Benson-based Winifred “Winn” Bundy, a historian, preservationist and archivist of Southwest literature, has been named the Sharlot Hall Award honoree for 2015, and will be presented it at the Western History Symposium, August 6, 2016.  As a small child, Winn was drawn to books – her first love! – and would follow grown-ups around with book-in-hand demanding it be read to her. 

In 1956, Winn and her husband, while living in Tucson, found and restored the “broken-down and abandoned” Singing Wind Ranch near Benson. Decades later and after completing degrees in history, library science, and English while raising children and cattle, she began building her ranch bookstore.  Through word-of-mouth, her eclectic ‘bookshop’ has grown to more than 20,000 volumes, including rare out-of-print books, plus her own personal collection.  The Singing Wind Bookshop has become a favorite field trip for local schools despite it being situated off a dusty rural road... with no parking lot, no website, nor advertising (other than her notoriety).

Over the decades, her Bookshop has shown a spotlight on Arizona authors and achieved accolades through word-of- mouth, newspaper and magazine articles. The Sharlot Hall Award is named in honor of the museum founder who achieved fame as a poet, activist, and territorial historian.  Since 1984, this annual recognition honors an Arizona woman for valuable contributions to the understanding and awareness of Arizona and its history.  Ms. Bundy will be presented the award at the dinner session of the Western History Symposium on Saturday, August 6, 2016, at the Prescott Centennial Center.