John G. White book collection in Cleveland

[tgf]

I recall reading that John G. White donated chess books and someone else joined the trust adding checkers books. Do you know who it was, maybe a link to read?

[George Hay]

The John G. White chess and checkers collection at the Cleveland Public Library is a valuable resource. Jim Loy found Martins's notebook there with the games of the historic 1863 Wyllie-Martins WCM with the famous Glasgow opening game repeated 28 times in a 0-0-50 tie match. Some of the games of the 2011 WCM at Cleveland, Ohio ( Alex Moiseyev vs Michele Borghetti 7-6-27) were played at the Cleveland Public Library.

John G. White definitely contributed both chess and checkers books to the CPL. The chess and checkers collection has been augmented over the years, notably with CPL acquiring some of the collection of J W Rimington Wilson who is known for his chess book collection.

I was wondering what happened to the collection of Donald D. Deweber, aka Mr. Checkers, (1938--2019). As his obituary states:

Don had the world’s largest checker book library (Caldwell-Windt Library of Checkers). This library was donated to the Loras College Rare Book Library. The checker sets and memorabilia were donated to the Branson, Missouri Toy Museum.

https://www.hachmannfuneralhome.com/obi ... rs-deweber

Loras College is in Dubuque, Iowa, Mr. Checkers' home town.

--George Hay

[tgf]

I often say that donating to libraries is counter-productive, 99% of players will never visit the library, chances are that the library will box the collection after a while or get rid of it to make room. If only they scan the books and make them available to all online!