Whatever else you might say about Caroline Schimmel, she’s never dull. In the world of rare books, often dominated by older gents who often seem to forget that women exist, she definitely holds her own.
Schimmel is best known for her collection focused on Women in the American Wilderness now numbering about 40,000 items. This is a project she started in the 1970s and it has grown exponentially since then. It covers not only books but other fields including photos, art, letters, artifacts involving women in the Americas and the polar regions. It’s a big subject and it is endlessly fascinating. And what exactly is “wilderness?” Her own definition has the ring of truth: “Fifty yards from a flush toilet.” As for her collecting philosophy, “I want history to be fun and to include women.”
Half of this material is still in her own hands, but all of it is destined for her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania (Class of ‘67) in Philadelphia where it is one of the highlights of the Kislak Rare Books Collection. A 2017-18 exhibit catalog “OK I’ll Do It Myself,” featuring hand picked selections with her brief but informative notes is well worth reading. https://www.rarebookhub.com/uploads/article_pdf/upload_file/101/schimmel_OK_Penn_edition.pdf
As an excerpt from the introduction observed, “(Schimmel) continues to seek and document known and unknown intrepid women, both in fact and fiction and reminds us that ‘anonymous’ is most likely a woman. The 145 books, photographs, manuscripts, and memorabilia in the exhibit, by 101 women and one man and dating from 1682 to 2015, reflect the sweep of women's experiences in the American wilderness.” The materials range from Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium (1705), Maria Sibylla Merian's hand-printed and hand-colored copy of her monumental study of flora and fauna of Surinam, to sharpshooter and entertainer Annie Oakley's travel trunk and gloves……”
The Schimmel resume is interesting and varied. It includes a Master’s degree in Rare Books from Columbia University, received in 1977 while working full time at the Limited Editions Club. It’s an academic credential she acknowledged she didn’t use, but exposed her to “the good and bad sides of the field.”
Her career also included a stint at Parke Bernet in New York where she was (at 23) the editor in chief from 1968 to 1970 for among other things volumes three through seven of the famous Streeter sale of Americana, (officially known as The Celebrated Collection of Americana Formed by the Late Thomas Winthrop Streeter, Morristown, New Jersey: Sold by Order of the Trustees.)
That collection she noted in an August phone interview, “had exactly five titles by women. I bought one.” She went on to become executive secretary of the American Bibliographical Society, a post she held until 1981. She was also president of Guild of Book Workers.
“In the beginning,” she recalled, “I was clueless on value,” but that certainly is no longer the case. Now 82, she lives in Manhattan, is the widow of noted bookman Stuart Barr Schimmel and the former wife of John C. Hover II, who she tends to refer to as “my starter husband.”
Rare Book Hub is certainly not the first to notice that she is an original.
“Schimmel is a hoot,” wrote Devon Eastland of Swann Auction Galleries in a 2021 interview, “but I’m not exposing any deep, dark secrets here….. She has worked around books at every level, as a cataloger, editor, in book collecting societies, scholarly circles, and most prominently as a collector and buyer of rare books. So, the fact that she peppers conversation with phrases like…. “which was why I got fired,” will come as no surprise to anyone who’s had the pleasure of meeting her.”
As a collector Schimmel came up the old way: reading the AB (Antiquarian Bookman), a long running (but now defunct) weekly magazine for out-of-print and antiquarian dealers. She began by sending notes to all the Americana advertisers alerting them to her interests in women’s history.
She credits much of her success in building a remarkable collection to personal relationships cultivated over years with a network of book dealers, and her own attitude, which she sums up as, “I tried to be nice.”.... “Curiosity and my acquaintance with some very kind and equally excited book dealers like Dorothy Sloan (Texas dealer and auctioneer) led me down that endless, joyous rabbit hole.”
Similarly, for years when she lived in Greenwich, Connecticut she brought homemade chocolate chip cookies to the book and ephemera fairs, and later upped the ante with margaritas. The same kind of attitude comes across when she discusses pioneering women Libby Riddles and Susan Butcher who won Alaska’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, “I liked them because they were nice to their dogs.”
Caroline Schimmel not only knows her books, she is also privy to a lot of delicious insider gossip: Would you like to know which noted antiquarian dealer was nicknamed “hands” and was widely known as a letcher? Or which admired authority in the world of bibliography, a gentleman who was once her boss, affected a cape and monocle and was a “pr**k” in real life?”
We’ll never tell, but Caroline will. That and a whole lot more.
According to Schimmel, although her late husband was supportive of her collecting efforts, the money to fund it came from early and fortunate 1970s investments in the stock market. “I had a cat named Genie. I bought several stocks whose names started with ‘Gene.’” Decades later she also received residual income from inherited real estate, which she commented ruefully, “is about to decline steeply.”
Asked about the future she didn’t have much to say on where the next generation would come from or what their tastes might be. Nor did she offer advice to those who might want to follow in her footsteps, commenting, “Every generation has its own way of expressing curiosity,” and recommending “mentorship” as a way to help those new to the field grow.
And,
oh yes, the real secret to the magic Schimmel friendship chocolate chip cookies is to “triple the brown sugar.”
Reach her at: harryandzora@gmail.com
Read more about Caroline Schimmel:
Devon Eastland of Swann Galleries July 2021 interview https://www.swanngalleries.com/news/books/fine-books/early-printed-books/2021/07/devon-eastland-on-caroline-schimmel-the-challenges-of-creating-diverse-collections-driven-by-women/
Introductory note to the exhibit at DeGolyer Library at SMU, Dallas https://degolyer.omeka.net/exhibits/show/schimmel/introduction
Penn Libraries News interview by Amanda Alexander, May 2022
https://www.library.upenn.edu/news/more-explore-women-american
