The bookplate collection is arranged in two segments. One is arranged alphabetically by the last name of the owner; the other collection, institutional plates, is arranged alphabetically by the name of the city in which the institution is located. The collection was started by the Reverend Herbert E. Lombard in 1915, and substantial acquisitions occurred within the following decade. Additions to the collection are made quite frequently. When a book with a new bookplate is acquired, a photocopy is made and inserted into the collection with the provenance of the bookplate. When the Society acquires duplicate volumes, any bookplates are lifted from the duplicate volume and added to the collection. There is no index to the collection by designer, engraver, or printer, although Charles Dexter Allen's American Bookplates (New York and London, 1894) does have a listing of eighteenth-century bookplates that are signed by the engraver. There is an annotated copy of this study housed with the collection of bookplate literature. An article on the collection by Georgia B. Barnhill appeared in the July 1989 issue of Bookplates in the News, a publication of the American Society of Bookplate Designers and Collectors.
Access
An inventory, including location, dates, notes, of the personal bookplates collection is available as an Excel sheet. The institutional name list is in process.