Shipping Magnate Alumus Donates

     Smut Collection to U of E
Palo Alto: The University of Emmetsburg announced on on December 23 that a highly prized and controversial collection of erotic works was being donated to its LaVerne Dayle-Roberts Special Collection Library. The Trausi Collection, which is being donated by wealthy Louisiana Ship magnate and former U of E alumnus William T. Trausi, is comprised of 237 volumes of small 17th and 18th century English chap-books equivalent to today's tabloid and throw-away romance novel. The collection is worth over $250,000.

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Billionaire shipping magnate and University of Emmetsburg alumnus, Willima T. Trausi. Trausi donated his $250,000 collection of 17th and 18th Century Pornographic chap books to the U of E LaVerne Dayle-Roberts Special Collections Library.
(Photo Courtesy: The Trausi Fondation International.)
     Robert Bartleby, Executive Director of Libary Aquisitions, is overjoyed and honored by the gift. According to literary scholars, thirty books are thought to have been written by Daniel Defoe, author of such classics as The Adventure of Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders.

     "We know that after 1726, Defoe penned any number of things to stay out of serious debt," Bartleby explains. "While most of these chap books are unsigned, a number of these pieces have stylistic elements characteristic of Defoe."

     Other authors meanwhile, are mainly historical curiosities.

     "Some of the authors use obvious nome d'plumes such as 'John Thomas, Earl of Frothingcum'. He was actually John Montague, the younger brother of Charles Montague who later became Lord Halifax. In their time, these books were seen as devoid of any redeeming social significance. They're still quite shocking especially how they depict the same kind of sordid stories prevalent in today's media. Shows there's nothing really new under the sun when it comes to sexual fantasy. However, these smutty little books do illustrate what English Society thought was both erotic and funny two or three hundred years ago. This is just as important for scholars to understand as are the loftier thoughts of that time."

     William T. Trausi, billionaire owner of Trausi SeaLines, LTD., attended the U of E from 1980 to 1984, graduating with a Bachelors of Science in Structural Engineering. In 1986, he bought-out the then bankrupt Canaris Container Company and rapidly turned it into a multi-billion dollar international container carrying juggernaut. During the reception in his honor following the donation ceremony, an obviously giddy Trausi quaffed champagne and gave his reasons for the donation.

     "Sure, they're degenerate and undeserving of having come out the Enlightenment, but they're too important I think for a guy to hide away in a big private collection. Besides, I was assured this event would provide a good excuse show some tasty U of E coeds my philanthropy."

     Bartleby said the Trausi Collection will be housed adjacent to the Westerfield Collection of Victorian Erotica, one of the world's largest assemblage of 19th Century Western Pornography outside Oxford University in England.

     It is also reportedly the manifestation site of the so-called 'Phantom Wanker' (see: Phantom Wanker Haunting U of E Library?, May, 1997, vol. 4, Issue #5).

     Of the on-going mystery of the masturbating spectre, as well as other disturbances that curtailed numerous events at the nearby Adm Wilhelm Canaris Ballroom, Bartleby dismissed any paranormal causes.

     "It'll all turn out to be some kook or a fraternity prank."





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