The Bibliographical Society of America (BSA) is the oldest

learned society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an discipline (academia), academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and s ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

dedicated to the study of books and manuscripts as physical objects. Established in 1904, the society promotes

bibliographical Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...

research and issues bibliographical publications. It holds its annual meeting in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in late January, during which time an annual address is presented by a guest speaker followed by three papers from young scholars selected as part of the society's New Scholars Program. It also sponsors lectures, an annual fellowship program, and three prizes for work published in the fields of printing and publishing history. In addition, the society publishes the quarterly ''Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America''. The first issue of what was then called ''The Bulletin of the Bibliographical Society of America'' was published in May 1907. Membership is open to anyone with an interest in bibliography, including bibliographers, collectors, librarians, professors, and students.

History of American Bibliographies

Charles Evans (1850–1935), supported by myriad people, wrote the first book on the history of printing and books, from Colonial times to the Federal Era, entitled ''American Bibliography''. Almost 50 years after Evans,

Ralph R. Shaw Ralph Robert Shaw (May 18, 1907 – October 14, 1972) was a librarian, a publisher, and an innovator in library science. In 1999, ''American Libraries'' named him one of the "100 Most Important Leaders We Had in the 20th Century". Scarecrow Pr ...

(1902–72) and Richard H. Shoemaker (1907–70) began to catalogue where Evans left off. This began a regional catalogue that evolved into a national catalogue called the National Union catalogue.

Presidents

In 1988, Ruth Mortimer, then of

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

, was elected president of the BSA, the first woman to take on the role. She served until 1992.

References

External links

BSA website

''Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America'' journal website
Organizations established in 1904 Organizations based in New York City Education in New York City Culture of New York City Learned societies of the United States History of books Bibliography 1904 establishments in New York (state) {{prof-assoc-stub

History of American Bibliographies

Presidents

See also

References

External links