i'm deanna mark hamm, i'm the associate librarian for library services, and on behalf of all of my colleagues here, i welcome you to this very nice occasion. we're pleased to have you join us for the awards ceremony for the national collegiate book collecting contest. this is a new venture for the library of congress and, indeed, for our two partners as well.

the antikaren booksellers association of america. all of us are immenselyuateful to the -- grateful to the -- [audio difficulty] within the library of congress and the rare book and special collections division are the two focal points for this endeavor, so it is my pleasure now to turn the program over to john cole who's the directer of the center for the book. he has been instrumental in making this partnership work and bringing the library of congress into it, and he will now introduce our special speaker. john? this.

>> well, good evening, and let me add my word of welcome and my extreme pleasure as being able to be part of this new partnership that we will be talking about tonight and we'll be demonstrating it tonight too. it's wonderful that we're able to bring younger people into the world of collecting, and i think this is a way of doing it and a way that will be significant for all of our institutions. i am pleased to introduce collectors, our first speaker tonight, collectors carol and gene fit gerld of florida. i met them in the mid 1980s, and we discovered we had a great deal in common, especially in if our love of books, collecting and libraries.

gene, would you just raise your hand? carol is is about to speak, but this is gene fitzgerald. gene had previously collected the american guide series which he had donated to the broward county library in ft. lauderdale. carol at the time was in the midst of collecting the rivers of america book series publishes between 1937 and 1974. in 1997 the center for the book hosted a symposium about the rivers of america series, and four years later the center co-published, and it's on the screen, with oak knoll press carol's two-volume the rivers of america, a descriptive bibliography which was edited by gene. in 2003 on the occasion of the center for the book's 25th anniversary, carol and gene generously donated their rivers

of america archives to the library of congress where it now resides in our rare book and special collections division. where our winners and several other people who are here enjoyed a demonstration this afternoon and a show and tell for mark, our remarkable head of the rare book and special collections division. the rivers of america collection is wonderful. it comprises more than 400 first editions, subsequent printings, related correspondence, audio and video recordings and other materials. as you will hear and see tonight, carol did not stop collecting, and the center for the book continued as her partner. and in late 2009 again with oak knoll press, the center for the book published, co-published with oak knoll another two-volume bibliography edited by gene.

to my way of thinking, the carol and gene fitzgerald story is an inspiring one, and along with the wonderful and inspiring talk i know that our winners experienced they had with mark in the rare book and special collections division this afternoon, i cannot think of a more appropriate preface and beginning to the presentation of awards at the first time for the library of congress and at the library of congress of the 2010 national collegiate book collecting contest winners and awards. may i present carol fitzgerald, my friend. carol? let's give her a hand. [applause]

>> good evening. thank you, john. it's a pleasure to be with you tonight here in the largest library in the world. the topic of my talk this evening is collecting mid 20th century regional literature. before i begin, let me briefly set the scene for the birth of much of this literature. picture the great depression years of the 1930s prior to the united states entering into world war ii. it was a time for americans to look inward. there was much interest in the american scene, a perfect time for regional literature to capture the hearts and minds of the american people. while many of the books and series i will discuss this evening were born of this time, interest in this genre continued

for decades. i am a collector, as are many of you, and over the years i have built a personal library. but even so, who could have predicted that the casual purchase of a $15 book at the miami book fair nearly 25 years ago would be the seminal moment, the beginning of my book collecting that would result in not one, but two two-volume bibliographies, the rivers of america, and series americana, post-depression era regional literature, 1938-1980. both co-published by oak knoll press and the center for the book in the library of congress. now for my story. in the november of 1986, the broward county library in ft. lauderdale and the florida center for the book hosted a symposium, rediscovering the

