Activities of the Friends

Winter Reception. A reception sponsored by the Friends on
Thursday afternoon, March 6, opened the exhibition, "Baron
Corvo—Madman and Genius." Drawn from gifts received from
Jack Harris Samuels and Stuart B. Schimmel, and from individual
items acquired on the Charles W. Mixer and Friends Endowed
Funds, the exhibition of nearly 150 items included such rarities as
the only known inscribed copy of Frederick Rolfe's first book,
Tarcissus, one of only a few known copies of the first issue of Don
Renato, and the manuscript of the \'^enice letter book kept by
Rolfe during his final years.

Bancroft Awards Dinner. Presided over by Gordon N. Ray, the
annual Bancroft Awards dinner was held in the Rotunda of Low
iMeniorial Library on Thursday evening, April 3. President
iMichael I. Siwern announced the winners of the 1986 awards for
distinguished books in American history and diplomacy published
in 1985: Kenneth T. Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburban¬
ization of the United States, Oxford University Press; and Jacque¬
line Jones, Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women,
Work, and the Family from Slavery to the Present, Basic Books,
Inc. The President presented to the author of each book a $4,000
award from funds provided by the Edgar A. and Frederic Ban¬
croft Foundation.

Futitre Meethigs. The reception opening the Michel Butor exhi¬
bition will be held on Thursday afternoon, December 4. The win¬
ter exhibition reception will be held on jMarch 5, 1987, and the
Bancroft Awards dinner is scheduled for April 2, 1987.