COLUMBUS, Miss. -- Mississippi University for Women is now the home of a major collection of works by alumna Eudora Welty.

The collection, which contains about 270 separate items including correspondence, books, periodicals, recordings and photographs, was made possible through Andy Murray Coffey and his wife Katherine and son Glenn H. Coffey, all who reside in Lafayette, La.

MUW President Claudia A. Limbert announced the gift Thursday evening at the opening of the Eudora Welty Writers' Symposium, which honors the world-renowned MUW alumna. This annual weekend draws noted authors, journalists, scholars and artists.

Coffey described the collection as "one of the most, if not the most complete collection available of books by or written about Eudora Welty."

Gail Gunter, dean of library services, said, "I believe this is the most significant collection that has been given to Fant Memorial Library."

Cathy Young, reference/information literacy librarian and assistant professor, added, "Murray, Katherine and Glenn Coffey have honored not only Mr. Coffey's sister, and then her name, by the gift of this magnificent Eudora Welty Collection, but their generosity has greatly enriched Fant Memorial Library's collection."

About 20 years ago, Coffey was buying books from a book dealer in Beverly Hills.

"We talked about (William) Faulkner books and war books, but he mentioned he and a group of 13 other dealers who were friends of his and had assembled a great collection of books by or about Eudora Welty. The dealers had been amassing this collection for about 35 years."

The dealer, knowing Coffey's Mississippi roots, advised him that if he would buy the Eudora Welty collection, he would also sell Coffey some Faulkner war books that he wanted. Coffey continued to add to the collection.

"I elected to give the Eudora Welty collection to MUW because she was a student there (when the college was Mississippi State College for Women). It was always special to her, and she was obviously one of MUW's best known alumni, hence MUW was the absolutely best place for this collection," he said.

In addition, some of Coffey's family members attended MUW, including his sister Elizabeth 'Bet' Gladney.

"I have had so many wonderful relatives and friends from everywhere, and I want to leave all the wonderful books for all to love and enjoy," he said.

Coffey also noted that Firsts Magazine, the premier publication in the book collector's field, will soon be making a special edition on Eudora Welty.