Sackler Library

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Sackler Library
SacklerLibrary.jpg
The library entrance on St John Street, Oxford
Country England
Type Academic library
Established2001
Location St John Street, Oxford
Collection
Items collectedThe University of Oxford collection specialising in archaeology, art history and classics
Size300,000
Legal deposit receives legal deposit books in relevant subject areas via the Bodleian's copyright receipt office
Access and use
Access requirementsCurrent University Card. Bona fide researchers may register to use the Library for reference only.
Other information
Staff32
Website http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/sackler/
Map
Sackler Library

The Sackler Library holds a large portion of the classical, art historical, and archaeological works belonging to the University of Oxford, England.

Contents

History

The Sackler Library building was completed in 2001 and opened on 24 September of that year, enabling the rehousing of the library of the Ashmolean Museum. The library entrance is at 1 St John Street. It was principally funded by a donation from the multi-millionaire Mortimer Sackler. It was designed by Robert Adam with Paul Hanvey of ADAM Architecture. Its main building is a circular drum, a reference to the Classical origins of many of its holdings. One of the outer walls of the drum is decorated by a Classical frieze. The architects claim the circular entrance vestibule is derived from the Doric Temple of Apollo at Bassae, first excavated by Charles Robert Cockerell, the architect who designed the adjacent Ashmolean Museum. [1] The Sackler library is administered as part of the multi-site Bodleian Library, the central libraries of the University of Oxford

Controversy

It is a controversial building [2] (like many associated with the university) [3] [4] [5] as the wealth of the eponymous funders, the Sackler family, was raised in large part from marketing Oxycontin, leading to the US opioid crisis, [6] which has killed hundreds of thousands in the US alone. [7] In 2018, the university said that “[We] would consider any public controversy surrounding a donor [and] may reconsider a donor in the light of new information. At present, there is no intention to reconsider the Sackler family and trusts.” [2]

Collections

Its holdings incorporate the collections of four older libraries, namely the Ashmolean library, the Classics Lending Library, the Eastern Art Library, the Griffith Institute and the History of Art Library. Major subject areas are:

The Heracles Papyrus, held by the Sackler Library. HeraclesPapyrus.jpg
The Heracles Papyrus, held by the Sackler Library.

Among the celebrated holdings are the Heracles Papyrus, a fragment of 3rd century Greek manuscript containing a poem about the Labours of Heracles, along with over 100,000 fragments found at Oxyrhynchus known as the Oxyrhynchus Papyri.

See also

Related Research Articles

Papyrus Writing and implement

Papyrus is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge. Papyrus can also refer to a document written on sheets of such material, joined side by side and rolled up into a scroll, an early form of a book.

Ashmolean Museum University Museum of Art and Archaeology in Oxford, England

The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's second university museum and Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of Oxford in 1677.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., focusing on Asian art. The Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery of Art together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and Sackler galleries house the largest Asian art research library in the country.

Heracles Papyrus

The Heracles Papyrus is a fragment of a 3rd-century Greek manuscript of a poem about the Labours of Heracles. It contains three unframed colored line drawings of the first of the Labors, the killing of the Nemean lion, set within the columns of cursive text. It was found at Oxyrhynchus and is one of the few surviving scraps of classical literary illustration on papyrus. The fragment measures 235 by 106 mm.

Arthur M. Sackler American physician and marketing executive (1913–1987)

Arthur Mitchell Sackler was an American psychiatrist and marketer of pharmaceuticals whose fortune originated in medical advertising and trade publications. He was also a philanthropist and art collector.

Oxyrhynchus City in Ptolemaic/Roman Egypt

Oxyrhynchus is a city in Middle Egypt located about 160 km south-southwest of Cairo in Minya Governorate. It is also an archaeological site, considered one of the most important ever discovered. Since the late 19th century, the area around Oxyrhynchus has been excavated almost continually, yielding an enormous collection of papyrus texts dating from the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt. They also include a few vellum manuscripts, and more recent Arabic manuscripts on paper

Faculty of Oriental Studies Department of the University of Oxford

The Faculty of Oriental Studies, is the University of Oxford's department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.

