iuPont'Ball Lihr
STETSON
NEWSLETTER Spring 2007
Message from the Library Director
I am pleased to announce several gifts which
help move our library forward:
• Congressman E. Clay Shaw's papers
• approximately 2,000 autographed, first-
edition, children's books from alumna Dr.
M. Jean Greenlaw
• $10,000 from bibliophile Frederick
Gerstell for books
• the gift from music critic Robert Dumm of
audio tapes of interviews with famous
pianists and composers since 1959.
We just celebrated a very successful
Homecoming at Stetson, with perhaps the
highest attendance ever. Special honorees
were members of the class of 1957. Since
1956/57 was the last year Stetson fielded a
football team, many of these football alumni
were here.
Associate
Director
Susan
Ryan put
up a
special
display on
Stetson
football which has drawn a great deal of
attention from current students as well.
We had a lot of interest in the story on the John
B. Stetson mansion which was in the fall
Newsletter. Lewis Stetson Allen wrote to say
that despite the rumors, while his greatgrandfather did die in the mansion, he did not
die in the bathtub. He also states that he did not
die of a heart attack. Actually, there was no
autopsy, and the newspaper obituaries at the
time describe the cause of death as "apoplexy" -
a term often used for "stroke."
Betty Drees Johnson ('59, '62), Library Director
Visit from a Bibliophile
(by Betty D. Johnson)
About two years ago I received a letter and a
small check for the library from Frederick
Gerstell, formerly a lecturer at The Lawrenceville
School in New Jersey. He said that while
visiting in this area many years ago, he was
curious to see what kind of holdings a "small
college in a small town" would have and "was
astonished at the currency and completeness of
Stetson's holdings." He had now retired in
Leesburg and
returned to our
library recently
and was again
impressed with
both our
collection and
the friendly staff.
He concluded that his check was a "small token
of thanks for the fact that Stetson remains
resolutely Type A."
Of course, I responded with our thanks and
welcomed him as a Library Associate. He
renewed that membership the next year. This
past October, Fred came by and told us he was
so impressed with our library that he had
decided to help us get even better, with the
intention of giving $50,000 for books over the
next few years. He has given $10,000 so far.
He asked us to spend $2,500 on filling gaps in
our Victorian literature collection and $2,500 for
books on the Reformation period. The rest of
the gifts can be used for any books we need.
Our literature specialist, Jane Bradford, is
working on the Victorian assignment, and I have
the pleasure of researching needs in the
Reformation period.
We are very proud of our collections, but we
know they can be improved with more funding.
Bibliophile Fred Gerstell is helping to make this
possible.
