Monochrome photo of David Jackson McWilliams and Irene Délano viewing an early printed book

David Jackson McWilliams (1909-1986), dedicated 28 years of his life to La Casa del Libro. He maintained the museum operational after founder and first executive director Elmer Adler’s sudden demise. During his long and productive incumbency, McWilliams tripled the quantity of incunables in the collection, emphasizing in Spanish incunables. Under his directorship, many other important books were acquired, along with print works of local and international artists. McWilliams continued the labor of describing the books and nourishing the catalog of the museum, begun by Adler by way of manuscripts. While serving as La Casa del Libro’s executive director, he also worked as an English literature professor in the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus, and as an operetta singer. He became friends with many artists, like the marriage of Jack and Irene Delano, Antonio Martorell, Lorenzo Homar, and many other whom he received at the museum where he also resided.
Irene Delano (1919-1982), American graphic designer, illustrator of books, educator, who together with husband Jack Delano (1914-1997), took permanent residence in Puerto Rico in 1946 and pioneered the development of the graphic arts in the country. Her institutional designs of books and posters won many awards throughout her life. In 1949 she was named director of the graphics section of the Community Education Division (DIVEDCO, for its Spanish acronym) in the Department of Public Education, a position she held until 1952. At that institutions, she selected and trained the technical team, as well as introducing the silkscreen method to the most important young artists of the era, including Julio Rosado del Valle, Lorenzo Homar, Rafael Tufiño, Francisco Palacios, Juan Díaz, José Manuel Figueroa, Eduardo Vera, Manuel Hernández Acevedo, Félix Bonilla Norat, Luis Padial and José Menéndez Contreras.