The University of Vermont's Center for Research on Vermont and Silver Special Collections Library has announced the upcoming release of author J. Kevin Graffagnino's "Vermontiana: An Annotated Checklist, 1764-1899," (Hardcover, 299 pages, University of Vermont, 2024) a comprehensive illustrated catalogue and history of 154 Vermont-related print collectibles.
Graffagnino, the former UVM professor, director of the Vermont Historical Society and the author of 25 books, including the biography of UVM founder Ira Allen, recently had a chance to sit down with longtime Vermont cultural journalist and critic Telly Halkias to discuss the book, which he described as taking "five months of writing and five decades of research."
Q: Why this book, and why now?
A: I needed a project as I was wrapping up the Ira Allen biography, and an old friend said he'd like to collect early Vermontiana if I'd help him find his way. There should be some kind of guide for beginners, I thought, and I realized I might be the only one left who could write it. Everyone I learned from when I started half a century ago has passed on, and too many of my Vermont contemporaries have in recent years as well; thus the approaching end of my seventh decade gave me a sense of "do it now" urgency.
Q: Who is the target audience for this book?
A: Anyone interested in Vermont history and the source materials for studying it. It certainly won't hurt for prospective readers to have a healthy antiquarian collecting instinct, but I don't think it's essential. Each of the items in this book is a window on some aspect of early Vermont history.
Q: Is this book intended more as a reference work, a cover-to-cover read, or both?
A: For anyone with experience studying or collecting Vermont history, this should be a useful reference for information on printed Green Mountain collectibles and their place in Vermont's historical tapestry. For the rest of those who appreciate the importance of history to the Vermont ethos, I hope this will be more of an "I didn't know that," cover-to-cover read full of interesting information on Vermont's past and perhaps some contagious enthusiasm or inspiration for collecting the original sources on our state's heritage. That said, I think this will be a book that many readers, whether experienced pros or uninitiated beginners, will dip into at varying times and places as their interests dictate, rather than a volume they will read cover to cover like a narrative history.
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Q: You worked outside of Vermont in the field of public history for 25 years. Describe the differences and similarities of your Vermont work when compared with the broader scope of Americana?
A: It was quite interesting for me to learn as I worked in Wisconsin, Kentucky, Michigan and on the national stage that every state has its share of obsessive, tunnel-vision "anything about our state" collectors, curators, dealers, institutional collections and bibliographers. Individually, those people have been and remain the building blocks for great collections and excellent scholarship in their states. At the national level, the field of antiquarian Americana is much broader, of course, but the impulses and the dedication of its practitioners have been similar to those qualities of their Vermont counterparts.
Q: What are some of the logistical considerations of writing and producing a volume that is so impressive just to physically hold, let alone read?
A: I think the first consideration in deciding to do a book like this is acceptance of the triple realities that no rational publisher will want to issue it, that it's going to be relatively expensive to do it right, and that it's going to lose money for whoever finances it. As my wife Leslie likes to point out, the business plan on this venture was not first-rate. But the goal was a contribution to the Vermontiana field and a legacy volume that will long outlive all my other books on any topic.
Q: Explain the benefits of combining work and passion.
A: I've always felt tremendously fortunate to have found a way to make a living doing work I regarded as a calling rather than a job or a career. I could have gone into law, followed the family tradition of Wall Street investment or chosen any number of fields far more lucrative than working with antiquarian books, but I can't imagine any kind of employment that would have suited me better than the path I chose. I read somewhere once that the key to professional happiness is to "figure out what you'd do for free and find someone who will pay you to do it." In my case, that was working with antiquarian Vermontiana and Americana, and that a succession of institutional employers paid me to do it made for a happy, gratifying career.
Q: What do you hope readers of this book will walk away with?
A: I know that this is a book with a small pool of prospective readers. For Vermonters who do like history or feel the urge to collect "old stuff," I hope this book will be interesting and inspirational. The kinds of items in this book are bright spotlights on our state's past; most are available at a fraction of the prices paid for fine paintings, classic cars and antique furniture, and serving as stewards of them during our lifetimes constitutes an important contribution to the preservation of Vermont's state and local heritage. I also hope this book has some power to educate and inspire young Vermonters to take up the Vermontiana torch from my generation and carry it forward.