Historical News and Notices

THE ASSOCIATION

The eighty-second meeting of the Southern Historical Association will take place at the TradeWinds Island Resort in St. Pete Beach, Florida, on November 2–5, 2016, Wednesday through Saturday.

At the close of the Association’s eighty-first meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas, on November 15, 2015, Catherine Clinton, University of Texas at San Antonio, began her term as president. Given that there were no additional nominations, those proposed by the 2014 Nominating Committee and published in the May 2015 issue of the Journal were declared elected:

• Vice President/President-Elect:

•   John B. Boles, Rice University

• Executive Council:

•   William A. Link, University of Florida

•   Valinda W. Littlefield, University of South Carolina

•   Melissa Walker, Converse College

The Executive Council also approved the nominations of Brian Ward, Northumbria University, and Eva SheppardWolf, San Francisco State University, to four-year terms on the Board of Editors of the Journal of Southern History.

The council elected the following to serve as the 2016 Nominating Committee: Theodore C. DeLaney, Washington and Lee University, chair; Lacy K. Ford Jr., University of South Carolina; Anne Sarah Rubin, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Rebecca Sharpless, Texas Christian University; and Marjorie J. Spruill, University of South Carolina.

The following awards were presented at the meeting in Little Rock:

Owsley Award

The Frank L. and Harriet C. Owsley Award, which recognizes a distinguished book in southern history published in an even-numbered year (2014), was presented to Gregory E. O’Malley, University of California, Santa Cruz, for Final Passages: The Intercolonial Slave Trade of British America, 1619–1807, published by University of North Carolina Press. The selection committee consisted of Elizabeth R. Varon, University of Virginia, chair; Jan Ellen Lewis, Rutgers University–Newark; and Michael Perman, University of Illinois at Chicago.

Simkins Award

The Francis B. Simkins Award, given jointly by Longwood University and the SHA, recognizes the author of the best first book in southern history published over a two-year period. The prize was awarded to Ellen Griffith Spears, University of Alabama, for Baptized in PCBs: Race, Pollution, and Justice in an All-American Town, published by University of North Carolina Press in 2014. The selection committee consisted of Jon Kukla, Richmond, Virginia, chair; Beth English, Princeton University; and Leah Hagedorn, Tidewater Community College.

Rawley Award

The James A. Rawley Award for a distinguished book on the sectional crisis or Civil War causation published in 2013 or 2014 was presented to Michael E. Woods, Marshall University, for Emotional and Sectional Conflict in the Antebellum United States, published by Cambridge University Press in 2014. The selection committee consisted of Brian Steel Wills, Kennesaw State University, chair; Brian Schoen, Ohio University; and Susannah J. Ural, University of Southern Mississippi.

Woodward Dissertation Prize

The C. Vann Woodward Prize for the best dissertation in southern history completed in 2014 was presented to Andy Horowitz, Tulane University, for his dissertation, “The End of Empire, Louisiana: Disaster and Recovery on the Gulf Coast, 1915–2012,” which was produced at Yale University. The selection committee consisted of Stephen A. West, Catholic University of America, chair; J. Morgan Kousser, California Institute of Technology; and Ryan A. Quintana, Wellesley College.

Submissions for this year’s Woodward Prize are invited. Dissertations in southern history completed and defended in 2015 are eligible for the annual prize. Submissions should be sent by e-mail to Sheree Dendy (sdendy@uga.edu) by May 1, 2016. For entry requirements, see the advertisement in this issue of the Journal or visit the SHA website (sha.uga.edu/awards/woodward.htm).

Kirby Award

The Jack Temple Kirby Award, recognizing a distinguished journal article on southern environmental or agricultural history published in 2013 or 2014, was awarded to T. Robert Hart, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, for his article, “The Lowcountry Landscape: Politics, Preservation, and the Santee-Cooper Project,” which appeared in Environmental History (18 [January 2013], 127–56). The selection committee consisted of Megan Kate Nelson, chair; James C. Giesen, Mississippi State University; and Adam Rothman, Georgetown University.

Holmes Award

The William F. Holmes Award for the...