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The United States Postal Service sponsors two annual prizes for scholarship on the history of the American postal system, the Rita Lloyd Moroney Awards. Scholarship by junior scholars (undergraduates and graduate students) is eligible for a $1,000 award; scholarship by senior scholars (faculty members, independent scholars, and public historians) is eligible for a $2,000 award. Prizewinners may also have an opportunity to present their research in Washington, D.C.
The American postal system coordinated the first nationwide communications network in the United States. Throughout much of American history, it was also the largest federal government agency. Founded in 1775, the postal system expanded rapidly following the enactment of the Post Office Act of 1792; by 1828, it maintained offices throughout the length and breadth of the United States. In the early republic, the postal system facilitated the regular and reliable conveyance over long distances and at high speed of information on public affairs, market trends, and personal matters. Since the 1870s, it has also become a major medium for the conveyance of goods. Given the enormous geographical scale on which the postal system has operated and its importance as a federal government agency, it played a major role in American business, politics, journalism, labor, popular culture, and social reform. The influence of the postal system in each of these realms—as well as in many others—deserves the attention of historians.
Learn more about the program’s…
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Mission
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| The awards honor Rita Lloyd Moroney, who began conducting historical research for the Postmaster General in 1962 and then served as Historian of the U.S. Postal Service from 1973 to 1991. These prizes are designed to encourage scholarship on the history of the American postal system and to raise awareness about the significance of the postal system in American life.
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Eligibility
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| Topics: The prizes are intended for scholarship on any topic on the history of the American postal system from the colonial era to the present—including the history of the imperial postal system that preceded the establishment of the American postal system in 1775. Though submissions must be historical in character, they can draw on the methods of disciplines other than history—e.g., geography, cultural studies, literature, communications, or economics. Comparative or international historical studies are eligible if the American postal system is central to the discussion.
Junior Prize: This prize is for scholarship written or published by undergraduates or graduate students. Submissions can take the form of a journal article, a book chapter, a conference paper, an M.A. thesis, or a Ph. D. dissertation. Submissions are eligible if they were originally written when the author was a student even if they were subsequently revised for publication. All submissions must include a signed statement from the author attesting to his or her status at the time when the initial work was completed.
Senior Prize: This prize is for scholarship published by faculty members, independent scholars, public historians and other non-degree candidates. Submissions may take the form of a journal article, a book chapter, or a book.
Restrictions: Submissions must have been published, accepted (in the case of theses and dissertations), or presented (in the case of conference papers), in a three-year period prior to the application deadline. Submissions that do not receive a prize may be re-submitted the following year if they fall within these restrictions. No one may receive more than one prize in either category during any five-year period.
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Selection Criteria
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| In evaluating submissions, the prize committee will rely on the following criteria:
• What is its significance for our understanding of the history of the American postal system and its role in the American past?
• How original is its argument?
• How imaginative is its use of primary sources (e.g., archival materials, trade and professional journals, or visual imagery)?
• How effectively does it engage existing scholarship?
• How well is it written?
The committee reserves the right not to award any prize during an award year if no submissions are deemed suitable.
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Deadline and Submission Procedure
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| Submissions for the 2008 prize must be postmarked by December 1, 2007. No late entries will be accepted.
Authors must submit three copies of each submission along with a cover letter in which the author attests that the submission meets the eligibility requirements.
Send all materials to:
Professor Richard Kielbowicz
Department of Communication
Box 353740
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195
Decisions will be announced in April 2008.
Please direct all questions to Professor Kielbowicz at the above address or to kielbowi@u.washington.edu
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Winners
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| 2007 Senior Award--David M. Henkin, The Postal Age: The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth-Century America (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006). Professor Henkin teaches in the Department of History, University of California-Berkeley.
2007 Junior Award--Jesse Vogler, “‘Correct and Perfect’: Post Office Design Guidelines and the Standardization of the National Postal Landscape” (paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Vernacular Architecture Forum 2006). Mr. Vogler was a student in the Master of Architecture program at the University of California-Berkeley when he wrote the paper.
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