RIVER CAMPUS MAY GET RARE BOOK COLLECTION

Copyright 2000 Southeast Missourian

A Catholic organization may donate or loan a collection of rare books, paperweights and art pieces to Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus museum.

The collection is housed in the library at St. Mary's of the Barrens in Perryville. Among the rare books are 150 Bibles, including a first-edition King James Bible and part of a 15th century Gutenberg Bible. The collection also has manuscripts dating back to the 12th century.

The library also has hundreds of first-edition books, including those of Mark Twain, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Walt Whitman and John Greenleaf Whittier.

University officials have been seeking the collection as plans have been developing for the new River Campus.

Southeast wants to spend $36 million to turn former St. Vincent's Seminary in Cape Girardeau into a school for the visual and performing arts. The former Catholic seminary previously was owned by Congregation of the Mission or Vincentians. The same organization owns St. Mary's of the Barrens. St. Mary's also is a former seminary.

The university also wants to lease the St. Mary's library for use as a higher education center, replacing the smaller center at Sereno. The Sereno center, housed in former grade school, is about five miles east of Perryville on Highway 51.

Both Southeast and Mineral Area College offer classes at the center, which opened in 1994.

Southeast President Dr. Ken Dobbins said the St. Mary's building, a short distance from Interstate 55 in Perryville, is in a better location and could handle a higher enrollment.

The center at Sereno expects to serve 200 students next school year. Relocating the center to Perryville would allow for double the enrollment, he said.

The library was built in 1954. "It is a gorgeous, historic facility," said Dobbins. "It is in very good shape."

Dobbins said some "cosmetic upgrades" would be needed.

Officials of the Congregation of the Mission Midwest Province plan to meet next month to consider Southeast's request.

The Rev. William Hartenbach, provincial superior, heads up the Congregation of the Mission Midwest Province. The organization is headquartered in the St. Louis suburb of Earth City.

Hartenbach said the organization's advisory council will review the university's proposal next month. "We won't have a final answer until May," he said.

He said the university's proposal for using St. Mary's library as a higher education center is separate from the River Campus request.

Even if the Vincentians agree to both requests, Dobbins said the collection of rare books and art pieces could remain in the library for a while. That's because the River Campus museum still hasn't been built.

He said there is time to design the museum to accommodate the collection.

If the Vincentians approve the proposals, Southeast's Board of Regents could sign off on the deal as early as mid-May, Dobbins said.

The rare books, he said, would be a great draw to the River Campus. "A lot of people don't have an opportunity to see those books."

Both Cape Girardeau Mayor Al Spradling III and Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones have written letters to Hartenbach in support of the university's request for the rare books and museum artifacts.

Jones wrote that the collection could become a tourist attraction, providing an economic boost to the region. It also would make people aware of the Vincentian contributions to the region's history, he said.