April 16, 2016
BY JUDY CARMACK BROSS
For those of us who remember library dining as a smuggled doughnut while studying in the stacks, the elegant meal at the Awards Dinner at the Newberry this week would seem like a feast pulled out of the pages of one of the library’s many tomes. Many of Chicago’s most admired civic leaders agreed that this year’s dinner – which ended on a sweet note, with a white chocolate medallion bearing the crest of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a nod to the evening’s honoree – managed to exceed the splendor of years past with its cuisine. But it was not only the meal itself that wowed attendees, it was the glamor created among the rare books. A sea of apricot tulips in silver cachepots awaited guests in the grand room of the research library, built in 1887, housing one of the world’s rarest collection of books, maps, music texts and genealogical materials.
David Spadafora, Newberry President and Librarian, and their beautiful Chair of the Board of Trustees, Victoria Herget, presented this year’s Newberry Library Award to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Earl Lewis, President of The Mellon Foundation, and Danielle Allen, Chair of Trustees (and Harvard professor), were on hand to accept the award on behalf of the foundation. Former colleagues of Danielle’s from the University of Chicago, including faculty members Christine Mehring and Aden Kumler, as well as the evening’s co-chair, Karla Scherer (also head of the Visiting Committee of the Humanities Division), were there to congratulate her. Meg and Mark Hausberg and Harve Ferrill served as the other co-chairs for the evening.Attendees of this magical night included: Janine and Sandy McNally, Jan and John Notz, Celia and David Hilliard, Jack McCord, Liz and Bill Adams, Laura and Steve Rugo, Joyce White and Lester Fisher, Jennifer and Bart Tretheway, Judith and Jim Pierpont, Mary and Richard Gray, and Karen and Tom Howell. Guests hovered around the Art Institute’s Martha Tedeschi, recently named head of the Harvard University Museums. The cocktail reception was a grand sight to see, with so many friends of the Newberry gathered by the grand staircase under the building’s soaring Renaissance ceiling.
Bill Ruffin, Joan Wagner, Laura de Frise, and Emmie Ruffin.
Danielle S. Allen, Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, offers remarks.
Earl Lewis, President of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, shares a few words.
Earl Lewis, Danielle Allen, Victoria J. Herget (Chair of the Newberry Board of Trustees), and David Spadafora (President of the Newberry).
A guest with Newberry Trustee Peter S. Willmott, Newberry Trustee Andrew W. McGhee, and Carol Graham.
Event Co-Chairs Harve Ferrill, Karla Scherer, Meg Hausberg, and Mark Hausberg.
Newberry Trustee Janis Notz, Susan Whiting, and Newberry Trustee Robert Holland.
Jill Bugajski, Martha Tedeschi, Felicia Mings, and Jennifer Oatess, all of the Art Institute of Chicago, with Danielle Allen.
Newberry Trustee Joan Brodsky, Bill Brodsky (Chair of the CBOE), Newberry Trustee Kimball Brooker, and Newberry Vice President for Collection and Library Services Alice Schreyer.
Leon Plantanias and Anthony Freud, General Director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Dinner in Ruggles Hall.
Sarah and Nico Orduz, of Illinois Tool Works.
Photo credits: Jaclyn Simpson
