
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 1, 1995                   TAG: 9501030094
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG                                 LENGTH: Short

TABLE PILFERED FROM POET'S HISTORIC HOME

A hand-crafted wooden table that poet Anne Spencer once used when serving refreshments to well-known literary and political figures has vanished.

The late poet's son, Chauncey, sat at the table Wednesday as he told a tour group about the antiques and mementos that are inside Spencer's house. But by Thursday morning, the black, one-piece table and bench had disappeared from the house, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

``You can't put a value on it,'' Chauncey Spencer said. ``I hope we will get it back. This was important, because she was very proud of it and she made plans there.''

Spencer, who lived from 1882 to 1975, influenced the Harlem Renaissance with her poetry. At her Lynchburg home, she entertained such prominent blacks as James Weldon Johnson, Thurgood Marshall and George Washington Carver.

Spencer was hired as the head of a branch library at Dunbar High School in the early 20th century. A manual training class at the high school created the unique piece of furniture for her in 1928.

She invited black students banned from using the public library to her home. She served as a librarian in the school for 26 years.

The theft was reported to Lynchburg police Thursday. A $500 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest.

by CNB