A Davidson College junior has turned four college grants into visits to more than 200 independent bookstores across three continents, research that circles back to Davidson's own Main Street Books.
Daniel Lee, a double major in political science and French and Francophone Studies from Ames, Iowa, wrote about his travels in a student blog post published by Davidson College on Oct. 19. He visited Midwestern storefronts, Parisian shops and a historic bookstore in downtown Davidson.
"For as long as I can remember, I have dreamt of becoming an independent bookstore owner," Lee wrote.
That dream picked up speed through four college funding sources. A Matthews Center Professional Development Grant sent Lee to the Heartland Fall Forum, an annual conference for independent bookstores in the Midwest. There, he met Danny Caine, co-owner of the Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kansas, and author of How to Protect Bookstores and Why, along with Janet Jones of Source Booksellers. Both became mentors.
A Weinstein Travel Grant funded a Midwest road trip spanning 20 bookstores across four states and roughly 1,000 miles. Lee interviewed booksellers about book banning, innovative store models and increasing book access.
Two more grants, the Dean Rusk Grant and the Alvarez Access Fund, supported a comparative study of French and British independent bookstores before Lee studied abroad in France. He examined how national culture and government policy shape the book world, visiting shops including Daunt Books in London, Librairie Jousseaume in Paris and Le Bal Infernal in Ghent, Belgium.
Those inquiries led to an internship at The Red Wheelbarrow, an anglophone bookshop on the Left Bank of Paris opposite the Luxembourg Garden. Lee hosted a book club there with Davidson students, alumni and other readers.
Back on campus, Lee is involved with Dog-Eared Books and the Deliberative Citizenship Initiative. He wrote that he is researching ways to break down barriers for publishers, translators and bookstores to create greater access to global literature.
Lee's blog post closed with a nod to Main Street Books at 126 South Main Street in Davidson. The shop is co-owned by Adah Fitzgerald, a 2001 Davidson graduate who bought it with her mother, Mary Barone, in 2015. The store has occupied the first floor of a historic building since 1987, according to Our State magazine.
In a September 2026 interview with The Davidsonian, Fitzgerald spoke about the store's ties to the college. "We host a lot of Davidson alumni because a lot of them are great writers," she said.
Lee wrote that his research into global literature access continues.