1930s: the wpa and the federal writers' project. it was there that my husband jeep and i first -- gene and i first met john who as executive direct offer of the center for the -- directer of the center for the book, served on one of the panels. that event coincided with the miami book fair which gene and i attended with a bookseller friend from washington. at the book fair, i picked up a nice first edition of the st. john's, a parade of diversities planning to make it a christmas gift to my sister and her husband who live on the st. john's river in jacksonville, florida. our friend noted that would make a nice collection. by that he meant the rivers of america series, the st. john's being a volume in the series. i was not familiar with the rivers series, but a seed had been planted. i kept the book for myself, not for my sister, and began to

research the river series. [laughter] i remember buying my second and third rivers books at the book shop while visiting san francisco. when i asked if they had any rivers of america books, the immediate answer was, no, we specialize in children's books. but as we were walking out of the shop, someone recalled that they did have a couple of rivers books, owing to the book's illustrators. the brandywine, by henry, was illustrated by andrew wyeth and the arkansas by clyde brian davis was illustrated by donald mckay. i bought both books and recall paying $65 for the brandywine and declining an offer to have the book shipped, opting to carry this extravagant purchase with me on the plane home. a few years later i gladly paid $350 for the delaware edition,

one of 650 copies signed by the author and andrew wyeth. but now the owner of three rivers books, i was anxious to find more. it wasn't easy. remember that this was preinternet. i found little information about the series itself and relied on publishers' lists of other books in the series to compile a complete list of series books. and each week i perused my copy of -- [inaudible] as my collection grew, so did my interest in the series authors, illustrators and also the publishers. i wanted to get a broad view of the people and the times when the books were published. the rivers series was conceived and planned by constance lindsay skinner in the mid 1930s. she selected well-known authors who were familiar with the subject river and paired them

with talented and often well known illustrators such as andrew wyeth and roz san -- ross santi. almost 40 years later, there were 65 series titles including a songbook, songs of the rivers of america, published between 1937 and 1974 by reinhart and company and later by hoke, reinhart and winston. skinner died in 1939 while editing the hudson by carl carmer, the sixth book in the series. but her vision would continue for another 35 years under the editorial guidance of three noted literary figures of the time. steven vincent bonet, then

herbie allen and the last editor, carl carmer. the series was diverse in content and thrived longer than any other such publishing effort. it was one of the most successful literary ventures in publishing history. in addition to the 65 trade editions, there were signed limited editions. there were armed services editions, british editions, young readers' editions and even one title printed in german. and as an example of how things can get complicated, i discovered that the first edition of the hudson carl carmer was issue with the four different dust jackets and end papers. i had to find them all. at our local library, i took hand-written notes of publishers' weekly for articles,

publishing ads relating to the series, and i eventually tracks down the few living series authors and illustrators hoping they might provide information about their roles in writing or illustrating the books. from their correspondence and personal interviews, i began to compile first person accounts that provided insight into how the series evolved. i met with series authors such as kentucky historian dr. thomas d. clark, author of the kentucky, who took me to see the subject river when we visited him in lexington. i interviewed frank waters who wrote the colorado at his home outside taos, new mexico, and corresponded with tennessee historian wilma dikeman about her book, the french broad. minnesota historian james taylor dunn sent me longhand written letters about his writing the st. croix as did william ellis,

author of the cuyahoga and margaret san born, author of the american, river of el dorado, the last volume in the river series, became a close friend until her death. all were gracious and provided invaluable information about their books, and some of them would later tell their stories here at the library of congress. a stroke of good fortune occurred when i wrote to henry holt and company to inquire if they had any files relating to the series. i was stunned when they invited me to their new york office, gave me unrestricted access to their files and even provided a copy machine for my use. their files were a treasure dating to 1940. they were stored alphabetically by author, not by title. my husband, by then college student son jim and i spent the better part of a day copying contracts, correspondence and

other pertinent material: several months later i returned to the firm to continue my copying and was treated with the same courtesy and assistance. in addition to interesting correspondence and contract documents, these files included information that might easily have been lost forever. for instance, in the file for powder river, there was information about a german edition of the book published after world war ii for distribution in germany. perhaps one of the most elusive books of my collection, i searched for it for several years and would have paid a lot for it. but one day i found a copy offered by a german book dealer on the internet for $13. 11. when the book arrived, it was a pristine copy still in the original plastic wrapping. this essential primary source information provided by the holt files made it possible for me to

write the story of the rivers of america series, a bibliography that would include biographies of the authors, ill straiters and editors, histories of the publishing firming that produced the series and an account of how each volume came to be written, a story that is often interesting or amusing, and other facts about each book such as print runs and errors. in the mid 1990s i began a correspondence with dr. alexander mcleod, a nashville physician who became a good friend who also collected rivers books. alex suggested that the gene and alexander hurd library at vanderbilt university exhibit my rivers collection in conjunction with tennessee's bicentennial celebration which they agreed to do. the exhibit, a bicentennial perspective: the rivers of tennessee, opened in the fall of

