Allie McCormack, the original cataloger for Special Collections at the J. Willard Marriott Library, has been awarded the H.W. Wilson Foundation Research Award by the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) for a project investigating biblioclasm — the practice of cutting up books and manuscripts for sale, reuse or artistic repurposing.
National recognition for local special collections work
The award, announced in May, supports McCormack’s research project titled “Beyond Edge: Biblioclasm and the Broken Book Market in 20th Century North America.” The project examines how books and manuscripts were deconstructed and marketed as separate leaves or fragments, a practice that has created both challenges and research opportunities for libraries, collectors and scholars.
McCormack is also contributing a chapter to The Routledge Companion to Textual Scholarship, provisionally titled “De/Re-Constructed: Biblioclasm and the Remaking of Medieval Manuscripts.” According to the university, the projected release date for that volume is late 2027.
Why biblioclasm matters to researchers
Biblioclasm can separate pages and leaves that, when isolated, lose much of their contextual information. McCormack told The Daily Utah Chronicle that despite the apparent destruction, fragments can still yield significant historical evidence if properly studied and, increasingly, digitally recomposed.
“By digitally reconstructing [these pieces], we can recapture all of that information and learn a lot about individuals in the past; just ordinary people whose names are not passed down to us.”
She noted that handwriting differences, drawings and marginalia on fragments can reveal details about everyday life, beliefs and the period in which a manuscript was used. Those small clues, McCormack says, allow scholars to recover information otherwise lost when a volume is broken apart.
Practical and ethical tensions
The practice raises both practical and ethical questions for libraries and collectors. On one hand, the sale of individual leaves — sometimes by so-called foliophiles who specialize in cutting and selling book leaves — disperses material that might otherwise remain inaccessible. On the other hand, dispersal severs the contextual relationships that give manuscripts much of their scholarly value.
McCormack’s project explores that tension by tracing how fragments entered markets in the 20th century and by documenting efforts to reunite them digitally. Her approach emphasizes that fragments, even when separated physically, can be studied together through imaging and cataloging techniques that recover lost context.
Local collections and visibility
At the J. Willard Marriott Library, Special Collections staff manage an array of rare books and manuscript fragments. McCormack’s work draws attention to how those fragments are cataloged, preserved and presented to researchers and the public. It also underscores the role university libraries play in safeguarding cultural heritage while adapting to modern provenance and conservation questions.
- Award: H.W. Wilson Foundation Research Award (ARLIS/NA)
- Project: "Beyond Edge: Biblioclasm and the Broken Book Market in 20th Century North America"
- Related publication: Chapter in The Routledge Companion to Textual Scholarship; projected late 2027 release
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Recipient | Allie McCormack |
| Institution | J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Topic | Biblioclasm and broken book market, 20th-century North America |
| Awarding body | Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) |
Digital reconstruction as a research tool
McCormack emphasized the value of digital technologies in reassembling dispersed materials. Digital reconstruction can align fragments by script, dimensions, decoration and content to form virtual composites. Those reconstructions can restore context and create new opportunities for researchers to study provenance, transmission and use.
Such work can be time-consuming. Authentication of fragments requires close examination of ink, handwriting styles, pigment, and other physical characteristics. McCormack’s research documents those processes while assessing how the market dynamics of the 20th century encouraged the fragmentation and sale of manuscript leaves.
Implications for collecting and scholarship
The award and McCormack’s research join a larger conservation conversation about how institutions collect, describe and present fragmentary materials. For students, scholars and the public, the project highlights both the vulnerability of written heritage and the possibilities for recovering information about ordinary historical actors through careful study and modern tools.
As libraries continue to confront provenance questions and evolving standards for stewardship, projects like McCormack’s aim to balance respect for the integrity of original works with the reality that many items have already been dispersed. Her research seeks to turn that fragmentation into an opportunity for renewed study and public understanding.
Reporting from Salt Lake City.
