"Tom was a working historian or, perhaps, an experimental archeologist of the book, said Nicholas Yeager, who for many years taught bookbinding at San Francisco's Center for the Book. Not only did he train as a librarian, he studied bookbinding and conservation as well as practiced those skills. He also wrote about 19th century toolmaking for bookbinding and woodworking. There will be a huge gap in original research and synthesis of practical experience without his encyclopedic knowledge of the history of the book."
"Tom was a respected practitioner in the world of bookbinding, known also for his learned observations and writings on the history of bookbinding, said Andrea Grimes, Special Collections librarian at the San Francisco Public Library. We were always excited when Tom visited his research, consultations and teaching skills were not only invaluable to the librarians in Book Arts & Special Collections but were documented in several essays published in the series Suave Mechanicals: Essays on the History of Bookbinding."
Tom Conroy died on Nov. 11 in his North Berkeley home at age 73. He combined practical bookbinding, conservation, and historical research and wrote about nineteenth-century toolmaking for bookbinding and woodworking. He trained as a librarian and received a master's degree in library science from UC Berkeley. He taught, consulted, and contributed essays documenting his research and methods. He maintained a long association with Berkeley's Capricornus School of Bookbinding and Art Restoration and belonged to the original chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Neighbors remembered him as someone often seen walking while reading.
Read at www.berkeleyside.org
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