Mark Samuels Lasner: A Genius of Collecting and Connecting
“Mark Samuels Lasner is a genius of collecting, and he is a genius of connecting.” Elaine Showalter’s tribute to Samuels Lasner was part of her keynote address at the symposium “Celebrating the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection,” held at the University of Delaware March 17-18, 2017. The symposium, which marked Samuels Lasner’s donation of his extraordinary collection of Victorian books, manuscripts, and art to the University, accompanied an exhibition of highlights from the collection, which continues in the University Library through June 3. UD President Dennis Assanis; Mark Samuels Lasner; Trevor A. Dawes, UD Vice-Provost for Libraries & Museums; Margaret D. Stetz, Mae & Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies & Professor of Humanities Elaine Showalter, Professor Emerita of English at Princeton University, began her address with A. S. Byatt’s 1990 novel Possession , which includes a satiric portrait of Mortimer Cropper, a ruthless American collector of Victorian m