In 2007, James P. Danky will retire after thirty-five years as librarian at the Wisconsin Historical Society and fifteen years as Director of the Center for the History of Print Culture in Modern America (CHPC) at the University of Wisconsin. Since joining the Wisconsin Historical Society as a librarian in 1973, Jim Danky has gained an international reputation in the area of the "alternative" or "oppositional" press. During his long tenure at the WHS he has built research collections of books, newspapers, periodicals, and "ephemera"-adding approximately thirty thousand new titles to the library's holdings-that represent the print culture of the African-American press, marginalized ethnic groups, feminist and other women's publishing, the gay and lesbian press, left- and right-wing political groups, and the literary "underground."

To celebrate Jim Danky's outstanding contributions to librarianship and print culture studies, especially his research and professional practice that for decades have brought the alternative press to the attention of students, scholars, and the general public, the CHPC, in conjunction with the Schools of Library and Information Studies, and Journalism and Mass Communication, and the departments of Afro-American Studies, English, and History, the General Library System of the University of Wisconsin, and the Wisconsin Historical Society, will sponsor a symposium to take place in the Wisconsin Historical Society's auditorium between 1 and 5.00 on Friday, April 13, and from 9.00-1.30 on Saturday, April 14.

The symposium will be free and open to the public. A reception will be held on Friday April 13 from 5.00 to 8.00 in the Commons of the School of Library and Information Studies.