What began as a love of Indiana history has become a prize-winning book collection for John Allread, '00. Along with Sherlina Nageer, '98, and Elda Stanco, '98, Allread received the U of C Library's ninth annual T. Kimball Brooker prize for undergraduate book collecting this spring. The College's prize harks back to its creator, T. Kimball Brooker, AM'89, PhD'96, who won a similar prize as an undergraduate at Yale University. Over the past 28 years, Brooker has built a collection of 16th-century French and Italian books and bindings, as well as a collection of French literature. Students submit descriptions of their collections, which are then judged by a committee of University faculty and staff.
Judges pay special attention to how students' interests have directed their collections.
The 1998 prizes went to collections reflecting the collectors' cultural heritage. Allread started his collection when his great-uncle gave him an 1888 book by Lew Wallace about the lives of General Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd U.S. president, and the Hon. Oliver P. Morton, governor of Indiana during the Civil War. With his prize money, Allread attended the annual Printer's Row book fair in Chicago, adding several more works by Tarkington and one more by Ade to his collection.