Editing Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library (section)

==History==
The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections was founded in November 1955 by the Chief Librarian, Robert H. Blackburn. Blackburn hired Marion E. Brown who was working in the special collections department at Brown University. Brown's first responsibility was to deal with the items that had been accumulating since 1890. Some of these items in the collection included medieval manuscripts, early printed books, and special volumes of later periods that had been presented by Queen Victoria to the university. Between the accumulated items and items found in the stacks of the main library, there was enough to open up the Rare Book Room in 1957.<ref>{{cite web|last=Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library|title=Brief History of the Department|url=http://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/about-us/brief-history-department|access-date=3 September 2013}}</ref>
[[File:Robartslibrary.jpg|thumb|The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library (foreground) was opened in 1973, and forms a part of a larger building complex with [[Robarts Library]] (background)]]
The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections and the University Archives didn't have a permanent home until 1973 when the Thomas Fisher Rare Book library was opened. The library is named in honour of [[Thomas Fisher (Upper Canada)|Thomas Fisher]] (1792–1874), who immigrated from [[Yorkshire]], settled along the [[Humber River (Ontario)|Humber River]] in 1822, and became a successful merchant–miller.  In 1973 his great-grandsons, Sidney and Charles Fisher, donated to the library their own collections of Shakespeare, various twentieth-century authors, and etchings of [[Wenceslaus Hollar]]. Since the opening of the library, it has grown to approximately 740,000 volumes and 4,000 metres of manuscript holdings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/about-us|title=About Us {{!}} Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library|website=fisher.library.utoronto.ca|language=en|access-date=2018-04-01}}</ref>

The Fisher building was designed by Mathers and Haldenby, Toronto with design consultant Warner, Burns, Toan and Lunde, New York. It forms part of a complex with the [[Robarts Library|John P. Robarts Research Library for the Humanities and Social Sciences]], and the Claude Bissel Building which houses the Faculty of Information.<ref>{{cite web|last=Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library|title=Brief History of the Department|url=http://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/about-us/brief-history-department|access-date=3 September 2013}}</ref>

Richard Landon, the director until his death in 2011,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://utlibrarians.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/obituary-for-richard-landon-1942-2011-director-of-thomas-fisher-rarebooks-library-university-of-toronto/|title=Obituary for Richard Landon (1942-2011), Director of Thomas Fisher Rarebooks Library, University of Toronto|date=26 October 2011 }}</ref> organized two or three exhibitions of rare books and other materials annually.