1996, and john cole was there. the vanderbilt event led to the organization by john and the center for the book with help from the american folk life center of a two-day symposium at the library of congress in april 1997. the rivers of america, a 60th anniversary celebration. most of the living authors and illustrators gathered here in this room to tell their stories and help honor the men and women who wrote, illustrated, edited and published these books. and the event was recorded by the library of congress. later in 1997 my rivers books were exhibited in florida lauderdale at the vienna center for the literary arts and in may 1998 at the university of kentucky as part of the opening of the university's new william p. young library. but i was still collecting and writing, and in the end my collection of rivers books number ped nearly -- numbered

nearly 400. essentially, every edition and every printing of the 65 rivers titles which became the foundation for the two-volume book, the rivers of america: a descriptive bibliography, which was published in 2001 by oak knoll press in association with the center for the book. what follows are the dust jackets of the 65 titles. these beautiful, beautiful photographs of the dust jackets of the 65 titles were provided by john townsend of townsend books and demonstrate the breadth of the series and incomparable beauty of the jackets. i'll leave this on for a minute so that you can take in some of the titles. a little something for everyone.

in 2003 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the center for the book, my husband and i donated the rivers' books and all related correspondence and art work to the library of congress. this collection is is housed in the library's rare book and special collections edition. while i was collecting books in the rivers series, i began to collect books in a dozen or so other series that reflected the popularity of regional literature of the late 1930s and early 1940s. for example, american lakes, american mountains, american trails and regions of america. in 1941 there were two references in publishers' weekly to the growing popularity of regional literature. helen r. tiffany in toledo,

ohio, observed we have noticed, as probably everyone else has, an increased demand for books about america both past and present. and louis gannette's essay, reading about america, in the may 3,1941, issue of publishers' weekly observed, it is no mistake that we have our first real series of handbooks to the nation, the guides have been appearing almost simultaneously with the stately row of rivers of america books which constance lindsay skinner planned and carl carmer and steven vincent bonet carry on. as my research confirmed, the continuing strength and popularity of such regional literature, i realized i might have enough information to create a companion piece to the rivers book.

as i had done with the rivers series, i researched publishing history. each series and it editors, authors and illustrators. over the next few years i spoke to or corresponded with scores of people who were connected in some way with each of the series. i was fortunate to find a few authors who were in some instances their grown, elderly children who provided information that i was able to include in the book. but i decided not to collect every printing of every edition of the series americana books as i had done in the rivers series. instead, i collected only first printings, variant printings of first editions and special or limited editions. the full title of the book, a series americana: post-depression era regional literature 1938-1980.

it's been defined as the use of regional characteristics, locale, customs, culture or speech which serve to preserve the character of a geographic region and its people. regionalism is part of nearly all literature since most literature involves a locale or setting. but the term is is is most often used when the locale is itself is interesting. you may recognize some of the names, caldwell, guthrie jr., gannette, carmer, ells, berg, carter, forester, holbrook, lamb, stone, and, of course, many other contributors to these series were prominent at the time, especially in regions that were the subjects of their book.

gene and i made several trips to washington to research copyright data at the library of congress for the books covered in series americana. this gave us opportunities to spend time with john cole whose office is here in the madison building as are the copyrighters going back more than 100 years. most people have never seen a copyright certificate, the document that is proof of publication and also provides valuable additional information for researchers. for my work i was mainly interested in confirming exact dates of publication. here are three copyright certificates i used in writing the book. this first one, this is a 1948 copyrighterer is tiff case -- certificate by james connolly, a title in the seaport series, and it was entered in hand in a double-page ledger. this 1934 copyright -- 1944

copyright certificate by grace newt uses a revised form with the information typed on a certificate. and by 1946 when lake pontchartrain by roberts, another title of the american lakes series, was published, the copyright form was changed again, and this is a form that was used for most of the copy rights for books in series americana. in addition to research at the library of congress, i continued my research at the bancroft library at the university of california berkeley, the butler library at columbia university and the new york state historical association at cooperstown. i also used files from the lily library, the king library at the university of kentucky and syracuse university library. all of which provided valuable primary source material such as

publishers' files, authors' correspondence and promotion alter. gene and i went to california twice to interview some of the series authors. in ojai, california, we spent several days at the home of david lavender, one of the most respected writers of the 20th century. david gave us unrestricted access to his correspondence files providing important insight into the creation, development and marketing of the three series in which he had written six books. sadly, david died shortly after our visit, but we shall never forget his kindness and courtesy. on a later trip to california sponsored by a grant for the book club of california, we met with and interviewed three other california authors who provided valuable first-person information about their books.

