European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 23, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Research Library among Best in world texan creates academic shrine by Jules Loh a special correspondent scholars on both sides of Atlantic sneered at Harry Ransom when he set off in 1957 on a 14-year literary collecting spree. He announced that he aimed to establish not just a great Library for state of Texas but a Quot Bibliog Cheque National Quot a great National Library for state of Texas. After All he explained to unaware state started out As an Independent nation. No wonder Many put him Down As just another big talking texan with a fat Wallet. Then one after another Library collectors began imitating him doing what he was doing. They figured he must be onto something and he was. Now about 10,000 scholars a year from America and abroad trek to Library named for him and Salute his foresight and talk of his Genius. Quot Harry Ransom did whal nobody else was doing or even thought of doing Quot said Tom Staley Library a director at University of Texas in austin1. Quot he realized that he could t compete with other libraries that were Strong in 15th through 18th-Century items. So he went after 19th and 20th-Century manuscripts. They were plentiful available and not expensive. But it Wasny to a matter of settling for leftovers. He saw a window of Opportunity and took it. And he included archives of if you want to find out at what stage Tennessee Williams crossed out title poker night and in his own hand mercifully renamed play a Streetcar named desire. You May do so at Hrc. The theater arts film and photography. Quot he turned what already was an excellent research Library into a Superior one i know of no Library in America that compares to this one in its depth in 20th-Century British american and French during one Short period recently visiting scholars were digging into manuscripts and papers of Lillian Heilman William Wordsworth . Lawrence and Lucia Joyce James daughter. A scholar from Wales was studying Rhys Davies manuscripts and one from England searching those of world War i poets. A Canadian was studying Branwell Bronte brother of Bronte Sisters. A professor from Mississippi was Reading Eudora Welty noting insertions emendations and one from Washington state University was poring Over Yeats. Others were studying David o. Selznick . Bouwsma and Paul Bowles and John Lane. It is not surprising if All those names Are not familiar. Ransom retired in 1971 and died five years later but direction he set for his Library has t changed. Staley who also is a leading authority on James Joyce has been director four years. Quot i Don t want it Ever said that this is world s Best Library for 19th and first half of 201h Century he said. Quot there is still much collecting to Staley has a thick file of letters from grateful researchers singing Library a praises. And Anthony Hobson s Well regarded great libraries of world lists Only five in United states they Are Houghton Library at Harvard Beinecke at Yale Huntington in California Pierpont Morgan in new York and Harry Ransom Library at University of Texas superlatives of course fall easily from Texas lips and it in t surprising to learn that University s libraries plural a constitute nation s sixth largest College Library system Harry Ransom humanities research Center or Hrc As it is known on Campus certainly does t fit vied image of an academic shrine at least not from outside. It stands on rim of Campus a great Box of an edifice that might have been designed by a sixth grader with a ruler. Quot fortress Quot students Call it. It is seven stories tall though its Levels Are not apparent because its massive Limestone slabs permit Only a few vertical slits at Corners which serve As windows. A stand of live Oaks and a matched pair of sycamores out front help soften Stern tines. Inside though two items on display hint of scope of Hrc s remarkable treasures and give a clue As to what at least by author Hobson s criteria make it a great Library. On ground floor gaze upon world s first Book printed with movable reusable Type. A Gutenberg Bible printed in 1450, bound in heavy leather reposes on a Marble and Bier under airtight Glass. On sixth floor gawk with equal Awe at a mannequin wearing Scarlett o Hara s dazzling Green dress one she made from curtains. On other floors 22 Miles of shelves and countless file cabinets hold a million books and 9 million manuscripts glittering rooms contain cabinets of rare books beginning with first Book printed in English a photo Archive beginning with first photograph Ever made and movies dating to beginning of that historically recent Art form. Quot no Quot said Charles Bell who presides Over film Section Quot nobody set out to acquire Scarlett s dress. What we have is Complete David o Selznick Archive including everything connected with gone with wind. Quot dress came with it. It s Nice to have and draws a lot of attention but what is valuable is rest of it. Selznick threw nothing away. Quot we not Only have his finished films but scripts through All changes and rewrites his correspondence with writers like f. Scott Fitzgerald Ernest Hemingway Truman capote. Selznick wrote so Many memos he needed five secretaries. We have receipts cancelled checks ledgers works. It amounts to a Complete history of movie making during 1930s and 40s, Golden years of Selznick papers Are Only a fraction of Library s film archives a Gloria Swanson collection is As extensive which in turn is Library s smallest Section. The exhaustion of papers do however illustrate Harry ransoms notion of a research Library. The Tennessee Williams reference Catalon for instance has More than 2,000 entries. Quot Ransom was aware that a first edition is not beginning of life for a Book