000 volumes. Of course there is a book plate for all those thousands of books. And a short title catalog of the collection, created by Howard and introduced by early W&M librarian Early Gregg Swem (for whom Swem library, W&M’s main library, is named).
For Howard Chapin was a librarian, too, of the Rhode Island Historical Society. The RIHS current library, housing its really exceptional collection, is still just blocks from the John Carter Brown Library where I work on Brown’s campus, but was then housed equally close by but in a different direction. The 1844 Historical Society “Cabinet” on Waterman Street is now Mencoff Hall. It’s a very, very cool building.
Libraries and librarians of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were in regular communication so it’s not surprising that Chapin and Swem were. After the Chapins donated their collection in 1937, a later collector added more then 6000, making W&M’s the second largest collection of books about dogs in the US.
You might enjoy a scroll through the collection for your own favorite dog-related topics (activities and sport like agility; medical issues; breeds) you’ll likely find something of interest. I happen to adore a special Jack Russell Terrier (and she’s not my first, even though a trainer decades ago referred to my then-pup as a Jack Russell Terror), so of course I looked to see what they’ve got. The collection includes more than one book that’s in my own library, such as The Complete Jack Russell Terrier by D. B. Plummer (1980). I haven’t read it recently but, I recollect it offered a reasonably frank assessment of what it’s like to live with and love these very affectionate, very clever, and very, very energetic pups.
It’s hard to imagine a happier confluence of my enthusiasms than this! Thanks for reading along.