LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ -- Rider University has received a $40,025 grant from The New York Community Trust - John Robert Gregg Fund for the preservation of the Louis A. Leslie collection of shorthand materials.

In 1983, the late Louis A. Leslie, one of the world's foremost shorthand authorities, bequeathed this notable collection which is housed in Moore Library on the Lawrenceville campus. Dr. Leslie spent more than 50 years collecting shorthand materials from around the world. The collection contains every shorthand system ever invented and hundreds of systems that were unsuccessful but influenced later authors.

Including the current grant, the John Robert Gregg Fund has provided grants totaling $95,000 since 1985 for the cataloging, care, and preservation of the collection. In 1997, the University received $31,000 for cataloging and preservation work.

"We could not have undertaken the cataloging and preservation of this extraordinary collection without the support of the John Robert Gregg Fund," said Elizabeth Smith, dean of university libraries. "We wish to express our deep appreciation to the Gregg family for their interest in the project and their generosity to the University."

Currently, the Leslie collection is housed on shelves and boxes in the library's processing area. It will ultimately be stored in the library's Riderana Room, the University's historical archive, where proper care and security are possible. When the project is completed, the collection will be accessible to the public.

Lynn Livingston, University archivist, developed the grant proposal and will oversee the work of preserving the collection. "The Leslie collection is both valuable and fragile," Livingston said. "Now, thanks to the Gregg Fund, parts of this collection will be properly housed in archival boxes and folders, and eventually accessible to users on compact shelves in Riderana."

The Leslie collection includes books inscribed in shorthand by such noted shorthand authors as Sir Isaac Pitman and John Robert Gregg, as well as complete files of shorthand periodicals and shorthand books in many languages. All European languages are represented, as are Hebrew, Chinese, and Japanese. Less common languages such as Tagalog, Thai, and Erse are also represented.

The collection also includes letters that Civil War soldiers wrote in shorthand to magazine editors and to their wives or sweethearts, as well as shorthand renditions of the Bible and various well-known works of literature.