Library Newsletter Fall 2021

Message from the Library Dean Susan M. Ryan, Betty Drees Johnson Dean of the Library & Learning Technologies Taking a break in the courtyard between classes INSIDE:  Faculty Honored  Faculty Book Authors  Library Research Prize Winners  Henry Flagler and Stetson  Welcome to New Staff  New Digital Collections  Library Support Newsletter Spring 2021 Fall 2021 is underway! What a difference a few months make. The library is full of students again with about 90% of our classes held in person. As we walk through the building, new energy is apparent and it feels almost “normal.” Students are once again on the Green outside the library (below) and enjoying the weather in the Courtyard. The PAWS Therapy dogs are back visiting the library and getting plenty of attention (above right). So many great things are happening on campus—even with the health and safety precautions that remain in place. In this newsletter issue, we celebrate our faculty who were tenured and/or promoted, as well as our faculty book authors. We highlight our library research prize winners who have produced well-researched papers while first-year students. And we introduce you to some new library staff members and new collections in the Archives. Happy reading! 2 2 The library has a tradition of annually honoring faculty members who have been recently tenured and/or promoted. We ask each faculty member to choose a book that has been particularly meaningful to them in their personal or professional lives and we add that book to our collection with a commemorative bookplate. In addition, we celebrate our faculty and staff authors who have published a book during the last year. New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton: “This book was my introduction into the mystical life and of contemplation, and would eventually set me off on a course that took me to the very present. Merton writes in such a ‘rationally spiritual’ style that I found (and still find) psychologically compelling. Merton has an unrivaled capacity to speak into the depths of the human condition that he virtually leaves nothing untouched. Reading (and rereading) this classic of western spirituality made me want to become more intentional at living life at a similar depth of meaning through my work as a counselor, professor, and as a person.” (Jesse Fox) Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya Umoja Noble: “Most of us use commercial search tools daily to find information that helps us make decisions and understand the world around us. This technology is deeply ingrained in our lives and it is easy to assume that the algorithms used by search engines and databases are fair, neutral, and objective. In this book, Safiya Umoja Noble critiques this notion by shedding light on the ways that structural oppression is embedded and reinforced in commercial search algorithms and demonstrates how this technology deepens inequalities, especially for people of color and women. Dr. Noble makes a compelling argument that problematizes reliance on commercial search engines for all of one’s information needs and calls for investment in libraries, universities, and other public information resources.” (Grace Kaletski-Maisel) Congratulations to those also tenured and/or promoted: Robert Askew, Tenured/promoted to Associate Professor Matt Roberts, Promoted to Professor Carol Azab, Tenured/promoted to Associate Professor Andrew Appleby, Promoted to Associate Professor, Dengke Chen, Tenured/promoted to Associate Professor College of Law Jesse Fox (upper left) and Grace Kaletski-Maisel (above), both tenured and promoted to Associate Professor. Honoring Our Faculty 3 Poetry of Khwāja Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī and A Year with Hafiz: Daily Contemplations by Daniel Ladinsky: “As a child I would wander and explore the shelves of public libraries with delight and curiosity. Libraries continue to provide a mosaic of luminous inspiration and serve as a trusted sanctuary for me. Today, I especially love watching my own children wander through the illumined pathways of libraries and explore colorful seas of books, finding generous gems full of wisdom. I am immensely grateful for the power of literacy. Poetry, in particular, continues to provide nourishment and wisdom in life journey. There are so many poets and poems that I cherish – Maya Aneglou, Mahadevi Varma, Langston Hughes, Mary Oliver, Rita Dove, Rabindranath Tagore, Shel Silverstein – but there is one poet who has an extra special place carved in my heart. I still remember the wonder and joy of first discovering the mystical work of the poet Khwāja Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī when I was young. I could not stop reading the poems