Arthur Dunkelman Appointed Curator of the Kislak Collection at the University of Miami Richter Library
- by Bruce E. McKinney
Arthur Dunkelman, Director and curator of the Jay I. Kislak Foundation has been appointed Curator of the Kislak Collection at the University of Miami’s Richter Library. On September 5th the Kislak Gallery will celebrate its grand opening and the public is invited. The Kislak Collection is among the greatest collections in its categories ever built and has been gifted to various institutions in the United States to encourage preservation, study and understanding. Mr. Kislak passed away in 2018 at the age of 96 and had long sought to dispose of his collections to institutions that would carry on his love of history into the future. Mr. Dunkelman managed this transition.
In 2004 the Kislak Foundation donated more than 3,000 items to the Library of Congress, including more than 2,300 books, maps, manuscripts and other historic material valued at about $30 million. Subsequently he gave significant elements of his collections to institutions of higher learning including the University of Pennsylvania and Monmouth University in New Jersey.
The largest portion of his collections now reside at the Kislak Collection at the University of Miami – Richter Library and the occasion upcoming celebrates the opening of its Kislak Center.
A recently released 40-page brochure as a PDF, Open New Worlds, A journey through the Kislak Collection, includes selected highlights of the 2019 Inaugural Exhibition. Selected images from it illustrate this brief announcement. Here is a link to Open New Worlds.
Sotheby’s Fine Manuscript and Printed Americana 27 January 2026
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: An extraordinary pair of books from George Washington’s field library, marking the conjunction of Robert Rogers, George Washington, and Henry Knox. $1,200,000 to $1,800,000.
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: An extraordinary letter marking the conjunction of George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, and Benjamin Franklin. $1,000,000 to $1,500,000.
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: Virginia House of Delegates. The genesis of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. $350,000 to $500,000.
Sotheby’s Fine Manuscript and Printed Americana 27 January 2026
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: (Gettysburg). “Genl. Doubleday has taken charge of the battle”: Autograph witness to the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, illustrated by fourteen maps and plans. $200,000 to $300,000.
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: President Lincoln thanks a schoolboy on behalf of "all the children of the nation for his efforts to ensure "that this war shall be successful, and the Union be maintained and perpetuated." $200,000 to $300,000.
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: [World War II]. An archive of maps and files documenting the allied campaign in Europe, from the early stages of planning for D-Day and Operation Overlord, to Germany’s surrender. $200,000 to $300,000.
![<b>Sotheby’s, Jan. 27:</b> [World War II]. An archive of maps and files documenting the allied campaign in Europe, from the early stages of planning for D-Day and Operation Overlord, to Germany’s surrender. $200,000 to $300,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/9d2762bc-9f26-47ef-96de-1c28070e19f6.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Jan. 27:</b> [World War II]. An archive of maps and files documenting the allied campaign in Europe, from the early stages of planning for D-Day and Operation Overlord, to Germany’s surrender. $200,000 to $300,000.")