Each year, groups around the country seek to ban books from library shelves for reasons such as violence, sexuality, and profanity. In the past, classic works of literature like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Grapes of Wrath have been targeted by book banners. In 2008, more than 500 titles were challenged.

Visit the Downtown Campus Library’s Banned Book Week exhibits to learn more about banned books. And read a banned book this week. For suggested titles, visit Challenged or Banned Classics.

To see where book censorship occurred in 2008, visit:
http://bannedbooksweek.org/Mapofbookcensorship.html.

John Cuthbert, WVRHC Curator, and Harold M. Forbes, Rare Books Collection Curator, will speak as part of an exhibit titled “American Masterpieces from the Daywood Collection,” which focuses on the contributions of Arthur and Ruth Dayton.

“The Daytons were likely the most significant collectors of fine art and rare books in the history of our state. They were also generous philanthropists,” Cuthbert said. “Their legacy lives on in the collections of the WVU Libraries and the Huntington Museum of Art as well as in the Daywood Foundation, which Mrs. Dayton founded to provide support for higher education and other worthwhile endeavors.”

Arthur Dayton’s book collection serves as the foundation for the WVU Libraries’ Rare Books Collection, which is the finest in the state. The couple donated their art collection to the Huntington Museum. Cuthbert will talk about the Daytons, their heritage and legacy while Forbes will focus on the rare book collection.

Arthur Dayton, born in Philippi in 1887, received his associate’s and law degree from WVU and went on to earn a master’s of arts from Yale University. He practiced law briefly in his hometown before moving to Charleston.

Over the years, the booklover amassed a collection containing several rare treasures, including multiple first-editions by Mark Twain and other American authors, first editions of John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Paradise Regain’d, Shakespeare’s four Folio editions, and the Nuremberg Chronicle, which, printed in 1492, chronicled the world’s history up to that point.

The lecture begins at 2 p.m. and is open to the public. A reception will follow.