ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


N ovem ber 199 2  /  673

A cquisitions

H. Josey o f Birmingham, chose to support the 
libraries as a w ay o f contributing to the future 
of higher education in Alabama. The m oney 
will assist the libraries’ developm ent o f infor­
mation technology.

The University o f N o rth  C arolina a t  Chapel 
H ill (UNC-CH) will receive state-of-the-art mul­
timedia com puter equipm ent valued at $1 mil­
lion from International Business Machines Corp. 
(IBM). The equipm ent will be u sed  to access 
digitized audio and video materials and to sup­
port projects that take advantage o f multimedia 
and a fiber-optic netw ork coming to UNC-CH 
next year. The library plans to digitize original 
d o cu m en ts, im ages, recordings, an d  v id eo  
materials from its Southern collection. That da­
tabase of electronic materials will be available 
to students and faculty on the netw ork and in 
specially eq u ip p ed  classrooms. Students will 
be able to  prepare electronic term papers that 
incorporate interviews and video clips o n  the 
com puter screen.

W h itm a n  C o lle g e 's  P enrose M e m o r ia l Li­
brary received a $240,000 endow m ent from the 
estate of Ruth McBimey, Whitman class of 1939. 
McBimey, retired director o f libraries an d  pro­
fessor emerita o f Boise State University, died in 
March 1991. She w as head librarian of the Ameri­
can Library in Paris (1947-53) and received the 
Palmes A cadem ique from the French govern­
m ent for this work. Proceeds from the McBimey 
endow m ent will be used for library materials 
and autom ation at Penrose.

The 7 0 ,0 0 0  volum es o f the N a z a re th  Col­
lege (Kalamazoo, Michigan) Library w ere ac­
quired by the Baker C ollege system for its seven 
cam puses in Michigan after Nazareth College 
closed its doors at the en d  o f the 1992 aca­
demic year. The Nazareth collection provides a 
liberal arts balance to Baker College’s computer, 
business, and medical collections.

G e o rg e  O r w e ll's  o rig in a l h a n d w r itte n  
manuscript of N ineteen Eighty-four has been  
given to B row n  U n iversity’s  Jo h n  Hay Library 
by Daniel G. Siegel, B row n Class o f 1957 and 
president o f M & S Rare Books. T he m anu-

script, containing about 44% o f the published 
text, is the only know n holograph m anuscript 
o f the w ork, an d  is the only extensive Orwell 
manuscript know n to survive. As Orwell’s widow 
w rote in a letter to  Siegel, this m anuscript is a 
very “rare docum ent” for “G eorge always threw  
aw ay all his mss. letters etc., so his actual w ork­
ing m ethods are very badly docum ented.” The 
m anuscript consists of 143 leaves w ritten on 
183 pages and contains both handw ritten and 
typed sheets. The latter are heavily overwrit­
ten. Nineteen Eighty-four, published in 1949, was 
O rw ell’s last work; he died in 1950.

A  total o f 2 3 2  editions o f M elville 's M o b y  
Dick, in 31 languages, w ere donated by alum­
nus William S. Clark, class of 1942, to Dart­
m o u th  C ollege, w hich already has a substan­
tial M elville co llectio n . C lark says h e w as 
m otivated by an urge to collect books, not by a 
love of the epic itself: “I found it difficult to get 
through.”

The p a p e rs  o f  th e  B e c k w ith -F o x  f a m ily  
have been acquired by the H untington Library. 
The 1,000-piece collection details the careers of 
Edward G. Beckwith and Jo h n  L. Fox. Beckwith 
w as instrum ental in the com pletion of the gov­
ernm ent survey for a Central Pacific Railroad 
route. During the Civil W ar he served under 
G eneral Banks in U nion-occupied Louisiana. 
Fox served as a surgeon in the U.S. Navy dur­
ing the U nion blockade of southern ports.

The J a n e t H o b h o u s e  (1 9 4 8 -1 9 9 0 ) p a p e rs
docum enting her life and career as a novelist, 
art critic, and biographer of Gertrude Stein have 
b een  do n ated  to Rutgers U n iversity Libraries 
b y  A nne V irginia H o b h o u s e  B erg en . T he 
H obhouse papers include letters, appointm ent 
books, m anuscripts o f pub lish ed  w orks, an 
unpublished autobiography, unpublished es­
says and reviews, and reviews of h er work.

The papers o f p oet James Arlington W rig h t 
have b een  acquired by the U n iversity o f  Min­
n eso ta . Wright (1927-1981) w as a poet and 
teacher w ho held positions at the University of 
Minnesota, Macalester College, and H unter Col­
lege. H e received num erous awards an d  p u b ­
lished widely, including eight books of poetry. 
The collection includes correspondence, jour­
nals, m anuscripts o f Wright’s poetry and prose, 
photographs, clippings, writings about Wright, 
and teaching notes from his various posts. ■