The International Society for Landscape, Place, & Materials Culture is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2014 Awards:
Henry H. Douglas Distinguished Service Award
The Award is named in memory of the founder of the Pioneer America Society: Association for the Preservation of Artifacts & Landscapes, Mr. Henry H. Douglas, and is given to an individual who has made significant contributions over the years in furthering the Society’s goals through service, teaching, publications, and/or the promotion of historic preservation.
The 2014 recipient is Scott Roper. (See photo at left: Wayne Brew presenting Scott with the award at the 2014 Conference.) Scott has been a long-time member of The Society and has been a dedicated servant. That service has included being the Book Review Editor of Material Culture for seven years, the Editor of PAST for five years, a member of the original Hubert Wilhelm Student Research Award Committee for many years, has served on the Board of Directors multiple times, and most recently became a member of the Book Awards Committee. In 2010, Scott hosted the conference in Castleton, Vermont, and consequently, served as a member of the Historic Preservation Committee for that year. With the Stuart, Florida, conference hanging in the balance, he stepped in to organize and run that year’s field trip. He also played a large role in the planning of the field trips for the 2013 meeting in Utica. He continues to give interesting and informative papers on a wide variety of topics and we are grateful for his commitment to the Society.
Fred B. Kniffen Book Award
The Fred B. Kniffen Book Award, established in 1989, honors the work of Fred B. Kniffen, a long-time scholar at Louisiana State University. The Kniffen Award recognizes the best-authored book in the field of North American material culture.
The recipient was Margaret Supplee Smith for American Ski Resort: Architecture, Style, Experience. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2013.
Allen G. Noble Book Award
The Allen G. Noble Book Award is given in honor of the scholarship Allen G. Noble contributed to cultural geography. The award recognizes the best-edited book in the field of North American material culture.
The recipients were Wim de Wit and Christopher James Alexander, editors, for:Overdrive: L. A. Constructs the Future, 1940-1990. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2013.
PAS:APAL Historic Preservation Award
The Historic Preservation Award, established in 2000, recognizes the preservation, interpretation, instruction, celebration, or exhibit of American material culture.
The 2014 winner was the Arcadia Historical and Preservation Society of Arcadia, Oklahoma, for its long-term efforts to save, preserve, and interpret the National Register of Historic Places-listed Arcadia Round Barn on Route 66.
The Historic Preservation Certificate of Merit recipient was Preservation Oklahoma, Inc. Church for its restoration and ongoing preservation of the National Register of Historic Places-listed Overholser Mansion in Oklahoma City. (Photo below courtesy of Kool Cats Photography)
Warren E. Roberts Graduate Student Paper Competition Award
The Warren E. Roberts Graduate Student Paper Competition, established in 2004 in memory of folklife scholar Warren E. Roberts, a longtime PAS: APAL member and former member of the Board of Directors, is an annual competitive award that recognizes excellence in original graduate student fieldwork, documentary research, and writing in the area of traditional North American material culture.
The 2014 winner was Jeffrey M. Widener (University of Oklahoma), for his paper, “Water-Conveyance Technology and the Preservation of Agriculture in Colorado’s Orchard Mesa Irrigation District.”
Wilhelm-Keiffer Student Research Award
The Wilhelm-Keiffer Student Research Award, established in 2012, is in honor of long-time PAS: APAL member, Hubert Wilhelm, a cultural geographer, whose enthusiasm for teaching has had a global impact, and is in memory of the Society’s Executive Director, Artimus Keiffer, an architectural geographer and student of Hubert Wilhelm. The award is an annual competitive prize in the field of American material culture which is open to both undergraduate and graduate students. No award was presented in 2014.