Tabor College President Larry Nikkel (right) chats with Brison and Freda Carley Peterson Gooch during a reception for the couple April 24 following their donation of 1,000 books to the college library. Don Ratzlaff /Free Press. Click on image to enlarge.
Brison Gooch of Silverton, Colo., now retired after a 45-year teaching career at universities across the country, was on the Tabor campus last Tuesday for a reception in appreciation of the gift.
Gooch made the connection with Tabor College through Joel Klaassen, publisher of the Hillsboro Free Press, during the 2005-06 school year, according to Gari-Anne Patzwald, who was interim director of the Tabor library from January through June 2006 and now the technical service librarian.
Klaassen had assisted Freda Carley Peterson Gooch, who is married to Brison Gooch, with the publication of books she had developed.
“Dr. Gooch had originally wanted to donate the books to the Silverton schools, where he has been a board member,” said Patzwald, who is now technical service librarian. “But due to the collection’s scholarly nature, it was determined that was not the best use that could be made of the collection.”
After only a phone call to finalize the donation, Tabor received the shipment of books three months later. About 425 books have been added to the library collection and Tabor College history professors received a few titles not added to the library.
The remainder of books will be offered for sale online. The online sales will be used to raise funds to support the library.
Additionally, Robin Ottoson, Tabor library director, purchased books appropriate for the Silverton school library, and sent those books to the school.
“Gooch donated a combination of standard works that are considered basic for a collection in European history,” Patzwald said. “He also donated some more specialized materials that will expose our students to in-depth historical research on 19th century European history.
“The collection has enabled us to fill in significant gaps in the library collection and to acquire replacements for some badly worn copies of standard works.”
The collection is on exhibit throughout the library.
Gooch’s teaching career took him to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Oklahoma, the University of Connecticut and Texas A&M, as well as summer tenures at Yale, University of Nebraska and University of Wisconsin.
Brison has written or edited 16 books on European history, including “Belgium and the February Revolution,” “The Reign of Napoleon III,” “The Origins of the Crimean War,” and “Europe in the Nineteenth Century.”
The reception for the Gooches was in the Tabor College Library. There, Ottoson also acknowledged Patzwald for her “major contribution to academic life at Tabor” and other staff members for their work in acquiring, evaluating and processing the titles into the library collection.
