Harry Ransom CenterThe University of Texas at Austin

News Release — January 18, 2001

Ransom Center to Play Starring Role
in PBS's ANTIQUES ROADSHOW

Tune in to the Antiques Roadshow on February 26, 2001 at 8:00 p.m. to catch an inside look at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center. Roadshow host Dan Elias will introduce the popular PBS program with a tour of highlights from the Ransom Center’s vast collections, including a series of World War I posters, Anne Sexton’s typewriter and fan mail, and film storyboards from Gone with the Wind.

The show is one of two programs taped at the Austin Convention Center last summer to appraise the collectibles of local Austinites. In the February 26, 2001 recording, Roadshow appraisers uncover a myriad of rare artifacts including a collection of African American dolls, a hall stand originally owned by a notorious Austin resident, and an 1868 letter from Ulysses S. Grant accepting the Republican nomination for presidency valued at $60,000 to $80,000.

Local viewers also are likely to enjoy the Antique Roadshow’s first Austin Convention Center taping to air on February 19, 2001, which will kick off with a tour of the Texas State Capitol. This first showing will feature appraisals of various items, including a striking pair of Chinese headdresses intended to ward off evil spirits, made in the 1920s to 1930s, a scrimshaw domino set traced to a whaling vessel that traveled to San Francisco in the 19th century, and an extensive collection of rock and roll memorabilia from the 1960s and early 1970s including a rare poster advertising a 1965 Rolling Stones show valued at about $15,000.

For further information, please contact the Antiques Roadshow website at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/roadshow/series/highlights/2001/austin.html#2

Considered one of the world’s finest cultural archives, the Ransom Center houses 30 million literary manuscripts, 1 million rare books, 5 million photographs, and over 100,000 works of art. Highlights include the Gutenberg Bible (c. 1450), the world’s first photograph (c. 1826), important paintings by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, and major manuscript collections of James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, T.S. Eliot, D.H. Lawrence, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and Tennessee Williams to name but a few. The Center is used extensively for research by scholars from around the world and presents numerous exhibitions and events each year showcasing its collections. Exhibitions and events are free and open to the public.