Rare books, illustrations, and other historical materials are
juxtaposed with videotechnology for the classroom in an exhibit at the
Jean and Alexander Heard Library of Vanderbilt University in Nashville,
Tennessee.

"Mark Twain Illustrated: An Exhibit of One Hundred Images from the
Marc H. Hollender Mark Twain Collection" will be on display in the
Special Collections Gallery through January 15, 1995.

The images and illustrations in the exhibit were used by Ronald J. Kantor,
research associate at Vanderbilt's Learning Technology Center, to create
an interactive video that brings Twain and his writings to life for
seventh- and eighth-graders.  One of the goals of the project is to
motivate students' research skills in literature and the social sciences.

Northern Telecom funded the video to demonstrate how students and teachers
at a remote high school library could gain access over telecommunications
lines to a university collection for viewing and research.  The project,
known as Distance Learning application, showed how technology can improve
the quality of education without endangering a priceless collection.

Hollender, former chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Vanderbilt,
donated more than 350 of Twain's editions to the Heard Library in 1979.
Hollender has been collecting first editions and other Twain memorabilia
since his sister gave him a Twain book as a wedding present.

According to Marice Wolfe, Head of Special Collections:
"Among the half dozen or more first edition copies of a single title are
to be found those variants of binding, typeface, advertisements, endsheets,
and other physical characteristics that enable bibliographers to reconstruct
the history of each publication.  These manifestations, so precious to the
collector of fine books, are present in abundance in the Hollender
Collection.
The exhibit contains a generous sampling.  We hope you will enjoy a visit
with the colorful figure who remains after more than a century America's
most
quotable writer."

The video is also available for viewing in Special Collections.  For more
information, please contact Marice Wolfe at [log in to unmask] or
Sara Harwell at [log in to unmask]

Posted by:

Sara Harwell
The Jean and Alexander Heard Library
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN