ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


892 /  C&RL News ■  Decem ber 1998

N e w  P u b l i c a t i o n s G eorge M . E berhart

Africana Librarianship in the 21 st Century: 
Treasuring the Past and Building the Fu­
ture, edited by Nancy J. Schmidt (96 pages, 
1998), contains the proceedings of the 40th 
anniversary conference of the Africana Librar­
ians Council in Columbus, Ohio, November 
13,1997. In addition to collection development 
reports from Northwestern University, the Li­
brary of Congress, and the Rhodes House Li­
brary in England, this work includes summa­
ries of Africana materials in Nigeria, Senegal, 
and Tanzania. $8.00. African Studies Program, 
221 Woodburn Hall, Indiana University, 
Bloomington, IN 47405. ISBN 0-941934-77-2.

American Revolutionary War Sites, Memo­
rials, Museums and Library Collections, by
Doug Gelbert (255 pages, October 1998), is a 
state-by-state guidebook to places open to the 
public. If you’ve been to all the Civil War sites, 
then the next best historical pilgrimages are 
those relating to America’s war for indepen­
dence. Battlefields are not the only sites in­
cluded— plantations, monuments, inns, muse­
ums, churches, cemeteries, and other visitable 
locations are also identified. $39.95. McFarland 
& Co. ISBN 0-7864-0494-9.

Cambridge University Library: The Great 
Collections, edited by Peter Fox (231 pages, 
August 1998), offers descriptions of some of 
the special collections housed in England’s 
oldest university library, which is celebrating 
its 600-year history with a new exhibition cen­
ter where its treasures can be showcased. The 
book opens with a short history of the library 
by Trinity College Librarian David McKitterick, 
then moves from one unique collection to an­
other, accompanied by many black-and-white 
and color illustrations that show the 5th-cen- 
tury gospel Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis; the 
800-year Genizeh archive of Jewish texts from 
Cairo; the 20-volume collection of lithographs 
of French architecture and antiquities, Voyages 
pittoresques et romantiques dans l ’ancienne

G eorge M. E b e rh a rt is associate e d ito r  o f American 
Libraries; e-m ail: g eb e rh art@ ala .o rg

France (Paris, 1820-1878); the Charles Darwin 
papers; and the collection of the Royal Com­
monwealth Society on British overseas colo­
nies (including 70,000 photographs and such 
artifacts as a feather from the crown of the 
Zulu King Cetshwayo and a statue saved from 
the ruins of Saint-Pierre after the 1902 erup­
tion of Mount Pelée on Martinique). Only a 
fraction of Cambridge’s collections are de­
scribed, but their histories are inspiring. $74.95. 
Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62636-6.

Dead Countries o f the Nineteenth and 
Twentieth Centuries: Aden to Zululand, by
Les Harding (392 pages, June 1998), was in­
spired by the author’s philatelic fascination with 
countries that no longer exist, like his native 
Newfoundland. Many of the entries are accom­
panied by an illustration of a relevant postage 
stamp, but Harding also covers political enti­
ties that existed between 1800 and 1840, when 
the first British stamps were issued. The en­
tries are enhanced with apt quotations from 
explorers, travelers, or other writers who men­
tion the place. For exam ple, the native 
feudatory state of Bundi in India was described 
by Rudyard Kipling in 1899: “…  but the Pal­
ace of Boondi, even in broad daylight, is such 
a Palace as men build for themselves in un­
easy dreams— the work of goblins more than 
men.” $45.00. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108- 
3445-6.

Financial Aid for Veterans, Military Person­
nel and Their Dependents, 1998-2000, by
Gail Ann Schlachter and R. David Weber (322 
pages, August 1998), identifies 1,250 scholar­
ships, grants, loans, awards, and other pro­
grams designed primarily or exclusively for 
Americans with ties to the military. This bien­
nially issued directory has been brought com­
pletely up-to-date with 100 new programs and 
substantial revisions to 75% of the entries in 
the 1996-1998 edition. As with all the other 
titles in the Reference Service Press catalog, 
the information is comprehensive and easy to 
access. $40.00. Reference Service Press, 5000 
Windplay Drive, Suite 4, El Dorado Hills, CA 
95762. ISBN 0-918276-66-7. ■

mailto:geberhart@ala.org


C&RL News ■  D e ce m b e r 1998 /  893