Jackie Gleason's Library!

    In MM you will find other posts about Private Libraries, that is, collections gathered by individuals as opposed to institutions. For an example see, Louise Penny' Library.  

Ralph Kramden - The Reader!
  I am old enough to remember "The Honeymooners", a '50s sitcom, in which Gleason played the part of Kramden, a crass bus driver. You may know of Gleason because you saw him on Turner Classic Movies as "Minnesota Fats" in The Hustler, or on a channel, not so classic, where he was sheriff Buford T. Justice in Smokey and the Bandit.

Living Large

  Apart from having a varied and successful career, he read and collected many books, most of which were related to the occult and things not normal. They were kept in his rotund house in New York state. There was also, of course, a pool table and much that was related to music, as well as four bars. He liked drinking and smoked six packs a day. He died in 1987 at the age of 71.

  I know this because there is a new book out which is mainly about his library, about which I did not know. It is: Jackie Gleason: Library of the Paranormal, edited by Christine Burgin and you can get it quickly from Amazon, where this description is found:
  "A high school dropout with a photographic memory and a major case of insomnia, he was an avid reader and spiritual searcher who looked for answers in the most unexpected places. Gleason was also a confirmed skeptic who believed that some grand cosmic scheme existed, but he could not say what it might ultimately be. Additionally, Gleason amassed a staggering collection of over 3,000 esoteric books, ranging from scholarly studies to supermarket paperbacks, now part of the holdings of the University of Miami Special Collections Library. Library of the Paranormal lifts the lid on this treasure trove of arcana. A generous selection of colorful and quizzical covers from Charles Fort, L. Ron Hubbard and dozens more are reproduced alongside press excerpts and interviews in which Gleason manages to shoehorn his thoughts on ESP, aliens, life after death and other decidedly off-topic interests, including his failed plans in the early '50s to produce a television show devoted to paranormal experiences."

The Jackie Gleason Collection at the University of Miami Libraries
   Gleason moved to Florida and the books were donated to the University of Miami by his widow in 1987. If you go to the Special Collections area of the U. of M. Libraries, you will find a thorough description of the collection, which is divided into these subject headings where additional details are found. If you click on UFOs, a popular subject these days, you will see the related holdings. 

Celebrities
Cryptids and Lost Worlds
Death
Dreams
Ghosts
Mediums and Telepathy
Oddities
Psychology
Spiritualism
The Supernatural
UFOS and Extraterrestrials

Sources: 
 See, The Jackie Gleason Collection  and for more, Special Collections. The communication folks among "The Hurricanes" also produced these: "Spookiness No Laughing Matter For This Comedian" and "Jackie Gleason's Passion For the Occult".

  In MM I have provided other examples of libraries being given to libraries. See, for example, The Fleur Cowles' London Study, Erle Stanley Gardner's Study and Philip Roth's collection at the Newark Public Library, all of which are found in this post: Actual Libraries. 
   As a minor bonus, you will also find another post about the University of Miami, from which both of my nieces graduated. See: "A Place at the Table for Atheists".