When the author became a professor with interests in literature, composition, technical communication, speech, and rhetoric, he little anticipated the extent to which book collecting could affect research and teaching, but his finds increasingly enlightened him. As he gravitated toward composition, technical communication, speech, and rhetoric in his career, the author made most of his finds in these areas, and these finds added to his growing awareness of the value of book collecting for research and teaching. In this article, the author discusses how his discoveries enriched his view of historical reality. Through his discoveries, the author gradually became aware of inadequacies in bibliographic access and he came to respect the value of footwork and serendipity as research methodologies at a time when experimental research was overemphasized, especially in composition and technical communication. The author also discusses the role of book collectors in discovering new materials useful in research. While the use of computers in research will clearly and rightfully increase, ways must be found to ensure that those using computers will be able to access all of the information relevant to their research. Toward that end, the author offers two steps: (1) bibliographies must be exhaustive; and (2) descriptive techniques must be developed to suggest the contents of research materials.