Grolier Club. Committee on Small Exhibitions.

Founded 1884 January 23 by a group of seven New York City book collectors with the object, as stated in its constitution, "of literary study and promotion of the arts pertaining to the production of books." Exhibitions formed a part of the Club's program from the first the Club's 1902 constitution formally defined the duties of the Committee on Arrangements as "the preparation, supervision, and charge of exhibitions." In 1972 the name was changed to the Committee on Public Exhibitions. The idea of mounting small exhibitions goes back to 1950 when the Committee on Special Functions was established. One of its early programs was a series of small dinners held at the Club at which members discussed an agreed-upon topic of common interest. Each event was accompanied by a small exhibition on the topic. President Donald F. Hyde established a Committee on Small Exhibitions in 1962 as a standing committee of the Grolier Club. Its mandate is to arrange for and implement a series of small rotating exhibitions, generally drawn from the libraries of Club members and including material from the collections of new members and non-resident members. The Committee has also assisted with the mounting of some of the exhibitions sponsored by the Committee on Modern Fine Printing.