ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Grants and Acquisitions

Brown University re-ceived a $600,000 three-year grant from the Davis Educa- tional Foundation to com- plete a project started in 1984 to make the uni- versity’s electronic library catalog of more than six mil- lion items one of the most accessible in the country. Currently the university’s online catalog represents 78 percent of the library’s hold- ings. Converting the remain- ing card catalog records into machine-readable form will give researchers access to the entire array of documents avail- able through Brown University’s campus net- work as well as several national networks.

Texas Tech University Libraries has re-ceived a $10,000 grant from the Helen Jones Foundation, Inc., for the development of a fine arts video collection. The funds will be used to purchase videos in the subject areas of art, music, theater, dance, performance, and video art.

The Center for Bibliographic Studies andResearch at the University of California, Riv- erside, has received a grant of $175,000 in di- rect funds and $250,000 in matching funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The grants will be used to fund phase two of the English Short Title Catalogue, a database of everything published in England, its colo- nies and dependencies, from the advent of the printing press to 1800, excluding maps and engravings.

Acquisitions

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,Golda Meir Library has acquired from Loryn Romadka, over 500 books from the Rolls Royce of book clubs, the Limited Editions Club. The Limited Editions Club (LEC) was started in 1929 by George Macy to offer book lovers an affordable entry into the world of fine books. Printed in limited editions first of 1,500 and later 2,000 copies, these books were only available to subscribers. Limited Editions Club books were also noteworthy for their fine illustrations by such modern artists as Matisse and Picasso commissioned by George Macy. Matisse made original drawings for the Limited Editions Club edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses and Picasso illustrated the club’s edition of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata. The collection has virtually every title issued by the Limited Editions Club from 1929 through 1981.

An extensive collection of May Sartonprimary sources has been acquired by Westbrook College from Bradford Dudley Daziel. Born in Belgium, Sarton immigrated to the United States with her parents at age four when her father accepted a position at Harvard College. Although she established a reputation early in her career as a poet, Sarton later branched out to write a number of novels, including Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing, and late in life, nonfiction “sketches for an autobiography.” Included in the Westbrook College acquisition are inscribed first editions of Sarton’s work, poetry manuscripts, family photographs, and correspondence between Sarton and Daziel written between 1978 and 1992.

Two lots of letters from art critic JohnRuskin have been acquired by The Hunting- ton Library. Considered by many one of the most important art critics of the Victorian era, John Ruskin was author of a number of influential books on art, including The Seven Lamps of Architecture. The first lot consists of 77 letters from Ruskin to a young artist, Louis Blandy. Written between 1875 and 1882, the letters record Ruskin’s comments on Blandy’s art work, and discuss their frequent walks near Brantwood, Ruskin’s home in the Lake District. The second lot consists of 11 letters, written to Ruskin’s close friend Mrs. William Buckland between 1848 and 1854, a crucial period in Ruskin’s life, during which his marriage faltered and his wife divorced him. ■