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By Denise Sciandra, ANCA President Tales & Tidbits from ANCA I landed in Fresno because my husband took a job here. Sal was a new lawyer who had been hired by the Fresno County Public Defenders’ Office. We moved from sunny San Diego in December 1973. The day we arrived, it was 49 degrees. Freezing to us. We knew no one. We felt isolated and in culture shock. We estimated our stay in Fresno would be two years. I feel fortunate to have discovered Arne Nixon’s book festivals within weeks of my arrival in Fresno. His passion for children’s literature was contagious. I attended many, many of his conferences from 1974 to 1987. Eventually, I took my children, Lisa and Aaron, with me. I wanted them to see authors as real people. I met Leo Politi in 1974. Politi’s love of children and his genuine, down-to-earth nature attracted me. I also loved his artwork and his multicultural picture books. Many of them were set in Los Angeles near Burbank where I grew up. Two took place on his beloved Olvera Street that I had visited as a child. Arne Nixon brought Leo Politi to Fresno annually for many years. My children considered him a friend. As a 5- year-old, Lisa appeared shy about going up in front of the audience to draw the name of the lucky winner of the painting that Politi drew that day. As a 9-year-old, she felt comfortable enough to initiate a chat with him at the break and let him sketch her while I watched in happy disbelief. Politi invited my family to the 1983 Blessing of the Animals ceremony on Olvera Street with the promise of sketching both of my children. We found him in the crowd and he was true to his word. The next year we participated in the ceremony by bringing Aaron’s pet mouse Charles. Six-year-old Aaron briefly became a celebrity when a reporter from Ripley’s Believe It or Not interviewed him as the owner of the only mouse to be blessed that day. Were my children a little bit in awe of Politi? Perhaps. They did find him in the World Book Encyclopedia. And I once heard them say to a friend, “We know some-one in the encyclopedia.” In 2002, Leo Politi’s son and daughter took Angelica Carpenter and me on a guided tour of Leo Politi’s Los Angeles. We enjoyed this experience so much that we would like to share it with others. We think we could fill a bus with Leo Politi fans for a two-day tour in the school year of 2004–05. Are we correct? Let us know and we’ll start a waiting list. Moving to Fresno turned out pretty well. In no other city would I have had the privilege and pleasure of counting both Arne Nixon and Leo Politi as my friends. 2 (Arne Nixon Center Advocates) Ada donation, from page 1 at the University of San Francisco, she has a far-reaching influence. The Center offers graduate degrees in chil-dren’s multicultural literature and an annual “Reading the World” conference that attracts hundreds of people each year. At this summer’s Pura Belpré Awards, sponsored by the American Library Association to honor Latino/Latina authors and illustrators, two honorees thanked Alma Flor Ada for help with their careers. Muchas gracias to her now for honoring the Center with this donation! I met Alma Flor Ada at one of the first “Reading the World” conferences [at the University of San Francisco] a few years ago. She went around the USF building sur-rounded by people, listening to all of those who needed to talk to her. It seemed like everybody had questions or requests for Alma Flor. I was a reader; I had known Alma’s books for a long time, and she was already in my mind like some kind of warrior from a Spanish written tale—a woman who had come to a foreign land, had conquered, and was leaving a precious legacy. At the time I was already very interested in writing and illustrating children’s books, but I lacked direction. When Alma Flor heard that I wanted to write, she invited me—a mere stranger who had just shaken her hand for the first time—to visit one of the classes she was giving at the multicultural literature program at USF. The class was called “The Author Within,” and after that first class I was hooked. How could I leave her class if Alma was talking exactly about what I wanted to learn, about raising the stories from inside and sharing them out with the world? It took all my courage to ask Alma Flor, but she said yes; I could keep coming to the class, and along with the enrolled students I stayed for the rest of the semester. Why does one stick with Alma Flor? Perhaps it is because she becomes some sort of headlight in one’s life. During this class, Alma Flor looked me in the eyes many times and told me that I had talent, that I was a writer. And I believed her. Or perhaps because she has the manner of a mother; when she takes you under her wings, and her warmth sur-rounds you, you know you have arrived in a safe place. Or perhaps it is because she is a role model, a Latina who came to the USA and crafted meticulously her own life and career. And what woman doesn’t want to be like Alma Flor? I do. Mexican-American author/illustrator Yuyi Morales moved to the U.S. in 1994, which is when she began to learn English. She won the 2004 Pura Belpré Medal for illustration for a book she also wrote, Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book. She also won a 2004 Pura Belpré honor award for her illustrations for Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez, by Kathleen Krull. Alma Flor Ada (by Yuyi Morales) Published by The Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature Henry Madden Library California State University, Fresno 5200 North Barton Ave. M/S ML34 Fresno CA 93740-8014 Phone: (559) 278-8116 Web site: www.arnenixoncenter.org Open weekdays 1 – 4:30 p.m. and by appointment. Staff Angelica Carpenter, Curator E-mail: angelica@csufresno.edu Jennifer Crow, Library Assistant Matt Borrego, Student Assistant Maria Carrizales, Student Assistant ANCA Board of Directors Denise Sciandra, President Phone (559) 229-5085 E-mail: deeceebee@psnw.com Jessica Kaiser, 1st Vice President, Programs Jackie Sarkisian, 2nd Vice President, Membership Helen Teichman, Corresponding Secretary Angelica Carpenter, Recording Secretary Nancy Hill, Treasurer Laurel Ashlock Audry Hanson Ruth Kallenberg Cynthia MacDonald Jo Ellen Misakian Richard Osterberg ANC Governing Committee Michael Gorman Michael Cart Maurice J. Eash Magic Mirror Angelica Carpenter, Editor Janet Bancroft, Designer & Co-editor MAGICMIRROR MAGICMIRROR by Angelica Carpenter CORNER CURATOR’S My dear friend Hilda Bohem passed away on July 26, at the age of 87. She had been in failing health for some time, but still the news came as a shock. Hilda was one of my first friends in California. Soon after my arrival, I invited the California members of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America to my Fresno lecture on “Lewis Carroll at Oxford.” Hilda couldn’t come but she sent good wishes and we began a lively correspondence by E-mail. Soon my husband and I were invited to her home in the Hollywood Hills to see her Lewis Carroll collection. Her library was large and cozy, with a big, round table in the middle. Hilda and her friend Stan Kurman, a book dealer, pulled out book after book to show us their special favorites: first editions, foreign editions (Alice in Swahili), unusual editions (braille and shorthand), spin-offs by other authors, and puzzles, tea sets, figurines, videos, coloring books—every kind of ephemera. As the hour of our dinner reservation approached, Hilda and Stan reached their finale. “Let’s show her the dolly!” said Hilda, or at least that’s what I thought she said. (There were several Alice dolls in the room.) “Yes, the dolly!” said Stan, but what they were really saying was “Dalí”— Salvador Dalí, whose limited-edition Alice was selling then for $12,000 to $15,000. Clearly I had a lot to learn about Alice (I still do), and Hilda was the perfect teacher. I visited her often, with many different friends. She taught us where the good restaurants were and which new movies we should see. She remembered when Sunset Boulevard had a bridle path down the middle. She talked about writing for television, using a man’s name for macho shows like Rawhide. She told us about working as a book dealer and a librarian. She bragged modestly about her grandson, who was clearly precocious (she became a grandmother for the first time while in her 80s), and her son Les, who brought his Emmy Award to show her the morning after he won it. She made us laugh with stories about her dogs. Lewis Carroll was her special passion. She wanted her collection to stay together and to go to a library where scholars could use it. I was honored that she thought I would be a good custodian for it. “Donate it!” I urged, but she held out for $150,000. That price was a bargain; the value continues to increase. She let us have the books up front, paying them off over a three-year period. And she gave us dozens of books, too—new and old books to add to the collection, including her Jabberland, an anthology of takeoffs on Jabberwocky. Hilda wrote to her friend Ruth Berman in 2004, “Yes, I sold [the collection] last year and, from what I hear, it’s being loved and cared for. I still enjoy adding things to it. The librarian, Angelica Carpenter, assures me it’s still my collection, just living somewhere else, a comforting thought except when I want to refer to something and find myself staring at a room full of empty shelves.” Now our shelves are full but our hearts grieve for Hilda. She was a beautiful, vibrant person—charming and stimulating even in her last days. Her legacy is her collection, and it is people, too. Her sister, Blossom Norman, is a new friend who recently donated 12 boxes of ABC books to the Center. Hilda’s son, Les Bohem, who won his Emmy for writing the TV series “Taken,” will soon begin work on two new Alice movies for Dream-works. Hilda’s vision will shape the future of the Arne Nixon Center. Happy reading! 