Objects of Substance
The Library Bookplate
One way of revealing pride in any library collection is the choice and use of individual bookplates, specially designed to proclaim that a book is a part of a particular library collection.
BGGS instigated a competition to design a bookplate for the Beanland Memorial Library, and the winning entry was submitted by Kathleen O’Neill (1931), who became one of the School’s most celebrated alumnae artists. The winning entry was published in the June 1933 School Magazine.
This skilful and subtly meaningful drawing includes the School logo, and name of the library. It also references women, books and the power of reading. The two female characters reveal different aspects of the written word: one holds a parchment that seems to assert the official power of words and language; the second sits obviously enraptured by the power of the story she is reading. She turns from the viewer engrossed in a private world.
These seemingly small archival items—this one just a small piece of paper with a pen and ink drawing—are actually significant ephemera, allowing insight into what this institution holds dear: learning; imagination; and lasting connections to the School.