Students win prizes for essays on American and Western American history and culture
Source: https://library.yale.edu/news/students-win-prizes-essays-american-and-western-american-history-and-culture Parent: https://beinecke.library.yale.edu/stream/student-research
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Collections, About Students, Library Prizes
May 26, 2023
At this year’s graduation ceremonies, three prizes were awarded to Yale College seniors whose essays explored topics in the fields of Americana or Western Americana. Unlike the library’s three other senior essay prizes—for which students submit their own work for consideration—these prizes are awarded based on recommendations from faculty members. Each prize winner received $200 and an award certificate.
- Caroline Bennett (Trumbull College),winner of the Howard R. Lamar Prize
The Lamar Prize, awarded occasionally since 1997, is for an outstanding undergraduate essay on a topic in the history or culture of the North American West. Bennet has won this prize for the essay “The Best Laid Plans: S. R. DeBoer and the Greening of Denver.” Jay Gitlin, lecturer in the department of History, nominated Bennet for the prize.\ - Hema Patel (Saybrook College),winner of the Walter McClintock Prize
The McClintock Prize, awarded occasionally since 1952, is for an outstanding undergraduate essay on a topic in the history or culture of the North American West. Patel has won this prize for the essay “The Formation of the Indian Health Board: Culturally Sustaining Healthcare in the Phillips Neighborhood of Minneapolis, 1971–Present.” Carolyn Roberts, assistant professor in the departments of History/History of Science and Medicine, nominated Patel for the prize.\ - Ben Metzner (Silliman College),winner of the David M. Potter Prize
The Potter Prize, awarded occasionally since 1997, is for an outstanding undergraduate essay on a topic in American history or culture. Metzner received the prize for “Revolt and Reconstruction: Public Housing, Liberalism, and the Making and Unmaking of American Jewish Identity in Forest Hills, 1971–1972.” Historian Moredechai Levy-Eichel, lecturer in the department of Political Science, nominated Metzner for the prize.\
For an exceptional dissertation in the field of Western American history, the faculty of the Department of History awarded the Frederick W. Beinecke Prize to PhD candidate Monique Ulysses for “Categorizing Mexican Migrant Race and Citizenship in the United States, 1910s–1930s.” The prize is $1,000. Ulysses was nominated by Stephen Pitti and Alicia Schmidt Camacho, professors of American Studies and of Ethnicity, Race, and Migration.
All four prizes are funded by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Read more about the library’s Americana Collection and the Collection of Western Americana.
—Deborah Cannarella
Image: Boarding the train for Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas. Postcard related to U.S. military involvement in the Mexican Revolution, ca. 1910–17. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library