farrell egan, author of the el dorado trail, at his home in berkeley. richard dylan, both volumes of the american trails series. and that's richard dylan at his home in mill valley. and the remi nadeau, also at his home. in 2007 i was honored to have a portion of my series, americana collection, exhibited at the museum of the modern book in florida lauderdale. the museum's highly-talented rare book librarian produced a fabulous catalog of the exhibit which i am pleased to share with each of you this evening. what follows is a quick overview of the 13 series covered in

series americana. the earliest of the series addressed in the book is the american landmark series, ten volumes published by hastings house between 1938 and 1943. each book in the series contains 73 pages of photographs by samuel chamberlain, a noted photographer and print maker at the time. each volume carries a subtitle, a camera impression, and each presents photographs of new england landscapes, landmarks and architecture. here is a typical samuel chamberlain photo taken from the book, glouster and cape ann. in addition to the american landmark series, my book covers 12 other series. they are the seaport series, 12 volumes published by doubleday

between 1940 and 1947. of particular note in this series, tropic landfall: the port of honolulu, was ready for publication in december 1941 when pearl harbor was attacked. before its publication, however, a new prologue addressing the country's entry into world war ii was written. can you read that first sentence? i believe it begins the bombs fell as this book went to press, honolulu was a closed port. the american folkway series, 28 volumes edited by caldwell, was published by sloan and pierce between 1941 and 1958. caldwell described it as the colorful series of american life told through the customs of the

people in the widely-scattered regions of the country. the american mountains series, nine volumes edited by roderick peety was published between 1932 and 1952. the american lakes series, ten volumes edited by milo quaff, was published between 1944 and 1949. the series covers the five great lakes and four other major lakes, lake ponte char chain, lake oak choke, florida, the sierra nevada lake and the great salt lake. now for a little fun. the regional murder series -- yes, there is such a series -- nine volumes with marie rodell

as editor was published between 1944 and 1948, an excursion into true crime american literature. each volume was based on murders in a single major american city. the series includes contributions by 66 authors. washington is not included. [laughter] and they're wonderful. they're just readable today because they're a lot of fun. photo of the american customs series, seven volumes published by vanguard press between 1946 and 1949. these are quaint, readable books describing locus toms of long- forgotten times of early america. some volumes even include recipes. society in this america series. eight volumes published between

1947 and 1951 by e.f. dutton. of the eight volumes shown here, the proper bostonians by cleveland aim ri, a huge best seller, is perhaps best known today. and we have the washington cavalcade written by charles hurd. some of you who were around in the '60s might have known. he was a writing, i think, for one of the local papers. and that's the proper bostonians. there were two american trail series, the first published by merrill and edited by jay monahan consisting of only three volumes which were published in 1947 and 1948. beginning 14 years later, the second american trails series -- 15 volumes edited by the distinguished western writer a.b. guthrie, big sky -- was

published by mcgraw-hill between 1962 and 1977. these books were written by noted historians and cover the major trails that helped settle the far reaches of america. the mainstream of america, 20 volumes edited by louis gannette, was published by doubleday between 1953 and 1966. described by the publisher as the story of america in narrative form. this brilliant new series of books brings to vivid life america from the period of its discovery to the present day. authors and historians such as irving stone and carter contributed to this impressive series. the american procession series, nine volumes edited by henry elsberg was published by hastings house between 1953 and

