Three Harvard students win Hofer Prize in collecting

Diana I. Williams ’95, a doctoral candidate in the history of American civilization; Daniel S. Adler, a doctoral candidate in anthropology; and Jason Vigna, Harvard Law School Class of 2000 have been awarded the Philip Hofer Prize in Collecting by the Harvard University Art Museums. Williams won first prize for a collection of books on race and ethnicity in 19th-century Louisiana. Sharing second prize were Vigna, who collects art and books about art, and Adler, who collects books on the history of evolutionary theory.

The Hofer Prize was established to encourage student collecting by Melvin R. Seiden, ’52 (L.L.B. ’55), in memory of Philip Hofer ’21 (L.H.D. ’67). The prize is awarded every two years to students whose collections best continue the traditions of breadth, coherence, and imagination exemplified by Hofer, the founder and first curator of the department of printing and graphic arts at Houghton Library and secretary of the Fogg Art Museum.