3 In June Angelica Carpenter began a 3- year term as president of the Interna-tional Wizard of Oz Club. This literary society has 1,300 members in all 50 states and 7 foreign countries. The Club hosts 3 large regional conventions each summer, including the Winkies, who meet at Asilomar in Pacific Grove (CA). The Club publishes a semi-scholarly journal, The Baum Bugle, 3 times a year. For information about the club, see its Web site at www.ozclub.org. 4 Collecting Lewis Carroll by Hilda Bohem It isn’t easy to know where to place the blame. Thinking back to 1965 when I was in library school, I can pin-point what started it. But who to blame? Joe, fellow student, for announcing that University Microfilms was publishing a facsimile of the first Alice and for offering to place an order for anyone who wanted a copy? Uni-versity Microfilms for doing such a thing? Or maybe Lewis Carroll for writing the book I read with ritual reg-ularity once a year with constantly maturing pleasure? I have to confess that I knew nothing about the author, nor did I know anything about the history of the book. When Joe delivered my promised “first edition,” ten dollars net, I didn’t know what to make of it. The illustrations were wrong, all wrong. The whole thing was neatly handwritten and that was wrong, too. Not that ten dollars was such a huge amount, but for a while there I felt as if I had been had. At last I realized that this skinny book in its light greenish-blue binding was called Alice’s Adventures under Ground not Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Only after that came the realization that this was a facsimile of the original manuscript with illustrations by the author himself. A short preface by Luther Evans put it all into proper perspective for me. I slid my purchase back into its slipcase. That was nice. I had never had a book with a slipcase before. Trying to swallow my disappointment—I had really counted on a bright new copy of my familiar Alice—I turned my attention to Joe who was explaining the book to another puzzled classmate. I was getting more educated by the minute. A few weeks later, showing an East Coast visitor the sights, I dropped into Peggy Christian’s bookshop. I had never been there before. Step two in my education: I found a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland illustrated by Arthur Rackham. Amazing! Someone other than Tenniel (and not Lewis Carroll) had illustrated Alice. So much to learn, and I was getting a cram course. Next day in school, I told Joe about discovering that Rackham had illustrated Alice. Well, he knew that. He assured me that many famous artists had illustrated the book. But Rackham, a Rackham Alice was special and very valuable, a collector’s dream. “Worth more than nine dollars?” I asked innocently. “Nine hundred’s more like it.” And I hadn’t bought it. On my next free day, I went to the bookstore of “that stupid dealer who didn’t know what a valuable book she had.” Oh, Peggy, forgive me, callow creature that I was. Anyone who knew Peggy knows that she was one of the smartest and most ethical of booksellers, and a woman who really knew her books. I was lucky to become her friend. But that afternoon I was especially lucky because the book I wanted had been sold. Undoubtedly, had I found it still there, I would have bought it and that would have been the end instead of the beginning of my collecting. Peggy was quick to spot a potential collector, and she was generous in her willingness to share information and advice. Her enthusiasm for Lewis Carroll made me realize how much more there was than the Rackham Alice. I also learned from her, to my chagrin, that Joe’s “collector’s dream” Rackham was a very different book from the one I had seen for nine dollars. That was a trade edition worth, at that time, exactly nine dollars. The collector’s dream is a large quarto with elegant tipped in plates, meant to be a special gift book for a favorite child, but really much too good for her dirty little hands. Now that I knew there were two different books, I was obsessed with a determination to find both of them. I spent every free moment combing the local bookstores. In 1965 there were still a lot of them in Los Angeles, big ones with fancy books, big ones with cheap books, hole-in- the-wall bookshops that were run by peculiarly scroungy-looking men. These last were a little scary to go into but invariably they had a section of children’s books and often I was rewarded with an Alice. I went to garage sales and church sales and even sales of library discards. All I was looking for was those two Rackhams, the trade edition and the de luxe. What I found was an endless variety of Alices by an endless variety of publishers in an endless variety of bindings with an endless variety of illustrations. I couldn’t leave them alone. Without ever thinking it through, I was buying them all. Nobody else seemed to be interested in them. They could be had for a song. In the space of two years I must have bought every Alice in the city. I know there are some that I have never seen for sale again, unique to this collection. Condition was not important. If I didn’t have it, a poor book could be a space-filler until a better copy came along. At first I tried to avoid duplicates, but I couldn’t always remem-ber, as my shelves filled, whether I had a particular book or not, so I bought. They were cheap, no great investment individually, although quantity was begin-ning to tear at my budget. Soon I realized that there were almost never duplicates. There was always some small but significant difference, a difference in publication date, a difference in binding cloth. Peggy encouraged me in my greedy harvesting, teaching me that bibliographic differences had their place in scholarship just as textual differences did. She introduced me to the work of her friend Thomas Tansel, a brilliant bibliographer, who made me aware of second editions while I was just discovering firsts. While I was still in library school, strongly under the influence of our dean, Lawrence Clark Powell, I had romantic notions about book hunting. Larry, a spell-binding teacher, once described his search for an insignificant book that had special importance for him. He walked one day into a shop he had never visited (See Collecting Carroll, page 6) 5 SIGN ME UP! I/We would like to join the Arne Nixon Center Advocates and enclose a donation. (Donations are tax deductible as allowable by law.) Make check payable to CSUF Foundation. Mail to: Angelica Carpenter California State University, Fresno Henry Madden Library The Arne Nixon Center 5200 North Barton Ave. M/S ML34 Fresno CA 93740-8014 Phone: (559) 278-8116 FAX: (559) 278-6952 E-mail: angelica@csufresno.edu Name (s) Address City/State/Zip Phone E-mail (Please circle one) Ms. Mr. Mrs. Mr. & Mrs. New membership Renewal 1,000 Life membership Patron membership Sponsor membership Advocate membership Sustaining membership Student membership Other amount $ $ 250 $ 100 $ 50 $ 25 $ 10 $ Peter Hanff, deputy director of the Bancroft Library at the University of California at Berkeley and an expert bibli-ographer, will offer a slide-illustrated history of the printing of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Angelica Carpenter, curator of the Arne Nixon Center and author of Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking Glass, will give a talk on “Accelerated Reader in Wonderland.” The Kennel Bookstore on campus will acquire the authors’ books, which will be available for sale and autographing at the meeting. Free parking will be available in Lot G, on the northeast corner of Shaw and Cedar Avenues. Space is limited; reservations will be made on a first-come, first-served basis. To reserve a seat, call the Arne Nixon Center at (559) 278-8116 or E-mail to anc@listserv. csufresno.edu. The meeting schedule may be seen at www.arnenixoncenter.org. For more information about the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, see its Web site at www.lewiscarroll.org. The Arne Nixon Center will sponsor an exhibit, “Much of a Muchness: Lewis Carroll Materials from the Collection of the Arne Nixon Center,” from October 4 – 30 at California State University, Fresno’s Henry Madden Library. Exhibit cases are located by the Library’s front door, in the Solarium, and in the Arne Nixon Center. The exhibit will showcase materials acquired recently from Hilda Bohem, who passed away in July 2004 at the age of 87. (See Alice has arrived! on page 6.) Carroll Society, from page 1 “Much of a Muchness” exhibit The Arne Nixon Center hosted the 31st annual conference of the Children’s Literature Association (ChLA) in June at Fresno State; 215 people attended. Registrants came from 35 states and the District of Columbia, and from Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, and