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This report on the activities related to the Papers of Katherine Anne Porter and other Porter-related collections at the University of Maryland Libraries covers the period between May 2004 and September 2005. During this period, telephone, mail, and e-mail inquiries were received from Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. I also communicated with individuals from Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, India, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain. During this period, the Libraries supplied 614 Porter or Porter-related photocopies to meet researcher demand, provided thirty-five reproductions of photographs, and loaned six reels of the microfilm edition of the Porter paper.

Led by my graduate assistant Mike Yates, a team of three additional Archives and Manuscripts student employees, Dan Schwartz, Lauren Bené, and Brad Houston, completed the work necessary to mount a number of the guides to Porter primary sources on ArchivesUM. This digital resource is the Libraries' portal to Special Collections holdings of archives and manuscripts that allows browsing and searching by collection descriptions and subject categories. The complete guides now available on Archives UM include that for Porter's papers as well as for the archives of the Atlantic Monthly Press and the Abels, Elder, Frederick, Lawrence, Perry, Prettyman, Prince, Schaumann, Spier, and Stout papers. The URL for ArchivesUM is http://www.lib.umd.edu/archivesum/index.jsp.

The Libraries' acquired additional Porter holdings through the generosity of donors. Once again, Clark Dobson donated Porter and Porter-related materials to the Libraries; among the most interesting of these are two wooden recorders, which Porter enjoyed and played late in her life. Dr. Dobson's additional gifts included two of Porter's dining room chairs and interesting items she marked or signed. The Libraries also benefited from the generosity of Porter's nephew Paul Porter. Some of his gifts were incorporated into the Katherine Anne Porter Papers: six audiotape recordings of his conversations with his aunt made between 1972 and 1976, one of KAP's silver pill boxes, and a letter from Laura Bush to Paul Porter framed with a photograph of the two of them at the KAP Literary Center in Kyle, TX. Additional donations were designated for the Paul Porter Papers. These included correspondence, clippings, photographs, printed matter, and manuscripts documenting the life, work, and reputation of his aunt as well as fourteen books from his personal library that were given to him and inscribed by KAP. Former University of Maryland employee Sarah Nary donated an audio recording of the December 1966 press conference at which the gift of KAP's papers and library was formally announced. The Libraries also acquired Abby Mann's screenplay for the movie adapted from Ship of Fools.

There were 258 visitors to the Katherine Anne Porter Room during this period, during which the room was open to the public on fifty-seven Monday and Thursday afternoons. Freddy Baer, Shirley Bauer, Beverly Lewoc, Joan Phelan, Betty Warner, and Maria Walsh all served as docents through September 2005. Visitors to the Porter Room from on-campus groups during the year included graduate students from the College of Information Studies and the Department of English. Groups that visited included the University History and Research Working Group of the University of Maryland 150th Anniversary Celebration Committee and Japan's National Diet Librarian and two of his staff. About forty individuals visited the Porter Room during our seventh all-campus open house on April 30, 2005. Activities were once held in the Porter Room during the day. Docent Freddy Baer and her husband Herb's group, the Saturday Morning Quartet, performed a program of music by Angelo Corelli and William Byrd. Their program concluded with three pieces from Katherine Anne Porter's French Song-Book: "Lament," "Marion's Song," and "To Charlotte," performed a cappella by Zeynep Dilli accompanied by Breno Imbiriba on drum. Graduate assistant Mike Yates and I performed a staged reading of Porter's "Rope."

Highlights of my activities in the last year and a half included two trips to New York City–the first in September 2004 to dine with Dean of the Libraries Charles Lowry, his wife, and Barbara and Ned Davis. Michelle Wellens, Director of Development for the Libraries, my husband, and I were honored to able to attend the September 29, 2005, event honoring the publication of Darlene Unrue's new Porter biography hosted by Barbara and Ned Davis at the Harvard Club. Anyone who has questions concerning the Porter Room or the Libraries' Porter holdings should not hesitate to contact me, Curator of Literary Manuscripts, Archives and Manuscripts, Hornbake Library, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, 301-405-9298, alvarez@umd.edu. To locate the Katherine Anne Porter resources on the Libraries' Web site, begin at http://www.lib.umd.edu/ARCV/litmss/kap.html and follow the appropriate links.