John & Geraldine Lilley Museum of Art
Reno, Nevada
The Lilley Museum of Art is located on the main campus of the University of Nevada, Reno.
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Artist: Kenneth J. Carpenter (American, 1916-1999)
Kenneth John Carpenter was born on April 16, 1916, in Glendive, Montana to Olga Petterson and Edmond Carpenter. He grew up in Yosemite Valley where his father worked for the National Park Service. He attended Mariposa Union High school in Mariposa, California, graduating in 1934, and, in 1941, enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He served in World War II with the 856th Bomb Squadron in England and France. He received a Presidential Citation for his work on developing night radar mapping of the east coast of continental Europe.
After the war, Carpenter received a bachelor of arts degree in English Literature from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He then attended the University of California, Berkeley where he received graduate degrees in literature and library science. Upon graduation, he served as an administrative assistant to the library director and head of the rare book library at U. C. Berkeley. In 1962, Carpenter was hired as a librarian at the University of Nevada, Reno. While there, he served as the assistant director and head of the Special Collections Department. He retired in 1981.
Always interested in printing and fine books, Carpenter and his wife, Pattricia (Pat) Healey Evans, founded the Black Rock Press at the University of Nevada, Reno in 1965 with the purchase and donation of an 1837 Columbian handpress, which they donated in 1971. Carpenter taught printing classes at UNR and directed the activities of the Press until 1986. In 1998, the Black Rock Press printshop was renamed the Kenneth J. Carpenter Printing Studio.
In addition to his work in the library and the Black Rock Press, Carpenter was also active in the Faculty Senate and served as an Executive Board member for the University of Nevada, Reno Chapter of the National Society of Professors.
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