The narrow paths between the book-crammed shelves at the Department of the History of Mathematics in Wilbour Hall might induce claustrophobia. And the stacks of yellowing, oversized photocopies are occasionally tall enough to hide a small child.
The collection comprises a large part of the late David Pingree's world-renowned library, which includes material from Sanskrit, Arabic, Jewish, Egyptian and Persian cultures.
When Pingree died in Nov-ember, the history of mathematics department lost its last full-time professor, leaving the future of its remaining members, as well as Pingree's collection, uncertain. Since then, the department - which the University had previously slated to shut down at the end of this semester - has successfully determined positions for its members, but the fate of Pingree's collection of texts from around the world remains unresolved.
Pingree had intended to donate his collection to the University after his planned retirement in May. He imagined the library as a "separate research unit" with all its parts together and not in storage, according to Toke Knudsen GS, one of the two remaining history of mathematics graduate students.
"It's a legacy we want to preserve and we'd like to see it stay at Brown," said Dean of the Faculty Rajiv Vohra P '07. How-ever, he added that the University must realistically assess the available facilities before re-locating the collection from Wilbour Hall and Pingree's home. "We find ourselves running up against the space constraint," he said. "Pingree knew that we had not identified a perfect place."
According to Vohra, the University will await the results of an independent appraisal of the collection before making its final decisions.
While Vohra said that there are no plans to sell any part of the collection, he recalled discussions among Pingree, librarians and members of the administration and said that explicit conditions had not been laid out. Pingree's texts could be stored in a variety of forms, from a one-floor special collection to shelves in multiple libraries to partial storage in an accessible off-site facility, Vohra said.
"I don't think Brown is moving fast enough on this issue," wrote Alice Slotsky, assistant visiting professor of the history of mathematics and the department's last remaining faculty member, in an e-mail. "I get inquiries from all over the world about the preservation of this library in its present state, intact and in one place. It's crucial to scholars to keep it that way."
The collection, which Pingree accumulated throughout his long academic career, totals at least 25,000 books plus photocopies and texts on microfilm.
"There is a lot of literature, lots of philosophy," said Sam Hough, a bookseller from Cranston hired by Pingree's wife, Isabelle, to appraise the collection. "The other day I found a book on Indian dance and another one on Indian medicine. For David it all linked."
In fact, three shipments of new books have arrived at the department since Pingree's death.
"His wife had to call those companies to tell them the news," Hough said.
Hough has been working on the collection off and on since May and said he is nearing completion of his appraisal. Within the "staggering" collection, Hough has uncovered "manuscripts that just don't exist anywhere else."
Hough said he shares Slotsky's concerns and hopes that Pingree's wishes are respected.
"There are people beyond Brown interested in the collection, who understand it, who respect it," Hough said. "The University, in the last few administrations, hasn't really cared. They just want to stash this stuff in the Science Library."
New arrangements for remaining scholarsIn anticipation of Pingree's retirement, the department stopped accepting applications to its graduate program several years ago. Pingree had planned to continue working with the department's two remaining graduate students on their dissertations after his retirement. After Pingree's death, Sheila Bonde, dean of the graduate school, stepped in to make sure the grad students were on track to finish their studies.
"Bonde is overlooking the grad students with constant concern and care," Slotsky wrote. "Her office and e-mail are always open to them and she calls them just to check in."
Since November, both grad students have finalized the committees that will read their dissertations. After completing the dissertation process, both students plan to pursue careers in academia. Knudsen anticipates spending at least three more semesters at Brown before graduating, though he expects to have an academic job "perhaps in the field of the history of science" since there are no history of math departments anywhere else in the world, he said.
Slotsky will continue teaching at Brown with a new appointment as a visiting professor in the classics department. She and the department have already arranged her courses and schedule for next year.
"So far it's a very happy marriage," she wrote. "My students read lots of genres - historical inscriptions, myths, magic - in fact not a lot of astronomical or mathematical material (as they did in the history of mathematics department), so this is a step forward for the field of Assyriology at Brown."
