The Rothensteiner Collection of the Mundelein College Library
I wake up one day knowing nothing about an old, private Roman Catholic women's college in Chicago called Mundelein College . Never heard of it. Within hours, the defunct college, its library, and once-great collection of books are at the forefront of my thoughts and research. That morning, I find in a second-hand shop a beat-up, damaged copy of Pope Leo XIII's Memoir, Life of Leo XIII: From an Authentic Memoir (1896), which introduces me to Mundelein and an interesting and benevolent bibliophile that helped shape their library. The old book's covers are detached, it's falling apart, and a rubberband holds the pieces together. Still, I must look inside for hidden treasure and I am rewarded for doing so. I find pasted on the marbled endpaper a bookplate from Mundelein College, specially designed to acknowledge the gift of a man identified as Rev. John Rothensteiner. Back home a bit later, I research Mundelein College, which no longer exists, and i...