search articles:     from the issue of April 21, 2005         Libraries acquire Kees, Helm sheet music collection The UNL Libraries have purchased 233 pages of Weldon Kees' unpublished sheet music, lyrics and poetry that were for sale in Berkeley, Calif. The purchase was possible through individual contributions, a successful concert/fundraising event and donations by UNL's School of Music and Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts, and the Friends of the UNL Libraries. Kees (1914-55), an NU graduate and native of Beatrice, published poetry, prose, directed art films and exhibited his art works in New York with artists like Robert Motherwell. Scholarly interest in his work remains strong. Kees' poetry has drawn the attention of such renowned poets as Donald Justice and Dana Gioia, and the University of Iowa Art Museum held a show of his art works in the 1990s. While living in San Francisco in the 1950s, Weldon Kees was on the fringes of the "Beat Generation." Kees and his collaborator, Bob Helm, composed and wrote lyrics to many ragtime jazz pieces performed in San Francisco Bay Area nightclubs. The collection contains several versions of each song on which they collaborated and outlines how the music developed. Notes of the lyrics to some of the pieces show them to be "delightfully playful" while others have a "dark edge," according to Katherine Walter, chair of digital initiatives and special collections for UNL Libraries. "This collection of sheet music enhances the already existing collections of Kees' materials housed at the Sheldon and the Lincoln City Libraries," Walter said. The materials are available for study by visiting the University Archives and Special Collections at Love Library, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., weekdays. GO TO: ISSUE OF APRIL 21 ARTS HEADLINES FOR APRIL 21 Great Plains Museum hosts Plains Song Review reading today American Life in Poetry 'Born Into Brothels,' 'Head-On' at Ross Libraries acquire Kees, Helm sheet music collection Theatrix produces 'The Illusion' 732057S34588X