Today's Featured Biography

 
Terry Martin

From Edina, I went to Harvard then back to the U of M Law School. I married Molly Miller in 1968 and, rather than join the Army Band, we entered the Peace Corps, where I taught law at the University of Liberia. In Monrovia I became interested in library work so we then went to Pittsburgh for my library degree. Five years in Austin, Texas, were followed by five years as the director of the Georgetown University Law Library. In 1981 we moved to Lexington, MA, when I took the same position at Harvard.
Molly worked at the National Museum of African Art in DC and continued developing her expertise in that field at Harvard, becoming an expert on African textiles.
I retired in June 2008 as director of the Harvard Law Library after 27 years, expecting to relax and travel. But when Roy Mersky, long-time director of the University of Texas Law Library, died suddenly, I was asked to become interim director. Since my library career began at UT in 1972, it seemed fitting to return to Austin, which we loved then and do now. After two years running this library, I finally retired in August 2010. However, we like Austin and its weather so much we sold our Massachusetts home and bought one here.
I've been teaching about law libraries at the School of Information and a course in art law at the law school. I taught art law at Harvard for a decade and have given lectures on that subject in Freiburg, Frankfurt and Figueres. Library conferences in recent years have taken us to Istanbul and China.
The trip to China was especially memorable as my grandfather had been the first principal of LuHe High School in Tongzhou, now an eastern suburb of Beijing. My grandparents are still remembered there. My father was born in Beijing and grew up on the gorgeous LuHe campus. We were able to take his ashes back to his birthplace.
An active member of the Edina Band, I continue to play trumpet, French horn, and now tenor horn in various bands and orchestras. My current passion is British style brass bands. Molly, a former tympanist, has taken up the steel pan since returning to Austin, where she can indulge her passion for inline skating year-round.
Our daughter, Allegra, was born in DC and is now a choral musician in Boston. Our son, Adrian, followed his doctor wife to Rochester, NY, where he works as a crime analyst for the RPD. Naturally, we are on our best behavior in that town.

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