News Article

In honor of the 150th birthday of L. Frank Baum, author of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” Gonzaga University’s Foley Center library will host an exhibit titled “Beyond Oz: Highlights from the L. Frank Baum Collection of Currie Corbin.”

The Rare Book Reading Room, located on the third floor of the Foley Center, will be the site of this exhibition that runs from April 10 through June 30. The hours will be Monday through Friday 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and Saturday noon-4 p.m. The date of Baum’s birth was May 15, 1856. The exhibition will be closed for holiday April 14-17, May 20, and May 27-29. The exhibition is sponsored by Spokane Teachers Credit Union, which is paying for the Exhibition catalogs that will be given away to attendees.

All of the materials in the exhibition are on loan from Corbin, a Spokane resident, who began collecting Baum’s work as a child growing up in Eastern Montana. His own transformation from a reader who loved the Oz books to a serious collector dealing in a rarified and usually adult world is a fascinating story in its own right. Corbin financed his Oz passion by selling hand-painted Santas to gift shops in Yellowstone National Park. He occasionally stayed home from school to bid by telephone on auctions at Sotheby’s and Swann Galleries.

In 20 years of collecting, Corbin amassed a wonderful array of Oz books and other rare Baum titles. He even has titles published under Baum’s various pseudonyms, which included women’s names. Highlights from the exhibit include the only known copy of a 1913 lithograph poster from Baum’s 1913 stage production “The Tik Tok Man of Oz.” Other rarities include first editions of most Oz series titles, including some signed and in original dust jackets.

Corbin will discuss his collection in a public lecture at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 27, at the Foley Center Teleconference Room. The event is free and open to the public.

Corbin attended Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., where he majored in business. In addition to collecting rare books, Currie collects rare western photography, western art, vintage cocktail shakers, and arts & crafts period pottery.

Corbin is director of marketing for Oxyfresh in Coeur d’Alene, and is a member of the Spokane Arts Commission. Also, he is a concert pianist and an operatically trained vocalist. 

For more information on the Oz exhibit, contact Stephanie Plowman at (509) 323-3847.