1964. the publisher described it as a new literary series which will center around periods of our history and cultural growth which have not yet been fully explored. of special note in this series is a signed limited edition of 185 copies of the beaver men which was issued in a beautiful binding and slip case. this edition includes two pages of the original typed manuscript signed by the author and a large map drawn and signed by him. the regions of america series, 14 volumes, was published by harper and brothers and later, harper and row between 1959 and 1980. the series was promoted as a series of books that depict our

natural regions, their history, development and character. one title in the series, florida: the long frontier, was written by marjorie douglas, best known for her classic work, "everglades: river of grass," a title in the rivers of america series. and finally, the american ports series. nine volumes planned and edited by stuart holbrook and published by paren dishall between 1965 and 1973. unfortunately, holbrook died in 1964 shortly before the first books were published in if early 1965. for each of the forgoing series, i present a publishing history and a biography of its editor -- and a biography of it editor if there was an editor, and for each title there is a bib lo graphical edition and sketches of the authors and illustrators,

if it is illustrated. altogether the book coffers 163 -- covers 163 titles and contains 242 biographical sketches. as the book's jacket notes, taken together the series constitute a unique and compelling self-portrait of america encompassing the american people, their history and culture and the nation's treasures, it mountains, plains and lakes over a broad sweep of time measured in centuries. other aspects of america, landmarks, seaports, forts, trails, folkways, customs, society in the america and even regional murders are also subject of these series. it is my hope that the rivers of america and series americana will in some measure help preserve the memory of these characteristically american regional authors and their work,

inspired as they were by the dynamics of the great depression and the second world war. many serious collectors of art, books and the like unexpectedly become experts in their field of interest. their study, research and the thrill of finding an elusive of volume or acquiring a one or a kind bring genuine pleasure and satisfaction. i don't consider myself a scholar, but i was fortunate to be in a position to assemble two separate collections of books that had not been fully explored or documented. of course, such collecting has its pluses and minuses. as a collector, there are no boundaries for research or acquisition, but there is little or no information to use as a guide in collecting. the unknown fosters innovative solutions to the search for information. but with the joy and success of

collecting there often comes the responsibility of documenting and sharing new knowledge. no one will dispute the value of the work of collector/scholars and the importance of independent scholarly research. but work it is. no collection, no matter how complete it may seem, is is ever finished. for example, when i was writing the rivers book, i found no evidence that a reinhart and company first edition on all points by bruce hutchison existed. but about two months ago i received an e-mail from john townsend of townsend p books in deep river, connecticut, reporting that he had found an edition not reported in my book. in my opinion, the only edition missing from my rivers of america book. of course, i bought it. and thus it is my pleasure to present that missing edition to

deanna marcum, mark and john cole forinclusion in the rivers archive. john, would you like to come -- [laughter] [applause] >> thank you so much. >> you're well welcome. >> this is wonderful. >> it was a surprising edition. >> may your collecting never stop. >> i hope it doesn't. [laughter] >> thank you very much. >> thank you, carol. >> thank you so much. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

>> well, thank you, carol, and thank you, gene. it's a wonderful summary, and it's really a wonderful tribute, in this a way, to the collecting spirit and the sharing that goes so much part of it. and that, of course, is one of the features of tonight's ceremony. i want to say just a word or two about the contest and also point out for you, there's going to be a brief reception at the end of this for everyone, at the end of this program, and you will find in the back one -- not only the program which lists our sponsors and thanks to people who have been involved in this bringing this contest back. there was a hiatus in this contest, and it had been supported for a number of years, as many of you know, by fine

books and collections magazine. that was not possible for a short period of time, a couple of years, i believe, and it was due to the continued interest of some individuals that we got together to bring this back. and so as i said when we began, it's really a pleasure for us to be involved in this. and one of the reasons is from the center for the book's perspective as i hinted at, we are always looking to involve young people in book-related activities. we were created by daniel borsten back in 1977 to stimulate public interest in books, reading and more recently in both literacy and in libraries. we promote books and reading in the many, many different ways, but i did feel that we weren't as strong in the book collecting side of things as we should be. and so that was one of the

reasons that the fitzgeralds inspired me in this early stage of the center for the book to think about collecting and what we might do and with help from the foundation and arthur who is here, we have become involved again. and it is a pleasure to, also, have a project with the antisquare yang booksellers' association of america which is one of our partners, and the brand new partner will be the american bib lo fillic societies. and these are the three organizations that provided the judges for the contest and selected the winners. and one of our judges wrote what we will consider to be kind of a statement about how the winners were chosen. and this comes from stuart bennett who is here. stuart? there you are. and this is his statement on

