“…I’ll be rich famous and happy before I die…”
“I will do something, by and by. Don’t care what, teach, sew, act, write, anything to help the family; and I’ll be rich and famous and happy before I die, see if I won’t.”
Louisa May Alcott, for all her fame and success shared the same dreams that most people have. She wanted to help her family, she wanted to control her work, and she thought it would be nice to be famous. Of course she didn’t have to worry about celebrity stalking bloggers and the paparazzi. Alcott wasn’t alone in writing her way from modest circumstances to success. Many famous writers faced hard times or overcame significant challenges in their lives. As interesting as many novels are, the stories behind their creation, the stories of their authors can be even more interesting.
The L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library has organized in exhibtion of manuscripts, letters, and drawings by two dozen succesful writers. Alcott’s work in near Orson Scott Cards and just around the corner from Charles Dickens. The exhibtion will run through June, so you have a little time to see it and begin your exploration of the lives of authors. After the exhibition closes and the books and letters are returned to their places in the secure stacks behind locked doors you will still be albe to learn more about these authors thanks to the online version of the exhibition. Click here to learn more.
Meanwhile, if you are interested in doing something, teach, sew, act, write, as Alcott did, or if you are thinking of becoming an engineer, an attorney, a doctor, or an accountant, we can help you with that as well. The library is here to support you. Tell us what you need to learn and we can provide access to materials from our own collection, or we will obtain them from another library. If you are interested in a topic but you don’t kn0w where to start learning, we can help with that as well. Just walk up to any help desk in the library and say “I need to learn more about (insert toipic here).” And we will help you find an expert librarian or an information system that supports the topic you are interested in. That is what we are here for.