Elizabeth Mjelde is 2008-09 Merrifield Competition Winner Elizabeth Mjelde, a non-degree graduate student, has won the 2008-09 Merrifield Competition. Named in honor of Webster Merrifield, UND’s first University Librarian and President of the University from 1892 to 1909, the Merrifield Competition awards a $1,500 scholarship and recognizes outstanding student research using historic documents from the Chester Fritz Library’s Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections. A generous grant from the UND Alumni Association and Foundation enables the Library to hold this annual competition. In May 2009, a five-member jury reviewed the research papers submitted for the 2008-09 Competition. Jury members included Curt Hanson, Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections; Susan Koprince, English; Brad Myers, Law; Cynthia Prescott, History; and Lana Rakow, Communications and the Center for Community Engagement. The jury judged the papers on quality of research, clarity of thesis and conclusion, writing skill, and the investigation of primary sources. Elizabeth Mjelde’s winning paper, “The Nonpartisan Leader and Political Struggle: ‘How about it, sister farm women?’” examined women’s history through the lens of the official newspaper of the Nonpartisan League. A native of northwest Minnesota, Mjelde received a B.A. in Art History and a graduate certificate in Museum Studies from Cal State Long Beach, and an M.A. in Art History from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research interests include illustrated British travel literature of the nineteenth century, agrarian radicalism, and women artists. -- Curt Hanson, Head, Department of Special Collections, Chester Fritz Library, curthanson@mail.und.edu, 7-4626