behalf of the judges. we judges agreed that the primary purpose of the contest was to reward students for being infected with the book collectors' bug. with that in mind, the judges went on to consider the depth and range of the student's interest, the zeal with which the student acquired material for the collection, the enthusiasm and expertise shown in describing the collection and the inherent possibilities for further expansion. there were a total of 29 entries, susan, am i right on that? i think that's correct. and we were quite enthused to have 29 entries. and one of our goals, of course, is to help spread the word about the contest to learn more about some of the contests that have been in existence at universities for many years, but also to plant the seed, we hope, for new contests and new schools

through, in part, the publicity of the winners. and secondly, we have, lo and behold, have gotten some very good publicity for this contest through the magazine that was involved in the shift. and i'm pleased that fine books and collections is back in business, and i'm very pleased that in this article which we have for everyone who is here in the new issue. christopher lancet. chris, are you not here tonight? no. has described the contest, the change in a wonderful article, "we are the champions." he has interviewed our winners. and as we present the awards tonight, i'm going to attempt a little mini interview myself so we have a chance to hear from all of our winners before we meet them personally in the reception that follows.

finally, carol reminded me and we just got these out, she generously -- she and gene generously brought copies of the benny's catalog for her series, americana. this was a show in florida in october 2007 through january 2008. sadly, james finley just died a few day ago, the man who compiled this. so in a way this is a tribute to jim, but it's also a tribute to the collecting bug that we are trying to inspire. and it's a beautiful catalog. it's a collector's item, and we have one for everyone thanks to jim's generosity and the generosity of the fitzgeralds. now, we are going to present the awards with the help from arthur dunkleman representing the foundation who very generously is supporting the awards.

and i would like, though, for everyone to meet the winners to start with. and the winners already announced -- winner's already announced, it's not a secret, but the winner of the first prize is andrew fink from the university of puget sound, tacoma, washington, and i'd like andrew to come up. the collection of andrew which i'm going to ask him to say a word or two about is an interdisciplinary -- his collection is an interdisciplinary survey of 20th century propaganda. and i'm going to ask andrew in spite of all of my fussing about which questions i was going to ask people -- they all know they're being asked a question, i think the simplest thing is a quick description from you of your collection and then a little bit about how you got started with your collection and where you think it might take you. would that be fair? step right in here. >> so my collection has a very

long and a bit of an unfortunate title partly because of how i assembled it. i saw a poster at my school in the library where i was always for a collegiate book collecting contest, and i thought, i have lots of books, i wonder if i have a collection because i'd never thought about how all of my books came together. so i sat down in front of my book shelf, and i started pulling out some of my favorite books, the first one being george orwell's 1954, and before long i had this entire thing, a collection laid out on my floor. [laughter] and that's why i'm so thankful for this contest because it allowed me to assemble in my mind all these books that i had, discover their connections and how they all inform and communicate with each other. and they've been having all these conversations on my book shelf that i have never been privy to, and i'm excited to be able to join in that now.

so i attempted to explore the topic of propaganda from three perspectives, the first being theory. i have -- the largest part of my collection is is books which are not prop propaganda in themselves but which explore how it's created, why it affects people and often how to avoid its effects which, i think, is is certainly very interesting. the second, i have historical primary and secondary sources of propaganda or books which address particular pieces of propaganda and then, finally, i have another large selection artistic and literature which deal with the topic of propaganda such as 1984 or darkness at noon which i feel is is an underrepresented look at propaganda as art and how art can inform how we attempt to persuade and look at our

political is and social lives. >> thank you very much. now, don't go away, let's give him a hand. that was wonderful. [applause] arthur, would you like to -- [inaudible conversations] [laughter] [inaudible conversations] >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> congratulations. [applause]

