Frances Steloff (1887-1989) was born in Saratoga Springs but moved to New York City as a young woman.  There she opened the Gotham Book Mart, which became a rich literary center frequented by struggling artists and the avant-garde.  While befriending the avant-garde and promoting their works in her shop, Steloff accumulated a vast collection of valuable books and literary memorabilia.  Steloff donated a large portion of her collection to Skidmore College. 

    Frances Steloff's association with Skidmore spanned decades.  Steloff endowed an annual lectureship (which bears her name), and even shared her hundredth birthday with the Skidmore community. 

    The Frances Steloff Collection is comprised largely of contemporary American and European writers.  The many hundreds of volumes in the collection include works by e. e. cummings, Alan Ginsberg, James Joyce, Henry Miller, Anais Nin, Gertrude Stein, and Tennessee Williams. Many are inscribed by the author to Steloff. 

   Most, though not all, of the Frances Steloff Collection is cataloged and accessible through the library's on-line catalog, LUCY2. An inventory of the collection is available in Special Collections.

   The Department of Special Collections also houses the Frances Steloff Papers, 1900-1988, which contains approximately 50 cubic feet of memorabilia, newspaper clippings, correspondence, articles, Gotham Book Mart records, and various personal effects of Frances Steloff.

The Katharine Alling Collection 

    Supplemental to the Steloff Collection is the Katharine Alling Collection, also housed in Special Collections.  In 1993, Katharine Alling, a friend of Steloff, donated her library (much of which was supplied by Steloff and the Gotham Book Mart) to Skidmore.  Alling's donation was given in honor of Frances Steloff.  Included in the Alling Collection are volumes by W. H. Auden, T. S. Eliot, Langston Hughes, James Joyce, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Kenneth Patchen, Ezra Pound, and William Carlos Williams. 
 
    The Katharine Alling Collection is not yet accessible through the library's on-line catalog.  A listing of titles in the Alling Collection is available in Special Collections.