• GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY i21b!l[rp Assoaa-tes NEWSLETTER February 1991 Newsletter 28 Inside this Issue New Associates Twentieth Anniversary Commemorated Felix Robinson Papers Associates Reception in Well over 300 people gathered in the Uni­ In welcoming the guests, Father O'Donovan Boston ...... ...... 2 versity's Leavey Center on the evening of De­ recalled that Georgetown University had taken cember 4, 1990 to mark the 20th anniversary of "a major step forward in the area of information A Washington Tragedy the opening of Lauinger Library. To celebrate services" when it dedicated Lauinger Library A Wish List ..... .... 3 the occasion, University President Rev. Leo J. twenty years ago. "Testing the limits of our own O'Donovan, S.J. hosted a reception for the Shane Leslie knowledge is the goal of all true learners," he members of the Lauinger staff, the University Bruno Scott James .... 4 said. community, Library Associates and other University Librarian Susan K. Martin paid In Memoriam friends. tribute to the Lauinger family who "cared about Blommer Science Library Philip C. Lauinger, Jr. (C'58), brother of the need of a flourishing university for an ex­ Foreign Languages Fund 5 Joseph Mark Lauinger for whom the library is cellent intellectual center," to the University named and member of the Associates' Board of administration for its strong backing and to the Fitzhugh Green Papers Trustees, was able to come for the occasion from Library Associates whose support and guidance Archives Fund his home in Tulsa. Mr. Lauinger thanked his enable the library to meet the needs of its users. Woodstock Library 6 fellow Associates and assured them that their Dr. Martin remarked that "libraries are dynamic Renovation support of Lauinger Library "makes a significant organizations" and added that Lauinger will Specialized Gifts ...... 7 impact." change in the coming years. Partial List of Gifts ..... 8 Clockwise from upper right: Rev. Leo J. O'Donovan, S.J., Georgetown University President; Dr. Susan K. Martin, University Librarian; and Philip C. Lauinger, C'58, Library Associates Trustee. Welcome, New Felix G. Robinson Papers As a Lutheran minister, for nearly ten years he Associates remained in the New York area at various churches. In 1934 he became the pastor of a Aziza Abulhum-Alaini The papers of the historian, liturgist and musi­ cian, Felix G. Robinson, were recently given to church in Keyser, West Virginia, and at the James E. Alatis same time founded the Mountain Choir Festi­ Michael Baker Georgetown by his children, Ariel Robinson of Derwood, Maryland and Muriel Franc of Carne­ val, perhaps one of his greatest achievements. Peter Benedict The festival was held for eight seasons in mid­ William C. Chapman gie, Pennsylvania. The library is greatly in­ debted for this unique collection about the his­ summer at the old resort village of Mountain Michael J. Collins Lake Park, Maryland. Its purpose was to further Thomas A. Dean tory of the Allegheny tableland region of west­ ern Maryland and West Virginia. the ecumenical movement through cultivation Muriel Franc of the Christian musical heritage and church Philip Gold Robinson is well remembered as a pioneer in the field of Maryland local history. Beginning in liturgy. This ecumenical work ultimately led to Elizabeth Grantham Robinson's conversion to Roman Catholicism John R. Guardi 1953 he published over a period of ten years a journal now quite rare, "Tableland Trails," in 1949. He died at Oakland in 1967. Robert A. Hecht The Robinson papers trace all aspects of his Mrs. John Herbert which preserved much of the local lore and oral history of the region. A significant portion of the life and career. There are extensive correspond­ Daniel James ence, manuscripts, research notes, clipping files Robert B. Lawton, S.J. Robinson archives contains genealogical notes about the original families of western Maryland and photographs. Among the correspondents Amos Levitt are Goetz Briefs, Bruce Catton, Archbishop Terri O'Lear to which are added the research papers of an­ other local historian, Captain Charles Hoye Michael Curley, John Dos Passos, Rev. John Robert S. Parker Tracy Ellis, T. S. Eliot, Robert W. Garrett, Marguerite S. Quinn (1876-1951), longtime editor of the Garrett County Historical Society's Glades Star. Rev. John Courtney Murray, S.J., Eleanor Robert B. Raphael Roosevelt, Madame Schumann-Heink, David L. Schindler Leopold Stokowski and Volkmar Wentzel. Richard B. Schwartz Samuel Schwartz Herbert F. Thompson Anne Graffam Walker Earl J. Wilson Thomas Wilson Associates Hold Boston Reception In October, CorneliusJ. Moynihan, Jr. (C'61), President of the Georgetown University Library Associates, and William D. Benjes (C'60), member of the Board of Trustees of the Associ­ ates, held a reception in Boston to welcome Susan Martin as the new university librarian of the