Meet our Staff: Head Librarian Tony Willis talks sharing the Oak Spring Garden Library Collection
OSGF
In the early 1980s, OSGF founder Bunny Mellon opened the doors of the Oak Spring Garden Library, a monument to her love of learning. And Head Librarian Tony Willis has been with it since the beginning.
In the nearly forty years he has worked at Oak Spring, Tony has become intimately acquainted with the thousands of precious books and objects carefully housed within the library’s stone walls. Yet no matter how many times he turns the pages of a painstakingly-illustrated first edition by Maria Sibylla Merian or John James Audubon, he still believes they have new things to teach him - and that as the library continues to expand its programming and digital collections, those books and objects will reveal more secrets as they are explored by students, artists, and researchers around the world.
In our latest “Meet our Staff” Q&A, we sat down with Tony to talk about the excitement and challenges of sharing the library’s treasures, as well as some of its big plans for the new year.
What brought you to the Oak Spring Garden Library?
By 1981, the vast majority of Mrs. Mellon’s collection had been moved into the Oak Spring Garden Library.
Tony: I began working here full time in July of 1980. In 1979 I graduated from Fauquier High school, and was working part time but really full time hours, and I was taking classes at Northern Virginia Community College . . . so, I worked 8 hours and then I would take off to school, and I did that 2-3 times a week. I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do, I was just working and going to school. This (library) building was really on its way, the ground was broken here in ‘76, and Mrs. Mellon hired a librarian, Dita Amory, in ‘78, and Dita had hired an assistant, (who) decided to get married and become a full time housewife . . . so I was working at the Brick House (Paul Mellon’s personal art gallery at Oak Spring) and going to school, and Mrs. Mellon caught word of that and here I am today. I met with Mrs. Mellon and she thought it would work out, and I've been here ever since.
Over all the years you’ve worked at the library, is there a project that you’re particularly proud of?
Tony: I think the move-in, and helping Dita get all the materials in here - that was really a challenge, and very interesting. Because of that very, very early hands-on approach, and being able to see all the manuscripts and see all the drawings and see how everything came in, it was like a little computer in my mind, so I was able to take all of that in. And when we put it somewhere, again in my brain I could store all of that. The bottom line, you were working for a family, a private estate, and when they wanted something, it was important to know where it was right away so you could pull it out and give it to them.
And I was younger, and I had this little bit of photographic memory - I could retain where a lot of things were kept, and where things were moved, and as time went on, it was not just books, but rugs, furniture, decorative objects, paintings, I mean everything. I had to keep track of it all.
As a librarian, Tony knows what it’s like to care for a vast collection of precious books and objects - which is why he says Wondertooneel der Nature (1706) by Levinus Vincent is one of his favorite books in the Oak Spring Garden Library’s natural history collection. The book catalogues the curiosity cabinet of Vincent, a wealthy dutch merchant, and gives instructions on how to care for it.
How has the library changed since it has transitioned from being part of a private estate to being part of a foundation?
Tony: It's more exposure - so we've had more and more visitors. The artists in residence are wonderful, we learn from them, they really keep you on your toes - you never know what you're going to be asked, and how you're going to have to take this collection and make it work with what they're interested in and what they're working on, so you're constantly on the go and you're constantly doing things.
And the fact it that we’re dealing more with the public now, so we've had to get used to that, and then the other thing too is we're asked to help more - with the show that we had had at the New York Botanical Garden (from September 2016-February 2017), for example, having more things here that were never, ever exhibited before, and putting that out there . . . so it's those sort of things.
“(Mrs. Mellon) also wanted people to be able to come here and not only have an educational experience, but an experience where they’re inspired, and where it just takes them to a whole other level.”
Was it important to Mrs. Mellon to share the library with the public?
Tony: Yes, so when Mr. and Mrs. Mellon were alive, they wanted it to remain for the most part private; this was their personal collection. But yes, their aspirations were that this be a research center that could help students and scholars down the road. (Mrs. Mellon) also wanted people to be able to come here and not only have an educational experience, but an experience where they're inspired, and where it just takes them to a whole other level. And people who come to Oak Spring, first they come here and think, “Oh, it's a wonderful place, the collections are the best quality,” but they don't realize how much, and they're so overwhelmed when they first get here - a lot of the artists in residence, when they come here they're kind of blown away. It's a place that really takes people by surprise. . . . but to us, that's such a wonderful thing, so we try to treat that in a very down to earth, very humble way - yes, here it is, but we're also here to help you through it, and to utilize it the way the Mellons wanted it to be done.
And again, back to the learning aspect of all of that, when you get all these people here, and you talk to them, and you show them a manuscript that you've presented a million times before - that's an exaggeration, but the fact is, they bring a new dimension to the table. They look at you and they tell you something, and you think, “wow, that's interesting, so I can use that for when the next person comes along and wants to do research and study that particular work.”
