Voodoo Doughnut will be giving the University of Oregon Libraries a check on Nov. 16 as part of a fundraiser to purchase the Ken Kesey collection. The Kesey collection is not owned by the UO, but is part of the Kesey family estate. The collection will likely be up for sale and might leave Oregon.
Keri Aronson, assistant director of library development, wants to avoid this sale.
“Ken Kesey had stated that he wanted his work to be kept by the University, but unfortunately he never wrote a will,” she said. “That is why it is my hope that we will raise enough money to purchase the collection and ensure it will always stay in Oregon where it belongs.”
The library has had a few fundraisers in the past including bringing Kesey’s legendary bus to campus and letting students on for photo ops, but nothing as big as what is happening with Voodoo Doughnut.
The Portland-based doughnut shop has been raising money for the University with sales of a new donut they call the “Easy Kesey Lemon Pesey,” the revenue of which has been going toward helping the University retain the collection.
“Voodoo Doughnut has been amazing, and we hope that other Oregon businesses will start getting involved as well,” Aronson said. “The Kesey collection is a state treasure and it would be tragic for us to lose it to private collectors.”
The collection contains the famous writer’s typed manuscripts, artwork, collages, photographs and varied correspondences from 1960 to 2001. The Kesey archive is used by students and researchers at the UO, and is currently kept in the Knight Library Special Collections Department.
To get involved visit the UO Libraries website.