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".

A Place at the Table for Atheists

Atheism 1 -  Religion 12,294

There was an announcement recently that appears not to have been widely circulated so I will let you know that the study of atheism will now be more openly pursued at one university. I say ‘openly’ since I am sure there are courses that touch upon atheism, secularism and non-belief buried among the listings of Phil. Departments and we all know that campuses are full of Godless commies.

Given that a majority of universities have departments devoted to the study of religion and most universities and colleges in the United States were founded by one type of religion or another, one would think that the announcement  does not constitute much of a threat. The situation is generally the same in Canada, although we are blessed with far less of them. Western University, here in London, was founded by an Anglican Bishop and the affiliated colleges, Brescia, King’s and Huron are all religious-based. The latter,  an Anglican establishment, has a large Faculty of Theology and within it, even a Chair in Islamic Studies, the founding and funding of which caused some concern. Which brings me to the Chair.

While the larger number provided above may be off by a little, I think it is correct to say that there is now 1 Chair for Atheism in all of the colleges and universities in North America -  the “Appignani Foundation Chair for the Study of Atheism, Humanism, and Secular Ethics” which will be located soon in some room on the campus of the University of Miami which is looking for someone to fill it. The donor is  Louis J. Appignani who is providing $2.2 million. The focus will be on the subjects mentioned: atheism, humanism and secular ethics.

Since  the word “Atheist” is almost as unpopular as  “Islamist”, the University was understandably reluctant to allow it to appear in the course catalogue. At the last moment, Mr. Appignani refused to capitulate and allow the chair to be labelled the “Chair of Philosophical Naturalism”, but the addition of the words “Humanism” and “Secularism” does serve to deflect some of the attention to more acceptable subjects. Still somewhat nervous, the University made this statement and I am sure they would want me to repeat it for them:

“We didn’t want anyone to misunderstand and think that this was to be an advocacy position for someone who is an atheist,” he said. “Our religion department isn’t taking an advocacy position when it teaches about Catholicism or Islam. Similarly, we’re not taking an advocacy position when we teach about atheism or secular ethics.”

Every year around this time I used to send a taunting email to my nieces, who graduated from Miami, and to their mother (my sister), who is also a huge ‘Cane’s fan, in which I pretended to be rooting for Notre Dame in the upcoming football game. The subject heading has usually been “The Convicts vs The Catholics”. Toward the end of October I will now send one which says “The Atheists vs The Christians” and they are likely to find it even more insulting.

See: “University of Miami Establishes Chair for the Study of Atheism,” Laurie Goodstein, The New York Times,  May 20, 2016.

By the way, perhaps the University should not be too worried about the reaction (at least from the students) since the article above notes that:

The percentage of Americans who claim no religious affiliation has risen rapidly in a short time, to 23 percent of the population in 2014, up from 16 percent in 2007, according to a report by the Pew Research Center. Younger people are even less religious, with 35 percent of millennials saying they identify as atheist, agnostic or with no religion in particular.”