Guild of Book Workers Newsletter
Number 114
October 1997

News of GBW Members

Laura K. [Polly] Lada-Mocarski (1902 - 1997)

We report with deep regret the death of Polly Lada-Mocarski on Friday, September 5, 1997. Polly was President of the Guild of Book Workers from 1954 through 1956. She has been a member of the Guild since 1933, and was made an Honorary Member in 1992. Mindell Dubansky's short biography of Polly appeared in the Guild of Book Workers Newsletter, No. 80, February 1992; her Obituary of Polly will appear in the next issue of the Newsletter.

George Cooke's Profile, "Polly Lada-Mocarski: Visionary Conservator", appeared in Conservation Administration News (CAN), No. 40, January 1990.

Richard Minsky, in his notice on the Internet, said, "Polly has provided so many introductions for bookbinders to important situations through the years that it is impossible to list them all. She was a wonderful person, full of life, intelligence and great perception. In every way she was an inspiration, elegant at all times."


Barbara Luther Cash (1930 - 1997)

Barbara Luther Cash, wife of George Cash of New Haven, CT and Sweden, ME, departed this material world on 4 June 1997 at home in Sweden, Maine after a short illness. Mrs. Cash, daughter of Ennis D. and Ruth Haig Luther, was born in 1930 in Hamden, Connecticut and attended public schools there. She was a B.A. graduate of Skidmore College and received B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees from Yale University in Graphic Arts. She taught at the Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven and was a Professor of Art at Quinnipiac College and Bridgeport University during the 1970's. In 1979 she established the Ives Street Press in Mt. Carmel, CT to design, print, bind and publish limited-edition books which continued after her move to Maine in 1987. Her work has been exhibited at the American Institute of Graphic Arts in New York, the University of Wisconsin and the New York Public Library. Her work is currently on exhibition as a part of the "PERSPECTIVES" show at the Portland Museum in Maine. Her books are in the special collections of the San Francisco and New York Public Libraries, the Library of Congress and the Libraries of Harvard and Yale Universities.

Barbara Cash was married to George Cash in July of 1954 in New Haven, Ct. She is survived by her husband, two sons and a daughter. A Memorial Service will be held later this summer in Sweden, Me. Memorial gifts may be made to the Community Church of Sweden, ME 04040, or the First Church of Christian Science, Fryeburg, ME 04037.

Barbara Cash has been a member of the Guild of Book Workers for more than ten years. Her husband, George Cash, will continue the Ives Street Press under his name.


Profiles, Profiles

Pamela Spitzmueller is the subject of a profile and interview written by Hilary Gardner which appears in Counter, No. 6, Spring 1997, the publication of the University of Iowa Center for the Book. She discusses the path that led her to her present position as head of the Conservation Department for the University of Iowa Libraries, the changes she sees in the fields of conservation and artists' books, and her goals for the UI Center for the Book.

Don Etherington is the subject of a profile which appears in The Title Page, No. 10, 1997, a publication of Information Conservation, Inc. (ICI) in North Carolina. Besides a biography of Don, several other articles are included in the issue on the work done at the Etherington Conservation Center (ECC), a branch of ICI. Work on various books and documents performed at the Center is described by Don and staff members Harry Campbell, Brenda Parsons, Lisa Clark, Jake Benson, Matt Johnson and Leslie Crowe.


Members' Work on Exhibition

At Indiana University in Indianapolis, UNBOUND: Art in Bookform/Book as Artform, work by Jim Canary, Bill Drendel, Barbara Lazarus Metz and others will be shown until November 15.

At the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, 15 Visions of Book Art will be on view at the time of the GBW Seminar and until January 4, 1998. It includes work by William Drendel, Martha Little, Pam Spitzmueller and others.

Robin Ami Silverberg's work was shown, along with that of Andràs Borocz and Louise McCagg, in August and September in A View from New York/Une Percée: New Yorkaise at the Musé Chafaud, Percé, Quebec.

Hedi Kyle and Denise Carbone's exhibition Book Art & Conservation: A Visible Link was on view in the Rosenwald Gallery in the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library of the University of Pennsylvania from July 3 to October 10. It was sponsored by the Friends of the Library.


Other News

Jan and Jarmila Sobota say, "After having fun in the States for 13 years, we have moved back to our country. We will be visiting often, but our permanent address now is: Jan and Jarmila Sobota , Radnicni 1, 357 33 Loket, Czech Republic. Ph: 168/684 154; e-mail: sobota@mbox.vol.cz".

Nancy Schrock is now chief collections conservator at Harvard College Library.