Monday, Apr 20, 2026

A Note from the Director

Dear alumni, friends, faculty, and fellow-travelers of the CABS-Minnesota Antiquarian Book Seminar, the Diverse Voices Fellowship, and the Antiquarian Book School Foundation:

Again with the tangled thicket of greetings from the CABS-Minnesota seminar director Garrett Scott, but spring is a time for this sort of tangle and growth — in salutations and nearly everything else.

Welcome to an instance of ephemera — what we hope will be the first in a series of regular newsletter updates in the worlds of CABS folks.

Up here in Michigan, the redbud trees have busted out we had the first tornado warning of the season. I have also scratched my way toward getting ready for the April book and paper shows like Allentown and the New York book fairs.

Amid all the bookselling (and everything else), the folks who put together the CABS seminar have been at work over the winter and into this spring to get ready for the summer. Registration for the seminar opened in January (we filled up pretty quick) and we began to overhaul our lesson plans. The scholarship applications rolled in (and then rolled in some more). We went to work selecting a new cohort for the Diverse Voices Fellowship.

And in perhaps our most obvious sign of growth:

The Antiquarian Book School Foundation — the nonprofit that runs CABS and the Diverse Voices Fellowship — created a new job position, and in February we hired Jeanne Dodds as the new Administrative Director of the ABSF. She is our first full-time employee.

Investing in a new employee is a big swing for an organization of our size. We couldn’t have done it without the support of our donors.

While we continue to reinvest in our work as the oldest and largest organization to offer professional  development and instruction in antiquarian bookselling, the Board of the ABSF also continues to work on our  goal to expand our offerings to extend the reach of our mission. Jeanne’s work in development,  outreach, and administration will help keep us moving in that direction. 

And thus: I offer up our thanks again to the Friends of CABS for your support to help push us forward. 

Those are my updates. One of the perks of directing this seminar is hearing from CABS folks, so  please feel free as always to drop me a line, or to stop and say hey if you see me in New York.

We will  be hosting another CABS meet-up again this year in New York on the Saturday evening of May 2 at  Bedford Falls, a couple blocks from the Armory. See here to sign up: we would love to see you. 

Garrett Scott, Director 
CABS-Minnesota Antiquarian Book Seminar