The Agricultural History Society awards several prizes each year to encourage scholarship related to the history of agriculture and rural life.
The awards include the Everett E. Edwards Award for the best article submitted to Agricultural History by a graduate student; the Vernon Carstensen Memorial Award for the best article in Agricultural History; the Wayne D. Rasmussen Award for the best article on agricultural history not published in Agricultural History; the Gilbert C. Fite Dissertation Award for the best dissertation on agricultural history; the Theodore Saloutos Memorial Award for the best book on United States agricultural history; The Henry A. Wallace International Book Award for the best book on agricultural history outside the United States; the Gladys Baker Lifetime Service Award for an individual who represents a life long commmitment to agriculture and rural life, and the National History Day History of Agriculture and Rural Life Award.
Everett E. Edwards Award for the best article submitted to Agricultural History by a graduate student.
Jason Manthorne, for
"'View from the Cotton: Reconsidering the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union." Jason is a graduate student at the University of Georgia.
Vernon Carstensen Memorial Award for the best article in Agricultural History.
Carmen V. Harris , for "'The Extension Service is not an Integration Agency': The Idea of Race in the Cooperative Extension Service," in Agricultural History 82:2 (Spring 2008). Harris teaches in the history department at the University of South Carolina - Upstate.
Wayne D. Rasmussen Award for the best article on agricultural history not published in Agricultural History.
Alan Olmstead and Paul Rhode, for "Biological Innovation and Productivity Growth in the Antebellum Cotton Economy," in Journal of Economic History 68:4 (Dec. 2008). Olmstead is a professor at the University of California - Davis, and Rhode teaches economics at the University of Arizona.
Gilbert C. Fite Dissertation Award for the best dissertation on agricultural history.
Anya Zilberstein , who completed her PhD at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology, for "Planting Improvement: The Rhetoric and Practice of Scientific Agriculture in Northern British America."
Theodore Saloutos Memorial Award for the best book on agricultural history.
Shane Hamilton, professor at the University of Georgia, for Trucking Country: The Road to America's Wal-mart Economy (Princeton University Press, 2008).
National History Day History of Agriculture and Rural Life Award. The society established the History of Agriculture and Rural Life Award to raise awareness of agricultural and rural history among secondary school students interested in history. Projects in any of the National History Day categories are eligible, including papers, dramatic presentations, media presentations, and exhibits, both by individuals and groups at either the Senior or Junior levels. The prize is awarded in June at the campus of the University of Maryland during the awards ceremony of the National History Day Contest. In addition to two hundred dollars, students receive certificates of their achievement and a complimentary copy of the issue of the Society's journal, Agricultural History, announcing the winner of the award.
The 2007 NHD special prize in Agriculture and Rural History was presented to Sydney Taylor and Lindsey McKeefor for their junior group performance entitled "Triumph to Tragedy to Triumph: The Saga of the Dust Bowl.” The two were students at Bob Courtway Middle School in Conway, Arkansas, and were advised by teachers Joy Meriwether and Sherry Holder.
