A retiring history professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder has joined with colleagues and undergraduate students in the history department to collect 1,200 books to be donated to the University of New Orleans library, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Katina.
On Thursday, June 1, Distinguished Professor Marjorie McIntosh and other faculty members and students will pack boxes of donated books between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. in room 333 of the Hellems Arts and Sciences Building on the CU-Boulder campus. Norlin Library is providing boxes for the books and will handle shipping, to be paid by the history department out of a gift account.
About 800 of the books are from McIntosh, whose teaching career specialized in the study of British history between 1300 and 1660 and who officially retires at the end of August. She has taught at CU-Boulder since 1978 and is one of only 26 CU-Boulder professors to currently hold the title of distinguished professor.
Most of the donated books will be useful to professors and students interested in European and U.S. history, and a few are rare 19th century and early 20th century volumes, McIntosh said. The University of New Orleans is making a special bookplate for each volume that will say "Gift of the History Department at the University of Colorado at Boulder in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina 2005."
McIntosh is an elected fellow of the Royal Historical Society in England and has received numerous awards for her teaching, scholarship and service. In retirement, she will continue to do research on English history and the history of African women in the modern era.
"For me as a teacher and scholar, it is extremely satisfying to know that the books I have acquired over the past 40 years will go to a new home where they will continue to get good use," she said. "For the University of Colorado at Boulder, it is rewarding to be able to help a sister institution that was so disastrously affected by Hurricane Katrina."
For more information contact McIntosh at (303) 443-5382 or mcintosh@colorado.edu, or Professor Guenter Bischof, chair of the University of New Orleans history department, at (985) 693-6849. Also contact Peter Caughey in the CU-Boulder Office of News Services at (303) 492-4007 or caughey@colorado.edu.