Three recent donations to the J.D. Williams Library will enrich the literature, accountancy and Southern history collections. The Shakespeare Oxford Society, Gary Previts and the late Carolyn Ross made these generous donations.
The Shakespeare Oxford Society (SOS), a nonprofit, educational organization, gave the library more than 300 items, each bearing the society’s custom bookplate.
“When we add the approved texts to our collection, it will represent a significant step forward in the number of volumes we have covering this important era in history, and we will have given students more tools to help them think critically and draw informed conclusions about Elizabethan theatre and life,” said Alex Watson, UM senior humanities librarian.
The books range from scholarly books about Elizabethan theatre to historical texts on the lives of major figures from the era. This donation includes many items that are rarely seen in libraries.
These items are mostly books that are still in copyright; therefore, there are no plans to digitize them. However, the SOS will be listed in the online library catalog as the donor, meaning that anyone wishing to see books it had owned can easily pull up a full list.
“In short, library patrons, society members and other interested parties will be able to browse our catalog electronically and then come into the library to use the items or arrange for them to be sent out through interlibrary loan,” Watson said.
The American Accountant by Benjamin Workman, The Philosophy of Accounts by Charles E. Sprague and Jones’s English System of Book-Keeping by Edward Thomas Jones were all donated by Gary Previts, accountancy professor at Case Western Reserve University. The American Accountant is composed of four books containing arithmetic of whole numbers, fractions, mercantile arithmetic and extractions.
Charles Sprague’s system of classifying accounts differed from the traditional view. His view focused on pointing out that accounting forms were not necessarily fixed and absolute. Jones’s English System of Book-Keeping explains the perspective of bookkeeping and business transactions. These donations were given by Previts on behalf of the Academy of Accounting Historians and offer many intellectual perspectives on the history of accounting. The accounting books will not be digitized, but they are accessible in Special Collections.
The Carolyn Jones Ross Memorial Collection is another new donation. Ross, who died in March 2014, served three years on the Oxford-Lafayette Heritage Foundation board, during which her ongoing research into the life of Oxonian Jacob Thompson was used to develop the marker at the Thompson Home Place site and the interpretive materials at the L.Q.C. Lamar House. This collection contains a significant compilation of letters from the family of Jacob Thompson during 1810-1885.
“During President Buchanan’s administration, Thompson was secretary of the interior, until 1861, during the secession crisis,” said Julia Rholes, UM dean of libraries. “This collection documents in great detail the lands and slaves owned by a major Southern political figure just prior to the Civil War.”
This collection is compiled with nine letters signed by Jacob Thompson, 17 letters from his wife, Catherine Thompson, and many other significant documents. The Carolyn Ross Memorial Collection will be digitalized. Once processed, it will be available in Special Collections.
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