Taiwan. One hundred and thirty-eight papers were presented by 140 people. Ten sessions, each with six concurrent programs, were held. Keynote speaker Pam Muñoz Ryan delighted her audience with letters from her readers. Richard Peck gave a spirited talk, with quotes from his heroine Delphine, on the value of historical fiction. Phoenix winner Berlie Doherty came from England to accept her award for White Peak Farm. She and Canadian author Brian Doyle, the Phoenix Honor Winner, pleased everyone by participating in many conference sessions. Conference Chair (and Curator of the Nixon center) Angelica Carpenter, who had just been elected president of the International Wizard of Oz Club, sponsored an Oz panel discussion and Ozzy illustrations in the conference program. The International Committee honored Arne Nixon’s Finnish heritage with a program on Finnish children’s literature. The Center offered a display of Finnish books. The Finnish Consul in Los Angeles sponsored an appearance by Tove Jansson’s niece, Sophia Jansson, and sent posters, books, knowledgeable staff members, and an Internet demonstration. Donor Pamela Harer provided books for an exhibit, “Picture Books from Between the Wars,” curated by Christy Hicks. ANCA sponsored a reception at the Madden Library, emceed by ANCA President Denise Sciandra, at which Michael Cart gave the Francelia Butler Plenary Lecture. Carpenter cited Kathy Kiessling, Jackie Stallcup, and Jennifer Crow for their outstanding work and thanked everyone who helped with the conference, about 80 people in all. Children’s Literature Association meets in Fresno Joel Chaston, President of ChLA, with Angelica Carpenter and author Richard Peck 6 extensively, often with information about books that no-body else had supplied. His book, Much of a Muchness, although it was published in a very small edition, is a solid bibliography worthy of wider circulation. There are plenty of scholarly papers still tucked away in this collection. It delights me to know that it will live in a university setting where its beautiful books will give pleasure and its entirety will get the sort of use I never thought of when I started to scour Los Angeles looking for the Rackham Alice. before; and as he came through the door, he felt himself drawn toward the back where, in a dark corner, stood a tower of books all but ready to topple over. Without hesitating, he reached for a book at the bottom of the stack, and it was the book he had been seeking for years. This was the romance of book shopping, and this was what I, too, felt when I was on the hunt for Alice. I decided that, like Larry, I had the “gift.” (I don’t know whether the stack of books fell over. Larry never told us.) My first job after I graduated was with Harry Levinson, a rare book dealer who specialized in 16th and 17th century books. Here I became sophisticated. I learned that there were books worth hundreds, even thousands of dollars, and that my nickel and dime scrounging for Alice was not the only way to go. Although Carroll was late for this shop, occasionally Harry would buy a private library and there would be a few fine children’s books mixed in with Aurelius and Shakespeare. Both Harry and his wife scorned children’s books so I was able to buy, almost at a price I could afford, the first important book for my collection, The Limited Edition Club Through the Looking-Glass. There was no stopping me then. I was a COLLECTOR. Peggy, who had been nurturing my interest with modest books a few steps above what I had been finding around town, now began to tempt me with the glorious books there were to be had. I moved on to a job that paid more than a bookstore could so that I might continue feeding my collector’s appetite. Collecting Carroll, from page 4 Alice has arrived! (September 2, 2002) Hilda Bohem and Angelica Carpenter I joined the Lewis Carroll Society that had just started in London and discovered from their journal, Jabberwocky, that people wrote interesting articles about Lewis Carroll. I looked at my books with a new eye, and I realized at once that I had many, many Alices published by Henry E. Altemus that were distinguished by variant bindings because they were different series. They had different title pages and a different illustration was used for the frontispiece in each. I wrote an article about them that was published in The Papers of the Bibliographic Society of America. My collec-tion had taken on meaning. It was no longer a bunch of books to show off, but a working collection, useful for research and scholarly pursuits. But by this time it had some pretty books and some real rarities. I had learned how to read dealers’ catalogues and even buy books by mail. When Byron Sewell wanted to compile a bibliography of American editions of the two Alice books, all of those multiple, not quite dups, and there were many besides Altemus, now paid off. I was able to support his research The Arne Nixon Center proudly announces the acqui-sition of a collection of 2,000 items and books by and about Lewis Carroll, assembled by the late Hilda Bohem. This collection cost $150,000 (but is valued still higher) and was funded by many generous donations over a three-year period. Hilda Bohem was a Carrollian scholar and a rare books librarian at UCLA. Her Lewis Carroll collection was one of the largest private collections in the U.S., and it is now one of the largest library col-lections in the country. This collection could not have been purchased without the support of our donors. Thanks to all who gave, and to all who helped with fundraising events! Donors make a difference! This prestigious collection is the proof. We will continue to purchase books for this collection, so gifts to the Lewis Carroll Fund are still most welcome. 7 Congratulations to Denise Sciandra! Thanks to the many people and organizations who helped with the ChLA conference! The names of con-ference organizers and sponsors appeared in the confer-ence program. Below is one additional sponsor, and volunteers who worked at registration, author escorts, packet stuffers, and in many other capacities. If we missed anyone, we are sorry, but thanks to you, too! California Reading and Literature Project Richard Carpenter Ramona Cheek Wendy Costa Joan De Yager Jane Fischer Betty True Gruen Audry Hanson Mel Harada Nancy Hill Jessica Kaiser Ruth Kallenberg Cynthia MacDonald Diane Majors Pat Pickford Anne Reuland Jackie Sarkisian Helen Teichman Valuable volunteers for ChLA Through purchases and donations, the Arne Nixon Center has grown rapidly, from 22,000 books in Arne Nixon’s original 1995 donation, to 38,000 books in the Center now. Luckily, some office space next door became available when a non-Library office moved to another building, allowing the Center to expand from 1,700 square feet to 2,948 square feet, a 75% increase. A door now connects the two areas and stacks are being installed in the new annex. All changes are temporary, as the Center is located in the part of the Henry Madden Library that will be demolished in about a year to make room for a new library. During construc-tion, Library staff and materials will be housed in locations still to be determined. After construction, the Arne Nixon Center will be housed in spacious and appropriate new quarters. The Arne Nixon Center expands ’Twas Hogwarts! Said the Gryffindors To Harry Potter in their midst, “Forbidden are the upper floors, And the stairs are bewitched. “Beware the Voldemort, my boy, The bloodshot eyes, the cruel chin, Watch out for Snape, and shun Malfoy, They’re both from Slytherin. Portmanteaued from “jabber abracadabra” in Hilda Bohem’s book, Jabberland (The full text of this poem by Hilda Bohem may be found at www.arnenixoncenter.org.) Jabracadabra Answers to quiz: 1. 2. 3. 4. The Adventures of Pinocchio, by C. Collodi Blue Willow, by Doris Gates Raggedy Ann Stories, by Johnny Gruelle “Jabberwocky,” from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, by Lewis Carroll ANCA President Denise Sciandra was named the Henry Madden Library’s Volunteer Fundraiser of the Year on September 24. Michael Gorman, Dean of Library Services, commended her work at the Friends of the Library’s annual dinner at The Smittcamp Alumni House. Sciandra was honored for her outstanding success in recruiting individual and business donors to support Arne Nixon Center projects. She brought in many sponsors for the two Secret Garden parties. It would not have been possible to raise the $150,000 purchase price for the Lewis Carroll Collection without her leadership and other generous donors. As founding Life Members of the Center, Denise and her husband, Salvatore Sciandra, contribute generously— financial and many other kinds of support. They do hands-on work for Center programs, even hosting some events in their home, and Denise attends library and literary conferences at considerable personal expense. Her op-ed pieces and letters to the editor in The Fresno Bee and her book reviews and articles for library and literary journals help to spread the word about the Center’s programs. Much of her work is done outside the Center, in the community, where she is widely recognized as a spokesperson and champion for the Center, and for children’s litera-ture. We thank and congratulate Sciandra for her leadership on many fronts. Denise and Sal Sciandra will do almost anything to support the Arne Nixon