The approximate price of all the rare books Davidson has in its archives is probably a seven-figure number. However, arguably the most priceless thing in Davidson’s Smith Rare Book Room is not its prized Book of Hours or its limited edition copies–it’s Mrs. Sharon Byrd.
If you haven’t had the absolute privilege of going to the Rare Book Room in your time at Davidson, make sure you give it a visit before you graduate. Housing texts ranging from simple atlases to 13th-century biblical texts, there is a sense of clarity and zen here (if they ever open it to study, I reserve a spot indefinitely). Mrs. Byrd, who for over 30 years has taken great care to the store and preservation of these books, mans the wheel of this massive archival undertaking. But likely you know Mrs. Byrd as the super nice lady who lets you touch crazy old books (that are so fragile it’s scary).
An English major herself, Mrs. Byrd was born in Panama on a military base and later moved to North Carolina where she attended Pfeiffer University and grad school at Chapel Hill. Mrs. Byrd likes to joke that she initially was a Chemistry major and Biology minor before she switched to English.
“Have you ever taken Chemistry? I went to the first day of class. They handed us each a 3×5 index card with an equation on it and told us to go find out what this compound was, and then make it. That semester sure was interesting. I went to my advisor and told her to GET ME OUT OF CHEMISTRY” Mrs. Byrd said.
(So relatable Mrs. Byrd.)
Her first job out of grad school was at Belmont Abbey where she met her husband who then worked at Davidson. One thing led to another and Mrs. Byrd ended up as a cataloger at Davidson. (And boy are we lucky to have her). So Her Campus sat down with Mrs. Byrd to hear about just some interesting tidbits from her life and from the Rare Book Room.
How did you come to have your current position at Davidson?
“Mary Badey (pictured below) was my mentor and head of the department. She was wonderful. Her father was Ernest Badey. Ernest Badey was a professor and the mayor of Davidson for a really long time. But she got breast cancer and died very young. It was very bittersweet for me but I wanted to keep her legacy alive, and so I interviewed for her position in this department and got it.”
What’s one thing that really intrigues people about the Rare Book Room?
“One thing that intrigues people is that the stuff is still here. When you bring out the Book of Hours or the third pages from the folio of Shakespeare; they are still here. It’s because of the quality of the paper. A lot of people are amazed that you can touch it still.”
If you could have one book here from any collection in the world, what would it be?
“The Book of Kells,” Mrs. Byrd said laughing. “Not even the Queen can touch that.” “Though I would like to complete some of our volume sets that aren’t complete. Though I would also love to have some more first, early editions of course. I guess if I could have something that would be cool but what I almost wouldn’t want because it would just be too valuable for us to keep here would probably be the Bay Psalm book. It’s a book of hymns—the first book printed in the United States, I think in 1611,” Mrs. Byrd continued.
What makes working at Davidson special to you?
“I enjoy working in our collection. At some places you have to have a wall between the user and the material. The value is in the user being able to actually use the works as opposed to just seeing in glass somewhere. One of my funny stories is when Keyne Cheshire, who teaches Seneca sometimes, came up here to have class because we have some Seneca in our archive. All of a sudden one student looked up and said, ‘When did you say that was printed?’ and I said, ‘in 1492 in Venice,’ and she goes, ‘like Columbus.’ I don’t think she would have had the same reaction if she was looking at it under glass. When we think about things that far back, we can’t put ourselves there. My dad served in World War II but that felt like ancient history to me, even though I was born in 1950. I think of the Vietnam War as current events, but to you it probably doesn’t seem as real,” Mrs. Byrd said.
Mrs. Byrd then took me through her two favorite books pictured below: a watercolor facsimile of William Blake’s illustrations of Thomas Gray’s poetry and a gilded page in the Book of Hours (it’s so beautiful guys, omg) from 1500 France.
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