AUSTIN, TX (March 5, 2004)— Just inside the front doors of The University of Texas at Austin Fine Arts Library, visitors can now see a collection of 17 traditional weapons collected in Ethiopia at least 70 years ago. Donated by Jan Roberts, Austin resident and University of Texas graduate, in memory of her husband Dick, the weapons were collected by her father-in-law, Colonel Leo Bond Roberts. Colonel Roberts was granted an official travel permit by Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie and made two expeditions into the Highlands of Ethiopia. Colonel Roberts wrote a detailed account of his experiences for the September 1935 issue of National Geographic Magazine.
The collection consists of eight spears, one club, one throwing stick, a machete and five swords of three different types, such as the kaskara and the shotel, one complete with leather sheath. The blade of one sword is beautifully engraved and a curious inscription spirals around the shaft of one of the spears. The materials will be on permanent view in the Fine Arts Library.
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The Fine Arts Library, a unit of the General Libraries, is located in the E. William Doty Fine Arts Building, DFA 3.200, on the University of Texas at Austin campus. The library contains art and music collections and most General Libraries theatre and dance materials. The library includes approximately 300,000 books and scores, 900 current journal subscriptions, 38,000 phonodiscs, more than 34,000 compact discs, 3,800 video cassettes and videodiscs, 4,500 reels of microfilm, 24,000 microfiche and provides access to numerous electronic resources. Significant special collections include audio-visual collections of contemporary media and the Historical Music Recordings Collection. The library is open to the public. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/fal/
For more information contact:
Laura Schwartz, Acting Head Librarian
Fine Arts Library, DFA 3.204
(512) 495-4476
lauras@mail.utexas.edu
General Libraries news releases are located on UT Library Online at:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/about/news/newsreleases.html
