jan09c.indd


Ann-Christe Galloway G r a n t s  a n d  A c q u i s i t i o n s  

The University of Pittsburgh’s (UP) Center 
for American Music of the University Li­
brary System has been awarded a grant 
of $39,826 for a 2008 National Leadership 
Grant from the Institute of Museum and 
Library Services (IMLS). The grant funds 
a planning conference scheduled for May 
2009 at UP to develop strategies for creat­
ing an electronic directory for Resources 
of American Music History. The project 
is a partnership between the Center for 
American Music and the Society for Ameri­
can Music, a constituent member of the 
American Council of Learned Societies 
(www.american­music.org). One of only 
nine planning grants made nationally by 
IMLS (16 planning grant proposals were 
submitted, with a total of 104 total pro­
posals being submitted), UP’s project was 
identified by the granters as “one that will 
have an impact on library and information 
services and serve as models to libraries 
across the nation.” Experts in information 
technology and in American music archival 
and library resources will participate in the 
planning a new comprehensive reference 
tool for American music history. 

I owa  S t at e  U n i ve r s i t y ’s  Pa r k s  L i b ra r y  
has received a $200,000 grant from the Roy 
J. Carver Charitable Trust to transform its 
former microforms staff and storage area 
into a large flexible computer classroom 
for library instruction. The area is adjacent 
to the library’s new Learning Connections 
Center, which combines traditional reference 
features with an information commons and 
multimedia production studios. The new 
classroom will be designed so it can be used 

Ed. note: Send your news to: Grants & Acquisitions, 
C&RL News, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611-2795; 
e-mail: agalloway@ala.org. 

as an open computer lab when not being 
used for teaching. 

Acquisitions 

A gift of Don Knotts memorabilia has been 
given to the West Virginia University (WVU) 
Libraries. Among items donated by Knotts’ 
widow, Frances Yarborough­Knotts, are a 
thick stack of playbills, many with covers 
bearing Knotts’ wide grin, that mark his work 
in dozens of stage productions over a span 
of decades. Knotts starred in performances 
of classics such as On Golden Pond, Harvey, 
Last of the Red Hot Lovers, You Can’t Take It 
with You, and The Odd Couple. In The Odd 
Couple, he took on the role of Felix Unger 
to Art Carney’s Oscar Madison. Along with 
playbills, the donation also includes boxes 
of articles and promotional materials, pic­
tures of Knotts on stage, personal letters 
and writings, pages of handwritten stories 
and jokes, multiple Matlock scripts, his 
Screen Actors Guild card, and a scrapbook 
of photographs and newspaper clippings 
compiled by TV Land. There is also a watch 
that Andy Griffi th presented to Knotts upon 
his departure from The Andy Griffi th Show. 
Yarborough­Knotts said it was one of the 
few items Knotts treasured enough to store 
in a safe­deposit box. The watch was espe­
cially meaningful because of the humorous 
personal message Griffith and the show’s 
producers had engraved on the back. Along 
with the number five are the words: “See, 
we thought we’d put 5 on it because you’ve 
been here for 5 years.” Yarborough­Knotts’ 
donation of memorabilia is the third such 
gift to the WVU Libraries. She previously 
donated several items in early 2007, and the 
first gifts were given in January 2006, just 
one month before Knotts’ death. 

C&RL News January 2009  62 

mailto:agalloway@ala.org
http:www.american-music.org