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GRANTS AND ACQUISITIONS
C&RL News, February 2007
Vol. 68, No. 2
by Ann-Christe Galloway
Kent State University Libraries and Media Services has received a gift of more than $943,000
from the recently deceased Victoria C. T. Read and the late Gerald H. Read. Their gift will benefit the processing, housing, and accessibility of the archival collection of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), an organization cofounded by Gerald Read in 1956. CIES has as its goal “to foster cross-cultural understanding, scholarship, academic achievement and societal development through the international study of educational ideas, systems, and practices.” This bequest will establish the Gerald H. and Victoria C. T. Read Archival Assistantship to provide future archivists with real-world training in the administration of archival materials. It will also make it possible to renovate the tenth floor of the University Library to expand the space available to its Department of Special Collections and Archives. Plans for the expansion will also provide for a dedicated instructional space for Special Collections and Archives’ librarians to provide students with opportunities for hands-on exploration of rare books and archival materials.
Acquisitions
Best-selling novelist Peter Straub has donated his papers to New York University’s Fales
Collection. The archive includes all of Straub’s published works represented in original notebooks, in-progress manuscripts, typescript drafts, galleys, and proofs, as well as manuscripts and typescripts of several unpublished works; Straub’s vast personal correspondence with such fellow writers as Brad Morrow, Ann Lauterbach, and Stephen King; and personal notebooks, diaries, and photographs. The Straub Papers also include complete typescript drafts of works by other writers, including King, Morrow, Poppy Z. Brite and others, often with Straub’s manuscript comments. Straub, who received a lifetime achievement award from the Horror Writers Association (HWA) in 2006, has seen seven of his books win the HWA Bram Stoker Award, has won two World Fantasy Awards, and was named an HWA Grand Master in 1998. His blockbuster bestseller Ghost Story, the result of his study of the history of Gothic literature, was made into a major motion picture in 1981, starring Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, and Patricia Neal. He coauthored two novels with Stephen King—The Talisman and Black House. His 17 novels include the bestsellers Shadowlands, Floating Dragon, The Throat, The Hellfire Club, and Mr. X. He is also the author of several volumes of poetry and recently edited H.P. Lovecraft: Tales for Library of America.
A secret wartime letter from General George Washington to his chief spymaster has been
acquired by Stony Brook University for $96,000 at auction at Christie’s in Manhattan. The purchase was made possible through private and public funding. Written from “Head Quarters Westpoint” on September 24, 1779, the missive to Major Benjamin Tallmadge, the Revolutionary Army’s spymaster, focuses on the activities of Robert Townsend, another secret agent, from Oyster Bay, Long Island. The letter, signed as Commander in Chief by Washington, refers to Townsend by his code name, Culper Jr., and refers to techniques used in the spying, including invisible ink. Special Collections of the University Libraries is the custodian of the letter. The document was transferred in December to the Center for Conservation for Art and Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia for preservation treatment. A committee comprised of university faculty and community members is planning a scholarly conference (to be held October 2007) and programs for primary and secondary school students to highlight Long Island’s significance during the Revolutionary War.
A collection of rare paper money from the Mexican Revolution has been donated to the
West Texas Collection at Angelo State University by a Dallas collector and his wife. Elmer and Diane Powell have given the 676 individual pieces of money to the West Texas Collection. The gift includes paper currency printed between 1910 and 1917 during the turbulent years of the Mexican Revolution. The collection includes money printed under the authority of Pancho Villa, Lucio Blanco, Alvaro Obregon, Louis Caballero, and Emilianao Zapata from El Banco Revolucionario de Guerrero. As the federal forces would retake a town or area, many of the bills would be overprinted with a validation stamp to show that the currency was legal tender under the current authorities. Many items in the collection are stamped several times. Because of revolution-era shortages, any type of paper such as old ledger pages or even oil cloth or linen from lamp shades would be used to print money. If it was paper and the ink would not run off, it was used to print money.
A collection of political papers have been added to the New York State Modern Political
Archive at the University at Albany-State University of New York. The collection, received from Syracuse University Libraries, includes the papers of 22 former New York Congressional members and 41 legislators who served in the New York State Legislature. The acquisition was completed to strengthen scholarly research and to support the long-term preservation and access to New York’s political history by placing the materials at the University at Albany Libraries’ premier political archive, which includes more than 300 collections from advocacy groups, political activists, and legislators integral to New York State’s public policy.
Ed. note: Send your news to: Grants & Acquisitions, C&RL News, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611-2795; e-mail: agalloway@ala.org.
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