Slocum Puzzle Collection at the Lilly Library

Slocum Puzzle Collection at the Lilly Library

Jerry Slocum, who has been collecting and studying puzzles for over fifty years, has announced that he will donate his collection of 30,000 puzzles and 4,000 books about puzzles to the Lilly Library at Indiana University. The library will open the Slocum Puzzle Room on August 3. About 400 puzzles will be on display, most of them mechanical puzzles such as Chinese Rings and Rubik's Cube. Visitors to the library will be able to test their wits by attempting to solve the puzzles.

An article on the exhibit, including photos of several puzzles, appeared in th July 25, 2006 issue of the New York Times. It describes Slocum as "a retired engineer and a former vice president of Hughes Aircraft," who is also "the author of 10 books on the history of puzzles, including a recently published account of the sudoku-like 15 Puzzle." (We beg to differ about the supposed similarity between the 15 Puzzle and Sudoku!) The book, which is co-authored with Dic Sonneveld, has just been reviewed in our Read This! column.