W. A. Moffett of Huntington Library Dies : Scholar: Director won praise for opening photo archive of Dead Sea Scrolls to researchers.

William Andrew Moffett, the director of the Huntington Library who made research history by opening the library’s photographic archive of the Dead Sea Scrolls to scholars, has died. He was 62.

Moffett died Monday at his San Marino home after a two-year battle with cancer, said Catherine Babcock, library communications director.

The sixth person to manage Henry Edwards Huntington’s fabled collections in San Marino, Moffett opened access to the images of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1991, breaking a 40-year monopoly by a small number of Israeli scholars.

“When you free the scrolls you free the scholars,” he said at the time. “Opening access to the Dead Sea Scrolls is an affirmation of the mission of research libraries: not merely to store and preserve information, but to make it available in as free and unfettered a way as possible.”

Moffett said when he provided access that the Huntington is “simply the custodian of information embedded in images. It cannot be copyrighted. It’s unethical and improper to do so.”

“And in essence,” he said, “we’re simply providing access to information. And that’s what libraries do. That’s what we’re all about.”

Highly respected in his profession, Moffett was named librarian of the year in 1993 by the Assn. of College and Research Libraries. The same year, he received the American Library Assn.’s Immroth Memorial Award for Intellectual Freedom and the annual professional librarian award from the Special Libraries Assn.

“Bill Moffett’s tenure as director of the library fulfilled the highest expectations of his appointment,” said Huntington President Robert A. Skotheim. “His professional judgment, his articulation of the role of the research library and his successful projection of its image externally comprise his success.”

During his five years as director, Moffett prepared the Huntington for the 21st Century, automating the facility and developing a program to increase fund raising for capital improvements.

The library, which began with the wealthy Huntington’s capacious appetite for collecting, is known as one of the nation’s leading centers for the study of English and American history, literature and science. During Moffett’s tenure, the library showcased its most successful exhibition in its history: “The Last Best Hope of Earth--Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America.”

As director, Moffett supervised a staff of 50 people and a collection of more than 675,000 books (including 5,400 printed prior to 1500), 750,000 maps and photographs and more than 3 million manuscripts.

Moffett served as library director and history professor at Oberlin College in Ohio from 1979 until he came to the Huntington in 1990. At Oberlin he attracted national publicity when he helped to apprehend rare books thief James Shinn. Law enforcement officials claimed that the man stole at least $500,000 worth of rare books from 140 university libraries from UCLA to Princeton. Physically prevented by Moffett from leaving the Oberlin library, Shinn later pleaded guilty to the theft of about 500 books.

Moffett was born in Charlotte, N.C., as the son of a Presbyterian minister and grew up in Port Gibson, Miss. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Davidson College and his master’s and doctorate in history from Duke University. He obtained his master’s of library science from Simmons College in Boston.

Moffett began his career teaching history at Alma College in Michigan and later taught at the University of Massachusetts. He moved on to director of libraries for the State University of New York at Potsdam.

Switching to library administration after teaching history, Moffett once told The Times, was “a very natural transition. The library is to the historian what the chemistry lab is to the chemist.”

Moffett is survived by his wife Deborah; two daughters, Pamela Moffett Padley of Irvine and Stephanie Moffett Hynds of Pasadena; two sons, William Andrew Moffett Jr. of Fletcher, N.C., and Charles Henry Buckers Moffett of New York City; a sister, Mary Ann Mobley of Cowiche, Wash., and three grandsons.

A memorial service will be conducted at 11 a.m. Tuesday at San Marino Community Church, 1750 Virginia Road, San Marino.

The family has asked that any memorial donations be made to the William A. Moffett Endowed Library Acquisition Fund at the Huntington Library or to the William A. Moffett Book Fund at Oberlin College.