Joseph Maxwell "Max" Cleland was born in Atlanta, Georgia on August 24, 1942. He grew up in Lithonia, Georgia and graduated from Stetson University in 1964; he received a Master's degree from Emory University in 1968.

Max Cleland, who served in the Army from 1965 to 1968, volunteered for service in Vietnam as a young officer in 1967. Max served with the Army's 1st Air Cavalry Division. As a signal officer, he was involved in every major battle fought by the Cav in 1967, including major battles in Hue, Quang-Tri and Dong-Ha, as well as being part of the relief force rescuing 5,000 Marines at an isolated Marine base called Khe Sanh.

On April 8, 1968, while getting out of a helicopter with his radio team to set up a position east of Khe Sanh for his battalion, Max was wounded by a grenade accidentally dropped by one of his troops. Max was evacuated to an Army field hospital where he fought for his life having lost both legs and his right arm in the grenade explosion. After five hours of surgery and forty-two pints of blood, Max's life was saved. He was eventually flown to Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, DC where he began his new life as a triple amputee.

After a long recovery and rehabilitation, Max began a career in politics. He first served as a member of the Georgia state senate (1971-1975) and then worked as a consultant to the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs and as a professional Senate staff member until 1977. He was appointed Administrator of the United States Veterans Administration by President Jimmy Carter in 1977 and served until 1981.

Returning to his home state, Max became Georgia Secretary of State (1982-1996) and was subsequently elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1996, serving from January 7, 1997 to January 3, 2003. After leaving the Senate, Max served on the Board of Directors for the Export-Import Bank of the United States; he also served on the 9-11 Commission that explored the terrorist attacks on the United States.

In June 2009, Max received a presidential appointment from President Obama as Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission. The Commission, established by Congress in 1923, serves as the guardian of America's overseas commemorative cemeteries and memorials.

The Stetson University duPont-Ball Library is pleased to hold in our Archives more than 800 pieces of Max Cleland's personal memorabilia, including items from his time in Vietnam, his time in the U.S. Senate and other political offices, and much more. Specifically included are items from his government offices, items from campaigns, plaques, awards, DVDs, CDs, letters from U.S. presidents and prominent government officials, and more than 5,000 photos, many of them autographed. The collection was acquired in 2007. See also Cleland video clips and Cleland audio clips from Vietnam. The Stetson library also holds Max's three books, Strong at the Broken Places, Going for the Max! and Heart of a Patriot.

Max Cleland's official Senatorial papers and memorabilia are held by the University of Georgia's Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies. His Veterans Administration papers are held by the Carter Center.

Please ask to see our Politicos Room that holds some of the Cleland Collection.

M. Jean Greenlaw was born April 1, 1941 in St. Petersburg, Florida. She grew up in Pennsylvania and received a B.A. (1962) and M.A. (1965) from Stetson University; she earned her doctorate at Michigan State.

Jean, an expert in children's literature and reading, taught in public schools and was an active member of the University of North Texas faculty from 1978 until her retirement in 2005. In 1987-88, UNT awarded Jean the title of "Regents Professor," given to those who have performed outstanding research or teaching; today she holds the title of UNT Professor Emeritus of Teacher Education and Administration. Upon her retirement, UNT created the M. Jean Greenlaw Award in Literacy Education, making her the first recipient.

The International Reading Association chose Jean as the Arbuthnot Award winner in 1992, honoring her as an outstanding university teacher of children's and young adults' literature.

Jean is the author of a number of books about life in Texas, including Ranch Dressing: The Story of Western Wear (1993), and Welcome to the Stock Show (1997).

The Stetson University duPont-Ball Library is pleased to hold the M. Jean Greenlaw Collection of approximately 1,500 children's books in our Special Collections. Many of the books are first editions and almost all are signed by the author and/or illustrator. The collection was acquired in 2006 and is housed in the Johnson Room on the ground floor of the duPont-Ball Library.

The Regar Collection was donated to the Stetson University Library in 2008 by Donald Allen Regar and his four children, Donald Allen Regar, Jr., Alison Regar Betancor, Allen William Regar, and Adam Frederick Regar.

The Regar family members are direct descendents of the Allen family that had strong ties to early DeLand. Donald Regar's great grandparents, James Frederick "Fred" Allen and his wife Calista Doble Allen, arrived in DeLand in 1875 after Fred had served in the Civil War in 1864-1865.

They built a house at 516 N. Woodland Boulevard across the street from what would become the DeLand Academy (later Stetson University). The home now houses the University's Public Relations and Communications Department. They watched as construction began on the first campus building, DeLand Hall, and Fred promised the builders he would furnish the school with "some scholars."

Fred kept his promise; four of his surviving children attended Stetson. One daughter, Mabel Allen, was in attendance in 1886, shortly after the Academy (the equivalent of a high school) and the University opened for business.

