User:15/Articles/Vassar Book Sale

First sale in 1949 (A)

In the first 25 years, low-key venture (A)

Books sorted and stored in the basement of Dorothy Vandegrift Lee's home (nn) (A)

First sale at St. John's Parish Hall (A)

Raised 510 (not k) (A)

Was also meant to be a "service to the community", recycling books (A)

Start of a sale would usually be rough/people running around and trying to get sought-after books (A)

Many federal workers were customers (A)

Before 1986, sales took place in new but unoccupied buildings, later made impossible due to changes in property tax law (A)

Then sales in the Mellon Auditorium (Federal Triangle), but didn't work anymore after a renovation (A)

1998 Sale at Maret School in Cleveland Park, but bad location (no underground station or much parking nearby) made it difficult (A)

1998: 83k in income, 13k after expenses (A)

Ended on 28 April 1999, 51st annual Vassar Book sale (A)

Started at 10am (A)

Hoped to raise 120k, 40-50k after expenses (A)

WaPo predicted thousands of people, more than 100k books sold and tens of thousands of dollars raised for scholarships (A)

WaPo: result of "revolution in women's employment and its own success" (A)

Barbara Dunn worked at book sale for 20 years, twenty hours per week, graduated from vassar in 1940 (A)

Issues: No longer unique, according to Alix Myserson (real estate agent) ('71) (A)

Bigger issue: Lack of volunteers because of women having full-time jobs and managing family (A)

Myserson: most women are in "their sixties, seventies and eighties" (A)

20 years ago, 300 local alumnae could be recruited for the actual sale (A)

Only 150 were mustered in 1999 (A)

Julia Cuniberti, freelance commercial artist ('44): young alumni working intensive jobs, hard to take time off. Fewer volunteers now (A)

Put into wider context ("Bowling alone" etc)

--https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1999/04/28/the-last-chapter-after-50-years-vassar-ends-its-famed-book-sale/3575cab8-db62-404c-be09-bb6098fb3ff4/ (A)

https://www.nytimes.com/1962/05/10/archives/book-sale-to-help-vassar.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1964/04/26/archives/book-sale-to-assist-vassar-clubs-fund.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/13/archives/westchester-weekly-vassar-in-20th-edition-of-its-book-fair.html

https://yourwildlife.org/2016/07/a-letter-to-the-new-students-of-vassar/

https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/09/archives/alumnae-aid-vassar-book-sale.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/20/nyregion/the-odd-and-the-usual-at-the-vassar-book-sale.html

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/p/putnam-alone.html

https://newspaperarchives.vassar.edu/?a=d&d=vq19651001-01.2.17&e=---en-20--1--txt-txIN

https://newspaperarchives.vassar.edu/?a=d&d=vq19620201-01.2.14&e=---en-20--1--txt-txIN

https://newspaperarchives.vassar.edu/cgi-bin/vassar?a=d&d=vq19880901-01.2.22&e=---en-20--1--txt-txIN

https://artsfuse.org/89984/fuse-news-the-lenox-librarys-grand-book-sale-bargains-in-the-berkshires/

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GR7kwnfCPC0C&pg=PA61&lpg=PA61&dq=%22vassar+book+sale%22&source=bl&ots=689dMbESgj&sig=ACfU3U036J8Po7i95gtxqM8dhYYQYalkPA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi7k43e0OvzAhUKqBQKHWRBCG8Q6AF6BAgCEAM#v=onepage&q=%22vassar%20book%20sale%22&f=false

https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/14907888/Charlotte-Anne-Seward

https://obits.lohud.com/us/obituaries/lohud/name/ruth-cilley-obituary?pid=149048913

https://www.vassar.edu/vq/issues/2013/01/vassar-today/one-for-the-books.html