Center! Life Membership Laurel Ashlock Shirley Brinker Michael Cart J. Delbert Crummey Fresno Area Reading Council Robert and Linda Glassman Pamela Goodrich Carmen Farr Gregory Coke and James Hallowell Christy Hicks Nancy Hill Pat Hillman John and Lollie Horstmann J. D. Heiskell & Co. Rosellen Kershaw Mrs. Deran Koligian and Debbie Poochigian Marion Kremen Eleanor Larsen Don and Carol Larson Gary and Barbara Marsella and Joy Erro Brenda Martin Helen Jane McKee Roxie Moradian George Pappas Alice Peters Betty Jo Peterson Elizabeth Peterson Patricia Pickford Jim and Kay Provost Tom and Louise Richardson Evelyn Sanoian Lisa Schoof Denise and Salvatore Sciandra Harold Silvani Edith Stock Dennis and Sandy Stubblefield Jerry and Lois Tarkanian Juan and Clara Touya Patron Membership Paula Ametjian Baker, Manock & Jensen Dale Blickenstaff Carolrhoda Books Susan Cooper Cronyn Edward D. Fanucchi of Quinlan, Kershaw, & Fanucchi Edward L. Fanucchi of Quinlan, Kershaw, & Fanucchi Don and Sheli Glasrud Heartland Regional Library Network Geraldine Irola Daniel and Debra Jamison Lerner Publications Corporation Jo Ellen Misakian Richard and Lee Anne Rossiter Kay Waite Walsh Robert Wilkinson and Nancy Tholen William Lanier Thomas Lisa Zlyka Sponsor Membership, continued Ara and Louise Hairabedian Stephanie Horal Michael and Linda Hovsepian Douglas Jensen Richard and Althea Johanson Gordon and Frances Johnson Daniel and Jessica Kaiser George and Elizabeth Knapp Claribel Lagomarsino Patricia Lavigna Harriet Leonard Warren Lev Herbert and Patricia Lyttle Margaret MacMillan Dick and Wilda Moller Marcie Morrison Jo P. Murray Thomas and Vicie Nagy George and Mary Nasse Stan Norsworthy Robert and Stephanie Oliver George Ollikkala Alexis O’Neill Rose Gendusa Peer Eugene and Mary Ann Richardson Alicia Rivera Marilyn Rudzik Joan Russell Terry and Ann Sadler Edward and Jackie Sarkisian John and Kristene Scholefield Patricia Semrick Sherry Shahan Sue Shannon Ronald and Patricia Shein Mark and Lisa Slater Sharon Smart Amy Sherman Smith Rae Swiger John and Patricia Taylor Anna Turnipseed Robert and Shirley Valett Barbara Vartan Hilda Wiens Paul and Jane Worsley Gary and Carol Yoder Sponsor Membership Betty Aller Arbor School of Arts & Sciences John and Nancy Baker Jean Beardsley Desa Belyea Robert W. and Elaine Bender Gus and Margarete Bonner Mark and Janet Cameron Shirley Canales Lucille Carnahan Richard and Angelica Carpenter Patricia Carriveau Robert and Doe Clark Luis and Wendy Costa Anne Dee Mary Delk Virginia H. Dix Jeri Echeverria William and Karen Eropkin Alyce and Dick Fourchy Kathleen Fulton and Stan Sieler Rutherford Gaston, Sr. Michael Gorman Cherrill A. Gragg Mary Ellen Graham Ken Groth Benefactor Membership Tina Bruno Ramona Cheek John and Ruth Kallenberg Frank and Jean Ray Laury Patience Milrod Gerald and Geraldine Tahajian ANCA members Advocate Membership Allen Agnew Ruth Elaine Anderson Nazik Arisian Verna Arnest Benjamin M. Bakkegard Edward and Joyce Bergtholdt Ernest and Jeanne Berry Loy and Colleen Bilderback Jerry and Pat Bird Joan Bishop John and Frances Blair Hal and Janet Bochin Ron and Megan Bohigian Caroline Bohrman Vallorie Borchardt Terry Brazil Bev Broughton Ronald and Cecelia Byrd Elizabeth Calderwood Jesus and Mary Lou Carrillo Beverly Ann Carstens Central Valley Business Incubator Janet W. 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Suzanne Noia Virginia Lee Owens Sylvia Owens Etta Paladino Robert and Sylvia Pethoud Jean Piston Kathie Reid Bertina Richter Chris Rogers Gary and Sharon Rossi Lester and Luzerne Roth Coleen Salley Balzer and Blondia Scherr Lisa Sciandra Aaron Sciandra Sally Serpa P. Susan Silveira Barbara Smith Vincent Smith Gayle A. Sobolik Cecelia Svenson Morva Taylor Helen Teichman Beth Vancil Suzy Vandermolen Keith and Ione Waite Barry and Kathy Webb Lucile Wheaton Anne Wick Caroline Williams Linda Zinn Sustaining Membership AAUW Hanford-Lemoore Branch Susan Abair Don Albright Joanne Alden Sue Alexander Ben and Eleanor Amirkhanian Merilee Amos William and Shirley Armbruster Al and Ann Avenenti Mary F. Bailey Neil and Linda Baird Margaret Baker Paul Beare Marcia and Steve Becker Bonnie Jo Bevans Stephen and Sharon Blumberg Carol Lynn Brown Cheryl Caldera Jane Cleave Robbie Cranch and Richard Moats Robert and Pamela Davies Joan De Yager Delta Kappa Gamma Society Epsilon XI Chapter Jeannie DeGroot Barbara D. Denton Glenn and Karen DeVoogd John and Elizabeth Dodds Virginia Dow Sandra Dralle Louise Feinberg Jeri Chase Ferris Mary Fifield James and Joyce Fisher Josephine Fox Mary Fry Bill and Doreen Gauthier Kathleen Godfrey Lynne Enders Glaser Frances Graves Betty True Gruen ANCA members Sustaining Membership, continued Virginia Hall Carin Halper Peter Hanff Pat Hardebeck Jennifer Harris Harriet Sappenfield Harris Sylvia E. Hart Nancy Hatcher Karen Hill August and Clare Imholtz Carolyn Johnson Melba Johnson Valerie Johnson and Stephen Sacks Carol Jones Isabel Kaprielian Lydia Kuhn Lois Langer Margaret Lee Jean Linder Ivonne Litman Anne Lundin Daryl Lusher Cynthia MacDonald Barbara Jo Maier Phyllis Mann Terry Marinaro-White Bill and Sandy Marsh Margaret McMahon Linda Minier Marisa Montes Patricia Moore Tim Morris Arlene Motz Larry and Susan Muenster Carolynne Myall George and Joanne Nance Anne Neal Carl and Kathryn Nichols Wendy Nugent Charlotte Orton Richard Osterberg Theresa Pallares Leo Pedretti R. W. and Grace Pengilly Susan Pennel Kim Peters George P. Pilling Ransom and Carola Poythress Barbara Price Rhea Rehark-Griffith Student Membership and Other Members, continued Chris Peters Ashley Peters Bernice Peukert Heidi Pretzer Aaron Rapp Carroll Rippey Mercy C. Rubio Martha Salazar J. Glenn Simpson Lynn Gwyneth Smith Joseph Spano Susan Smith Melanie Tatco John and Ann Van Patten Beatrice Woof Jay Reinfeld Christy Reinold Marilyn Renna Whitney Rimel Conrad and Randie Rios Norman and Evonne Rogers Joan Schoettler Mary Schrader Sandy Schuckett Allan and Bernice Shields Bernadette Siegel Mary Slater Britta O. Smith Paul and Lorraine Smith Annie Soo Joan Sparks Ann Stalcup John W. Stewig Elizabeth Sullivan Amy Teeter Karen Thomas Sandy Wee Stuart and Anne Weil Francis and Mary Anne Wells Tekla White Susan M. Wickham Chris Williams Wendell and Phyllis S.Wilson Diane M. Winning Andrew and Carolyn Wright Bill and Marion Young Roberta Young Lorna Zurilgen Student Membership and Other Members Jean Anderson Hollister Bernstein Rosemary Coleman Karen Dennison Esther Franklin Martha Froelich Janice Hallaian Sandra Hammond Catherine D. Hopson Sara I. Kahn Tirian Klein Barbara McColm Becky Modesto Peter Neumeyer ANCA members In Memory of Betty Jo Peterson AAUW-Fresno Branch Don Albright Jean Anderson Janet Bateson Judith Board Hal and Janet Bochin Elizabeth Calderwood Richard and Angelica Carpenter Lanette Ching Wilma Conner Carol Cousineau Melva Cousins Richard and Sandra Crow Elaine Callaway Frankian Michael Gorman Jerry and Sandra Gothe Frances Graves Sue Haffner Christy Hicks Stephanie Hillman Joyce Huggins Ruth and John Kallenberg Rosellen Kershaw Russell and Kathy Kirkpatrick Lydia Kuhn Bernice Lacks Howard and Mary Ann Latimer Susan Mangini Howard and Eileen Michaelis Evelyn Moon Family of Helen Monnette Amestoy, 156 cat books and other materials Martha Davis Beck, 21 issues of Riverbank Review Boyd’s Mill Press, 25 books Aggie Breedlove, 22 photographs and 18 negatives of Arne Nixon Michael Cart, 967 books John Docherty, his papers Lynne Edwards, 12 books Michael Gorman, 31 books Henry Holt, 48 books Holiday House, 39 books Houghton Mifflin, 15 books Alexandria LaFaye, printer and supplies Karen and Robert Larka, 98 books Minnesota Humanities Council, 17 bilingual Hmong books Blossom Norman, 237 alphabet books, 35 other books Carla Paganelli, 48 books Tamora Pierce, 19 books Random House, 64 books Ruth Sanderson, oil painting (cover art for her book, A Treasury of Princesses) Scholastic, 148 books Denise Sciandra, 10 books Simon and Schuster, 20 books Amy Spaulding, 39 books and papers of Alice Corkran Betty Jo Peterson, continued Carolyn Noah Lola Owensby Lillie Parker James and Dolores Pires Paul Priebe Bertina Richter Walter and Nancy Rowland Salvatore and Denise Sciandra Edward and Valerie Spongberg Morva Taylor Bill and Marion Young Marilyn Zitterkopf In Memory of Jose Canales Agricultural Foundation of CSUF Dean’s Club, School of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Sue Fung Ivadelle Garrison-Finderup Virginia Kamimoto Rosellen Kershaw Joseph Koontz and Kathleen Scheer Susan E. Korsinen Claude Laval III Helen Ogle Charles and Beverly Onken Ernest and Pamela Pero Alicia Rivera Edward and Jackie Sarkisian Robert and Carolyn Shorb Robert and Jill Smetherman Phillip and Evelynne Walker Hope Woodhouse In Memory of Frances Hedgpeth Bob and Dorothy Daniel Betty Graham Mary Ellen Graham Grant and Ruth Erikson Reynold and Doris Laubhan Judy Rosenthal In Memory of Suzanne Cates Michael Gorman John and Ruth Kallenberg In Memory of Lorraine Hood Anne Bennington Teri and Drew Hood In Memory of Maribelle Smith Ruth Andersen Merle and Audry Hanson In Memory of Laura Luzerne Roth Angelica Carpenter Roslyn Dienstein Denise Sciandra Memorial Donations (Monetary donors become members of ANCA and of the Friends of the Madden Library.) Donations of books and materials (March 1–August 31, 2004. This list represents donations of ten books or more. Our thanks to all!)
