Stanford Awards Prizes to Student Book Collectors

The Stanford University Libraries is very pleased to announce the 2009 awards of the Byra J. and William P. Wreden Prize for Collecting Books and Related Materials. The judging panel, which consisted of John Crichton, San Francisco antiquarian bookseller and President Emeritus of the ABAA; John Mustain, Rare Books Librarian and Classics Bibliographer at the Stanford University Libraries; and Stanford alumni and collectors Mary Crawford, Bruce Crawford and Paul Saffo, recommended three entries – among the twenty-one submitted – to University Librarian Mike Keller for prizes:

Senior Ruth McCann won First Prize of $2,500 for “Finding and Keeping Olivia,” on her collection of printed editions of Olivia, by Dorothy Strachey. Sophomore Joshua Aidan Dunn won Second Prize of $1,000 for an untitled essay describing his collection on transgender community dialogues. Freshman Robbie Zimbroff received a Special Mention award of $500 for “Steinbeck’s Scarf,” on his collection of works by and about John Steinbeck.

University Librarian Mike Keller expressed great satisfaction with the entries submitted: “The essays were superbly crafted, as we expect from Stanford students, but beyond that were inspiring and insightful, even to readers who have collected for decades.” He added, “The collections themselves were both thoughtfully assembled and thought-provoking in their subject matter.” Keller awarded the three prizes at a reception on June 1, 2009 in the Cecil H. Green Library.  

Given the caliber of the entries, judging them was a challenge, but also a pleasure. As one of the judges privately informed Keller, “I was struck by how well these students expressed the value of collecting and collections and by the diversity and depth of their interests. As I was reading the entries, I felt that I had been given a gift.”

The Byra J. and William P. Wreden Prize for Collecting Books and Related Materials, open to all Stanford students and awarded every two or three years, was created as an endowment in memory of two lifelong book collectors and supporters of the Stanford University Libraries.  William P. Wreden, Class of ’34, led a distinguished career as an antiquarian bookseller in Palo Alto, and maintained long friendships with Nathan van Patten and subsequent Stanford librarians. Byra J. Wreden, a lifetime collector of the works of Kate Greenaway, was a founding director of the Associates of the Stanford University Libraries in 1973. 

Click here to read more about the winning entries.
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