Joseph Mark Lauinger Library at George­ town. Nearly 30 Associates and Georgetown friends and alumni gathered in the elegant Union Club on Park Street for an evening of conversation and conviviality. Introduced by Mr. Moynihan to the group, Dr. Martin spoke about the intense F.1ix G. RobilUOn with Jean Thomas, Appalachian folklorist, at the first folk festival in West Virginia, summer 1947. and rapid growth of the Georgetown libraries in the decades since World War II, noting that in the late 1940s the total library budget was Maryland history was only one of Robinson's around $6,000, and as recently as 1960 the col­ passions: two others were religion and music. lection size was only just over 200,000 volumes Born in 1898 in Oakland, Maryland, he re­ (it is now more than 1.3 million volumes). ceived degrees from Gettysburg College and the The growth of the library, together with the Lutheran Theological Seminary, and did gradu­ explosion of information as well as of informa­ ate work at the University of Chicago and the tion technologies, allows the university to take Union Theological Seminary. Halfway through advantage of the strong collections and to build his training at the seminary he went to work on these collections, as well as to implement a with Loudon Charlton, impresario of Carnegie system which allows library users to access in­ Hall and co-founder of Columbia Artists, Inc. formation in electronic form, residing anywhere During this period Robinson became associated in the country or even worldwide, she empha­ with many of the noted musicians of the day, but sized. This very successful event will be followed when offered a junior partnership he decided to by similar events in other parts of the country, finish his theological training. during the coming months. Page 2 A Washington Tragedy William Everson / Brother Remembered Antoninus: A Wish List Hundreds of Washingtonians, including a num­ In a career as a poet/printer now spanning 55 ber of Georgetown students, braved a heavy years, William Everson has made for himself a continuing snowfall on the evening of January secure place among the great and truly Amer­ 28, 1922, to see the comic adventures of "Get­ ican Catholic poets of this century. For those Rich-Quick Wallingford" on the screen ofCran­ attempting to collect his work, however, the dall's Knickerbocker Theater at Columbia Road wealth of "slender volumes of verse," of broad­ and 18th Street, N.W. At 9 pm, as the theater sides, of contributions to the works of others orchestra played to fill up the intermission dur­ and of work simply printed by Everson makes a ing a change of reels, the Knickerbocker's roof, rather daunting obstacle. The purchase of a large unable to handle the weight of 26 inches of institutional rare book collection in 1985 gave snow, caved in. Among the 98 who died were us the groundwork for a fine collection of Ever­ five Georgetown men; another four were part of son's work; mercifully, we thought, it included the 150 seriously injured. Virtually the entire two of the almost unfindable Everson rarities: his Medical School took part in caring for the sur­ broadside poem "At the Edge," which he printed vivors. in 1952, and one of the 48 copies of his projected Rescue work lasted all night and into the new Latin psalter, publication of which was following day. The Sunday Star for January 29 funded by the late Estelle Doheny in 1955. characterized the rescue scene as frightful Persistent ordering from dealers' catalogs has beyond description: brought us a great deal more in the last five years, The moving lanterns, the shouts of but we are still very, very far from a complete­ the rescue workers and the cries and whatever that is - collection. Nonetheless, we shrieks of the wounded made a pic­ want to build up as strong a collection of Ever­ ture which must be left to the im­ son's work as we can, and so we ask for your help. agination. A description would only We tend to doubt that many of the following serve to weaken the awfulness of the items (the dozen or so most glaring of our lacu­ scene. nae) will be readily available on your shelves, but if they are we'd be very glad to add them. San Joaquin. Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press, 1939 The Masculine Dead. Prairie City, IL: James A. Decker [1942) The Residual Years. [Waldport, OR) Untide Press [1944) A Privacy of Speech. Berkeley: Equinox Press, 1949 Triptych for the Living. [Berkeley) Seraphim Press, 1951 The Tongs of Jeopardy. Oakland: Privately printed [1963) The Poet Is Dead. San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1964 Rico Tomaso's painting. The Dominican Brother. San Francisco [ca. 1965) (anonymous) Shortly after the disaster Scripps-Howard LSD No Substitute for Sin: Antoninus. Berkeley: Newspapers, publishers of the Washington Oyez, 1966 News, commissioned 24-year-old artist Rico For Immediate Release.