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Title | Magic Mirror no 6 |
Creator | California State University, Fresno |
Format | PDF Document |
Date of publication | 2004-10 |
Full Text Search | By Denise Sciandra, ANCA President Tales & Tidbits from ANCA I landed in Fresno because my husband took a job here. Sal was a new lawyer who had been hired by the Fresno County Public Defenders’ Office. We moved from sunny San Diego in December 1973. The day we arrived, it was 49 degrees. Freezing to us. We knew no one. We felt isolated and in culture shock. We estimated our stay in Fresno would be two years. I feel fortunate to have discovered Arne Nixon’s book festivals within weeks of my arrival in Fresno. His passion for children’s literature was contagious. I attended many, many of his conferences from 1974 to 1987. Eventually, I took my children, Lisa and Aaron, with me. I wanted them to see authors as real people. I met Leo Politi in 1974. Politi’s love of children and his genuine, down-to-earth nature attracted me. I also loved his artwork and his multicultural picture books. Many of them were set in Los Angeles near Burbank where I grew up. Two took place on his beloved Olvera Street that I had visited as a child. Arne Nixon brought Leo Politi to Fresno annually for many years. My children considered him a friend. As a 5- year-old, Lisa appeared shy about going up in front of the audience to draw the name of the lucky winner of the painting that Politi drew that day. As a 9-year-old, she felt comfortable enough to initiate a chat with him at the break and let him sketch her while I watched in happy disbelief. Politi invited my family to the 1983 Blessing of the Animals ceremony on Olvera Street with the promise of sketching both of my children. We found him in the crowd and he was true to his word. The next year we participated in the ceremony by bringing Aaron’s pet mouse Charles. Six-year-old Aaron briefly became a celebrity when a reporter from Ripley’s Believe It or Not interviewed him as the owner of the only mouse to be blessed that day. Were my children a little bit in awe of Politi? Perhaps. They did find him in the World Book Encyclopedia. And I once heard them say to a friend, “We know some-one in the encyclopedia.” In 2002, Leo Politi’s son and daughter took Angelica Carpenter and me on a guided tour of Leo Politi’s Los Angeles. We enjoyed this experience so much that we would like to share it with others. We think we could fill a bus with Leo Politi fans for a two-day tour in the school year of 2004–05. Are we correct? Let us know and we’ll start a waiting list. Moving to Fresno turned out pretty well. In no other city would I have had the privilege and pleasure of counting both Arne Nixon and Leo Politi as my friends. 2 (Arne Nixon Center Advocates) Ada donation, from page 1 at the University of San Francisco, she has a far-reaching influence. The Center offers graduate degrees in chil-dren’s multicultural literature and an annual “Reading the World” conference that attracts hundreds of people each year. At this summer’s Pura Belpré Awards, sponsored by the American Library Association to honor Latino/Latina authors and illustrators, two honorees thanked Alma Flor Ada for help with their careers. Muchas gracias to her now for honoring the Center with this donation! I met Alma Flor Ada at one of the first “Reading the World” conferences [at the University of San Francisco] a few years ago. She went around the USF building sur-rounded by people, listening to all of those who needed to talk to her. It seemed like everybody had questions or requests for Alma Flor. I was a reader; I had known Alma’s books for a long time, and she was already in my mind like some kind of warrior from a Spanish written tale—a woman who had come to a foreign land, had conquered, and was leaving a precious legacy. At the time I was already very interested in writing and illustrating children’s books, but I lacked direction. When Alma Flor heard that I wanted to write, she invited me—a mere stranger who had just shaken her hand for the first time—to visit one of the classes she was giving at the multicultural literature program at USF. The class was called “The Author Within,” and after that first class I was hooked. How could I leave her class if Alma was talking exactly about what I wanted to learn, about raising the stories from inside and sharing them out with the world? It took all my courage to ask Alma Flor, but she said yes; I could keep coming to the class, and along with the enrolled students I stayed for the rest of the semester. Why does one stick with Alma Flor? Perhaps it is because she becomes some sort of headlight in one’s life. During this class, Alma Flor looked me in the eyes many times and told me that I had talent, that I was a writer. And I believed her. Or perhaps because she has the manner of a mother; when she takes you under her wings, and her warmth sur-rounds you, you know you have arrived in a safe place. Or perhaps it is because she is a role model, a Latina who came to the USA and crafted meticulously her own life and career. And what woman doesn’t want to be like Alma Flor? I do. Mexican-American author/illustrator Yuyi Morales moved to the U.S. in 1994, which is when she began to learn English. She won the 2004 Pura Belpré Medal for illustration for a book she also wrote, Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book. She also won a 2004 Pura Belpré honor award for her illustrations for Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez, by Kathleen Krull. Alma Flor Ada (by Yuyi Morales) Published by The Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature Henry Madden Library California State University, Fresno 5200 North Barton Ave. M/S ML34 Fresno CA 93740-8014 Phone: (559) 278-8116 Web site: www.arnenixoncenter.org Open weekdays 1 – 4:30 p.m. and by appointment. Staff Angelica Carpenter, Curator E-mail: angelica@csufresno.edu Jennifer Crow, Library Assistant Matt Borrego, Student Assistant Maria Carrizales, Student Assistant ANCA Board of Directors Denise Sciandra, President Phone (559) 229-5085 E-mail: deeceebee@psnw.com Jessica Kaiser, 1st Vice President, Programs Jackie Sarkisian, 2nd Vice President, Membership Helen Teichman, Corresponding Secretary Angelica Carpenter, Recording Secretary Nancy Hill, Treasurer Laurel Ashlock Audry Hanson Ruth Kallenberg Cynthia MacDonald Jo Ellen Misakian Richard Osterberg ANC Governing Committee Michael Gorman Michael Cart Maurice J. Eash Magic Mirror Angelica Carpenter, Editor Janet Bancroft, Designer & Co-editor MAGICMIRROR MAGICMIRROR by Angelica Carpenter CORNER CURATOR’S My dear friend Hilda Bohem passed away on July 26, at the age of 87. She had been in failing health for some time, but still the news came as a shock. Hilda was one of my first friends in California. Soon after my arrival, I invited the California members of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America to my Fresno lecture on “Lewis Carroll at Oxford.” Hilda couldn’t come but she sent good wishes and we began a lively correspondence by E-mail. Soon my husband and I were invited to her home in the Hollywood Hills to see her Lewis Carroll collection. Her library was large and cozy, with a big, round table in the middle. Hilda and her friend Stan Kurman, a book dealer, pulled out book after book to show us their special favorites: first editions, foreign editions (Alice in Swahili), unusual editions (braille and shorthand), spin-offs by other authors, and puzzles, tea sets, figurines, videos, coloring books—every kind of ephemera. As the hour of our dinner reservation approached, Hilda and Stan reached their finale. “Let’s show her the dolly!” said Hilda, or at least that’s what I thought she said. (There were several Alice dolls in the room.) “Yes, the dolly!” said Stan, but what they were really saying was “Dalí”— Salvador Dalí, whose limited-edition Alice was selling then for $12,000 to $15,000. Clearly I had a lot to learn about Alice (I still do), and Hilda was the perfect teacher. I visited her often, with many different friends. She taught us where the good restaurants were and which new movies we should see. She remembered when Sunset Boulevard had a bridle path down the middle. She talked about writing for television, using a man’s name for macho shows like Rawhide. She told us about working as a book dealer and a librarian. She bragged modestly about her grandson, who was clearly precocious (she became a grandmother for the first time while in her 80s), and her son Les, who brought his Emmy Award to show her the morning after he won it. She made us laugh with stories about her dogs. Lewis Carroll was her special passion. She wanted her collection to stay together and to go to a library where scholars could use it. I was honored that she thought I would be a good custodian for it. “Donate it!” I urged, but she held out for $150,000. That price was a bargain; the value continues to increase. She let us have the books up front, paying them off over a three-year period. And she gave us dozens of books, too—new and old books to add to the collection, including her Jabberland, an anthology of takeoffs on Jabberwocky. Hilda wrote to her friend Ruth Berman in 2004, “Yes, I sold [the collection] last year and, from what I hear, it’s being loved and cared for. I still enjoy adding things to it. The librarian, Angelica Carpenter, assures me it’s still my collection, just living somewhere else, a comforting thought except when I want to refer to something and find myself staring at a room full of empty shelves.” Now our shelves are full but our hearts grieve for Hilda. She was a beautiful, vibrant person—charming and stimulating even in her last days. Her legacy is her collection, and it is people, too. Her sister, Blossom Norman, is a new friend who recently donated 12 boxes of ABC books to the Center. Hilda’s son, Les Bohem, who won his Emmy for writing the TV series “Taken,” will soon begin work on two new Alice movies for Dream-works. Hilda’s vision will shape the future of the Arne Nixon Center. Happy reading! 