NCSU Libraries Focus Online

Volume 24 number 2 - Winter 2004

By Anna Dahlstein, Special Collections

Bernard Francis McTigue, the NCSU Libraries' head of Special Collections since 1999, died unexpectedly on August 26, 2003, at the age of fifty-seven. Since then, Special Collections has received numerous letters of sympathy and remembrance from friends and colleagues around the country.

The individual they describe would be familiar to anyone who had met McTigue for even a short while. Two traits in particular stood out about him-his prodigious knowledge and his lively wit. A graduate of the Columbia University Library School who also held a master's degree in art history, McTigue was conversant in a wide range of subjects and could maintain those conversations in at least five different languages. Even in English, he would use recherché words such as "xylographic" or "agrestic" in a casual, matter-of-fact manner, sending co-workers scurrying for the dictionary.

Nevertheless, this well-traveled opera buff and collector of Japanese prints managed to remain sophisticated without being elitist. As Michael Joseph, a colleague at Rutgers University's Alexander Library remarked, McTigue "wore his learning lightly, with a selfless, childlike whimsy and humor." This ludic quality allowed him to quote "The Simpsons" and Britney Spears in the same breath as Pushkin or Cervantes.

Endearingly, McTigue used his wit to skewer himself. On one occasion, after being congratulated for his role in establishing the world's most important archives of the animal rights movement, he rolled his eyes and muttered something about living up to his namesake, St. Francis, the patron saint of animals. Actually, McTigue's self-deprecating humor belied his private nature, which included deeply rooted values and a social conscience. Citing McTigue's nonpartisan but steadfast commitment to the animal rights archive at the NCSU Libraries, NC State Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Tom Regan observed that "beneath that effervescent surface, bubbling with irreverence and self-mockery, there lived a man with settled convictions, firmly held."

McTigue treated any inquisitive visitor to Special Collections as a distinguished scholar, even if that person happened to be ten years old or was a college-aged procrastinator scrambling to complete an assignment due the next morning. It was a delight to watch him share his expertise in bookbinding or the history of architecture with a first-time patron. Indeed, before writing two works for specialized audiences--Nature Illustrated, a compilation of botanical illustrations from 1550 to 1800, and The Medici Aesop, his own translation from Greek of a Renaissance manuscript--McTigue compiled A Child's Garden of Delights, a selection of pictures, poems, and stories from the New York Public Library's trove of rare juvenile books that were otherwise only available to adult researchers.

McTigue's democratic attitude was apparent in his own career path. After working in the Arents and Spencer collections at the New York Public Library, he joined special collections departments at public universities in Florida, Oregon, and North Carolina. At each institution, he served as a mentor for less experienced professionals while building the special collections. Chris Filstrup, director and dean of libraries at SUNY-Stony Brook, formerly worked with McTigue at the NCSU Libraries and has said, "His love of the history of the book notwithstanding, Bernie skillfully acquired land-grant-type collections of forestry, architecture, and agriculture."

McTigue is survived by his brother Philip, sister-in-law Colleen, and niece Kerry McTigue. The NCSU Libraries held a memorial service in McTigue's honor on November 3, 2003. Friends came from many institutions to pay tribute to a man they deeply miss. Others sent personal reminiscences that were incorporated into the program, and a memorial book will be sent to the McTigue family in New York. Memorial contributions may be made to the Bernard McTigue Endowment for Special Collections by writing a check to the NCSU Friends of the Library and mailing it to Friends of the Library, CB 7111, NCSU Libraries, Raleigh, N.C., 27695-7111.