Phil Rees and Anna Dvorak; Margaret Knoerr was unable to attend

On Saturday, November 6, 1999 during the 25th Anniversary celebration dinner at Toulouse in Atlanta, Georgia, the Southeast Chapter of the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/SE) honored Anna Dvorak, Margaret Knoerr, and Phil Rees with lifetime membership. The following biographies were provided by members of ARLIS/SE to honor their colleagues and friends and were read at the celebration dinner.

Anna Dvorak arrived with her family from Czechoslovakia in Durham, North Carolina at the age of 40. Having had a successful career as a graphic artist in Prague and without knowing very much English, Anna was faced with the dilemma of what to do in this new country. Within seven years, not only did she complete a Master’s Degree in Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but also a Ph.D. in Art History, writing her dissertation on the Czech artist, Alphonse Mucha. Subsequently, Anna was appointed Head Librarian of the Art Reference Library at the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA). For almost twenty years Anna continued developing a wonderful research library on a very limited budget.

The Art Reference Library grew out of the private book collection of Dr. Wilhelm Valentiner, the first director at the NCMA. Reflecting his interest, the library had a strong focus in German Expressionism and Dutch and Flemish painting. Anna expanded the holdings in the library with contemporary scholarly monographs, exhibition catalogues, catalogue raisonnées, as well as painstakingly searching through out-of-print catalogues to fill in gaps in particular subject areas. The Library has successfully supported the scholarship of the curators and has become a viable art reference resource for the Triangle Area. Under Anna’s tenure, the public--from the art aesthete to art dealers to students from neighboring universities, was encouraged to use the library as well.

When Anna was hired, she was the first Ph.D. on staff and initially the one to research and write up proposals and descriptions of new acquisitions. Throughout the years Anna was also involved in planning and curating exhibitions, such as the exhibition of the Czech photographer Josef Sudek, a travelling exhibition of Czech posters shown in a downtown Raleigh art gallery and others. As a premier scholar of Alphonse Mucha, Anna was co-author of the catalogue Alphonse Mucha: The Spirit of Art Nouveau which accompanied the exhibition organized by the Art Services International, which has had many venues in museums all over the country. The Alphonse Mucha show at the North Carolina Museum of Art was to that date the best attended show at the NCMA. To this day, Anna fields questions on Mucha from all over the world.

As a librarian, Anna has also been a member of professional organizations. In addition to being a member of ARLIS/NA, she also became a member of the chapter group ARLIS/SE. Going to chapter meetings, meeting new colleagues (many who became lifelong friends), seeing new cities, visiting different museums were all factors, which made membership so valuable. Of course Anna also participated in national ARLIS conferences, but attending chapter meetings holds lots of special memories. It is with great pleasure that we can honor Anna with a Chapter Lifetime membership during our Twenty-Fifth Anniversary.

Margaret laughs when she describes her entry into art librarianship. "I needed to bring home a paycheck," she says. Recently widowed, with grown children, Margaret completed a degree in library science at UNC-Chapel Hill, the town where she lived. But employment found her at the rival institution down the road, Duke University, where she signed on as head of reference for the Woman’s College Library. It was 1970 and the university had not fully conceded that men and women could study together. Within two years, all that had changed. By 1972 the colleges merged. Although the East Campus had lost its distinction as the "Woman’s College," the library, now called the East Campus Library, retained its designation as the primarly location of art books. Margaret’s duties increasingly involved art as the library evolved. Although the art bibliographer at the time, Edith Hassold, attended the annual conference at the Society level, she was uninterested in the developing local chapter. Margaret eagerly joined the new chapter, then called the ARLIS/Georgia. From that point on, Duke’s involvement in the various branches of ARLIS was shared between Margaret and Edith.

Margaret enjoyed her southern colleagues and developed a strong rapport. At the seventh annual meeting in 1981 she was voted vice-president/president elect. Although unsure of how, exactly to run an annual meeting, Phil Rees of UNC offered to assist her. The result was the largest annual meeting to that date, with appearances by both the ARLIS/NA president and the regional representative for the East (there was no Southeast Region yet). Members shuttled between three institutions (National Humanities Center was the third), and, if not before, the gastronomic tradition took solid root.

Over the years, general recollections give way to the particular. Marcia Duncan’s famous still stands out in her mind as the highlight of the 1980s (shouldn’t the dip recipe be part of our archives, she wondered). The Greenville, SC/Bob Jones University conference [1980] hosted by Steve Patrick was memorable. Upon further reflection, chapter meetings at St. Augustine [1986], the second New Orleans [1989] and first Sarasota [1985] also stood out in her mind. Margaret is proud of the Survey of Southeastern Art Libraries, a major accomplishment of /SE in her mind.

After her retirement in 1990, Mrs Knoerr traveled extensively before settling down to life without ARLIS. A stalwart rank-and-file ARLIS/SE member, she credits the chapter with much of her success and happiness in art librarianship.

EDUCATION:
Denison University, BA, 1954. Major: Art
Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve), MS in LS, 1955.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, MA in Art History, 1979.

EMPLOYMENT:
Reference Librarian, Union College Library 1955-58
Librarian, Museum of the City of New York, 1959-62
Readers Services Librarian, Sarah Lawrence College, 1962-68
Art Librarian, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill 1968-1998

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:
Chair of the ARLIS/SE chapter 1988
South Regional Representative, ARLIS/NA Executive Board 1991-1993
Chair, ARLIS/NA Nominating Committee, 1995

Phil was instrumental in many library projects, including the designing of a new library facility and the University of North Carolina. Since retiring on January 1, 1999, Phil has enjoyed gardening, picking blueberries, traveling with his wife Peg (who retired August 1), Elderhosteling, and generally enjoying life.

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This page was created by Roberto C. Ferrari on 14 March 2000.