Boice Lydell

From An American Original

Boice Lydell is one of the nation's preeminent collectors of Roycroft artifacts. His lifelong interest in Roycroft began as a child and was sparked by the fact that he is a distant relative of Anson Blackman—also known as "Ali Baba" — who was Hubbard's alter ego. Lydell says, "I'm a very motivated person and decided young that if I was going to be knowledgeable in any subject, it was going to be Roycroft because I had tie-ins and I owned some one-of-a-kind, unique items through my family. So I continued studying and collecting every piece of Roycroft I could get my hands on." His extensive collection, including rare objects, manuscripts and photographs, is meticulously catalogued and housed in the Roycroft Arts Museum in East Aurora, New York.

Roycroft Arts Museum
From An American Original

As the leading collector and expert in the field, he has lent his knowledge and expertise to numerous books, essays, and journal articles about Elbert Hubbard and the Roycroft. Most recently, he was instrumental as an advisor on Elbert Hubbard: An American Original.

According to producer Paul Lamont, "I never met a person more passionate about anything as Boice is about Hubbard and Roycroft. As an advisor he brought a lifetime of expertise to the film during the critical stages of scripting and provided unfettered access to everything in his collection. A team of researchers working everyday could have spent a year going through the hundreds of thousands of photos, artifacts and documents. We didn't have that time or the resources but certainly, this film would have been much less had it not been for Boice and his unselfish cooperation in our efforts."