2000
Jane Albright
Jane Albright’s Oz material won a book-collecting contest when she was a student at Kansas University, which led to a year-long exhibition on campus. The display and the media opportunities that came with it helped Jane carry her childhood Oz interests and Oz Club membership into adulthood.
The Oz Gazette, a Club publication for younger members, was Jane’s project for more than a decade. During much of that time, she also served as production editor for The Oz Observer, a member newsletter. In addition to attending Ozmopolitan Conventions regularly since the 1970s, she has attended public festivals and gatherings to represent the Club, been featured as a collector on the television program Personal Fx, and been interviewed about Oz for various media. For the Club’s website, she compiled an extensive chronology of Oz history.
An occasional contributor to both Oziana and The Baum Bugle, Jane exhibited a willingness to serve the Club that led to her place on the Centennial Committee. Jane served as chairmen for the event, more than five years in the making, sponsored by the Club to honor the publication centennial of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Far more robust an event than anything attempted by the Club before (or since!), that year’s memorable conference was seen by many as a tribute to her determination to make impossible things happen when the beneficiary is the IWOC.