UBC Library is pleased to announce a new award focusing on the Tremaine Arkley Croquet Collection.
The Tremaine Arkley Croquet Collection Prize, established in 2015, will be awarded annually to the best research paper featuring the collection. The research papers must be a maximum of 12 pages, and can focus on a range of subjects, including gender studies, athletics, history, art and photography – however, the paper must use the collection in some capacity.
Wounded Canadians playing croquet, circa 1915.
The Arkley Croquet Collection contains more than 1,400 items from the 1850s to 1950s. The collection includes oil paintings, watercolours, illustrations and fine art as well as photographs, prints, books, advertisements, comics and other materials related to croquet. The images show the rise in the game’s popularity in England and America in the 19th and 20th centuries. The collection also offers a fascinating glimpse at gender roles, as croquet was one of the first games that men and women played together.
Tremaine Arkley, a former member of the US National Croquet team, and his wife Gail Arkley donated the collection to the Library in 2011.
Researchers wanting to use the collection can view it in person at UBC Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC), or online via the Library’s digital collections portal.
Submissions should be sent to RBSC’s acting head, no later than 4 p.m. on February 1, 2016. Two prizes of $1,000 each will be awarded – one to a UBC student and one to a member of the community at large. Members of the community do not need to be Canadian citizens.
For a full list of requirements and submissions information, see the prize poster. Please direct questions to rare.books@ubc.ca.
Prize winners will be announced in April.