Marjorie G. Wynne

Marjorie G. Wynne, who spent 45 years as a rare book librarian at Yale University, died on Sunday evening, April 5, 2009, in her home at Whitney Center in Hamden, Conn. She was 92 years old.

Miss Wynne, as she was known to librarians all over the world, and to generations of students and faculty at Yale, was born in Petersburg, Va., in 1917, daughter of the late Harvey Russell Wynne and Ruth Allgood Wynne King.

She joined the staff of Yale University Library's Rare Book Room in 1942 after having studied at Duke University and the School of Librarianship at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1963, she moved the rare book collections to the newly opened Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and assumed the position of senior research librarian. During a time when rare book librarianship was dominated by men, Marjorie Wynne was a pioneer and role model for many female librarians. She had an impact far beyond Yale, with a wide and ecumenical circle of friends in the worlds of scholarly research, bibliography and rare books.