John Bidwell, a notable book arts historian and librarian, will present "Good Cop, Bad Cop: Matisse and His Publishers," focusing on the collaborative nature of making books. Bidwell is currently Astor Curator of Printed Books and Bindings at The Morgan Library and Museum in New York City. One of his abiding interests, on which he has written extensively, is the history of papermaking. Bidwell also curated an important exhibition on Matisse at the Morgan Library in 2015: Graphic Passion: Matisse and the Book Arts. Bidwell has worked at Williams College, the Rochester (New York) Institute of Technology, and the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library in Los Angeles. While curator of graphic arts at Princeton University in the 1990s, Bidwell became familiar with the illustrated books of Enid Mark.

Books featured from Nancy Bloch's recent donation of almost 200 artist books, and curated by Emily Hernandez, class of 2017 as part of her senior capstone project. Nancy Katcher Bloch (class of 1952) donated her artist book collection to the Mortimer Rare Book Room in the fall of 2016, in memory of her daughter Amy Rose Bloch, class of 1978. The collection adds to Smith's already extensive holdings of artist books, both limited edition and unique items, featuring fine printing, illustration, calligraphy, and more.

Beginning in Spring 2016, anyone interested in the psychology of women’s activism will be able to take part in a free massive open online course (or MOOC) offered by Smith.
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