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| Winter 2003 Issue |
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Alumnus Makes Gift of Gratitude to LibrariesWVU alumnus Kenneth Walter Cameron left West Virginia University in 1931
with two degrees in hand and found success as a popular professor of American
literature at Trinity College in Connecticut. More than 70 years later,
he still remembers the institution that led him on that path. He demonstrated his appreciation by donating $40,000 to the WVU Libraries
this fall. Cameron wrote on his check, “gift of gratitude for early
collegiate years.” The libraries will use the gift to establish an endowment to purchase
American literature titles, and a small group study room in the Downtown
Campus Library will bear Professor Cameron’s name. “I remember the morning we received Professor Cameron’s gift.
All of us were touched by his generosity in remembering his early academic
experiences here at WVU,” Libraries Dean Frances O’Brien said.
“We all have memories of our undergraduate days, but he chose to
validate his.” A native of Wheeling, Cameron earned his A.B. in 1930 and A.M. in 1931
at WVU and his Ph.D. at Yale University in 1940. His career took him first
to North Carolina State University where he taught English from 1938 to
1943. After a brief stint at Temple University, he settled at Trinity
College where he served as a professor of 19th century American literature
from 1946 to 1975. He earned the status as a leading authority in the study of the American
Transcendental Movement and received the Award for Distinguished Achievement
in Emerson Studies. Cameron has authored and edited several books on the works of Ralph Waldo
Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. WVU Libraries has 81 of those titles. Cameron also penned West Virginia University Sixty Years Ago - Memories
of Louis Watson Chappell, which is held in the West Virginia and Regional
History Collection. In the book, Cameron tells about his time at WVU and the impact of Chappell
and other WVU professors on his life. Cameron arrived in Morgantown determined
to be a lawyer but credits Chappell for fueling his interest in teaching
literature. Chappell gained notoriety for field recordings of folk music
he gathered while traveling that state in the 1930s and 1940s. Cameron lives in Hartford and continued doing research and writing through
the late 1990s. |
| Ex Libris is published quarterly
by the WVU Libraries | |
