Steinbeck Scholar Donates Collection to Watson Library
						Dr. Tetsumaro Hayashi, Professor Emeritus of English, Ball State University, and Director Emeritus of the Steinbeck Research Institute, has donated a collection of 70 scholarly monographs to Watson Library, most of them on John Steinbeck and many of them authored by Dr. Hayashi himself. The donation is in honor of former Wilmington College Professor Dr. John H. Martin. In Dr. Hayashi's words, "A special student from Japan (a non-degree seeking English major) at Wilmington College from 1954-1955, I, encouraged by my admired advisor Dr. John H. Martin (now residing in Corning, New York), went from Wilmington to study further and receive M.A. (English), M.A. (Library Science), and Ph.D. (English) degrees elsewhere in the United States…"
					Dr. John H. Martin and his wife were sponsors and advisors of the Wilmington College Cosmopolitan Club, an international students' organization, during Dr. Hayashi's year of intensive English studies at Wilmington College. Dr. Hayashi calls Dr. and Mrs. Martin, "my lifelong advisors, mentors, benefactors, and friends . . . Without Dr. and Mrs. Martin, I would have never been able to lead a productive, rewarding public life".
					Tetsumaro Hayashi, Wilmington College, 1954-1955.
				Dr. John H. Martin, Wilmington College, 1954-1955.
			The Cosmopolitan Club, Wilmington College, 1955, including Dr. John H. Martin and Tetsumaro Hayashi.
	The following is a brief biography of Dr. Hayashi taken from the website of the Archives and Special Collections Research Center, Ball State University: Tetsumaro Hayashi was born in Sakaide City, Japan on March 22, 1929. From childhood, Hayashi was expected to become a priest of the Jodo Shinshu Sect temple, which would have continued a family tradition of priesthood that stood at 20 generations. But after graduating from Okayama University in Japan and coming to the United States for graduate school, he chose to become a college professor. As Hayashi commented in a 1984 interview, "I just became a teacher instead of a preacher. The two aren't that different, really. Besides, I think I am teaching with missionary zeal, so I don't feel I have disappointed my father." This missionary zeal was sparked during his graduate studies in American literature at the University of Florida in 1955. It was in Florida that Hayashi first developed an interest in John Steinbeck and his literature. Despite his other academic pursuits, including a master's degree in library science from Kent State University and a later interest in Shakespeare, Hayashi's fascination with Steinbeck literature never waned. After completing his library science degree at Kent State, Hayashi married Akiko Sakuratani in April 1960, and their son Richard was born in 1962. The following year, Hayashi pursued his academic interests in Steinbeck and Shakespeare through the doctoral program at Kent State. While at Kent State, he founded the Steinbeck Bibliographical Society with (friend and Steinbeck collector/scholar) Preston Beyer in 1966, which became a year later the Steinbeck Society of America. Along with Beyer and other Steinbeck scholars, Hayashi founded the Steinbeck Newsletter (the Steinbeck Quarterly after 1969) in 1968 and personally financed its production during the first year. In addition to these endeavors, he completed a dissertation on English novelist/playwright Robert Greene that later provided the foundation for three books, monographs, and numerous academic articles. By the time Hayashi accepted a teaching position at Ball State University in 1968, the basis for his professional scholar's career had been built. During his career at Ball State (which lasted until his retirement in 1993), Hayashi became recognized as one of the world's leading educators on the work of Steinbeck. As the founder and eventual president of the Steinbeck Society of America, he developed the Steinbeck Quarterly into a commercial publication that eventually reached 44 countries. Hayashi developed several other projects under the Steinbeck Society umbrella as well, including the Steinbeck Monograph Series (lasting from 1971 to 1991) and the Steinbeck Essay Series (1986-1991). Hayashi's leadership in Steinbeck studies also contributed to the 1970 establishment of the Steinbeck Collection in Archives and Special Collections Research Center at the Ball State University Library. In addition to these activities, Hayashi produced books, articles and monographs at a highly prolific rate, and maintained a strong reputation as a lecturer and advisor to students. Although Steinbeck was the central subject of his research and teaching, he also taught and wrote about Shakespeare, Robert Greene, Hemingway, and other figures of British and American literature. After Hayashi's retirement from Ball State, his career was aptly described as remarkable. Hayashi followed his retirement from Ball State by accepting a teaching position at Kwassui Women's College in Nagasaki, Japan in the fall of 1993. His "self-willed, happy, temporary exodus" continued in April 1996 as a graduate professor and Vice President at Yasuda Women's University in Hiroshima City. In 2001-03, Hayashi donated the Hayashi Steinbeck Collection and Archives to the Steinbeck Collection at Ball State.

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