College Town: Clark loans rare copy of 18th century writer's work to Houston museum

WORCESTER – Clark University has loaned out a rare copy of the work of one of the most important early African-American writers in literary history.

Clark’s first-edition copy of “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral” by Phillis Wheatley Peters will be on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston for one year, away from its normal home in the Goddard Library’s Archives and Special Collections.

The works contained in the volume were written by Wheatley Peters while she was a slave in Boston during the 1760s. She later published them in England, after being rejected by American publishers, and upon her return to the U.S. was granted her freedom.

 “The book is not just important to history and literature,” according to English professor Meredith Neuman, who teaches “Poems” in her courses. “It’s crucial in terms of understanding the early African diaspora.”

Clark received its copy of the book in the 1970s as a gift from Winifred Gates, widow of professor Burton N. Gates, according to the university.

Shipping the delicate book to Texas ended up being a more complicated process because of the constraints created by the pandemic, according to Clark librarian Laura Robinson.

“Rather than picking it up directly from the library, the shipping company had to build a book enclosure from the back of their truck near Woodland Street,” she said.

The book, which has been rebound, is worth between $7,000 and $10,000, according to Clark.

QCC food pantry delivers turkeys to students

Quinsigamond Community College’s Food Pantry and Resource Center has given 40 Thanksgiving turkeys to students in need this month, the school recently announced.

The food pantry also gave $40 gift cards to Market Basket to students who did not receive a turkey.

According to QCC President Luis Pedraja, nearly 50% of the college’s students were struggling with food insecurity even before the pandemic. “Today, we are seeing firsthand this need increasing, and we are doing everything we can to help mitigate it,” he said.

“Within the first 35 minutes of opening we distributed all 40 turkeys and a total of 49 students were served in one hour,” Pedraja said of the food pantry’s recent giveaway. “The students were so thankful for the assistance and said it would make such a difference for them and their families.”

According to QCC, so far this year 409 students have signed up to use the food pantry, a number the college expects will increase. Since the start of the pandemic, the pantry, in partnership with the Worcester County Food Bank, has also delivered more than 2,000 pounds of food in total.

Worcester State makes temporary switch to remote learning

Joining a list of other colleges in the region, Worcester State University last week said it would switch to remote learning as of Monday, but only temporarily.

The school plans to allow students to return to campus for in-person classes on Dec. 2, but they must take a COVID-19 test 72 hours before arriving.

With coronavirus cases on the rise in the region – and the number of cases inching up on local campuses as well – several other colleges similarly opted to make an earlier-than-scheduled pivot to remote learning in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving break, including FSU and Clark University.

Worcester State has also had several COVID cases recently, according to its online data dashboard: six students had tested positive in the seven days before Monday, while nine had tested positive during the previous week. In total, there have been 54 positive cases at the university since the summer.