Tolkien MeMes #7. A failed attempt at a Tolkien exhibition in 1998.

It is that time of the year when spring cleaning is the term you are looking for but outside it is still snowing. Or rather, the new year has come and gone and you are trying to get rid of the burdens you have been carrying around with you.

(Quite literally - thanks to a large number of moves over the years I sort of always packed stuff into boxes, unpacked it in the new place without any idea of where to properly put it, just to stuff it again into box a year or two later. And so things began to pile up).

So while you are throwing away things you no longer need, no longer want, or that have lost all importance in your life you come across a gem or two.

This one certainly counts - my first attempt at organising a Tolkien exhibition.

(I managed to do one fifteen years later, as you may remember (Opens in a new window)).

The website of the University Library in Cologne, ca. 1997

On a cold February morning in 1996…

Well, I can’t quite remember when this happened but I am assuming I talked to Dr. Christian Klinger of the University Library (Opens in a new window) of my Alma Mater, the University of Cologne (Opens in a new window), on February 22nd, 1996, a Thursday.

On that day it was -5° in my hometown, so we did have a cold February morning…

The logic behind this reasoning lies in the university term that had started in October 1995, going on until the end of February 1996, more or less. In that term I had three massive exams - among many others - in Ancient, Medieval, and Modern History for which I had to learn like crazy.

I was also working 20 hrs/ week to actually have an income and I was taking five subjects instead of the regular three for my studies’ program (one major, two minor topics; I was taking one major and four minors). I was also running the Tolkien Special Interest Group we had founded not too long before that - remember, this was pre-German Tolkien Society!

And then there was Karneval (Opens in a new window) from February 15th-21st. Which is literally bonkers, with millions of people congregating on Shrove Monday. Nobody works during those days, particularly not at the university. So I would not have had an appointment before Karneval.

I do remember meeting up with Dr. Klinger in the foyer of the library and if he - as I assume - answered rather promptly to my suggestion he would have sent his letter on the next Monday, that is, February 26.

In this letter he states:

Dear Herr Bülles,

as verbally agreed I have reserved the display cases in the foyer of our library for the months of October, November, and December of 1998 for an exhibition on J.R.R. Tolkien and modern fantasy literature to be conceptualised by you.

I am looking forward to working with you and I am at your disposal during the time you need to prepare the exhibition, should you have any questions. (my translation)

Now, the university library had display cases like this, about two dozen, strewn around the massive foyer.

I was supposed to fill those display cases with books both from my collection, the books available with the library, and then write up a concept with informative, explanatory texts that would be displayed as posters with additional stand-up displays plus the little cards with info text that you always find beside an item displayed in a museum…

I was on fire at the time, what with my first visit to Oxonmoot in 1994, the founding of the Tolkien Special Interest Group, and now the opportunity to do an exhibition… And as you can see, I had more than two years time to come up with something!

Well, now, today, twenty-eight years later I cannot quite remember why it did not work out. I may have overestimated what I would need to pull together to have enough exhibits, I may have found the amount of text I would have had to write overwhelming - nothing less than the history of fantasy literature and the context in which Tolkien became the ‘father’ of modern fantasy -, it may have boggled the mind that I would also have to do all the advertisting for it etc.

Or - and I think that is the most likely explanation - I started my very first attempt at a Tolkien exhibition at a most inopportune time.

Shortly before the winter term of 1997 started in October I had obviously written a letter telling Dr. Klinger I would not be able to make it.

Because I had taken too many topics. Because I had moved out of my family’s apartment and needed to work even more to be able to pay the rent…

Or simply because from October 1996 until April and/or May (?) 1997 I did my exchange year at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. With no time - and probably no serious interest - to organise a Tolkien exhibition from abroad.

Fun fact: The first Tolkien Tag had happened on May 4th, 1996, at the Board and Card Gaming Centre in Herne (Opens in a new window) as well.

In the letter above Dr. Klinger thanked me for my kind letter and confirmed the cancellation of the exhibition - the week before term start.

Fun fact II: I actually tried again, not too long after that - but that will be another Tolkien MeMe. My first letter from the Tolkien Estate!

So, here we are.

Marcel trying his hand at an exhibition on Tolkien. Well worth the try!

This post had a one week early release for members of all standards here at Steady.