Oxyrhynchus Papyri Manuscript fragments from 32BC–640AD found in an Egyptian rubbish dump

The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a group of manuscripts discovered during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by papyrologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt.

Papyrus 113 Religious manuscript

Papyrus 113, designated by 113, is a fragment of an early copy of a section of the New Testament in Greek. It comes from a papyrus manuscript of the Epistle to the Romans. The surviving text features parts of Romans 2:12-13 on one side of the fragment and parts of 2:29 on the other.

Papyrus 121 New Testament manuscript

Papyrus 121, designated by 121, is an early copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of John. The surviving texts of John are only fragments of verses 19:17-18,25-26. They are in very fragmentary condition. The manuscript paleographically has been assigned to the 3rd century by the INTF.

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus L 3525

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus L 3525 is a copy of the apocryphal Gospel of Mary in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript formed in a roll. The manuscript had been assigned palaeographically to the 3rd century. It is one of the three manuscripts and one of the two Greek manuscripts of the Gospel of Mary. It is shorter than Papyrus Rylands 463.

Dirk D. Obbink is an American papyrologist and classicist. He was Lecturer in Papyrology and Greek Literature in the Faculty of Classics at Oxford University until 6 February 2021, and was the head of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri Project until August 2016. Obbink was also a fellow and tutor in Greek at Christ Church Oxford, from which role he was suspended in October 2019.

Mortimer David Sackler was an American-born British psychiatrist and entrepreneur who was a co-owner, with his brother Raymond, of Purdue Pharma. During his lifetime, Sackler's philanthropy included donations to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Tate Gallery, the Royal College of Art, the Louvre and Berlin's Jewish Museum.

Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford

The Faculty of Classics, previously the Faculty of Literae Humaniores, is a subdivision of the University of Oxford concerned with the teaching and research of classics. The teaching of classics at Oxford has been going on for 900 years, and was at the centre of nearly all its undergraduates' education well into the twentieth century.

Reputation laundering occurs when a person or an organization conceals unethical, corrupt, or criminal behavior by performing highly-visible positive actions with the intent to improve their reputation and obscure their history.

The Sackler family is an American family who founded and own the pharmaceutical companies Purdue Pharma and Mundipharma. Purdue Pharma, and some members of the family, have faced lawsuits regarding overprescription of addictive pharmaceutical drugs, including OxyContin. Purdue Pharma has been criticized for its role in the opioid epidemic in the United States. They have been described as the "most evil family in America", "drug dealers" and "the worst drug dealers in history".

P.A.I.N. is an advocacy organization founded by Nan Goldin to respond to the opioid crisis, specifically targeting the Sackler Family for manufacturing and distributing the drug Oxycontin through their corporation Purdue Pharma LP.

Philanthropy poses a number of ethical issues:

Robert Adam (architect, born 1948) British architect (born 1948)

Robert Adam FRIAS FRSA is a Driehaus Architecture Prize winning British architect, urban designer and author, known for championing classical and traditional styles. Adam is a visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde and Design Council Expert.

References

  1. Robert Adam Archived 2010-07-29 at the Wayback Machine
  2. 1 2 Cohen, David (20 March 2018). "The Opioid Timebomb: Who are the Sackler family and how does their fortune help bankroll London arts?". Evening Standard. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  3. "Oxford University criticised for accepting oligarch's £75m donation" The Guardian
  4. "Oxford University opens controversial animal research lab". The Guardian . 11 November 2008.
  5. "Cecil Rhodes statue to remain at Oxford after 'overwhelming support'". The Guardian . 29 January 2016.
  6. Marshall, Alex (25 March 2019). "Museums Cut Ties with Sacklers as Outrage over Opioid Crisis Grows". The New York Times.
  7. Research, CNN Editorial (18 September 2017). "Opioid Crisis Fast Facts". CNN. Retrieved 21 September 2020.

Coordinates: 51°45′20″N1°15′40″W / 51.75556°N 1.26111°W / 51.75556; -1.26111