DuPont-Ball Lihr
STETSON
III N I V E R S I T Y
NEWSLETTER Fall 2008
Message from the Library Director
Although we have been very busy with some
projects over the summer, we want to
emphasize in this Newsletter our faculty whom
we honored at the fall reception and the special
event we held September 18, 2008, for Max
Cleland '64. We
celebrated Max's gift of
personal memorabilia
from his life and political
career, including student
days and Army and
government service.
You will read a
description of this gift
later in the Newsletter,
so I will describe the
celebration.
With a standing room only crowd of more than
200 students, faculty, staff, trustees, and
members of the public, I briefly welcomed
everyone, and President Doug Lee spoke on the
importance of the collection. The president also
pointed out that this event was an appropriate
ending for Stetson's celebration of Constitution
Day.
Max spoke extemporaneously about how much
Stetson had meant to him and credited Stetson
for helping him develop from a "pine knot" into a
person who could lead a great life. As he spoke
with emotion and humor, the crowd reacted with
laughter and applause.
Max had the chance to meet personally with
everyone and is shown here with Stetson
employee and Vietnam veteran Dave Lowery.
Some of Max's special guests included Jim
Shields who served in
Max's unit in Vietnam,
long-time supporter from
New Jersey Jaimee
Gilmartin, college
roommate Tony Tussing
'65, Max's Lambda Chi
fraternity "father," Paul
Storm '61, "66, and too
many others to mention.
Max has an uncanny gift of making life-long
friends, and he never forgets a name or a story
(sometimes a bit embarrassing) about the
person.
Susan Ryan had created two displays from
Max's collection on the main floor, which
remained for several weeks, and a special
display in the Politicos
Room for the celebration.
The collection is so
extensive, that much of it
will remain in archival
boxes, to be brought out
periodically for displays or
research. It even includes
a replica of his Senate
chair which Max donated
for display in the Politicos
Room. We also have photos of many items on
the library's special collections website:
http://www.stetson.edu/library/specialcollections
cleland.php. There you will also find video
clips of Max reminiscing about items from the
collection and people associated with them,
audio clips from tapes he made in Vietnam as a
young soldier, and a transcript of the diary he
kept while there.
Betty Drees Johnson, Library Director
