While the library already had two copies of the book, Bob Anthony, curator of the collection, told him to send it anyway because "neither copy was in particularly good condition and it would be good to have a 'backup' copy."
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL
In addition to the book, Pittman sent a scrapbook that his late aunt, Bertha Lawrence Edwards, had compiled while in service in France during World War I. With it, he included a newspaper article about his aunt.
Upon reading the article, Anthony discovered that Pittman's aunt had lived in the Edgecombe County crossroads community of Lawrence, about five miles from where Anthony grew up.
In his letter thanking Pittman for the books, Anthony placed a couple of articles-one on Grace Episcopal Church, an historic church in Lawrence, and one on Joshua Lawrence, whose name was handwritten in the front of the Baptist history book Pittman had donated. Anthony had thought Pittman might be interested in knowing a little about the person who had owned the book many years earlier.
And so it was his ancestors for which Lawrence was named. He enclosed a program from a church service and an obituary of a first-cousin-once-removed, Minnie Savage Warren, for whom some of the flowers for the service were given in memory.
Come to find out, Anthony's great-great grandmother was Emma Eliza Savage from the same area of Edgecombe County, meaning that Anthony and Pittman were probably distant cousins. Unfortunately, the two never got a chance to meet because Pittman died in 2002.
Unknown to Anthony at the time, Pittman had written in his will an unrestricted bequest of $307,592 to the UNC library for the David J. Pittman Fund in the North Carolina Collection. "It was a nice surprise," Anthony said. "We will use the gift to support the North Carolina Collection in a number of areas, including acquisitions and preservation."
Pittman received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Carolina in '49 and '50. After a stint in the military, he earned his doctorate in human development from the University of Chicago in 1956. Due in large part to Pittman's pioneering research on alcoholism, most people now believe that it is a treatable disease rather than a criminal behavior.
In 1966-7, Pittman served as a consultant to President Johnson's Commission
on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice. He recommended that
public drunkenness be considered a medical problem and that communities
establish treatment centers. In 1967, St. Louis opened the first detoxification
center in North America based on that recommendation. Over the years,
Pittman was frequently invited to serve as an expert witness for significant
alcohol related court cases and for the news media.
Pittman, who was also a professor of sociology and psychiatry at Washington
University in St. Louis, never took his education for granted. Having
been one of seven children raised by his mother and aunts in rural Edgecombe
County, he was grateful of having been able to attend Carolina. In one
of his letters to Anthony, he wrote, "It is always with pride that,
when asked, I inform others that I am a graduate of UNC at Chapel Hill."
Perhaps one of the reasons Pittman decided to give to the North Carolina
Collection was because his favorite place to study was in an upstairs
room in Wilson Library, where the collection is housed. Pittman's surviving
partner, Lawrence Peterson, said, "David believed his education gave
him the whole world. In later years, he was always surprised how the current
generation took education for granted. I think giving to the North Carolina
Collection was his way of giving back."
Or maybe it was his way of looking out for another area he felt was often
dismissed. With almost every letter to Anthony, he included a $1,000 or
$2,000 check "for use in the goals of the North Carolina Collection."
In one, he wrote, "I am aware of the low priority that many attach
to the library as opposed to other University activities."
The letter was signed, "Cordially, David J. Pittman, Ph.D."