Exhibit Catalogs Receive Awards

Two exhibit catalogs which accompanied exhibits installed in the Rebecca and Rick White Gallery in the past year have received awards from the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries. The Katharine Kyes Leab & Daniel J. Leab American Book Prices Current Exhibition Awards are given in “recognition of excellence in the publication of catalogues and brochures that accompany exhibitions of library and archival materials.”

The exhibition catalog for “Crossing Borders: From Slavery to Abolition, 1670-1865” won the inagural award in the student category. This exhibit was curated by Sarah Wilma Watson and the students in her Fall 2019 Crossing Borders writing seminar. In their announcement of the award, the committee praised the exhibit’s “cohesive vision and thoughtful, interrogative analysis [...] The committee was particularly impressed by the discussion of the politics of the archives, the general sensitivity to language and the analytical contextualization of the material throughout the submission.”

“Who Created the New and Copied the Old: Printed Books of the Fifteenth Century” was awarded an honorable mention in the student category. This exhibit was curated by Alex Stern ‘20 and featured books from the David Wertheimer, Class of 1977, Collection of Early Printed Books. The awards committee praised the catalog as “a thorough and engaging exhibition accompaniment. There is a keen sense of audience throughout the publication and the content is accessible and does a good job of capturing the reader’s interest. The committee was particularly pleased to see the inclusion of a discussion of printing techniques and movable type from Asia alongside more well discussed European histories.”

The Libraries are very excited to receive these awards, and congratulate the curators and Bruce Bumbarger, who designed the exhibit catalogs.