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C&RL News January 2017 52

The North Carolina State University (NCSU) 
Libraries has been awarded a $35,000 grant 
from The Pentair Foundation to support 
STEM-related programming and instruction 
for underrepresented groups at NCSU. The 
grant helps establish a new “Pentair Fellows” 
program through which graduate students 
will develop and teach free workshops on 
STEM tools and 
technologies, low-
ering NCSU stu-
dents’ barriers of 
entry into STEM 
fields. The grant 
also sponsors the 
libraries’ success-
ful making space 
series of public 
talks and work-
shops advocat-
ing for women in 
STEM fields. The 
workshops will 
cover both basic tech and tools, such as Ex-
cel and project management, and emergent 
ones like Python, Tableau, 3-D printing, 
and virtual/augmented reality. The Fellows 
will also create parallel online tutorials for 
students to access remotely when studying 
abroad, working on internships in the field, 
or otherwise unable to attend in person. 

A c q u i s i t i o n s

More than two dozen letters handwritten 
by James Monroe, the fifth president of the 
United States and an alumnus of the univer-
sity, have been acquired by the William & 
Mary Libraries. The letters, which have never 
before been published, document commu-

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

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

nications between Monroe and his Secretary 
of the Treasury, William Crawford. The let-
ters were purchased from the Raab Collec-
tion, a historical document and autograph 
dealer whose specialties include documents 
signed by U.S. presidents and other histori-
cal figures from the 16th through the 21st 
century. The firm acquired the letters from 

descendants of 
Crawford. Craw-
ford’s correspon-
dence, or what 
remained after a 
house fire burned 
many of his let-
ters, were passed 
down within the 
family and even-
tually came into 
the hands of 
Crawford’s great-
great-great-great 
grandson. Ac-

cording to dealer Nathan Raab, the owner 
described finding the letters in a box in his 
mother’s house. The letters join the library’s 
James Monroe Family Papers, a collection of 
more than 300 letters and other documents 
by, to, and concerning Monroe and his fam-
ily. Dating primarily from 1780 to 1831, the 
collection covers Monroe’s service as an of-
ficer during the American Revolution, gover-
nor of Virginia, minister to France and Great 
Britain, Secretary of State and War and Presi-
dent, as well as post-presidential years. The 
collection covers a variety of topics such as 
family life, business affairs, diplomacy and 
foreign relations, slavery and politics, and 
it includes one of the only existing letters 
written by Monroe’s wife. William & Mary  
Libraries and James Monroe’s Highland 
are preparing to digitize the James Mon-
roe Family Papers, making these materials 
freely accessible online. The papers are 
expected to be available online by spring 
2017. 

A selection of letters from President James Monroe that 
have been acquired by William & Mary Libraries.