Warren E. McCain
"You have to be a good team player. You have to set high goals for yourself. Practice great discipline in everything you do."
The McCain Collection for Western Life contains books, journals, microforms, and other media, documenting the Western United States, especially its history, literature, anthropology, geography, politics, economics, and cultural life. The emphasis is on the West beyond the 100th meridian, although the frontier experience across the United States, as well as the Native American tribes in all parts of the country, are also included. The McCain Collection was established in 1993 to augment the library’s holdings on the Western United States and was made possible through a generous endowment provided by Warren E. and Bernie McCain, supplemented by an additional one million dollar challenge grant, which was successfully matched by the contributions of hundreds of individual donors, including many on the Library staff. Warren McCain grew up in Payette, Idaho, went to work for the Albertsons, Inc., in 1959, and served as the firm’s chief executive officer from 1976 until 1991. Much of the McCain Collection is housed in the McCain Room on the second floor, though material purchased with McCain endowment funds can be found in all departments of the library. A distinctive bookplate identifies materials that are purchased from the McCain endowment.
The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc. honored Warren McCain in 1991. Read their profile.
Denise Alexander Bittner
New Research Collection Focuses on Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway scholars, Boise State students and faculty, and the Treasure Valley community have a new asset for their study and pleasure — the John Robert Bittner Collection on Ernest Hemingway. Housed in the Special Collections Department of Boise State’s Albertsons Library, the Bittner Collection consists of 300 research books on Hemingway's life and writings, supplemented by works on the expatriate life of 1920s Paris, Spanish bullfighters of Hemingway’s era, Hemingway’s editor Maxwell Perkins and other Hemingway literary associates.
The collection was donated by Denise Alexander Bittner of Eagle, in memory of her late husband, John Robert Bittner, a Hemingway scholar and award-winning professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Bittner died of pancreatic cancer in 2002 at the age of 58. Professor Bittner assembled the collection during the course of many years of research and writing about Hemingway. Additional material from Bittner’s research and writings on Hemingway is archived in the Hemingway Collection at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston and the Ketchum, Idaho, Community Library. Bittner is buried 10 feet from Hemingway in the Ketchum Cemetery.
The collection was formally accepted and dedicated Sept. 8, 2008 in the Albertsons Library at a reception for family and friends of the Bittners. At the reception, Rena Sanderson, professor of English at Boise State, and Marty Peterson, a Hemingway scholar and assistant to the president of the University of Idaho, offered remarks about John Robert Bittner and his legacy to Hemingway scholarship.
Ralph W. Hansen
Associate University Librarian
Boise State University Library
After a long and distinguished career in the libraries and archives of Brigham Young and Stanford universities, Ralph Hansen came to Boise State in 1979 to be the associate university librarian. During his time at the library at Boise State, Hansen oversaw both technical and public services -- jointly and separately at given times. In addition to serving in these roles, he also directed the momentous processing project of the Senator Frank Church Papers. Hansen's fondness and enthusiasm for his work extended beyond collaboration with colleagues and patrons to a family effort including his wife, Lillian, who graciously volunteered her time in support of library projects.
Following Hansen's retirement in 1989, he continued working for the library as a volunteer, combing through publishers' catalogs and academic journals to recommend books to purchase for the McCain Collection for Western Life. He also has supported the library with his gifts. Through his generous and loyal contributions of library resources and his genuine passion for learning and sharing knowledge, Hansen's support of the library benefits students and staff alike.