Howard Bernard Gotlieb, Ph.D. (October 24, 1926 – December 1, 2005) was an American archivist, and the founding director of Special Collections at
Boston University, which was established as an archive center in 1963. In 2003, the center was renamed The
Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center in his honor. Gotlieb acquired substantial holdings to the archive from individuals who played a significant part in the fields of journalism, literature, film, and political and religious movements. The archive includes historical documents donated by individuals such as letters written by
Bette Davis, important papers from
Martin Luther King Jr. donated before the
Selma to Montgomery marches, jokes written by
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, stage, film, radio, singer, television star and vaudeville performer. He is generally considered to have been a master of quick wit an ...
,
Fred Astaire’s tap dancing shoes, hundreds of documents from
Dan Rather, and notes for a book first titled "Great White" that was later changed to "
Jaws
Jaws or Jaw may refer to:
Anatomy
* Jaw, an opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth
** Mandible, the lower jaw
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Jaws (James Bond), a character in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'' and ''Moonraker''
* ...
" written by
Peter Benchley.
Gotlieb worked at
Yale prior to becoming the director of Special Collections at
Boston University in 1963. Since that time, the BU’s collection has grown to over 140,000 rare books.
Early life and education
Gotlieb was born October 24, 1926 in a small Jewish community in
Bangor, Maine
Bangor ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Penobscot County. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's 3rd-largest settlement, behind Portland (68,408) and Lewiston (37,121).
Modern Bangor ...
. His parents were Maurice and Eva (nee Goldstein) Gotlieb. He collected stamps as a child and discovered archival work as a member of the
US Army Signal Corps in postwar
Germany, where his job was gathering the papers of
Nazi officials.
Gotlieb earned a
bachelor's degree in history from
George Washington University, in
Washington, DC, a
master's degree in history from
Columbia University in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
and a
doctorate in international relations from
Oxford.
Career
After working for several years as a foreign correspondent for a small press agency in
Europe, Gotlieb was hired by
Yale as a teaching associate in history and as an archivist of historical manuscripts.
He then worked as a curator of historical manuscripts at
Yale and published a biography of
William Beckford. He moved to work at
Boston University in 1963 where he became founding director of Special Collections.
Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center
Boston University's rare book and manuscript collections are held in the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, formerly called the Twentieth Century Archives. The Research Center was renamed in his honor on the 40th anniversary of his appointment.
It is housed in the Mugar Library and is open to the public for research and viewing. Gotlieb’s extensive correspondence, said to fill 100 filing cabinets, is being catalogued for availability by researchers.
Death
Gotlieb died December 1, 2005 at a Boston hospital at the age of 79. According to the university, the cause of death was complications from surgery. Private funeral services were held where he was buried in
Mount Auburn Cemetery
Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural cemetery, rural, or garden, cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middl ...
in
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gotlieb, Howard Bernard
1926 births
2005 deaths
Boston University faculty
People from Bangor, Maine
People from Boston
American archivists
Alumni of the University of Oxford
University of Texas faculty
George Washington University alumni
20th-century American journalists
American male journalists
20th-century American Jews
Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Yale University people
21st-century American Jews