before me, lines bursting with wisdom and beautiful blooms. Words I found soothing and galvanizing. The sacred poetry of Hafez immediately became one of my beloved teachers. The 14th-century Persian poet’s enlightening words and contemplations continue to be an essential part of my guiding compass. Many of his poems provide beautiful reminders to live a more fulfilled life and to be present. I integrate the work of Hafez in many of my classes. I remind students to embrace diverse experiences and authentically engage with the world, and encourage them to contemplate and make connections while unpacking his brilliant and rich metaphors. Hafez has a lovely way of nurturing, challenging, and inspiring. I also appreciate the playfulness and profoundness of his words. A few years ago, my dear friend and Stetson colleague Lindsey Carelli, gifted me Daniel Ladinsky’s A Year with Hafiz: Daily Contemplations. This book sits on my desk and I savor the deep wisdom it contains, as well as the invitation to pause, reflect, and to be more present. As an educator, scholar, activist, and amma (mom), I am grateful to have discovered Hafez at the library when I was young. I am grateful for his soulful poetry and continued influence in my life.” (Rajni Shankar-Brown) Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations by David Lewin: “In my first semester as a master’s student in music theory at the University of Minnesota, I took a course that explored David Lewin’s then unpublished Generalized Music Intervals and Transformations (GMIT). My professor, Michael Cherlin, was one of Lewin’s students, and I remember him saying the first day of class that, ‘this will probably be the hardest class in music theory that you ever take as a graduate student.’ I was both terrified and excited. Through the exploration of this book I came to understand that the field of music theory is vast and interdisciplinary. The systematic and mathematical properties that Lewin uses for musical analysis opened up an entirely new way of thinking. It led me, in part, toward my interests in transformational theory and composers like Elliott Carter, on whom I wrote my doctoral dissertation at the University of Chicago. The book was hugely influential for me and am grateful to Michael Cherlin for carefully teaching me these ideas early in my training as a music theorist.” (Peter Smucker) Pictured above: Rajni Shankar-Brown, promoted to Professor, and Peter Smucker, tenured/promoted to Associate Professor. 4 Congratulations to our faculty authors who have recently published books:  Christopher Bell, The Dalai Lama and the Nechung Oracle, University Press, 2021  Christopher Bell, Tibetan Demonology, Cambridge University Press, 2020  Teresa Carmody, The Reconception of Marie, Spuyten Duyvil, 2020  Ana Eire, ed., Sin Fronteras, Editorial Renacimiento, 2018  Chris Ferguson, How Madness Shaped History: An Eccentric Array of Maniacal Rulers, Raving Narcissists, and Psychotic Visionaries, Prometheus, 2020  Hari Pulapaka, Dreaming in Spice, 2018  Michele Parker Randall, A Future Unmappable, Finishing Line Press, 2021  Rajni Shankar-Brown, Tuluminous, Nirala Publications, 2020  Terri Witek, The Rattle Egg, Finishing Line Press, 2021 Faculty Book Authors 5 EVANS C. JOHNSON PRIZE Mira Monroe The Environmental & Health Effects of the US’ Nuclear-Arsenal-Network R. NEIL SCOTT PRIZE Emma Weis The Environmental Impacts of the Pulp and Paper Industry HONORABLE MENTION Jose Lois Monopolizing Insulin: The Exploitative Practice of Medicine Each spring the library awards two research prizes: The Evans C. Johnson and the R. Neil Scott research prizes. The contest is sponsored by the library (and funded by donors in memory of the prizes’ namesakes) to encourage the thorough, effective, creative, and ethical use of research resources in first year student papers. Winners receive a monetary award and an engraved plaque. The 2021 Evans C. Johnson Prize went to Mira Monroe (above, top right with librarian Laura Kirkland and above left with Dr. Paul Croce) for her paper The Environmental & Health Effects of the US’ Nuclear-Arsenal-Network, written for Dr. Croce’s first-year seminar class, USA: The Natural Experiment. Emma Weis (above left with Dr. Croce) won the R. Neil Scott Prize for her paper, The Environmental Impacts of the Pulp and Paper Industry, also for Dr. Croce’s seminar. We had so many worthy entries this year that the library awarded an Honorable Mention to Jose Lois (above right with Dr. Michele Randall) for Monopolizing Insulin: The Exploitative Practice of Medicine for Dr. Randall’s first-year seminar, Still Free: Road to Serenity. We congratulate these talented students. Library Research Prize Winners 6 Henry Morrison Flagler (1830-1913, below left), John D. Rockefeller’s business partner in the Standard Oil Company, first came to Florida in 1878. Flagler saw the potential for growth and financial prosperity in the state if someone took the time to develop the infrastructure. In 1885, he broke ground on his first hotel in St. Augustine and made the city his winter home. A series of hotels along the east coast of Florida followed, and he developed the Florida East Coast Railway system to link them, thus opening the area to visitors and allowing farmers to ship produce from southern Florida to the rest of the nation. In 1897, Dr. John Forbes (below right), the first president of Stetson University, started a campaign to increase the University’s endowment. The University had been running at an annual deficit for several years, and the deficit was growing each year. Forbes believed an increased endowment would help with this problem. After Forbes discussed the need to raise $100,000 for the endowment with John B. Stetson, the University’s prominent benefactor, Mr. Stetson agreed to donate $50,000 if President Forbes could raise the matching funds; Forbes immediately launched a campaign to meet that challenge. Forbes suggested to the Stetsons that Henry Flagler would be willing to donate $10,000, bringing the total raised to $95,000. John B. Stetson’s wife, Elizabeth, and his sons Henry and John B. Stetson, Jr., pledged the remaining $5,000. In Dr. Forbes’ letter of March 17, 1898 to Mr. Flagler, he wrote, “I wish I could put into fitting language my appreciation of your gift, but I really cannot put it into words. It is deeper than words will express. You made the result possible, and I pray, from my whole heart, that you may, and I know you will, receive your reward.” Dr. Forbes continued contact with Mr. Flagler, acquainting him with various opportunities to donate to initiatives at Stetson University. Dr. Forbes wrote an unusually long letter to Mr. Flagler in March 1899 in which he first outlined his idea for a School of Technology at Stetson. William Charles Hays, an architect in Philadelphia, sent a floor plan of what he called the Hall of Science to Dr. Forbes on November 14, 1900. Professor Osborne, a math and physics professor at Stetson who Forbes had charged with designing the new science building, worked with Hays on the plan. In February 1901, Forbes visited with Mr. Flagler in Palm Beach. In a letter written the next day to the architect Hays, Forbes stated, “I have been to see the gentleman from whom we may expect to get the money to erect our building, took with me all the documents, including the picture, and he has practically assured me that he will furnish the money, but cannot do it until May, so the work will have to be postponed until that time.” He goes on, rather flippantly, to say “there is an advantage in knowing that the work will go on ultimately, if the gentleman lives.” At this point, Henry Flagler was 71 years old. Ultimately, Forbes’ relentless pursuit came to fruition and Henry Flagler donated $60,000 to Stetson University for a new academic hall to house science, engineering, and law programs. As noted in the correspondence between Forbes and Flagler, the payment installments started in 1901 along with construction of the building. Flagler did not want his name on the building and he did not want to be publicly associated with the donation. In the official ledger of donations for 1901, the gift is noted as from “a friend.” Forbes invited Henry Flagler and his wife, Mary Lily Kenan Flagler, to visit DeLand to see the almost-completed science building. Forbes alluded to Flagler’s wish for anonymity in his association with the donation for the building. On December 10th, Flagler must have written of his plans to quietly visit the University to see the new building. Forbes responded on December 13th “with very great pleasure” regarding Flagler’s plan to visit. He agreed to meet the Flaglers at the train station in Orange City and drive them via carriage to DeLand. The Flaglers visited the campus in mid-December. Henry Flagler and Stetson University 7 In Flagler’s reply, he complained about the press coverage of his visit. Forbes responded, in a letter dated December 27, 1902, that “it would have been almost impossible to have kept the visit a secret, as many people in the city and some in the University knew some of your railway officers and would readily infer that you were there.” Forbes went on to say that he “kept the matter carefully prior to your coming in order to avoid any annoyance to you.” Despite Flagler’s wishes, The Volusia County Record published an article in December 1902 titled, “Here to Inspect Science Hall: Mr. and Mrs. Flagler and Officials of the F.E.C. Ry. Visit DeLand.” The article