Highlights Archives
Wisconsin Historical Society Honors Three Authors With Book Awards of Merit
The Wisconsin Historical Society has named three authors as recipients of its 2004 Book Awards of Merit for excellent scholarship in documenting and interpreting Wisconsin history. Wisconsin Historical Society President Patricia A. Boge presented the following awards in ceremonies in Madison on Thursday, May 13:
- Michael J. Goc of Friendship for "Powder, People and Place: Badger Ordnance Works and the Sauk Prairie" (New Past Press, Inc., Friendship, Wis., and Sauk County Historical Society, 2002). Goc was honored for his history of the Badger Army Ammunition Plant in Sauk County. The book traces the history of the facility and the site it occupies from prehistory and early settlement through the displacement of farmers to make way for the powder plant in the years leading up to World War II. The heavily illustrated book is carefully annotated with detailed notes, appedices and bibliography documenting Goc's research.
- Tom Tolan of Milwaukee for "Riverwest: A Community History" (Past Press, Milwaukee, in cooperation with COA Youth and Family Centers of Milwaukee, 2003). Tolan was recognized for his in-depth history of the Riverwest neighborhood north of downtown Milwaukee along the west bank of the Milwaukee River. Tolan's work traces the community's history from its origins as a summertime playground for wealthy German families to an enclave of working-class Polish immigrants and, later, as a haven to Puerto Rican immigrants. Richly illustrated, the book follows the neighborhood's evolution through 2003 and peers ahead at its future potential.
- Mary Kellogg Rice of Tiburon, Calif., for "Useful Work for Unskilled Women: A Unique Milwaukee WPA Project" (Milwaukee County Historical Society, Milwaukee, 2003). Rice was selected for her documentation of a little-known program launched in Milwaukee in 1935. The Milwaukee WPA Handicraft Project provided desperately needed aid to a group of downtrodden women suffering the travails of the Great Depression without marketable skills to fall back on by teaching them handicraft skills. They were taught rug braiding, weaving, bookbinding, furniture manufacturing and other skills that benefited schools, hospitals, libraries, schools for dependent children and other public institutions.
A special committee of the Society's governing Board of Curators screens nominees for the Book Awards of Merit. Award recipients are selected based on the quality of their scholarship and the contributions their books make to the documentation and interpretation of Wisconsin history.
:: Posted May 19, 2004
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