Ramsey County History Authors Receive MALHM and MNSAH Awards
Ramsey County Historical Society and several of its authors have won accolades for their articles that have published in Ramsey County History, the society’s quarterly history publication.
Minnesota Alliance of Local History Museums Announces 2024 History Award Winners
The Minnesota Alliance of Local History Museums honored ten local history projects with a Minnesota History Award at their annual meeting and conference on April 25, 2024, in Duluth. Of the ten projects selected, Ramsey County Historical Society (RCHS) and four individuals were honored with three awards:
- RCHS and Frank M. White(St. Paul) for the article, “From a Star on the Ball Diamond to a Star in the Minnesota State Capitol: Billy Williams,” (Spring 2023);
- RCHS, Paul D. Nelson, and Jacci Krebsbach(St. Paul/Shoreview) for the article, “The Children’s Preventorium of Ramsey County,” (Winter 2023);
- RCHS and Nieeta L. Presley(St. Paul) for the article, “Traveling Without Aggravation: How Victor H. Green Changed Travel for Black Americans, Green Book Locations in the Historic Rondo Community (1940-1956),” (Summer 2022).
2024 David Stanley Gebhard Award from the
Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians
The Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians (MNSAH) recently honored authors who have written on the history of Minnesota’s built environment at its fifteenth David Stanley Gebhard Award ceremony. The awards honor the Minnesota-born SAH president and nationally renowned writer whose subjects included the state’s architectural history. MNSAH sponsors this award to bring new works of architectural history to the widest possible audience. The 2024 magazine article winner is:
- Christine Podas-Larson (St. Paul) for the article, “The Aesthetics of Bridge Design: A Paean to Two of St. Paul’s Elegant Park Bridges,” (Summer 2021).
The Board of Directors of the Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians presented the David Stanley Gebhard Award on April 30, 2024, to Christine Podas-Larson. The judges noted, “Christine Podas-Larson looks at two St. Paul bridges to tell the story of civic philosophies united with the local, transformative engineering of new and novel reinforced concrete. Bridge building became cheaper and stronger at a time when beauty for the public good mattered. Here, the reader is introduced to the characters made familiar by street names such as Cleveland and Wheelock, and others not known as well: Wheeler, Wenzel, Turner. . . . The illustrations propel the story forward by situating the reader geographically and historically in an era when our own ‘Mendota Bridge was the longest continuous concrete arch bridge in the world.’ The unnamed preservationists’ advocacy for these bridge restorations are acknowledged, and we are rewarded. In describing the legacy of well-applied building technology combined with spirit-lifting aesthetic beauty, Podas-Larson’s work is well-timed and very well done.”
Past RCH David Stanley Gebhard Award winners include:
- 2022– Magazine article author Jeremiah E. Ellis, “ Paul’s Distinct Leadership Tradition: A Century of the Sterling Club,” (Summer 2019) and book honorable mention authors Richard Kronick & Jeanne Kosfeld, Neighborhood Architecture – Irvine Park, Saint Paul – a coloring book, (2021);
- 2020– Diane Trout-Oertel, “Emma F. Brunson: The First Woman Registered as an Architect in Minnesota,” (2017).
Congratulations to all of these historians who have spent hours researching, writing, and adding to the historical record of Ramsey County.
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FOR MEDIA INFORMATION or IMAGES
For more complete biographical information on these authors and judges, to learn more about the RCHS Volunteer Honor and the Virginia B. Kunz Award, or to purchase or access issues featuring winning articles, please visit https://rchs.com/publishing/ or contact the Ramsey County Historical Society, 75 West Fifth Street #323, St. Paul, MN 55102; (651) 222-0701, ext. 5 or editor@rchs.com.
The Ramsey County Historical Society offers public programming for youth and adults through Gibbs Farm: Pathways to Dakota & Pioneer Life and its History Revealed programs; creates and curates exhibitions of historical significance at the Landmark Center and other venues; provides documents and research opportunities at its Mary Livingston Griggs & Mary Griggs Burke Research Center, also in the Landmark Center; manages a large collection of historical artifacts, photos, and documents; and publishes an award-winning quarterly magazine, books, and other publications on the history, people, and stories of Ramsey County.
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