Graham School sparks 70-year-old Bob Connors’ quest to find works dating to 15th century

Jack Wang reported in the UChicago News.

"As a student at the University of Chicago Graham School, Connors was reading texts considered the bedrock of Western Civilization. Why not find the oldest copies he could get his hands on?"

Which he did, eventually gathering over 600 copies of great books going back as far as 1475. Later, in retirement and with health issues, he thought about what should be done with his collection.

"He decided to donate them to UChicago Library’s Special Collections Research Center, where they now live as the Robert S. Connors Basic Program Collection. The name is a nod to the curriculum that nurtured in Connors a fascination with the history of the printed word. Since 1946, the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies has offered the Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults to encourage reading and engaging with the 'Great Books.' One proponent of this approach was former UChicago President Robert Maynard Hutchins, who argued that it kept one’s 'intelligence on the stretch.'"

“'Great books teach people not only how to read them,' he wrote in 1952, 'but also how to read all other books.'"