INTRODUCTION

The 45th Annual Preconference of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries was titled “Ebb & Flow: The Migration of Collections to American Libraries.” From June 21–June 24, 2004, on the campus of Yale University, speakers addressed a variety of topics around this theme. Plenary speakers addressed the migration of books to North America during the colonial period, the development of university library collections in the nineteenth century, the epic collecting of J. Pierpont Morgan, and the post-World War II antiquarian book trade. Alice Prochaska, Yale University librarian, opened the conference with . . .