Pamela Spitzmueller (October 7, 1950 – March 13, 2025) was an American conservator and book artist. Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1950, she attended the

University of Illinois Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...

and then studied with the book conservator Gary Frost. She worked in the conservation departments of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

, the

Newberry Library The Newberry Library is an independent research library, specializing in the humanities. It is located in Chicago, Illinois, and has been free and open to the public since 1887. The Newberry's mission is to foster a deeper understanding of our wo ...

, the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

Libraries, and

Harvard Library Harvard Library is the network of libraries and services at Harvard University, a private Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Library is the oldest library system in the United States and both the largest academic librar ...

, where she was Chief Conservator for Special Collections. Spitzmueller also created

artists' book Artists' books (or book arts or book objects) are works of art that engage with and transform the form of a book. Some are mass-produced with multiple editions, some are published in small editions, while others are produced as one-of-a-kind ob ...

s. Her work has been included in many exhibitions, including a solo exhibition in 2013 at the

Center for Book Arts Center for Book Arts (CBA) is a non-profit arts organization, founded in 1974. It is the first organization of its kind in the United States dedicated to contemporary interpretations of the book as an art object while preserving traditional prac ...

entitled "Pamela Spitzmueller: Fold=Trans=Form". Her work was in the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openi ...

(NMWA) and the

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is an art museum in New Haven, Connecticut. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University. Although it embraces all cultures and period ...

. Spitzmueller's papers are held in the Pam Spitzmueller Collection at the University of Iowa Libraries. The collection included her "bookbindings, conservation work (including Harvey's 1628

De motu cordis ''Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus'' (Latin, 'An Anatomical Exercise on the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Living Beings'), commonly called ''De Motu Cordis'', is the best-known work of the physician William Harv ...

and the Nag Hammadi codices), research notebooks, personal journals, correspondence, and book arts scholarship." Spitzmueller died on March 13, 2025, at the age of 74.

References

External links

Pam Spitzmueller Collection at the University of Iowa Libraries

1988 - Pamela Spitzmueller - Western Through the Fold Sewing
from Guild of Book Workers
1997 - Pamela Spitzmueller - Long and Link Stitch Binding
from Guild of Book Workers
2000 - Pamela Spitzmueller - Girdle Bindings
from Guild of Book Workers {{DEFAULTSORT:Spitzmueller, Pamela 1950 births 2025 deaths 20th-century American women artists Book conservators People from Chicago American women book artists University of Illinois Chicago alumni