3 In June Angelica Carpenter began a 3- year term as president of the Interna-tional Wizard of Oz Club. This literary society has 1,300 members in all 50 states and 7 foreign countries. The Club hosts 3 large regional conventions each summer, including the Winkies, who meet at Asilomar in Pacific Grove (CA). The Club publishes a semi-scholarly journal, The Baum Bugle, 3 times a year. For information about the club, see its Web site at www.ozclub.org. 4 Collecting Lewis Carroll by Hilda Bohem It isn’t easy to know where to place the blame. Thinking back to 1965 when I was in library school, I can pin-point what started it. But who to blame? Joe, fellow student, for announcing that University Microfilms was publishing a facsimile of the first Alice and for offering to place an order for anyone who wanted a copy? Uni-versity Microfilms for doing such a thing? Or maybe Lewis Carroll for writing the book I read with ritual reg-ularity once a year with constantly maturing pleasure? I have to confess that I knew nothing about the author, nor did I know anything about the history of the book. When Joe delivered my promised “first edition,” ten dollars net, I didn’t know what to make of it. The illustrations were wrong, all wrong. The whole thing was neatly handwritten and that was wrong, too. Not that ten dollars was such a huge amount, but for a while there I felt as if I had been had. At last I realized that this skinny book in its light greenish-blue binding was called Alice’s Adventures under Ground not Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Only after that came the realization that this was a facsimile of the original manuscript with illustrations by the author himself. A short preface by Luther Evans put it all into proper perspective for me. I slid my purchase back into its slipcase. That was nice. I had never had a book with a slipcase before. Trying to swallow my disappointment—I had really counted on a bright new copy of my familiar Alice—I turned my attention to Joe who was explaining the book to another puzzled classmate. I was getting more educated by the minute. A few weeks later, showing an East Coast visitor the sights, I dropped into Peggy Christian’s bookshop. I had never been there before. Step two in my education: I found a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland illustrated by Arthur Rackham. Amazing! Someone other than Tenniel (and not Lewis Carroll) had illustrated Alice. So much to learn, and I was getting a cram course. Next day in school, I told Joe about discovering that Rackham had illustrated Alice. Well, he knew that. He assured me that many famous artists had illustrated the book. But Rackham, a Rackham Alice was special and very valuable, a collector’s dream. “Worth more than nine dollars?” I asked innocently. “Nine hundred’s more like it.” And I hadn’t bought it. On my next free day, I went to the bookstore of “that stupid dealer who didn’t know what a valuable book she had.” Oh, Peggy, forgive me, callow creature that I was. Anyone who knew Peggy knows that she was one of the smartest and most ethical of booksellers, and a woman who really knew her books. I was lucky to become her friend. But that afternoon I was especially lucky because the book I wanted had been sold. Undoubtedly, had I found it still there, I would have bought it and that would have been the end instead of the beginning of my collecting. Peggy was quick to spot a potential collector, and she was generous in her willingness to share information and advice. Her enthusiasm for Lewis Carroll made me realize how much more there was than the Rackham Alice. I also learned from her, to my chagrin, that Joe’s “collector’s dream” Rackham was a very different book from the one I had seen for nine dollars. That was a trade edition worth, at that time, exactly nine dollars. The collector’s dream is a large quarto with elegant tipped in plates, meant to be a special gift book for a favorite child, but really much too good for her dirty little hands. Now that I knew there were two different books, I was obsessed with a determination to find both of them. I spent every free moment combing the local bookstores. In 1965 there were still a lot of them in Los Angeles, big ones with fancy books, big ones with cheap books, hole-in- the-wall bookshops that were run by peculiarly scroungy-looking men. These last were a little scary to go into but invariably they had a section of children’s books and often I was rewarded with an Alice. I went to garage sales and church sales and even sales of library discards. All I was looking for was those two Rackhams, the trade edition and the de luxe. What I found was an endless variety of Alices by an endless variety of publishers in an endless variety of bindings with an endless variety of illustrations. I couldn’t leave them alone. Without ever thinking it through, I was buying them all. Nobody else seemed to be interested in them. They could be had for a song. In the space of two years I must have bought every Alice in the city. I know there are some that I have never seen for sale again, unique to this collection. Condition was not important. If I didn’t have it, a poor book could be a space-filler until a better copy came along. At first I tried to avoid duplicates, but I couldn’t always remem-ber, as my shelves filled, whether I had a particular book or not, so I bought. They were cheap, no great investment individually, although quantity was begin-ning to tear at my budget. Soon I realized that there were almost never duplicates. There was always some small but significant difference, a difference in publication date, a difference in binding cloth. Peggy encouraged me in my greedy harvesting, teaching me that bibliographic differences had their place in scholarship just as textual differences did. She introduced me to the work of her friend Thomas Tansel, a brilliant bibliographer, who made me aware of second editions while I was just discovering firsts. While I was still in library school, strongly under the influence of our dean, Lawrence Clark Powell, I had romantic notions about book hunting. Larry, a spell-binding teacher, once described his search for an insignificant book that had special importance for him. He walked one day into a shop he had never visited (See Collecting Carroll, page 6) 5 SIGN ME UP! I/We would like to join the Arne Nixon Center Advocates and enclose a donation. (Donations are tax deductible as allowable by law.) Make check payable to CSUF Foundation. Mail to: Angelica Carpenter California State University, Fresno Henry Madden Library The Arne Nixon Center 5200 North Barton Ave. M/S ML34 Fresno CA 93740-8014 Phone: (559) 278-8116 FAX: (559) 278-6952 E-mail: angelica@csufresno.edu Name (s) Address City/State/Zip Phone E-mail (Please circle one) Ms. Mr. Mrs. Mr. & Mrs. New membership Renewal 1,000 Life membership Patron membership Sponsor membership Advocate membership Sustaining membership Student membership Other amount $ $ 250 $ 100 $ 50 $ 25 $ 10 $ Peter Hanff, deputy director of the Bancroft Library at the University of California at Berkeley and an expert bibli-ographer, will offer a slide-illustrated history of the printing of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Angelica Carpenter, curator of the Arne Nixon Center and author of Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking Glass, will give a talk on “Accelerated Reader in Wonderland.” The Kennel Bookstore on campus will acquire the authors’ books, which will be available for sale and autographing at the meeting. Free parking will be available in Lot G, on the northeast corner of Shaw and Cedar Avenues. Space is limited; reservations will be made on a first-come, first-served basis. To reserve a seat, call the Arne Nixon Center at (559) 278-8116 or E-mail to anc@listserv. csufresno.edu. The meeting schedule may be seen at www.arnenixoncenter.org. For more information about the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, see its Web site at www.lewiscarroll.org. The Arne Nixon Center will sponsor an exhibit, “Much of a Muchness: Lewis Carroll Materials from the Collection of the Arne Nixon Center,” from October 4 – 30 at California State University, Fresno’s Henry Madden Library. Exhibit cases are located by the Library’s front door, in the Solarium, and in the Arne Nixon Center. The exhibit will showcase materials acquired recently from Hilda Bohem, who passed away in July 2004 at the age of 87. (See Alice has arrived! on page 6.) Carroll Society, from page 1 “Much of a Muchness” exhibit The Arne Nixon Center hosted the 31st annual conference of the Children’s Literature Association (ChLA) in June at Fresno State; 215 people attended. Registrants came from 35 states and the District of Columbia, and from Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, and Taiwan. One hundred and thirty-eight papers were presented by 140 people. Ten sessions, each with six concurrent programs, were held. Keynote speaker Pam Muñoz Ryan delighted her audience with letters from her readers. Richard Peck gave a spirited talk, with quotes from his heroine Delphine, on the value of historical fiction. Phoenix winner Berlie Doherty came from England to accept her award for White Peak Farm. She and Canadian author Brian Doyle, the Phoenix Honor Winner, pleased