Fulton Oursler Memorial Collection

The collection of letters and manuscripts of the late Fulton Oursler has been expanded and enriched by a recent gift from Fulton Oursler, Jr., a Georgetown alumnus and member of the Board of Trustees of the Associates. In this gift are letters to Oursler from Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, H.L. Mencken, Theodore Dreiser, Upton Sinclair, Eugene O'Neill, Booth Tarkington, and many others. The letters and manuscripts are now being inventoried, and a more detailed description will be given in a future Newsletter.

Richard X. Evans Collection

Richard X. Evans of Washington, D.C., a member of the Associates, has donated to the library a substantial and significant portion of family papers dating back from about 1750 to the beginning of the 20th century. The collection includes papers and correspondence of Robert Mills, one of the outstanding American architects of the early 19th century, and the original copper plate for a portrait of General John Smith of Hackwood (Robert Mills' father-in-law), by Charles B.J.F. de Saint-Memin, to whose skill we owe likenesses of many outstanding Americans of the early Federal period. Also in the collection are letters and papers of Alexander Dimitry, Georgetown alumnus (MA 1832, LLD 1859), diplomat, and founder of the Louisiana public school system.

John S. Mayfield Gift

Mr. and Mrs. John S. Mayfield of Bethesda, Maryland, and Tyler, Texas, recently presented to the Library a very large and fine vellum document, the last will and testament of Francis Dixon of Liverpool, made in 1818, and probated before the Bishop of Chester in 1822.

Mr. Mayfield is a prominent author, curator, and collector of several English and American writers, especially Swinburne, Byron, and Lanier. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Library Associates and serves on the Executive Committee and the Program Committee.

American Heritage Dictionary Corpus Presented by the Houghton Mifflin Company

The Houghton Mifflin Company has presented to Georgetown University Library a large collection of language information used in preparation of the American Heritage School Dictionary. The collection was assembled during the research and analytical work which cost more than one million dollars. The principal materials in the collection include a five-million word sample, 87,000 word sets, citations for several thousand words of interest, and the original marked and coded sampling texts.

Houghton Mifflin President, Harold T. Miller, said in making the gift to Georgetown that this is the first time such an extensive collection of dictionary research and development material has been made available to scholars and researchers for their use. This unique collection will be located in the Special Collections Division for use by scholars who are concerned with the English language, the American dialect, and general and applied linguistics.

School of Foreign Service Class of 1950 Gift

Eighteen alumni of the School of Foreign Service Class of 1950 presented to the Library more than $600 as their 25th reunion gift, and all other alumni of that Class are being invited to contribute to the gift. We are hopeful that this fine example of alumni interest and generosity will be an incentive for the establishment of other class gifts and endowments for the Library.