The history of the prestigious contest began in 1928 when the inventor of modern
contract bridge,
Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, put the trophy bearing his name into play. The winners list is a who's who of bridge – including Vanderbilt himself, a winner in 1932 and 1940. Winners receive replicas of the trophy, a practice initiated by Vanderbilt from the first running, and perpetuated under the terms of his will by a $100,000 trust fund that the ACBL administers. ACBL Headquarters in Horn Lake, Mississippi, displays replicas donated by the families of Caroline Taylor, who won the Vanderbilt in 1928, and
Helen Sobel Smith, a Vanderbilt winner in 1944 and 1945 as Helen Sobel. The Vanderbilt was contested annually in New York, as a separate championship, until it became part of the ACBL spring North American Bridge Championships in 1958. ==Winners==