CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In 1989, when Gilbert Witte started working full-time at the University of Illinois Library, he discovered that his new job had a strange effect on his leisure time: After spending eight hours surrounded by books, the last thing he wanted to do at home was read. Consequently, Witte took up a hobby – he taught himself to crochet.
It didn’t take long for Witte’s avocation and vocation to merge. As he searched for crochet patterns and manuals, his cataloging expertise kicked in, leading him to search for rare needlework publications. At some point, he became determined to acquire everything ever published by Coats & Clark, and then moved on to other publishers, such as Bucilla, McCalls and Leisure Arts. Over the next couple of decades, Witte systematically amassed thousands of crochet patterns, leaflets, books, magazines and ephemera.
By 2012, he resolved to give his collection to a library. “It had become a little overwhelming,” he said. But his search for a library already housing needlecraft tomes proved futile. “I could not find a library or museum or anybody in the country who had a collection like this,” Witte said. “That’s when I decided to give it to the university.”
An exhibition titled “Knot Forgotten: The Tennyson Library of Crochet and Related Arts at Illinois,” featuring Witte’s collection, will open July 1 (Tuesday) on the first floor of the Library Building in the north/south corridor and in the library’s Marshall Gallery. On July 18 (Friday), a “Crochet Extravaganza” will include a crochet class for children ages 8 and older from 10 to 11 a.m., another class for adults from 2 to 3 p.m., and a reception and “ugly sweater contest” from 3 to 5 p.m., all in the Marshall Gallery. The “Daughters of Pyrrha” statues outside the library’s east entrance will be dressed in crochet attire during July.
Named after Witte’s great-grandmother, Flora Emily Tennyson, the collection contains about 7,000 items, dating as far back as 1844. Most items originated in the United States, but the collection includes pieces from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
Valerie Hotchkiss, the director of the U. of I. Rare Book and Manuscript Library, pointed out another special feature of Witte’s collection. “It came with the added bonus that Mr. Witte – a consummate cataloger himself – has cataloged and prepared every item for its addition to our collection,” she said. “Not many donors can make such a claim.”
Witte’s specialty is “problem cataloging,” and those skills came in handy with his own collection – books, leaflets, yarn wrappers, sample books, craft kits, hooks, yarn and assorted accessories. Many complimentary pamphlets were available for pickup in craft stores, as inducements to purchase a particular brand of yarn; some leaflets with patterns functioned as the wrappers for skeins. Such leaflets commonly lacked publication dates, which meant Witte had to come up with creative ways to determine the year. He would first check the U.S. Catalog of Copyrights, to see whether it had been registered there. “If it wasn’t copyrighted, I would look through craft magazines, because yarn companies would have ads promoting these leaflets,” Witte said. “That would give me the date.”
In an effort to make his collection comprehensive, Witte created spreadsheets to track edition and volume numbers, and he’s still hoping to fill in what he calls “gaps” in the inventory. Many needlecraft publications weren’t designed to be kept and inventoried but rather to be used, swapped or shared, and then re-used. Some, such as the “Workbasket” newsletter, were published on tissue paper imprinted with the pattern necessary to construct the craft, so loyal “readers” tended to destroy these books.
“It’s not the sort of stuff that people keep,” Witte said. “If you’re cleaning out your great-aunt’s estate, this is what people tend to toss. As I’m cataloging, I check to see if other libraries have these, and for a lot of these publications, the answer is no.”
The collection comprises more than 300 hardcover books, about 1,500 magazines and 5,000 booklets showing how to crochet, cross stitch, embroider, applique, quilt, sew, tat, tuft and weave. There are patterns for making baby blankets, baby booties, basic hats, doilies, gloves, mittens and tablecloths, as well as old-fashioned spencers, chair sets, TV scarves, potty peekers and bikinis.
Witte said that donating the collection has freed him up to do more crocheting. He makes scarves, shawls and dishcloths, and claims to have finally found a pattern that produces “the perfect potholder.”
To sign up for the July 18 classes, go to www.library.illinois.edu/rbx.
Editor’s note: To reach Gilbert Witte, call 217-244-3773; email w4witte@illinois.edu.
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