"Do Not Open Until 1991"

Seven volumes of unpublished writings of the late H. L. Mencken have been left to Baker Library by the author with explicit instructions that they are not to be opened until 1991. Even then, they "are to be opened for examination only to graduate students or those of a higher grade engaged in serious, critical or historical investigation," according to the agreement under which Dartmouth accepted the gift.

The works are My Life as Authorand Editor, in four volumes, and Thirty-five Years of Newspaper Work, in three volumes. They are nailed in seven wooden boxes bound with metal bands and marked "Papers of H. L. Mencken." They are further marked "Do not open until January 29, 1991," which is 35 years to the day from Mr. Mencken's death in 1956. The boxes are being kept in Baker's vault.

Mr. Mencken's gift was made through The Friends of the Dartmouth Library, with which he had been closely associated for many years. Baker Library since 1939 has possessed an outstanding Mencken Collection, largely the gift of Richard H. Mandel '26 of Cross River, N. Y. Mr. Mencken himself augmented the collection regularly, from 1939 until his death, with manuscripts, inscribed copies of his writings, and other material. He corresponded for more than twenty years with Prof. Herbert F. West '22, executive secretary of The Friends.

Duplicate sets of the unpublished works given to Dartmouth were presented also to the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore and the New York Public Library. The works were to be destroyed if no institution would agree to hold them unopened until 1991.

Richard W. Morin '24, Dartmouth librarian, with the sealed Mencken manuscripts