FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sept. 6, 2005

Contact: Shirley Melikian Armbruster

559.278.5292 or 559.593.1815

The ‘Dogs at Fresno State are welcoming cats to the campus – 6,000 of them!
The Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at California State University, Fresno has accepted a donation of what is arguably the world’s largest collection of books on cats – some 6,000 volumes published from 1727 to 2001. By comparison, the next-largest collection is 3,500 volumes at Yale University.

The donation is from the collection of the late Helen Monnette Amestoy of Santa Monica, the daughter of the founder and president of Bank of America and a prominent library director for more than 20 years. She was a former president of the California Society of Librarians.
Goldsmid & Allen Appraisers of Claremont, which appraised Mrs. Amestoy’s collection, called it “remarkable in its breadth and inclusiveness.” The donation is valued at $187,500.

Arne Nixon Center curator Angelica Carpenter said, “We are thrilled that the Arne Nixon Center has been chosen to receive this unique collection. Not only is it the largest known collection of its kind, but it was appraised at a higher monetary value than any gift we have received.

“This gift reflects the growing stature of our repository and demonstrates that we are the preeminent West Coast center for children's literature,” Carpenter said.

Mrs. Amistoy’s daughter, Kami Amestoy Lee of Guatemala, said the family selected the Arne Nixon Center from among those interested in acquiring the collection for several reasons, including that the collection would be kept in California and the Nixon Center “is well established, professional, organized and has attracted key donors and speakers.”

The appraisers said the collection is notable for its size, the inclusion of many very important and quite scarce 18th century and 19th century works, its emphasis on literary work, on children’s literature and on illustrated books generally. And the collection offers a window into 19th century and 20th century American popular culture, the appraisers said.

“Cats are domestic, artistic and folkloric,” said Carpenter. “They have been iconic in human
culture throughout history, from their portrayal as gods in Egypt up through the European folk hero Puss In Boots to the Three Little Kittens, a treasured childhood image. In story books they serves often as stand-ins for children.”

The most valuable book in the collection, appraised at $4,000, is a signed and numbered (353 of 500) copy of the 1930 volume “Book of Cats, Being Twenty Drawings” by Japanese painter and etcher Tsugouharu Foujita (1886-1968), who is renowned for his stylistic Expressionism. In the book, the illustrations are combined with the “prose poems” of London author Michael Joseph (1897-1958).

Other highly appraised books are: a sub-collection of “Puss in Boots” books, valued at $4,500; and early 19th century edition of “Katzengruppen” by Gottfried Mind, valued at $3,500; twenty editions of “Orlando” the Marmalade Cat books by Kathleen Hale valued at $2,500; and a first edition of “Les Chats” by Francois Augustin Paradis de Moncrif is bound with Moncrif’s “Histoire des Rats pour Servir a l’Historire Universelle” valued at $2,500.

A bibliography of the bulk of the collection was prepared by students in the UCLA Graduate Library School.

The Arne Nixon Center is one of North America's leading research centers for the study of children's and young adult literature. The growing collection of nearly 40,000 books, periodicals, manuscripts, illustrations and related materials has a multicultural emphasis, dating from 1865 to current publications. The center serves students, faculty, scholars, authors, illustrators, translators, collectors and critics from the fields of English, education, library science, art, storytelling, history, sociology, women's studies, multicultural studies and American studies.

The cat book collection and other volumes may be seen during regular hours, from 1-4:30 p.m. weekdays, or by appointment, at the Arne Nixon Center. The books do not circulate.

For more information on the Amestoy donation or the Arne Nixon Center, contact Angelica Carpenter at 278.8116 or e-mail angelica@csufresno.edu.