Graduate Student Travel Awards

Kate Freedman – University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Jordan Grant – American University
Jee-Yeon (Jay) Kim – University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Evan Medley – Arizona State University
Maggie Schreiner – New York University

Graduate Student Project Award

Erica Hague and Jennifer Clark Scott, University of North Carolina-Wilmington. “Flashback: Community Life through the Lens of Mack Munn, 1940-1960”

The winning project is a photograph collection documenting rural African American life during a time of rapid decline in rural black populations. The strengths of “Flashback” lay first in its community connection—including twenty oral histories, close collaborative work with a local historical society, and in its documented opening- night success; secondly in its wide-reach—from the eighth-grade curriculum component, to the travelling exhibit, and the Facebook site; and finally in its innovative design—including the building of the porch, the use of QR codes to link exhibit material to audio, and the innovative use of window screens/shades to present exhibit text.

Honorable Mention: Michelle Antenesse and Bethany Girod's exhibit "New Birth of Freedom: Civil War to Civil Rights in California," California State University, Fullerton.

New Professional Travel Awards

HRA New Professional Travel Award
Lauren Brincat, Program Coordinator at Museum of the City of New York

NCPH New Professional Travel Award
Julia Brock, University of California Santa Barbara

Excellence in Consulting Award

Individual Award Winner: Morgen Young, Alder, LLC, Portland, Oregon.

Group Award Winner: William Green, Heather Jones, and Kimberly Nagle, S&ME, Inc., Columbia, South Carolina. 

Honorable Mention: John Durel and Anita Durel, Durel Consulting Partners, Baltimore, Maryland. 

G. Wesley Johnson Award

Named in honor of the founding editor of The Public Historian, this award recognizes the most outstanding article appearing in the journal during the previous volume year.

First Place

“Visions and Reality: Reconsidering the Creation and Development of Lowell’s National Park, 1966—1992,” The Public Historian Vol 33, No 2.
Robert Weible, State Historian of New York and Chief Curator of the New York State Museum

Second Place

“Interpreting Uncomfortable History at the Scott Joplin State Historic Site in St. Louis, Missouri,” The Public Historian Vol 33, No 2.
Valerie Altizer and Timothy Baumann, Indiana University’s Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, Andrew Hurley, University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Victoria Love, Missouri State Parks

Robert Kelley Memorial Award

This award honors distinguished and outstanding achievements by individuals, institutions, or nonprofit or corporate entities for having made significant inroads in making history relevant to individual lives of ordinary people outside of academia. 

Lindsey Reed, Managing Editor of The Public Historian

Lindsey Reed is widely recognized by public historians as a major contributor to the intellectual vigor and diversity of the field of public history. As the long-time managing editor of The Public Historian, Lindsey has directed every aspect of publication from recruiting through review, revision, author consultation and encouragement, composition, and even in choosing the distinctive images and designs for each issue’s cover. As every author, special editor, reviewer, editorial board member, and editorial staff colleague will attest, Lindsey Reed has managed all of this with vision, grace, and the highest of standards. Her sustained service to the field of public history makes her an ideal recipient for the Robert Kelley Memorial Award.

NCPH Book Award

Beyond Preservation: Using Public History to Revitalize inner Cities (Temple University Press, 2010), Andrew Hurley, University of Missouri—St. Louis

Written in clear prose, Hurley's book is both firmly engaged in and expands the existing historiography of public history. The book describes specific projects in St. Louis and provides a roadmap, particularly for historians working in urban communities where overlapping categories of race, ethnicity, and class exert powerful influence on matters of public memory. Hurley tackles difficult issues, such as gentrification and the conflict of academic authority and community demands, but does so in a way that provides concrete strategies for professional historians who may face similar issues. While acknowledging that professional historians may have to share their authority in these circumstances, he also illustrates the ways in which professionals have a vital role to play.

Outstanding Public History Project Award

“Texas Women’s History Moments,” Nancy Baker Jones, Cynthia J. Beeman, Melissa Hield, and Teresa Paloma Acosta, The Ruthe Winegarten Memorial Foundation, Austin, Texas

“Texas Women’s History Moments” is a series of thirty-one ninety-second radio biographies describing the lives of a wide-ranging selection of Texas women in various time periods, regions of the state, areas of influence and achievement, and ethnic backgrounds.  In partnership with public radio station KUT in Austin, Texas, each short biography was broadcast four times daily during March 2011, Women’s History Month. 

Honorable Mention
Out in Chicago, Chicago History Museum

Congratulations to the 2012 award recipients, and thank you award selection committees!

Submissions for the 2013 NCPH Book Award are due November 1, 2012, and all other award submissions are due December 1, 2012.  Please see www.ncph.org for details.

Related Links