UD presents sneak preview of Erma Bombeck collection

Erma Bombeck at home with her kids, from left to right, Andy, Matt and Betsy. DAYTON DAILY NEWS FILE

Credit: HANDOUT

Credit: HANDOUT

Erma Bombeck at home with her kids, from left to right, Andy, Matt and Betsy. DAYTON DAILY NEWS FILE

The University of Dayton will present a major exhibit of humorist Erma Bombeck’s original manuscripts, columns, handwritten notes, speeches and memorabilia.

“The Erma Bombeck Collection: A Sneak Preview” is from March 11 to Oct. 23 in the Stuart and Mimi Rose Gallery in the lobby of Roesch Library at UD. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

“It’s been a long journey, but she’s absolutely home,” Matt Bombeck said on the long-awaited arrival of his mother’s collection of works, according to the university.

Erma Bombeck first story in the (Dayton) Journal Herald on Nov. 19, 1949.

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The closing of the exhibit coincides with the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop in the autumn, where numerous writers will attend.

Bombeck, a 1949 graduate of the University of Dayton, became a household name with her syndicated humor column, “At Wit’s End,” about suburban home life and raising her three children in Centerville. At the height of her popularity, 900 newspapers syndicated her column to an audience of 30 million readers.

“The collection is completely irreplaceable,” Ed Hoffman, a rare book collector in Columbus who specializes in Americana, including the works of humorist James Thurber, said in the release.

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