Visiting Committee Prize for Undergraduate Book Collecting Winners Announced

Nancy Cline, Roy E. Larsen Librarian of Harvard College; Heather Cole, Librarian of the Lamont Library; and Ellen McGill, Reference and Electronic Resources Coordinator at Harvard-Yenching Library; with juniors Alexis Kusy and Harrison Greenbaum, second- and first-place winners (respectively) of the annual Visiting Committee Prize for Undergraduate Book Collecting.

May 17, 2006 - Harvard student Harrison Greenbaum ’08 has been awarded first prize in this year’s Visiting Committee Prize for Undergraduate Book Collecting for his entry A Uniquely Portable Magic: A Collection of Treasures from the Conjuring Arts. Second prize went to Alexis Kusy ’07 for The Peculiar Collection and third prize to Michael Sanchez ’07 for Collecting the French Avant-Garde. An exhibition featuring items from the students’ collections will be on display in Lamont Library on Level 5 through January 2007.

Greenbaum’s collection consists of magic books, some historical, many instructional. “Books themselves are magical, but these are literally magic,” said the psychology major and professional magician. “Most of the stuff I perform is from these books.”

The recipient of a magic kit at age five, Greenbaum was taken with the art. As he explored magic and sleight of hand, his mentors advised him to learn from books, not the available DVDs. That helped made the tricks his own. “The worst thing is to copy,” said Greenbaum. “You have to figure out the best way for you to do it. You develop your own style. Once you see someone else do it the right way, you want to do it that way.”

The profession is secretive, so finding these books is hard, says Greenbaum, who gets many from small publishing companies. His oldest goes back to 1930 and his most valuable are autographed by well-known magicians like Ricky Jay, Simon Lovell, and Penn and Teller. When asked his favorite, Greenbaum replied, “It’s like asking to choose between your children,” but admits he has a particular fondness for The Art of Astonishment by magician Pat Harris [note from Harrison: this should actually read "Paul Harris"], which includes an essay explaining that a magician’s job is to “help others open up to astonishment.” It’s something that gives him more of a purpose, especially as he currently performs with other local magicians at Mystery Lounge on Tuesday nights at the Hong Kong....

Students were asked to submit an annotated bibliography and an essay that spoke to issues such as early collecting efforts, influence of mentors, the experience of searching for items, organization and care of items, and future direction of the collection. Sixteen students declared their intention to enter the competition and seven submitted their work for consideration. The jury consisted of Heather Cole, Librarian of Lamont Library, Mary Beth Clack, Research Librarian in Widener Library, and Ellen McGill, Reference and Electronic Resources Librarian in Harvard-Yenching Library.

The Visiting Committee Prize for Undergraduate Book Collecting was established in the spring of 1977 to recognize and encourage book collecting by undergraduates at Harvard. It is sponsored by the Members of the Board of Overseer's Committee to Visit the Harvard University Library. Cole, who has coordinated the competition since its inception, annually selects a jury with noted bibliographic expertise from among Harvard College Library staff.

From Harvard College Libraries (HCL) News, May 17th, 2006