What are some of the current projects that you and the library staff are working on?
Tony: We're soon to have the Trompe L'oeil book published, and the body of the text is written by Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi; she's a retired professor from the University of Pisa who wrote An Oak Spring Flora and An Oak Spring Herbaria, and I helped with both of those publications. Lucia has written the text from an art historical perspective on Trompe L’oeil, gives you a little about the history of it across generations, but what she also discusses is the Mellons’ collection of Trompe L'oeils, and just how fascinating the genre was for Mr. and Mrs. Mellon.
The storage cabinets of OSGF’s formal garden greenhouse are lined with a commissioned Trompe L’oeil by French artist Fernand Renard. Among the gardening tools are replications of Bunny Mellon’s personal items, such as her gardening hat and letters. The Tromp L’oeil book Tony has been helping to write will be published in Spring 2021 - keep an eye on our website for more information!
And it's a fascinating genre - it fools the eye, and it has a lot of deep symbolism behind a particular picture. When you commission a Trompe L'oeil, like the Mellons did, the piece really tells a story about them, and about their interests, and you'll see from the Trompe L'oeils of Bunny and Paul Mellon, it will reveal that . . . so the book gives you a wonderful story. My contribution was two small biographical essays, one on Paul Mellon and one on Bunny Mellon. The book is going to be very beautifully illustrated, with lots of various important works on Trompe L'oeil that go back from Early Renaissance to the Modern Era, and the book is going to feature some different images of Mr. and Mrs. Mellon too. I'm really excited about it - it's been pretty laborious, a lot of work, but now there's light, and we're wrapping it up, and it will go to press soon.
Rory Mcewan, “Group of Allwood’s carnations.” From An Oak Spring Flora. The Rory McEwen exhibition the Oak Spring Garden Library is helping with is currently scheduled to open in early 2021. We will post more information on our website as it becomes available. You can read more about the artist here.
In addition to Trompe L’oeil, I've been helping with another exhibition on Rory McEwen, this botanical artist - Mrs. Mellon had purchased some of his watercolors, and then she donated two of them to the Whitehouse, to her good friend Mrs. Kennedy, and then when the library was completed in 1980, 81, they came back here . . . Mrs. Mellon thought he was really talented, the premiere 20th century botanical artist . . . it's going to be a really beautiful show, it's going to feature a lot of our books and drawings by old masters who influenced Rory McEwen, and it's going to travel for a year, so it'll be a pretty big venue. I've been helping with different logistics of the exhibition, and catalogue entries of our material that we're contributing, so that's been busy.
And in addition to that, we've had a lot of artists in residence and helping with their request, and we're trying to get our collection up online, so working out all of the bibliographical details, and just the technicalities of getting it uplifted, so it goes from one thing to another.
Can you talk a little more about the library’s digitization project?
Learn more about the library’s digitization project here.
The big project we’re working on now is getting the collection into OCLC (Online Computer Library Center,) where it can be even more accessible for students and scholars, so we've just hired (Database and Catalogue Specialist) Melissa Harris . . . I think what we're going to try to come up with is some sort of structure, or plan, as to how we should digitize everything - whether to do it by subject, whether we put more onto our website, whether we work more online exhibitions.
Down the road, because we're a member of the Council on Botanical Horticulture Libraries, I'd like to see this collection participate in whatever they do... that exposes us and it shows the world what we have, and in terms that can promote more scholarship and more study.
You’ve been working with these books for a long time - how does it make you feel to see them digitized?
Tony: For the most part, it's really exciting, and it's a great opportunity. We have to really take into consideration the quality and condition, and the integrity of the piece - there are some things that we might not be able to digitize right away because we have to get them properly conserved and cleaned, but for the most part it's fantastic, and it's really going to be beneficial. As technology is constantly evolving and changing, people are going to have more opportunities to view, to research, and to do general searches too, which is going to be very helpful.
You’ve seen the library through a lot of changes - what have you liked best about working here?
Tony: I like the fact that there's something everyday that you learn - it's a never-ending learning experience. And that's really fascinating to me. Along the way, I have had all this exposure to these books, these drawings, and working for the Mellons, working with very interesting people at times on different projects, helping students and scholars . . . I've had this very informal education, this training has really helped me in a lot of situations when you're dealing with very high-end, high-powered scholars and students. It's just really been a remarkable experience and journey, and I really feel that I'm very fortunate to have known Mr. and Mrs. Mellon and to have worked with them, and had to learn how they wanted things done, how they wanted to keep track of their collection. It's been a very rewarding experience.
Want to learn more about the Oak Spring Garden Library? Click here to visit the library’s website. You can also read recent blogposts about the library’s 2020 researchers in residence and about our upcoming course on artists-naturalists Mark Catesby and Maria Sibylla Merian (while applications for that particular course have closed, we will announce future courses on our opportunities page.)