>> our second prize goes to ryan julian from the university of chicago and his collection is is on the history of mathematics. ryan? there you are. could you address the same question? >> could you repeat the question? [laughter] >> the question is a brief description for people of your collection, a little bit about your motive behind the collection which is the history of mathematics and where you think the winning of this award might take you and your collection. >> okay. so as it stands, my collection sort of consists of two main parts that have a lot of overlaps. one part is is a large number of books about the history of math, commentaries about greek mathematicians, some overall schemes of how math progressed from ancient times up to the modern day. and i also have another part

that consists mostly of old textbooks usually from the 19th century and there are some overlaps. i have one book that is an autobiography of a calculating prodigy who was born in 1805. and the collection for me, basically, started back high school. i was, i was and still am studying mathematics. i plan on becoming a mathematician. and for me, i had urgently been studying math for its theoretical beauty. i saw these theorums as great objects in the world of mathematics, and be i want today understand them. -- and i wanted to understand them. i was writing a paper, and i read a book called "the story of the square root of negative 1." [laughter] and in that book he discusses the mathematics of complex numbers which is what i was looking for, but he also includes a lot of information about mathematicians involved in

these discoveries. and it changed mathematics from simply beautiful theoretical works to a human quest for understanding. and so by studying mathematics, the history of mathematics, i can see it as not just me trying to understand something new, but me trying to build upon centuries and centuries of great mathematicians who were affected by their times, their lives and the civilizations that they existed within. >> great. thank you very much. [applause] arthur? [applause] >> third prize goes to philipp

penka from harvard university. his collection title is is temporary spiritual sustenance, the culture of russian displaced persons in postwar germany, 1945-1951. give you a hand. [applause] i should say that we as a guest today at the library of congress had robert darnton, and i told him that we had a winner, and he took a look at the title and said that he was most eager for me to pass along more information to him. he couldn't come tonight about your collection and your thinking behind it. so i ask you the same question a little bit about -- an overview of your collection, how it developed and where you may go with it from now on. thank you.

>> thank you. so as was already mentioned, my collection focuses on the print culture of russian displaced persons, specifically in the period from 1945 through 1951. and, basically, these were russian displaced persons living in camps that had been set up for them until they were able to emigrate further on to the u.s., to south america, to australia, etc. and in very difficult conditions with no money, they were -- and under censorship limitations and constant threat from stalinist repatriation agents, etc., they were able to set up these remarkable publishing enterprises, printing money -- printing books in extremely small print with often amazing illustrations, often especially for children but really literature of all

. >> thank you very much. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> could you move over here just a bit because -- thank you. >> congratulations. >> thank you. [applause] >> and the rules of the contest, and we're, we like the rules, but we also as a committee and as a new group of sponsors are going to take a look at the contest a little bit, but we were allowed to add a fourth prize which was primarily for an essay. and it goes -- but this is also a collector and a collection. and so for bailey pike from university of illinois urbana-champaign whose collection is on the mythology of mote art and who wrote a wonderful introduction to that collection as part of her

submission goes our special essay prize. bailey, would you like to come up? [applause] and you can tell us a little bit about your collection in the same way, but also how you became such a adept writer. your essay was terrific. [laughter] >> thank you. >> move up to the mic, please. >> well, as he said, my collection is about the mythology of mozart, specifically it contests of -- consists of lots of different parts, but it's mostly biography and work of fiction and also bib lo graphic works. so pretty much anything mozart. it also includes video, cds, scores, all types of materials. i got started collecting in libraries. i mean, libraries have been my moment since i was -- home since i was a kid. you know, i was lucky to have kids that really supported

literacy and books in the general, and, you know, at a very young age i had, you know, this feeling that books and libraries were sacred somehow. so books have always had that for me, and when i was about 8, i went to my first library discard sale, and i was a little bit appalled that, you know, my sacred library would discard of these items, and i felt this sort of, you know, obligation to steward these books and take them home. and at that point in my life i already had a very, well, a broad interest in music, and i took home armload after armload of books about music from that sale. and actually, some of the books i took home from that sale are in my present collection. that was about 15 years ago. ..

the answer korean book associates is the foundation, or rep from our third sponsor of the fellowship of american philips society would like to add anything. sarah, come on up to the mike. >> i just wanted to add an additional thank you to the libraries at the various institutions from which our students come.

they were sponsors, they were -- they all hold contests themselves which allow theseco wonderful contestantsnt to comeo us now, and i would just like tt emphasize that all libraries are living, active, vibrant organizations as i think our library of congress represents and as each of our wonderful student collectors represents. you. w [applause] >> all right. well, thank you all very much. it's been a wonderful occasion. i thank in particular carol, gene and our four winners. i think the other sponsors. -- thank the other sponsors. i look forward to moving ahead with this partnership, and lettn a conclude, actually, by giving