Current Winners

2012 AWARDS — Names and remarks below.

(Click on an image to view gallery)

HENRY ADAMS PRIZE
John V. Quarstein, The Monitor Boys: The Crew of the Union ’s First Ironclad (Charleston, South Carolina: The HistoryPress, 2011)

The Henry Adams Prize is awarded for an outstanding book on some aspect of federal government history written by an historian who is not employed by the federal government.  The Adams Prize for 2011 is awarded to The Monitor Boys: The Crew of the Union’s First Ironclad, by John V. Quarstein, published by the History Press in Charleston, South Carolina.

“The Monitor Boys,” incidentally, was a moniker which the hundred- odd members of the crew gave themselves. This well-written and very informative book, the result of six years of effort by its author, details the short history of the ship, which was launched in Brooklyn, New York at the end of January, 1862.

The Monitor was a warship with the latest in technology, including the first revolving gun turret and below-the-waterline flushing toilets, which required several valves to operate.

During its eleven months of operation, its crew members-many of whom realized that they were a unique part of naval history-coped with many challenges, including ship modifications and repairs, often oppressive heat (inside temperatures sometimes reached 155 degrees), swarms of mosquitoes, indifferent food, and boredom. Many of the crew members sought some relief by drinking to excess.

On December 31st, 1862, while being towed during a violent storm off Cape Hatteras, the ship sank with the loss of four officers and a dozen crew members.

This fine book boasts useful appendices including the Monitor’s chronology, from the birth of John Ericsson, its Swedish designer, in 1803, through its famous battle with the much larger CSS Virginia (the former USS Merrimack) in March, 1862, its sinking nine months later, and the death of its last documented crewmember in 1927.

Also noted are the Monitor’s 23 casualties during its lifetime , the eleven men who deserted the ship, and the 1945 demise—at age 101– of the last of the eight men who claimed to have been a Monitor survivor.  Other appendices include brief biographies of all those who served on the Monitor—some of them former slaves—together with the Monitor’s dimensions and other physical statistics.

John V. Quarstein, the author of ten books concerning Hampton Roads and Fort Monroe, Virginia, ironclad ships, and related subjects, currently serves as historian for the city of Hampton, Virginia. He has previously been director of the Virginia War Museum in Newport News, Virginia, and consultant to the Mariner’s Museum Monitor Center there.

Unfortunately, Dr. Quarstein could not be with us today, but he has sent us a video message accepting his award.

GEORGE PENDLETON PRIZE

George C. Daughan, 1812: The Navy’s War (New York:  Basic Books, 2011)

The Pendleton award is given annually for an outstanding major publication on the history of the federal government.  The prize is named for George Pendleton, who served Ohio as a Representative from 1857 to 1865, and Senator from 1879 to 1885.  Pendleton’s major accomplishment and relevance to the Society was the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 that changed federal government hiring practices from patronage to merit based.

The 2012 award selection is 1812: The Navy’s War by George C. Daughan (New York: Basic Books, 2011).

Retired from his academic career on the faculty Air Force Academy and other universities, Dr. Daughan writes specifically about the development of the U.S Navy.  In his 2008 book If by Sea: The Forging of the American Navy from the Revolution to the War of 1812 he starts the narrative with the Continental Congress where the discussions originated about the need for a naval defense. Using this prior research as a springboard, the author carries U.S. naval history forward providing British and American political and culture events to place this conflict in the correct milieu. This earlier title was awarded the Samuel Eliot Morrison Prize for Naval Literature in 2008.

Of local interest is the chapter about the burning of Washington, which brings together the numerous facts about this invasion of the Capital that plays heavily in the tours and narratives about the history of the District and surrounding area. Dr. Daughan’s narrative will add much to the knowledge of this episode.

Similar research gives an in-depth look at the attack on Montreal, the theatre of war along the Canadian/U.S. border, The Great Lakes, the battles of Plattsburgh and New Orleans, and the significance of this war to the larger conflict with Napoleon. The accompanying maps illustrate the challenges of fighting with troops and ships scattered over much of eastern North America.

Essential to the work of historians is the documentation of source material. Dr. Daughan’s work is heavily documented, although the select bibliography lists only published primary sources. The reader, unfamiliar with the language of sailing vessels, is treated to a very useful glossary that defines such naval terms as “clew garnets” and “reef points.”

