ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

Grants and Acquisitions

Hugh Thompson

Albion College in Michigan has received a grant of $2 million from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek. The grant will be used to expand information technology within the college, extend information services to the Albion community, and allow the community access to information resources via the Internet through the creation of three public access sites.

The American Antiquarian Society has received grants of $110,000 from the National Science Foundation and $12,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to fund the “First Democratization Project,” which will collect, analyze, and archive all the existing federal, state, and local voting records from the U.S. in the early national period from 1788 to 1824. The result will be an important contribution to the understanding of the way American politics operated in the age of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe.

Columbia University's Rare Book and Manuscript Library has received a $220,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to preserve and catalog the archives of modernist architect and theatrical designer Joseph Urban (1872–1933). The collection includes architectural drawings, stage models, glass plate and acetate negatives, sketches, drawings and paintings—many in fragile condition. The two-year grant will allow hiring of two full-time employees who will improve storage of materials, make minor repairs, and identify items that need major conservation work.

Indiana University's (IU) School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) has been awarded a $6,250 grant from OCLC Online Computer Library Center and Office Research to study the impact of electronic journals on scholarly communication. The research is expected to highlight electronic journal titles that major research libraries should consider acquiring and will also serve as a benchmark against which future studies of electronic journals can be compared.

IU’s SLIS has also been awarded $14,000 in federal funds, added to $10,000 in institutional support, to educate a doctoral student in the area of humancomputer interaction (HCI), an interdisciplinary field drawing on psychology, cognitive science, computer science, sociology, and ergonomics. “Libraries and information centers of all kinds cannot afford to ignore the issues associated with system usability and effectiveness—the domain of HCI,” said Blaise Cronin, dean of SLIS. The funds were granted under the U.S. Department of Education’s Library Education and Human Resource Development Program.

Rutgers University has received a grant of $55,723 from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission to arrange and describe the records, dating from 1893, of four New Jersey utopian communities: Jersey Homesteads, Farmingdale, the Modern School, and Free Acres. The records will be entered into RLIN and OCLC.

The University of the Arts in Philadelphia has entered into a cooperative agreement with the Terra Foundation for the Arts which will lead to a series of direct and matching grants over two years totaling $22 million. The funds will enable the university to expand its mission in education, research, and the fostering of creative development in the visual, performing, and design arts through new academic programs, scholarships, and enhanced faculty and staff compensation and development. The grants will also contribute to the building of a new teaching facility and support improvements to an existing dormitory.

Ed. note: To ensure that your news is considered for publication, write to: Grants & Acquisitions, C&RL News, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611; e-mail: hugb.thompson‹Sala. org. Photos are welcome.

The University of North Dakota has been awarded an $11,000 grant from the U.S. West Foundation to fund an educational program for K–12 students in North Dakota. The grant will be used to purchase and set up a server and construct a Web site that will contain regional educational and historical information to be used by school children throughout the state.

Acquisitions

A collection of recordings documenting Western music from the 1930s to the present has been acquired by the Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles. The almost 250 LPs and singles were donated by the Music Department of California State University, Northridge. The collection, originally compiled by the university’s radio station, KCSN-FM, spans a range of Western styles, including Western swing, traditional cowboy, singing cowboy, rockabilly, and modern-contemporary. Featured artists include Spade Cooley, Bob Wills, Pee Wee King, and a host of lesser-known but significant performers. Small independent labels such as Texas Rose and Cattle Records, are represented with reissues of rare original recordings and inaccessible radio transcriptions.

Former Pennsylvania Governor Robert P. Casey has donated his personal papers and administrative documents Pennsylvania State University’s Pattee Library. The collection of more than 75 boxes of material records Governor Casey’s terms in office (1987–1995 and includes speeches, administrative correspondence, photos, and newspaper clippings. The papers will be an excellent source for anyone seeking information on 20th-century public officials and their public activities.

The personal papers of W. McNeil Lowry (1913–1993), the creator and administrator of the humanities and arts division of the Ford Foundation from its inception in 1957 until his retirement in 1975, have been acquired by the University Archives at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The collection includes thousands of field notes taken by Lowry and his assistants; transcripts of private conferences held with some of the most famous names in the performing arts; copies of oral histories with Lowry for the Truman Library; personal correspondence with political, philanthropic, and arts figures; and much detailed information about how a major philanthropic foundation is run.

The papers of the late Arthur J. H. Clement Jr., a prominent African American businessman and civic leader from Charleston, South Carolina, have been acquired by the University of South Carolina’s South Caroliniana Library. Clement was associated with the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company for over 37 years in positions of increasing responsibility. The papers contain thousands of letters, speeches, newspaper clippings, reports, programs, and photographs concerning Clement’s widespread interests.

The papers of the Maury Family, a prominent family of Virginia, have been acquired by the College of William and Mary’s Earl Gregg Swem Library in Williamsburg. The largest part of the collection of more than 700 items centers around the correspondence of James Maury (1746-1840), the first American consul to Liverpool, England, and his wife, Margaret Rutson Maury, with their five children. Other parts of the collection include the letters and diaries of Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806-1873), famed oceanographer and nephew of James Maury.

Hugh Ferriss’s rendering of the Ziegfeld Theater in New York designed by Joseph Urban. From the Joseph Urban Collection at Columbia University.