{"id":3532,"date":"2019-12-09T10:42:18","date_gmt":"2019-12-09T15:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/info\/?page_id=3532"},"modified":"2021-11-30T11:35:06","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T16:35:06","slug":"carberry","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/info\/hay\/carberry\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Is Josiah Carberry?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n

Josiah S(tinkney) Carberry (fl. 1929-?), legendary professor of psychoceramics (the study of cracked pots) since 1929, was born on a bulletin board in University Hall. The first announcement of his existence was a notice which read:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“On Thursday evening at 8:15 in Sayles Hall J. S. Carberry will give a lecture on Archaic Greek Architectural Revetments in Connection with Ionian Philology. For tickets and further information apply to Prof. John Spaeth.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"a<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Professor Ben Clough suspected a hoax and inserted the word “not” between “will” and “give.” When he was asked for information, John Spaeth obligingly mentioned Carberry’s ungrammatical wife Laura, his poetical daughter Patricia, his puffin-hunting daughter Lois, and his accident-prone assistant Truman Grayson, who was always being bitten by things that begin with A. With a little bit of help, the Carberries grew and prospered, and sent telegrams, letters, and postcards, and annoyed the local press by inserting notices about themselves until they were banned by the Providence Journal<\/em>. Other publications were not so fussy. Classical Weekly<\/em> published Carberry’s contribution, “Another Catullus to Another Lesbia,” in 1934, and an article in American Scientist<\/em> included his book, Psychoceramics (Brown University Press, 1945, 1313p.) in its footnotes. His name has popped up in directories and programs. He was listed among the cast in Trinity Square Playhouse’s production of “Desire Under the Elms,” and attended the University’s bicentennial celebration as a delegate of Burleigh College (est. 1664).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"large<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, May 13, 1955, an anonymous gift of $101.01 was received by the University from Professor Carberry to establish the Josiah S. Carberry Fund in memory of his “future late wife.” A condition of the gift was that, henceforth, every Friday the 13, and during leap year on February 29, would be designated “Carberry Day,” and on that day friends of the University would deposit their loose change in brown jugs to augment the fund, which is used to purchase “such books as Professor Carberry might or might not approve of.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See books purchased on the Carberry Fund.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Special Collections Links<\/h2>\n\n\n\n