The Gutenberg press began a communication revolution that facilitated the Reformation, ushered in the Renaissance, and changed forever the way information is disseminated. A recent description compared the societal influence of a center of medieval printing in France to the information technology revolution spawned in Silicon Valley in California today. Printing presses and printers were to that era what computers and computer technology are to the information age today. Printers were scholars, linguists, and craftsmen. Sometimes, they were all three. In the 15^th Century, printers with their presses introduced mass communication to Western society.

Early printer-owner operators protected their workmanship by identifying it with an elaborate design that branded the printed item as one that had the high quality and accuracy for which they wished to be noted. These craftsmen used emblems symbolic of their business location, craft, name, personal experience, or ancestry. These emblems are referred to as “marks” or “colophons.” Colophons were originally put at the end of a publication and served a purpose similar to the title page. With the introduction of the title page, the marks became smaller and were located on that title page.

These artistic and symbolic printer’s colophons (marks) were popular library decorations during the early part of the Twentieth Century. As decorative devices in libraries, they were reproduced in metal, glass, stained glass, wood and plaster.  Printers’ trademarks were painted and carved on ceilings and walls and even reproduced on windows in stained glass in American libraries. Thus, Ms. Sadie Kent, the University’s first full-time librarian (years of full-time service, 1910-1943), chose printers marks for decorations in the new library . Certainly, the printing press made possible libraries for the general population. Ms. Kent selected marks for the windows based on the importance of that printer to the history of printing. Her explanation given to a reporter for the Capaha Arrow at that time explained: “The printers’ marks were placed here to commemorate the beginning of the art of book making, an art upon which this institution is founded.”

 

The decision was made to imitate the stained glass window treatments at Northwestern's Deering Library, Duke University Chapel, and Yale's Sterling library. The stained glass artist for these works of art was G. Owen Bonawit (1891-1971) of New York. The Deering Library features 68 window medallions, Yale’s Sterling Library contains 3,301, and Duke University Chapel has 77 of Bonawit’s creations. In some fashion, Ms. Kent became acquainted with the works of the prominent New York stained glass designer and craftsman, G. Owen Bonawit.

 

G. Owen Bonawit, a native of Brooklyn, studied at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. At the age of 26, he was chosen by the Architectural League of New York to appear in the 1917 Annual Exhibition. After receiving this prestigious recognition, his position as a stained glass artist was secure. He became affiliated with the architect James Gamble Rogers when they collaborated on the remodeling of the Mr. and Mrs. Edward S. Harkness house. After that Rogers was Mr. Harkness’s architect of choice. Bonawit was Roger’s stained glass artisan of choice. When Harkness funded buildings on university campuses, the hiring of Rogers as the architect was often part of the deal. This gave Bonawit many opportunities for commissions in stained glass. According to former Yale librarian, Gay Walker, in her presentation, Brilliance All around: the Stained Glass of Sterling and Its Maker, at the Sterling Memorial Library anniversary celebration, “Bonawit was recognized by his peers as one of the most talented craftsman and artist of his time.”  (The windows in Kent are mentioned on page 12.)  As an artist, he is described by his biographer, Gay Walker in her book, Bonawit, Stained Glass, and Yale as being "well respected in his field . . . shy and modest."

 

For Bonawit’s stained glass work, he used two methods for his designs. One method was to create glass designs with colored glass as in Duke Chapel. The second method was used for much of his secular work. For this technique, Bonawit used a medieval method that combined deep brown paint with silver stain to produce a range of golden tones when fired to the glass. The designs were outlined or washed in dark brown paint, which was made of ground glass and a flux. Yellow and gold colors were produced by applying silver oxide or chloride stain to the back of the panels in varying concentrations and by firing the glass. The brown paint wash used to shade figures was modeled by "stickwork," a medieval technique in which fine highlights are made by delicate scratching to remove the wash. This “stickwork” is evident in many of the panels Bonawit completed for Kent Library.

Bonawit made preliminary sketches of the proposed designs for the Southeast library for Ms. Kent to present to the board. The board approved these sketches and the cost. These sketches were also used to illustrate the 1939 dedication booklet. Bonawit did drawings of possible placement for the sketches in some of the windows. Additionally, Bonawit did an architectural rendering of the south elevation of the library with the south reading room windows showing possible placement for the stained glass.

The Bonawit stained glass panes illustrating the history of printing illuminated the windows of the Kent Library reading room from 1939 to 1968. In 1968, the panes were put into walnut frames and displayed on the mezzanine of the renovated library until 2007 when they were removed for safety during library remodeling.

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 Printers