Special collection at WSU library highlights women in the US

‘Just looking at the list can give you an idea of what’s being written about women in the United States each year — and the huge variety. Or, just seeing a book title might send you on a perfectly satisfying trek through the internet, learning about something you never even knew was out there. ’ Carol Loranger Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Wright State

Those associated with Wright State University or the Dayton Literary Peace Prize (DLPP) may know Carol Loranger. She’s the Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Wright State, where she’s worked since 1993, and she serves on both the associate board of the DLPP and on the selection committee for the DLPP’s Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award.

What you might not know about Loranger is that in 2010, she established The Loretta M. Schaechterle Fund in memory of her mother to purchase books about women in the United States for Wright State’s Dunbar Library.

Loranger said that the library “has long enabled donors to establish book funds.”

She adds that hers is one of 12 current book funds. Each year, about 20 books are added to the collection.

The list of books in the collection and more information may be found here: https://www.libraries.wright.edu/give/ schaechterle

“Once I had the idea back in 2009, I worked with the library to design the book plate and to define the parameters of the collection so that the librarian who would do the annual selection of books to purchase on the fund could make good choices. The first purchase on the fund was made in 2010, so there are now a decade’s worth of books,” Loranger said. “We’ve been fortunate that the three talented reference librarians who have handled the collection over the years have made such discerning choices. Currently Amanda Shannon, the library’s social sciences reference librarian is making the purchases on the fund. And every year she comes up with a varied and exciting collection. I personally fund the majority of the fund as part of my annual pledge to the Campus Scholarship and Innovation Campaign. Some siblings and other interested people donate regularly or occasionally.”

Current Wright State employees, students, and medical residents may borrow from the library, as may retirees, Friends of the Library and Gold level Alumni. Others can borrow via libraries with reciprocal borrowing privileges and Ohio Link.

“Just looking at the list can give you an idea of what’s being written about women in the United States each year — and the huge variety,” Loranger said. “Or, just seeing a book title might send you on a perfectly satisfying trek through the internet, learning about something you never even knew was out there. The lesson I drew from my mother years ago is that if you really want to read something, you’ll be able to find a way.”

Her mother also inspired and encouraged Loranger and her siblings as readers.

“I remember my mother regularly driving my sister, brother, and me to the library when we were quite small and was always willing to buy us an inexpensive book at the PX or drugstore if we asked — Nancy Drew, Black Beauty, comic books, that sort of thing. If we wanted to read, she wanted to make that possible. She herself didn’t seem to read anything but the newspaper when we were little — I later learned that she had given up reading when we [were] small because she would get so immersed in a book that she feared she would neglect us. Later, around 1980 when all of us were out of the house she started reading again, mostly non-fiction, and didn’t stop again until her final illness in 1998. She preferred non-fiction, and liked to read about the lives of interesting women: ‘Angela’s Ashes,’ or memoirs of Beryl Marhkam or Isabella Bird. That sort of thing,” Loranger said. “She herself was part of that generation of women that kept the country going while men were off fighting in the second world war. She was an executive secretary at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver until she married my father and, as so many of her generation did, gave up her career and autonomy to be a wife and mother.”

As for the fund and books in her mother’s name, Loranger said that, “The first goal was to honor my mother and thank her for making me a reader, and to pay that forward by making more books available to people who might want to read them. I’m an academic, so an academic library collection made the most sense to me. Choosing to focus the collection on books about women in the United States was a way to ensure that the books in the collection might be something she would have wanted to read herself and maybe even occasionally be about women of her generation. By making it about ‘women in the United States’ rather than ‘American women’ I wanted to encourage the inclusion of books about any women who touched foot on these shores, whether citizens or not, whether legal or not, or whether they arrived willingly or not.”

For more information, visit https://www.libraries.wright.edu/give/.

Upcoming literary events

■ Monday, March 1, 6 p.m. — The Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton’s Cultural Book and Arts Festival, in partnership with Hadassah, Dayton Chapter, presents an online program with Anna Solomon about her book, “The Book of V.” Learn more and register at https://jewishdayton.org/ program/cultural-arts-andbook-series/.

■ Wednesday, March 3, 6:30-8 p.m. — Word’s Worth Writing Connections (www.wordsworthdayton.com) presents “Edit Your Own Work,” led by author, editor and writing instructor Christina Consolino. This online class is for writers of nonfiction, fiction, or technical materials. Visit the website for more information and to register.

Sharon Short writes historical mysteries under the pen name Jess Montgomery (www. jessmontgomeryauthor. com). Send her column ideas, book club news, or literary events at sharonshort1983@ gmail.com.