but end Quot said director Staley. Quot process of making of a Book or a film or a poem changes draft by draft to reach final product these Are what Are important to a student. Ransom wanted teaching materials not rare so if you want to find out for example at what stage Tennessee Williams crossed out title poker night and. In his own hand mercifully renamed play a Streetcar named desire or examine spiral notebook Jack Kerouac carried m his hip pocket to Jot Down impressions while writing on Road or study hundreds of revisions Robert Lowell attached to his poems with paper clips or discover a letter from William Faulkner to his father containing descriptions that appear word for word 10 years later in sound and fury you May do so at Hrc. The manuscripts Are like a Fossil record Frozen moments of literary creation. Even Lowell s paper clips remain attached. Looking for example at James Joyce s corrected final draft of Ulysses you see whole paragraphs circled with arrows in pinched handwriting around margins. It gives you feeling of being present at a Long and difficult birth. Quot a manuscript in its original form holds information not even a photocopy can give Quot said Cathy Henderson. Quot a writer might make one set of corrections in Black Pencil a second in Blue a third in red and so on. Editors suggest changes. Printers make errors. If you re looking to prepare an authoritative text to determine just what writer intended you need to work from Henderson is Library a chief of research. She decides whether a researchers purpose is sufficient to examine an original manuscript rather than a copy. Some documents Are too fragile to warrant unnecessary handling. Quot i have to think of next generation and next Quot she said. Quot sometimes budding writers come Long distances to see a Hemingway manuscript or a Steinbeck some favorite author. They want Only to touch it hold it maybe find inspiration. Quot i regard that Quot she said Quot As a perfectly legitimate reason. You should see their there is something distinctly texan about Hrc and its priorities visitors find an earthy openness uncommon to other libraries that can seem aloof and Ove Protr i Tive of their treasures when Hrc acquired Gutenberg Bible for instance it loaded it into an armoured truck and hauled it to cities and hamlets All across Texas so school kids could have a look Harry Ransom humanities research Center is called a fortress by University of Texas students because of its design. At right conservator Karen Pavelka works on a John Milton manuscript from 1623. And yes there was something decidedly texan about forthright Way Harry Ransom went about collecting manuscripts and papers sometimes dealing directly with author. He found James Agee s novels As Well As his working draft of his script for film african Queen enriching i to sections of his Library. He collected Dashiell Hammett my Arthur Miller and Anne Sexton. The list is Long familiar a ind Rich. He went abroad and came Home with . Forster Graham Greene Dylan Thomas George Bernard Shaw arid d h. Lawrence who wrote lady Chatterley s Lovenna Pencil on Little Blue school notebooks with ruled lines and multiplication tables on cover. He bought whole libraries. Evelyn Waugh a came Complete with Chippendale cabinets. A British writer at time John Carter sniffed at Quot flattering depredation of Texas on our cultural heritage which May have stung Ransom but did t Stop him British press also referred to him and his agents As Quot scavengers and pirates Quot he moved quickly knowing others would follow maybe Ransom was aware of a trend others had 1 noticed yet director Stalky observes in Hindsight that after world War ii a new criticism took hold in american University a research Center director Thomas Staley with Page proofs of Jamea Joyce s a Ulysses a published in 1922. A bust of Joyce is behind him. English departments and Quot number of dissertations being written on Joyce Faulkner and Hemingway surpassed number being written on Shakespeare. A Milton and in any Case now Slaley Ransom s successor has to compete with about 25 institutional buyers Ransom s imitators now interested in 19th and 20th-Century collecting one especially Active collector of contemporary authors is Washington University in St. Louis in bygone Days Staley observes collecting manuscripts usually meant simply dealing with heirs of established writers Long dead and certified As worthy of collection Quot now we have to bet on come Quot he said Quot Lake chances on writers with less solid reputations very Ollyn lesser known writers reflect their times better than writers interested in More cosmic Staley and his staff currently Are keeping an Eye on works of about 400 postwar authors. In one sense Ransom revolution came in Nick of time. Just before beginning of 19th Century in about 1880, paper manufacturers discovered Wood pulp and quit making sturdy Long lasting rag paper. Wood pulp contains seeds of its own destruction a substance called lignin a 17th-Century manuscript by John Milton came to Hrc in far Betler shape than Joyce s 1922 classic Ulysses which fell apart at touch. Consequently Hrc has developed one of Best conservation laboratories on planet where yellowed crumbling pages Are miraculously restored it took a year to Salvage Ulysses chief conservator Jim Stroud St shirt gives urgency to a familiar plaint Quot so Many books so Tittle now at close of 20th Century just when manufacturers Are Able to make pulp paper that Stroud Calls truly archival Quot another threat has Arisen a Lulu re of research libraries today s enters said director stale use it amputee and word processors whist Lea a no cads me of Noi Arons and corrections in we new collect Flo d Sev Page 14 stars and stripes monday december 23, 1991 stars and stripes Page 15
