George Modlin Book Award
For 50 years, student bibliophiles at the University of Richmond have been receiving prizes for their book collections. Once again, Boatwright Memorial Library is delighted to award an annual prize of $1000 for an outstanding book collection conceived and built by a senior student at the University of Richmond.
Interested senior students should submit their entry via email to ModlinAward@richmond.edu by Wednesday, April 3, 2024.
Entries must include:
- Personal information: your name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address.
- An essay of no more than 1500 words describing the objective, history, and direction of your collection.
- A bibliography of at least 20, but no more than 50, items in the collection arranged by author, date, or another principle of your choice. Entries should follow a standard citation format.
- A wish list of the three books you would most like to add to your book collection, explaining your reasoning.
The winning collection must be more than a list of texts: it will be a chosen group of printed or manuscript items, creatively put together. The collection must have been started by the student, and all items in the collection must be owned by them. A collection may include printed books, manuscripts, zines, and/or ephemera; it may be organized by theme, author, illustrator, publisher, printing technique, binding style, or another clearly articulated principle.
The prize will be a check for $1000.00 and a certificate of recognition. Sample items from the winning collection, curated by the student, may be exhibited in Boatwright Library. The recipient will be acknowledged in the Commencement Program, and their name will also be added George Matthews Modlin Award for Student Book Collections winners list on display in Boatwright Memorial Library.
The essay has the honor of representing the University of Richmond in the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest, organized by The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA), the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies (FABS), the Grolier Club, and the Center for the Book and the Rare Books and Special Collections Division (Library of Congress). Please note that per the ABAA's contest rules, the winning essay will be entered exactly as submitted to the George Matthews Modlin Award for Student Book Collections contest, without possibility of revision.
For more information, please contact Lynda Kachurek, Head Rare Books and Special Collections, Boatwright Memorial Library at (804) 289-8458 or email ModlinAward@richmond.edu.
The George Matthews Modlin Award for Student Book Collections was established by the faculty of the University of Richmond in 1971 to honor Dr. George M. Modlin upon his retirement as president of the University of Richmond and to encourage undergraduate students to develop focused collections of books pertaining to their particular areas of interest. Collections are eligible for the award only during the student’s senior year.
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Modlin Award Past Recipients
Year
Recipient Name
Collection Title
1973
Sandra Lee Snidow
Classical Music Library
1974
William Rust Norris
Science Fiction & Fantasy
1976
Elizabeth Rhodes Brimm
Hispanic-Related Books
1977
Rhett McPherson
Scottish Highland Bagpipe Music
1978
James Edward Cumbie
Medieval European History
1979
Howard Franklin Crotzer, Jr.
English Literature
1981
Elizabeth W. Andrews
Horses & Horsemanship
1982
Judith G.Suben
Language & Thought
1984
Christopher K. Smith
Theater & Directing
1984
Edward C. Cleary
Postmodernist Fiction
1985
John Scott Hudgins
Jewish History
1986
Peter S. Kirkpatrick
French Politics
1987
Michael Bruce Compton
Understanding Biblical Language
1988
James R. Luck, Jr.
A Search For God
1989
Louis T. Manarin
The Roman Empire
1990
Mark H. Danley
Military History
1991
James H. Carter, IV
Intellectual Development of Modern China
1992
Cynthia Paces
Czechoslovakia’s Cultural Heritage
1993
Michael T. Williams
French Philosophy
1994
Kristina M. Thomas
Dogs In Fact And Fiction
1995
Sonia J. Banerji
South Asian Culture & History
1996
Kelly E. Broxton
Social Change of Education & Women Studies
1997
Wesley C. Kelly
Classics And Philosophy Minor Focus On Linguistic Philosophy
1998
Lee A. Scott
Books My Passport - The Journey To The East
1999
Steven Pate
A Literature Francais: An Education Through Literature
2000
Josh J. Clough
The American Indian and U.S. Western History
2001
Thomas A. Calder
A Collection For The Study of
East Asia From Its Roots to Today
2002
Barrett Matthew Emerick
Search For Truth
2003
Amy Robin Hoffman
Edward Gorey and the World of the Gothic
2004
Erin Bartels
Reclaiming and Reinventing the South & Southernness
2005
Chase Rowan
Politics, Plato and Pinot Noir: my library as an independent liberal arts education
2006
Patrick Elgin
Military Leadership - Personal and Universal
2006
Patrick Salland
The World of Pharaohs
2007
Carmen del Valle Hermo
Hispanic Heritage: Hispanic and Latino Art
2008
Jacob Neal
What’s the Use of Truth? Queering the Face of Philosophy by Way of Richard Rorty
2009
Rebecca Frazier
Making Connections: A Collection Exploring the Intersections of Psychology, Gender, and Leadership
2010
Robert Lindstrom
Why Do I Collect Golf Books?
2010
Daniel Rudary
European and Early American History
2011
Abigail S. Novak
Evaluating Education Reform: The Importance of Race, Class, and Gender in Understanding America’s Education Crisis
2011
Schuyler Swartout
The Order of Things
2012
Caroline Cobert
Ancient Egyptain Mummies
2013
Katie C. Freeman
The Evolution of Knowledge: A Curious Literary Journey in Understanding Life from Neurons to Nebulas
2013
Sam Crusemire
The New Yorker in a Virginian
2014
Brian Guay
Bridging the Gap between Political Science and Psychology Using Tibetan Studies
2015
Kassie Andreadis
Female-Led Speculative Fiction
2015
Melissa Diamond
Middle East Peace and Conflicts
2016
Marissa Parker
Sustainability & the Environment
2017
Damian Hondares
Understanding Cuba, Then and Now
2018
Aheema Gazi
Doctors as Superheroes
2019
Azin Bahari
Tales of the Perpetual Outsider: The Iranian Immigrant Identity
2020
Colin Michael Pohlman
Agrarian Pasts, Presents, and Futures
2021
Casey Murano
Adventures of a Creative Pilgrim
2022
Miquell Shaw
Black Studies Collection
2023
Shira Greer
Lessons in Black Feminism from the Books I Passed on the Way