University of South Carolina Libraries
THE GAMECOCK * Monday, December 3, 2001 CONTACT US TTT^ Ml THEY SAID IT I I I J I ■/ I I / % OSCAR WILDE: “Men marry because Story ideas? Questions? Comments? ■ ■ I k I W 11/ they are tired, women because they Writeusatgamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com _Jj_ _H_ _JL—f ~ ■ M A. are curious: both are disappointed.” t*..s BY KRISTEN THOMAS THE GAMECOCK In 1968, Dr. Walter Turnbull advertised the choir’s first rehearsal in the church bulletin, and 20 boys came to the basement of Ephesus Church. From that small church choir, The Boys Choir of Harlem grew to what it is today — a world-renowned performing arts and educational institution with 550 students enrolled. Boys ages 8 to 18 in grades 4 through 12 and girls ages 12 to 18 in grades 7 through 12 participate in the organization, which is dedicated to providing students with a broad based education as it prepares them for productive adulthood. The Boys Choir of Harlem offers an internationally recognized holistic year round program that addresses the social, educational and developmental needs of high-risk, inner-city students. The 35 to 40 boys who appear in the boys’ Performing Choir are selected for their academic performance, attendance and progress at rehearsals as well as vocal quality. All the students at the Choir Academy of Harlem take daily classes that include music history, theory, voice and an instrument. BCH makes three or four tours and performs at an average of 100 engagements in 24 states each year. It has taken nine European tours and visited places such as London’s Cathedral of St. Paul and Royal Albert Hall, Paris’ St. Germain-des-Pres and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. The choir has also performed in Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. The BCH has been involved in the celebration of some significant milestones. It has participated in the United Nations’ 50th anniversary concert at Avery Fisher Hall with New York Philharmonic under the baton of Kurt Masur, the Statue of Liberty’s \T«lnr>vi Mandela’s first visit to the United States, the quincentenary of Columbus’ arrival, Pope John Paul II’s sunrise mass in Central Park and the 1993 presidential inauguration. It also performed in Pavarotti in Concert, which was taped before a live audience of a half-million and broadcast into more than 30 million American homes and 48 countries worldwide. The choir has recorded a pop album, BCH — Up In Harlem. African-American spirituals and gospel, jazz, pop and hip-hop songs are choreographed to enhance the group’s stage presence. If you’ve never seen the Boys Choir of Harlem perform, the Christmas show will be a treat. Don’t miss the chance to see a national treasure at its best. The boys choir began in 1968 and has performed in Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, photo special to THE GAMECOCK THE CHARTS Top 10 Movies Figures are for the weekend of Nov. 30-Dec. 2. MOVIE BOX OFFICE 1. Harry Potter..._ $24.1 million 2. Behind Enemy Lines$ 19.2 million 3. Spy Game$11.2 million 4. Monsters, Inc. $9.4 million 5. Black Knight $5.7 million 6. Shallow Hal $4.7 million 7. Out Cold$2.9 million ; 8. Domestic Disturbance$1.9 million 9. Le Fabuleux... $1.4 million 10. Heist $1.2 million : Top 10 Albums Issue date: Dec. 8. TTTIE ARTIST 1. WeatheredCreed 2. Now 8 _Various 3. Britney Britney Spears 4. ScarecrowGarth Brooks 5. Now...Christmas_Various 6. A Day Without Rain Enya 7. Cocky Kid Rock 8. Missundazstood Pink 9. Escape Enrique Iglesias 10 ..[Hybrid Theory] Linkin Park USC professor donates literary collection BY JENNIFER BIRD THE GAMECOCK Adding to its already vast col lection, USC’s Thomas Cooper Li brary has attained a comprehen sive collection of some of the 19th century’s most acclaimed writers. Dr. Joel Myerson, a prominent American literature professor and former USC English Depart ment chairman, donated the col lection through a gift-purchase agreement. Myerson has been col lecting pieces for the past 30 years and is considered one of the finest scholars in literature. This eclectic collection secures first editions, proofs and manu scripts from some of the most dis tinguished authors of all time: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. Works from such authors as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Al cott and Herman Melville are also included in the collection’s more than 11,000 volumes. In ad dition to more transcendentalist selections, the library will house a 7,000-volume reference collec tion of the period’s scholarly pub lications. “The collection marks a major step forward for the library and will enhance the study and teach ing of a formative period in the American cultural tradition,” said Dr. Patrick Scott, associate university librarian for special collections. The collection, appraised last year at more than $750,000, doesn’t comprise only 19th cen tury period selections; it also in cludes Emerson’s first edition and corrected revisions of his “The American Scholar” Phi Beta Kappa address, written in 1837. The Emerson portion of the collection, which includes 50 original letters and documents, is considered among the most comprehensive in the world. Margaret Fuller’s personal copy of Woman in the Nineteenth Century, considered history’s first accredited feminist book, is also part of the collection. “With the acquisition of this collection, USC will have unpar alleled resources for the study of 19th-century American literature to join those significant collec tions of 20th-century American literature already available,” My erson said. “In addition, this marks the first two collections at USC of major women writers.” Myerson, who joined USC in 1971, has published about 60 books, mostly on his studies of the transcendentalist literary movement, including the recent Transpendentalism: A Reader, A former USC Englsh Department chairman donated the collection to Thomas Cooper Library. He had been collecting pieces for 30 years, photo special to the gamecock Whitman in His Times and The Last Lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Not only does the library now contain the Myerson Collection, but the acquisition of the Speiser and Easterling-Hallman Foundation Collection of Ernest Hemingway, one of the final Hemingway collec tions remaining, was announced in January. “Few libraries add in a single year pristine first editions of books by two authors of the stature of Whitman and Hemingway,” Scott said. “As the university begins its third century, we can take pride in the legacy that these collections will provide for South Carolinians of the future.” Thomas Cooper Library is home to more than 3 million ♦ DONATION, SEE PAGE 5 '