everyone by participating in many conference sessions. Conference Chair (and Curator of the Nixon center) Angelica Carpenter, who had just been elected president of the International Wizard of Oz Club, sponsored an Oz panel discussion and Ozzy illustrations in the conference program. The International Committee honored Arne Nixon’s Finnish heritage with a program on Finnish children’s literature. The Center offered a display of Finnish books. The Finnish Consul in Los Angeles sponsored an appearance by Tove Jansson’s niece, Sophia Jansson, and sent posters, books, knowledgeable staff members, and an Internet demonstration. Donor Pamela Harer provided books for an exhibit, “Picture Books from Between the Wars,” curated by Christy Hicks. ANCA sponsored a reception at the Madden Library, emceed by ANCA President Denise Sciandra, at which Michael Cart gave the Francelia Butler Plenary Lecture. Carpenter cited Kathy Kiessling, Jackie Stallcup, and Jennifer Crow for their outstanding work and thanked everyone who helped with the conference, about 80 people in all. Children’s Literature Association meets in Fresno Joel Chaston, President of ChLA, with Angelica Carpenter and author Richard Peck 6 extensively, often with information about books that no-body else had supplied. His book, Much of a Muchness, although it was published in a very small edition, is a solid bibliography worthy of wider circulation. There are plenty of scholarly papers still tucked away in this collection. It delights me to know that it will live in a university setting where its beautiful books will give pleasure and its entirety will get the sort of use I never thought of when I started to scour Los Angeles looking for the Rackham Alice. before; and as he came through the door, he felt himself drawn toward the back where, in a dark corner, stood a tower of books all but ready to topple over. Without hesitating, he reached for a book at the bottom of the stack, and it was the book he had been seeking for years. This was the romance of book shopping, and this was what I, too, felt when I was on the hunt for Alice. I decided that, like Larry, I had the “gift.” (I don’t know whether the stack of books fell over. Larry never told us.) My first job after I graduated was with Harry Levinson, a rare book dealer who specialized in 16th and 17th century books. Here I became sophisticated. I learned that there were books worth hundreds, even thousands of dollars, and that my nickel and dime scrounging for Alice was not the only way to go. Although Carroll was late for this shop, occasionally Harry would buy a private library and there would be a few fine children’s books mixed in with Aurelius and Shakespeare. Both Harry and his wife scorned children’s books so I was able to buy, almost at a price I could afford, the first important book for my collection, The Limited Edition Club Through the Looking-Glass. There was no stopping me then. I was a COLLECTOR. Peggy, who had been nurturing my interest with modest books a few steps above what I had been finding around town, now began to tempt me with the glorious books there were to be had. I moved on to a job that paid more than a bookstore could so that I might continue feeding my collector’s appetite. Collecting Carroll, from page 4 Alice has arrived! (September 2, 2002) Hilda Bohem and Angelica Carpenter I joined the Lewis Carroll Society that had just started in London and discovered from their journal, Jabberwocky, that people wrote interesting articles about Lewis Carroll. I looked at my books with a new eye, and I realized at once that I had many, many Alices published by Henry E. Altemus that were distinguished by variant bindings because they were different series. They had different title pages and a different illustration was used for the frontispiece in each. I wrote an article about them that was published in The Papers of the Bibliographic Society of America. My collec-tion had taken on meaning. It was no longer a bunch of books to show off, but a working collection, useful for research and scholarly pursuits. But by this time it had some pretty books and some real rarities. I had learned how to read dealers’ catalogues and even buy books by mail. When Byron Sewell wanted to compile a bibliography of American editions of the two Alice books, all of those multiple, not quite dups, and there were many besides Altemus, now paid off. I was able to support his research The Arne Nixon Center proudly announces the acqui-sition of a collection of 2,000 items and books by and about Lewis Carroll, assembled by the late Hilda Bohem. This collection cost $150,000 (but is valued still higher) and was funded by many generous donations over a three-year period. Hilda Bohem was a Carrollian scholar and a rare books librarian at UCLA. Her Lewis Carroll collection was one of the largest private collections in the U.S., and it is now one of the largest library col-lections in the country. This collection could not have been purchased without the support of our donors. Thanks to all who gave, and to all who helped with fundraising events! Donors make a difference! This prestigious collection is the proof. We will continue to purchase books for this collection, so gifts to the Lewis Carroll Fund are still most welcome. 7 Congratulations to Denise Sciandra! Thanks to the many people and organizations who helped with the ChLA conference! The names of con-ference organizers and sponsors appeared in the confer-ence program. Below is one additional sponsor, and volunteers who worked at registration, author escorts, packet stuffers, and in many other capacities. If we missed anyone, we are sorry, but thanks to you, too! California Reading and Literature Project Richard Carpenter Ramona Cheek Wendy Costa Joan De Yager Jane Fischer Betty True Gruen Audry Hanson Mel Harada Nancy Hill Jessica Kaiser Ruth Kallenberg Cynthia MacDonald Diane Majors Pat Pickford Anne Reuland Jackie Sarkisian Helen Teichman Valuable volunteers for ChLA Through purchases and donations, the Arne Nixon Center has grown rapidly, from 22,000 books in Arne Nixon’s original 1995 donation, to 38,000 books in the Center now. Luckily, some office space next door became available when a non-Library office moved to another building, allowing the Center to expand from 1,700 square feet to 2,948 square feet, a 75% increase. A door now connects the two areas and stacks are being installed in the new annex. All changes are temporary, as the Center is located in the part of the Henry Madden Library that will be demolished in about a year to make room for a new library. During construc-tion, Library staff and materials will be housed in locations still to be determined. After construction, the Arne Nixon Center will be housed in spacious and appropriate new quarters. The Arne Nixon Center expands ’Twas Hogwarts! Said the Gryffindors To Harry Potter in their midst, “Forbidden are the upper floors, And the stairs are bewitched. “Beware the Voldemort, my boy, The bloodshot eyes, the cruel chin, Watch out for Snape, and shun Malfoy, They’re both from Slytherin. Portmanteaued from “jabber abracadabra” in Hilda Bohem’s book, Jabberland (The full text of this poem by Hilda Bohem may be found at www.arnenixoncenter.org.) Jabracadabra Answers to quiz: 1. 2. 3. 4. The Adventures of Pinocchio, by C. Collodi Blue Willow, by Doris Gates Raggedy Ann Stories, by Johnny Gruelle “Jabberwocky,” from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, by Lewis Carroll ANCA President Denise Sciandra was named the Henry Madden Library’s Volunteer Fundraiser of the Year on September 24. Michael Gorman, Dean of Library Services, commended her work at the Friends of the Library’s annual dinner at The Smittcamp Alumni House. Sciandra was honored for her outstanding success in recruiting individual and business donors to support Arne Nixon Center projects. She brought in many sponsors for the two Secret Garden parties. It would not have been possible to raise the $150,000 purchase price for the Lewis Carroll Collection without her leadership and other generous donors. As founding Life Members of the Center, Denise and her husband, Salvatore Sciandra, contribute generously— financial and many other kinds of support. They do hands-on work for Center programs, even hosting some events in their home, and Denise attends library and literary conferences at considerable personal expense. Her op-ed pieces and letters to the editor in The Fresno Bee and her book reviews and articles for library and literary journals help to spread the word about the Center’s programs. Much of her work is done outside the Center, in the community, where she is widely recognized as a spokesperson and champion for the Center, and for children’s litera-ture. We thank and congratulate Sciandra for her leadership on many fronts. Denise and Sal Sciandra will do almost anything to support the Arne Nixon Center! Life Membership Laurel Ashlock Shirley Brinker Michael Cart J. Delbert Crummey Fresno Area Reading Council Robert and Linda Glassman Pamela Goodrich Carmen Farr Gregory Coke and James Hallowell Christy Hicks Nancy Hill Pat Hillman John and Lollie Horstmann J. D. Heiskell & Co. Rosellen Kershaw Mrs. Deran Koligian and Debbie Poochigian Marion Kremen Eleanor Larsen Don and Carol Larson Gary and Barbara Marsella and Joy Erro Brenda Martin Helen Jane McKee Roxie Moradian George Pappas Alice Peters Betty Jo Peterson Elizabeth Peterson Patricia Pickford Jim and Kay Provost Tom and Louise Richardson Evelyn Sanoian Lisa Schoof Denise and Salvatore Sciandra Harold Silvani Edith Stock Dennis and Sandy Stubblefield Jerry and Lois Tarkanian Juan and Clara Touya Patron Membership Paula Ametjian Baker, Manock & Jensen Dale Blickenstaff Carolrhoda Books Susan Cooper Cronyn Edward D. Fanucchi of Quinlan, Kershaw, & Fanucchi Edward L. Fanucchi of Quinlan, Kershaw, & Fanucchi Don and Sheli Glasrud Heartland Regional Library Network Geraldine Irola Daniel and Debra Jamison Lerner Publications Corporation Jo Ellen Misakian Richard and Lee Anne Rossiter Kay Waite Walsh Robert Wilkinson and Nancy Tholen William Lanier Thomas Lisa Zlyka Sponsor Membership, continued Ara and Louise Hairabedian Stephanie Horal Michael and Linda Hovsepian Douglas Jensen Richard and Althea Johanson Gordon and Frances Johnson Daniel and Jessica Kaiser George and Elizabeth Knapp Claribel Lagomarsino Patricia Lavigna Harriet Leonard Warren Lev Herbert and Patricia Lyttle Margaret MacMillan Dick and Wilda Moller Marcie Morrison Jo P. Murray Thomas and Vicie Nagy George and Mary Nasse Stan Norsworthy Robert and Stephanie Oliver George Ollikkala Alexis O’Neill Rose Gendusa Peer Eugene and Mary Ann Richardson Alicia Rivera Marilyn Rudzik Joan Russell Terry and Ann Sadler Edward and Jackie Sarkisian John and Kristene Scholefield Patricia Semrick Sherry Shahan Sue Shannon Ronald and Patricia Shein Mark and Lisa Slater Sharon Smart Amy Sherman Smith Rae Swiger John and Patricia Taylor Anna Turnipseed Robert and Shirley Valett Barbara Vartan Hilda Wiens Paul and Jane Worsley Gary and Carol Yoder Sponsor Membership Betty Aller Arbor School of Arts & Sciences John and Nancy Baker Jean Beardsley Desa Belyea Robert W. and Elaine Bender Gus and Margarete Bonner Mark and Janet Cameron Shirley Canales Lucille Carnahan Richard and Angelica Carpenter Patricia Carriveau Robert and Doe Clark Luis and Wendy Costa Anne Dee Mary Delk Virginia H. Dix Jeri Echeverria William and Karen Eropkin Alyce and Dick Fourchy Kathleen Fulton and Stan Sieler Rutherford Gaston, Sr. Michael Gorman Cherrill A. Gragg Mary Ellen Graham Ken Groth Benefactor Membership Tina Bruno Ramona Cheek John and Ruth Kallenberg Frank and Jean Ray Laury Patience Milrod Gerald and Geraldine Tahajian ANCA members Advocate Membership Allen Agnew Ruth Elaine Anderson Nazik Arisian Verna Arnest Benjamin M. Bakkegard Edward and Joyce Bergtholdt Ernest and Jeanne Berry Loy and Colleen Bilderback Jerry and Pat Bird Joan Bishop John and Frances Blair Hal and Janet Bochin Ron and Megan Bohigian Caroline Bohrman Vallorie Borchardt Terry Brazil Bev Broughton Ronald and Cecelia Byrd Elizabeth Calderwood Jesus and Mary Lou Carrillo Beverly Ann Carstens Central Valley Business Incubator Janet W. Claasen Brian and Linda Clague William and Carmen Clanin Ginny Colver Paul and Martha Connor Ken and Betty Cornelisen Jennifer Crow Elizabeth Donaldson Neil Edwards and Ethel Spencer Bill and Jane Fischer George and Anidelle Flint Leigh Anne Flores Ivadelle Garrison-Finderup Karen Gist Ellen Gorelick Sue Haffner Richard and Joyce Hall Ruth H. Hansen Merle and Audry Hanson Craig and Kathie Hartsell Kathy Haug Lyman and Ardis Heine Betty P. Hicks Kenneth and Joan Hieb Bob and Francene Hill Stephanie Hillman Anthony Horan Joyce Huggins Dorothy Hughes Gray and Geraldine Hughes Aladdine Joroff Nancy Joroff Bob and Joyce Kierejczyk Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff League of Women Voters of the Monterey Peninsula Barbara Leal Patricia and Robert Libby Lee Lockhart Shirley Masengill Sharon Matson Anita McCready Mary Helen McKay Betsy Mitchell Laraine Miyake-Combs Gerald and Lyla T. Mon Pere Louise Moises Stephen Mooser Michael Motta Frances Neagley Susan Neufeld Bette Noblett R. Suzanne Noia Virginia Lee Owens Sylvia Owens Etta Paladino Robert and Sylvia Pethoud Jean Piston Kathie Reid Bertina Richter Chris Rogers Gary and Sharon Rossi Lester and Luzerne Roth Coleen Salley Balzer and Blondia Scherr Lisa Sciandra Aaron Sciandra Sally Serpa P. Susan Silveira Barbara Smith Vincent Smith Gayle A. Sobolik Cecelia Svenson Morva Taylor Helen Teichman Beth Vancil Suzy Vandermolen Keith and Ione Waite Barry and Kathy Webb Lucile Wheaton Anne Wick Caroline Williams Linda Zinn Sustaining Membership AAUW Hanford-Lemoore Branch Susan Abair Don Albright Joanne Alden Sue Alexander Ben and Eleanor Amirkhanian Merilee Amos William and Shirley Armbruster Al and Ann Avenenti Mary F. Bailey Neil and Linda Baird Margaret Baker Paul Beare Marcia and Steve Becker Bonnie Jo Bevans Stephen and Sharon Blumberg Carol Lynn Brown Cheryl Caldera Jane Cleave Robbie Cranch and Richard Moats Robert and Pamela Davies Joan De Yager Delta Kappa Gamma Society Epsilon XI Chapter Jeannie DeGroot Barbara D. Denton Glenn and Karen DeVoogd John and Elizabeth Dodds Virginia Dow Sandra Dralle Louise Feinberg Jeri Chase Ferris Mary Fifield James and Joyce Fisher Josephine Fox Mary Fry Bill and Doreen Gauthier Kathleen Godfrey Lynne Enders Glaser Frances Graves Betty True Gruen ANCA members Sustaining Membership, continued Virginia Hall Carin Halper Peter Hanff Pat Hardebeck Jennifer Harris Harriet Sappenfield Harris Sylvia E. Hart Nancy Hatcher Karen Hill August and Clare Imholtz Carolyn Johnson Melba Johnson Valerie Johnson and Stephen Sacks Carol Jones Isabel Kaprielian Lydia Kuhn Lois Langer Margaret Lee Jean Linder Ivonne Litman Anne Lundin Daryl Lusher Cynthia MacDonald Barbara Jo Maier Phyllis Mann Terry Marinaro-White Bill and Sandy Marsh Margaret McMahon Linda Minier Marisa Montes Patricia Moore Tim Morris Arlene Motz Larry and Susan Muenster Carolynne Myall George and Joanne Nance Anne Neal Carl and Kathryn Nichols Wendy Nugent Charlotte Orton Richard Osterberg Theresa Pallares Leo Pedretti R. W. and Grace Pengilly Susan Pennel Kim Peters George P. Pilling Ransom and Carola Poythress Barbara Price Rhea Rehark-Griffith Student Membership and Other Members, continued Chris Peters Ashley Peters Bernice Peukert Heidi Pretzer Aaron Rapp Carroll Rippey Mercy C. Rubio Martha Salazar J. Glenn Simpson Lynn Gwyneth Smith Joseph Spano Susan Smith Melanie Tatco John and Ann Van Patten Beatrice Woof Jay Reinfeld Christy Reinold Marilyn Renna Whitney Rimel Conrad and Randie Rios Norman and Evonne Rogers Joan Schoettler Mary Schrader Sandy Schuckett Allan and Bernice Shields Bernadette Siegel Mary Slater Britta O. Smith Paul and Lorraine Smith Annie Soo Joan Sparks Ann Stalcup John W. Stewig Elizabeth Sullivan Amy Teeter Karen Thomas Sandy Wee Stuart and Anne Weil Francis and Mary Anne Wells Tekla White Susan M. Wickham Chris Williams Wendell and Phyllis S.Wilson Diane M. Winning Andrew and Carolyn Wright Bill and Marion Young Roberta Young Lorna Zurilgen Student Membership and Other Members Jean Anderson Hollister Bernstein Rosemary Coleman Karen Dennison Esther Franklin Martha Froelich Janice Hallaian Sandra Hammond Catherine D. Hopson Sara I. Kahn Tirian Klein Barbara McColm Becky Modesto Peter Neumeyer ANCA members In Memory of Betty Jo Peterson AAUW-Fresno Branch Don Albright Jean Anderson Janet Bateson Judith Board Hal and Janet Bochin Elizabeth Calderwood Richard and Angelica Carpenter Lanette Ching Wilma Conner Carol Cousineau Melva Cousins Richard and Sandra Crow Elaine Callaway Frankian Michael Gorman Jerry and Sandra Gothe Frances Graves Sue Haffner Christy Hicks Stephanie Hillman Joyce Huggins Ruth and John Kallenberg Rosellen Kershaw Russell and Kathy Kirkpatrick Lydia Kuhn Bernice Lacks Howard and Mary Ann Latimer Susan Mangini Howard and Eileen Michaelis Evelyn Moon Family of Helen Monnette Amestoy, 156 cat books and other materials Martha Davis Beck, 21 issues of Riverbank Review Boyd’s Mill Press, 25 books Aggie Breedlove, 22 photographs and 18 negatives of Arne Nixon Michael Cart, 967 books John Docherty, his papers Lynne Edwards, 12 books Michael Gorman, 31 books Henry Holt, 48 books Holiday House, 39 books Houghton Mifflin, 15 books Alexandria LaFaye, printer and supplies Karen and Robert Larka, 98 books Minnesota Humanities Council, 17 bilingual Hmong books Blossom Norman, 237 alphabet books, 35 other books Carla Paganelli, 48 books Tamora Pierce, 19 books Random House, 64 books Ruth Sanderson, oil painting (cover art for her book, A Treasury of Princesses) Scholastic, 148 books Denise Sciandra, 10 books Simon and Schuster, 20 books Amy Spaulding, 39 books and papers of Alice Corkran Betty Jo Peterson, continued Carolyn Noah Lola Owensby Lillie Parker James and Dolores Pires Paul Priebe Bertina Richter Walter and Nancy Rowland Salvatore and Denise Sciandra Edward and Valerie Spongberg Morva Taylor Bill and Marion Young Marilyn Zitterkopf In Memory of Jose Canales Agricultural Foundation of CSUF Dean’s Club, School of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Sue Fung Ivadelle Garrison-Finderup Virginia Kamimoto Rosellen Kershaw Joseph Koontz and Kathleen Scheer Susan E. Korsinen Claude Laval III Helen Ogle Charles and Beverly Onken Ernest and Pamela Pero Alicia Rivera Edward and Jackie Sarkisian Robert and Carolyn Shorb Robert and Jill Smetherman Phillip and Evelynne Walker Hope Woodhouse In Memory of Frances Hedgpeth Bob and Dorothy Daniel Betty Graham Mary Ellen Graham Grant and Ruth Erikson Reynold and Doris Laubhan Judy Rosenthal In Memory of Suzanne Cates Michael Gorman John and Ruth Kallenberg In Memory of Lorraine Hood Anne Bennington Teri and Drew Hood In Memory of Maribelle Smith Ruth Andersen Merle and Audry Hanson In Memory of Laura Luzerne Roth Angelica Carpenter Roslyn Dienstein Denise Sciandra Memorial Donations (Monetary donors become members of ANCA and of the Friends of the Madden Library.) Donations of books and materials (March 1–August 31, 2004. This list represents donations of ten books or more. Our thanks to all!) |
Subjects | California State University, Fresno. |
Object Type | Document |
Location | Fresno, California |
Language | eng |
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