reported that the group inspected the new Science Hall, and “the party expressed great surprise that such a building could be erected for the money spent upon it.” Henry M. Flagler died on May 20, 1913 after a brief illness resulting from a fall in his home in Palm Beach. After his death, the press reported many varying accounts of the terms of his will. Most reports mentioned both Stetson University and the University of Florida as beneficiaries. In actuality, the bulk of the estate was left to a trust to perpetuate his properties and companies in Florida, namely the Florida East Coast Railway and his hotel properties. William H. Beardsley and William R. Kenan, Jr. were named executors of the will and trustees. Flagler directed that the trust should support his third wife, Mary Lily, with quarterly payments adding up to $100,000 annually. In a second codicil to the will, dated April 28, 1904, the provisions for Florida Agricultural College (a precursor to the University of Florida) and Stetson University were revoked. When Mary Lily Flagler passed away in 1917, $100 million of the estate left to her by her husband was divided between her brother, William R. Kenan, Jr., her sisters, and a favorite niece. The estate also included the Florida East Coast Railway, which went bankrupt in the 1930s during the Great Depression. Ed Ball, who oversaw the Alfred I. duPont estate, slowly bought up the railroad’s bonds until he had acquired a controlling interest. The current library building at Stetson University, completed in 1964, is named the duPont-Ball Library for its benefactors, Jessie Ball duPont and her brother, Edward Ball. At William R. Kenan, Jr.’s death in 1965, the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust was established with a $160 million bequest. In 1997, The Volusian described a scholarship endowment grant for Stetson University from the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust. The $100,000 endowment grant to Stetson University was given to “establish a scholarship program in honor of Florida railroad magnate Henry Morrison Flagler.” Classes are still held in Flagler Hall today. The building, which has had numerous interior renovations over the decades, still looks very similar to its façade in 1902 and serves a reminder of Stetson’s turn-of-the-century legacy. Above right: Flagler Hall under construction in 1902 Right: 1901-1902 ledger noting a $60,000 gift for Science Hall from ‘a friend’ by Debbi Dinkins, Library Associate Dean Want to share a Stetson memory with us? Send us a note: duPont-Ball Library Stetson University 421 N. Woodland Blvd., Unit 8418 DeLand, FL 32723 Phone: 386-822-7181 E-mail: [email protected] 8 Want to know what’s happening here? Follow us on Social Media: Facebook.com/StetsonuLibrary Twitter: @StetsonuLibrary Instagram: stetsonu.library Welcome Viri! Viridiana Rosas joined us in May as our Serials Collections Specialist. Viri holds the MLIS degree (Library and Information Science) from the University of South Florida and a BA degree in International Relations and Affairs from the Universidad Nacional de México. She comes to Stetson with significant experience after serving as a librarian at Seminole County Public Library and the Broward County Library, as well as interning at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Welcome Nicole! Nicole Rivera is our most recent hire, joining Stetson in August as a part-time Research Librarian. Nicole has a Master of Management in Library and Information Science degree from the University of Southern California and a BA degree in Cultural Studies from Empire State University of New York. Nicole has most recently worked as a Laboratory Operations Project Manager and her previous library experience includes an internship at the Olin Library at Rollins College. Interested in Stetson History? Check out our Digital Archives at archives.stetson.edu The library has two new collections in our Digital Archives: John B. Stetson, Jr.: A collection of photographs, records, and other items documenting many of John B. Stetson, Jr.'s activities, particularly his tenure as the United States Minister to Poland from 1925-1929. Highlights of the collection include photographs of pre-war Warsaw and a series of briefings on Polish affairs addressed to Stetson. Bert Fish: A collection of furnishings, rare books, photographs, scrapbooks, and other items that once belonged to Stetson alumnus Bert Fish. One of the five men who comprised Stetson's first graduating law school class in 1902, Bert Fish went on to become a prominent Volusia County judge, and later a U.S. diplomat. His career with the State Department took him first to Egypt in 1934, and then to Saudi Arabia and Portugal. Welcome New Library Staff!