Our Growing Collections

ROLAND BAUGHMAN
Gifts

Ba7icroft gift. Professor Margaret Bancroft (A.iM., 1913) has
on various occasions presented letters and documents relating to
the shipping interests of John Otis Given during the middle years
of the 19th century. iMost recenth* she has placed at Columbia
a group comprising i i o pieces, which \\ ill add materially to the
research strength of the "Given Papers."

Barzun gifts. Dean Jacques Barzun (A.B., 1927; Ph.D., 1932)
has made significant additions to the several collections he has
established in the past—the Berlioz Collection, the French Arts
and Letters Collection in honor of his father, Henri-A'Iartin
Barzun, and the "Jacques Barzun Papers." During the past months
Dean Barzun has added numerous phonograph records, books,
documents, correspondence, and manuscripts to these collections.

Berol gift. Mr. and Mrs. Alfred C. Berol have again joined in
presenting a most extraordinary group of letters and documents
representing figures who were important in the American Revo¬
lution. This year the gift comprises 61 items, including sixteen
letters by Henry Laurens, the South Carolina planter, and his
son, John Laurens. Paramount is a magnificent "manumission
letter," written by Henry Laurens to his son on 14 August 1776,
barely a month after the signing of the Declaration of Inde¬
pendence. This letter, which was included as one of the "Freedom
Train" exhibits, is over ten pages long, closely written. It dis¬
cusses, among many other topics, the abhorrent institution
of human slavery, and declares the writer's determination to

43