Another daughter, Fannie Norton Allen, also attended the Academy, graduating in 1902, and then taking elective courses in the College in 1904. She later married William John Regar of Tampa and they had a son, Jeffred Allen Regar, who is donor Donald Regar's father. Although Donald and his children did not attend Stetson, they considered the alma mater of four of their DeLand ancestors to be a fitting home for their great and great, great grandparents' treasures.

James Frederick Allen served in the military during the Civil War. He was first at Camp Randall, Wisconsin early in 1864, but just a few months later he was taken prisoner and sent to Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia. He was then transferred to the notorious Andersonville Prison in Georgia from which he was released in mid-1865. The collection includes 13 Civil War era letters written by James Frederick Allen before, during, and after he became a prisoner of war at Andersonville, the spoon Allen used at Andersonville, the Bible he had in prison.

The collection also includes more than 200 family photos.

Eugene Clay Shaw, Jr. was born in Miami, Florida on April 19, 1939. He grew up in Miami and graduated from Stetson University in 1961; he received his M.B.A. from the University of Alabama in 1963 and a J.D. degree from Stetson University College of Law in 1966.

Clay began his career as an attorney in private practice, becoming the assistant city attorney for Ft. Lauderdale in 1968 and chief city prosecutor from 1968 to 1969. He served as an associate municipal judge in Ft. Lauderdale from 1969 to 1971.

Clay was elected a Ft. Lauderdale City Commissioner in 1971 and served until 1973.He served as Ft. Lauderdale's Vice Mayor (1971-1973) and was subsequently elected Mayor in 1975. After five years as Mayor, Clay was elected as a Republican to the 97th Congress; he subsequently served 13 terms (January 3, 1981 to January 3, 2007). Since leaving Congress, he has led classes at Harvard University as a Harvard Fellow.

The Stetson University duPont-Ball Library is pleased to hold in our Archives Clay Shaw's official congressional papers (totaling more than 100 linear feet) and memorabilia. The collection includes policy notebooks, plaques, awards, videos, letters from U.S. presidents, a number of signed framed bills with the presidential signing pens, and more than 2,500 photos. The U.S. and Florida flags that stood in Clay Shaw's office are also in the collection. The collection was acquired in late 2006.

Please ask to see our Politicos Room that holds some of the Shaw Collection.

The Stetson Collection includes books, music CDs, and other items that are about Stetson University and/or have been written by Stetson professors or alumni. Items from the closed Stetson Collection are available to be used by the Stetson community on request, but may not be taken from the building. Items in the Stetson Collection are not available for interlibrary loan; depending on the condition of the material, however, limited photocopies may be made for interlibrary loan requests. The collection is housed in the Johnson Room on the ground floor of the duPont-Ball Library. See also our list of Alumni Authors.

In December 2004, the Stetson University Library was given fourteen historical manuscripts: thirteen letters written to U.S. Rep. James B. Reynolds, a 19th-century congressman from Tennessee, and a handwritten draft of a circular Reynolds wrote to his constituents in 1825. The collection was donated to Stetson by Dr. James Surratt, Volusia school superintendent from 1984 to 1991 and father of alumna Joy Surratt Baskin (1992). Surratt, now semi-retired, is an antiques collector who acquired the letters from a North Carolina woman whose husband was descended from Congressman Reynolds.

The original documents are preserved in the Library Special Collections area of the University Archives, but images and the transcriptions and notes are posted on this site for study by historians of the pre-Civil War period.

Congressman James B. Reynolds was born in County Antrim, Ireland, in 1779. After coming to the United States as a young adult, he settled in Clarksville, Tennessee, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1804. He was elected as a Republican to the Fourteenth Congress (March 4, 1815 - March 3, 1817) and the Eighteenth Congress (March 4, 1823 - March 3, 1825). He returned to Clarksville where he again practiced law and maintained an active correspondence with many notables of the day. He died June 10, 1851.

Among Congressman Reynolds' correspondents were Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton; Tennessee Congressman Cave Johnson; Congressman, Senator, and presidential candidate Daniel Webster; and Kentucky Congressman, Senator, and presidential candidate Henry Clay. Letters describe the very bitter political contests between the Whigs and the Democrats in the 1840's, including Cave Johnson's description of "fisticuffs" on the floor of Congress in September 1841.

For brief biographies of the political figures mentioned above and throughout the letters, see Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present. In the transcripts bracketed words in italics indicate uncertainty regarding the correct word.

The Treasure Collection comprises approximately 800 books and other items that have been determined to have significant monetary value and/or have been determined to be rare or not widely held by libraries. Items from the closed Treasure Collection are available to be used by the Stetson community on request, but may not be taken from the building. Items in the Treasure Collection are not available for interlibrary loan; depending on the condition of the material, however, limited photocopies may be made for interlibrary loan requests.