Posted 1:55 p.m. Thursday, May 6, 2021
Paul Beck to retire
Paul Beck is retiring after 23 years at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse. Following the completion of his MLS degree from UW-Madison in 1976, Paul launched his career as an archival librarian at the Dallas Public Library in Texas. Later, after earning a JD degree from the University of Texas at Austin, Paul became an archivist at the Texas State Library in Austin before finally joining the Library Department at UWL as Special Collections Librarian in 1998.
Paul will leave a lasting legacy through his expert administration and support of Murphy Library’s rare and fine press books, Wisconsiana, university archives, photographic and oral history collections, as well as his skillful management of printed, archival and manuscript materials for the La Crosse Area Research Center. Paul recounts coordinating the digitization of 29,000 historic steamboat photographs for the UW Digital Collections Center (UWDCC) and coauthoring, with colleague Laura Godden, the La Crosse Postcard History Series book published by Arcadia Publishing in 2015 as two of his most memorable accomplishments during his time at Murphy Library. The Library Department has recognized Paul’s distinguished service at UWL by nominating him for emeritus status.
In retirement, Paul has a series of travel goals to complete, including visiting all 50 states and their capitols (two states and four capitols to go), visiting all 63 U.S. National Parks (25 to go), and climbing all 54 of the 14ers (peaks over 14,000 feet) in Colorado (24 done so far). In non-travel plans, Paul notes, “I can finally organize the large collection of breweriana (signs, glasses, coasters, bicycle jerseys, etc. from breweries) that I've collected over the years.”