JAMES MADISON PRIZE

Kevin Adams and Khal Schneider, “‘Washington is a Long Way Off’: The Round Valley War and the Limits of Federal Power on a California Indian Reservation,” Pacific Historical Review, vol. 80 (4), May 2010

The Madison Prize for the best article dealing with any aspect of federal history is awarded to Professors Kevin Adams and Khal Schneider for “Washington is a Long Way Off: The ‘Round Valley War’ and the Limits of Federal Power on a California Indian Reservation.” The article appeared in the May issue of the Pacific Historical Review. The article examines federal Indian policy in the post-CivilWar and how local and state governments in California subverted and challenged federal authority over the Round Valley Indian Reservation land. The committee found that Drs. Adams and Schneider used archival sources creatively, drew on the resources of a variety of federal agencies, and made a strong argument regarding the limits of federal power and the authority of the military during the post-Civil War era. Their exploration of the tension between local, state, and federal power was both well-researched and well-written. Dr. Adams is here today to accept the award.

CHARLES THOMSON PRIZE

Randy Stone and Jennifer Ross-Nazzal article “The Accidents: A Nation’s Tragedy, NASA’s Challenge,” Wings in Orbit: Scientific and Engineering Legacies of the Space Shuttle, (Washington DC: NASA, 2011)

Roger D. Launius,  “Climate Change and the Space Age:  An Historiographical Review,” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 2 (May/June 2011): 412–427

The Committee awarded two Thomson Prizes this year for articles or essays written in or for a federal history program. One goes to Dr. Jennifer Ross-Nazzal and Randy Stone for “The Accidents: A Nation’s Tragedy, NASA’s Challenge,” a chapter in Wings in Orbit: Scientific and Engineering Legacies of the Space Shuttle. This essay gave a detailed overview of the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle accidents, providing insights into how the accidents impacted the professional culture at NASA through the words and experiences of NASA engineers, technicians, administrators, and astronauts. Randy Stone was the lead flight director for the Challenger flight and involved in the Columbia response and recovery. Dr. Ross-Nazzal is the historian for the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. This chapter is unusual in that it shows how human responses to tragedy not only affect federal programs and policy but the culture within a federal agency.

Dr. Roger Launius is the second Thomson Prize winner this year for “Climate Change and the Space Age: An Historiographical Review,” which appeared in Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change and focuses on the broad use of space-based resources to study climate change and the efforts to understand this use of federal resources. His summation of the historiography of climate change goes beyond a simple review of books to make cogent thematic arguments about the state of the field and the damage suffered by NASA as a result of political pressures regarding the climate change debate, which is a topic important to all federal historical programs. He examines three categories based on the political left, the political right, and “‘middle ground’ of historical scholarship” and their uses of climate change data. As usual, Dr. Launius’ research is far-ranging and his writing is superb, clear, and well-reasoned.

THOMAS JEFFERSON PRIZE
Jonathan White, editor, Guide to Research in Federal Judicial History (Washington , DC : Federal Judicial Center, 2010)

This compact research guide written by Jonathan White and sponsored by the Federal Judicial Center and its History Office is noteworthy for presenting historical notes and information on a variety of judicial history records in a succinct and clear manner. Consisting of only 216 pages, it manages to describe and point the researcher to the records of the federal judiciary and to the related records of Congress and the executive branch. The guide also presents details about records related to federal courthouses and touches on personal records and other collections held outside NARA. The publication’s other assets include its logical organization, lucid language, and historical notes. It is clear with this entry that high-quality research tools need not be voluminous but instead are sometimes best served by brevity. The book’s size and soft cover will likely lead researchers of judicial history to carry and refer to it often while conducting research.

See the online version: http://www.fjc.gov/public/pdf.nsf/lookup/guidereshist.pdf/$file/guidereshist.pdf

JOHN WESLEY POWELL PRIZE

General Services Administration, John W. McCormack U.S. Post Office and Courthouse Rehabilitation Project

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Carr Cabin Stabilization and Repair Project

ROGER R. TRASK AWARD
Raymond  W.  Smock,  Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies

MARYELLEN TRAUTMAN AWARD

No award in 2011

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT AWARD

No award in 2011