Erskine Connections On The South Carolina Literary Tour Erskine Professor Emeritus of Education Dr. Jones Calvin "Cal" Koonts of Due West, who taught at Erskine from 1949 to 1990, is one of a number of South Carolina literary figures with connections to Erskine listed in a brochure called "The South Carolina Literary Tour" and printed by the Palmetto Book Alliance, an affiliate of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress. Koonts said the honor came as a complete surprise to him. "My wife came home from her book club one day and said, 'Come here and look at this—it's a literary map of South Carolina and you're included,'" Koonts recalled. Koonts is the author of a number of books of poetry, including Since Promontory (1967); Straws in the Wind (1968); Under the Umbrella (1971); A Slice of the Sun (1976); and A Stone's Throw (1986). He was named an Algernon Sydney Sullivan Scholar in 1951; a Peabody-Harvard Scholar in 1960; and a Fulbright grantee in 1964. He has served on the board of directors for several poetry awards, including the William Gilmore Simms Poetry Prize, the Unicorn Poetry Prize, and the Elizabeth B. Coker Poetry Award. He is married to Cortlandt Morper Koonts, Professor Emerita of Music at Erskine, and they are the parents of two children and have five grandchildren. Visitors to South Carolina public libraries are likely to see the "Literary Tour" brochure unfolded into a "literary map" and displayed as a large poster. The brochure contains a list, by county, of South Carolina poets, fiction writers, journalists, and others who have made an impact on the literary life of the state. Koonts is one of seven Abbeville County writers listed on the map, and of the remaining six, three also have Erskine connections. Author Erskine Caldwell (1903-1987), attended Erskine College for about two and a half years, according to Erskine Professor Emeritus of History Dr. Lowry Ware. A gift of books by Caldwell, many of which are first editions, was given to Erskine by Mr. and Mrs. Pressley M. Millen, Jr., Wilimington, N.C. The Erskine Caldwell Book Collection is housed in Special Collections in McCain Library on the Erskine campus. Award-winning journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault (b. 1942) donated funds for an Erskine scholarship that bears her name when she delivered the commencement address in 1992. She was awarded an honorary degree at Erskine in 1993. Respected Presbyterian theologian Dr. John H. Leith (1919-2002), a 1940 graduate of Erskine College and recipient in 1972 of an honorary degree from Erskine, established the Ann W. Leith Endowment to Promote Psalm Singing at Erskine Theological Seminary in 2001 in honor of his wife. The John H. Leith Professorship in Reformed Theology at Erskine Seminary honors Leith's theological legacy.