In the span of forty-two years Donald Goddard Wing successfully engaged in two pursuits. From 1928 until retirement in 1970 he was a librarian at Yale University. From 1932 until his death in 1971 he was engaged in creating, compiling, and revising the great work of enumerative bibliography by which he will be remembered, the Short-Title Catalogue of English Books, 1641-1700 (STC). This project was complemented by his work at Yale and with its holdings. Wing's genius synthesized the needs of the institution for which he worked with his creation of an indispensable bibliographical tool.

Born to Frank and Edith Smith Wing in Anthol, Massachusetts, Donald Wing attended public schools and entered Yale University, graduating in 1926. In "The Making of the Short Title Catalogue, 1641-1700" Wing spoke about his childhood: "Sometime about the age of ten I started a notebook alphabetically arranged by actors and actresses of all their movie parts. The...