Biennial First Book Award

The 2020 First Book Award was created to recognize a significant first book published by an early-career scholar within the past two years. After a lengthy deliberative process with our internal and external review committees, we’re pleased to recognize the recipient of the award as well as our honorable mention.

Recipient of the 2020 First Book Award

Lindsay DiCuirci’s Colonial Revivals: The Nineteenth-Century Lives of Early American Books (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019) examines the rise of American antiquarianism and historical reprinting in antebellum America. Not merely vehicles for preserving the past, reprinted colonial books testified to the inveterate regional, racial, doctrinal, and political fault lines in the American historical landscape. Lindsay DiCuirci is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County where she specializes in early American literature and the history of the book.

Honorable Mention

Nora Doyle’s Maternal Bodies: Redefining Motherhood in Early America (UNC Press, 2018) explores the ways in which ideas about the body were central to defining motherhood, both as a lived experience and as a cultural symbol. Nora Doyle is Assistant Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History and Political Science at Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

2020 First Book Award Finalists

Lindsay DiCuirci, Colonial Revivals: The Nineteenth-Century Lives of Early American Books (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019)
Zachary Dorner, Merchants of Medicines: The Commerce and Coercion of Health in Britain’s Long Eighteenth Century (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020)
Nora Doyle, Maternal Bodies: Redefining Motherhood in Early America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2018)
Aston Gonzalez, Visualizing Equality: African American Rights and Visual Culture in the Nineteenth Century (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2020)
Derrick R. Spires, The Practice of Citizenship: Black Politics and Print Culture in the Early United States (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019)

Interior of Phila; Library, Fifth and Library Streets, 1878. [graphic] / B. R. Evans.

This prize was established in 2018 to recognize an extraordinary contribution to early American studies using Library Company collections. This year, we have opted to recognize a significant first book published by an early-career scholar within the past two years. To ensure the broadest possible survey of recent scholarship, we welcome nominations from staff, research fellows, independent scholars, and friends of the Library Company. The award includes a $2,000 prize and recognition at the Library Company’s 289^th Annual Dinner on November 9, 2020.

Criteria

The First Book Award will recognize a recent first book published by an early-career scholar that makes a significant contribution to early American studies using the book, graphic arts, or art & artifacts collections at the Library Company of Philadelphia. Measures of significance include excellence and contribution to field(s) of study; integration of Library Company collections; application of interdisciplinary theories or methodologies; and engagement with broader social issues. Early American studies is defined expansively to align with the collecting strengths of the Library Company of Philadelphia: American culture and society between the 17^th and 19^th centuries. Substantive use of and engagement with Library Company collections is essential, and preference will be given to projects that traverse program-area strengths: early American history, literature, and culture; political economy, economic culture, and business & economic history; graphic arts and visual culture; and African American and women’s history.

Evaluation

Evaluation will be conducted in two stages. First, a committee comprised of Library Company leadership will consider the suitability of nominations with regards to collection and program-area strengths. Second, external readers will be invited to evaluate finalists in terms of their specific contributions to a field(s) or discipline.

Eligibility

We welcome proposals from early-career scholars who published a first book between January 1, 2018 and July 1, 2020. While substantive engagement with Library Company collection is expected, research needn’t have been performed during a research fellowship. To submit a nomination, please complete the form below or send an email to wfenton@librarycompany.org by July 1, 2020. Nominations must include book title, author, press, publication date, and optional note concerning project merit. Please contact Dr. William D. Fenton, Director of Research and Public Programs, with questions. Finalists will be announced in September 2020 and the recipient will be announced in November 2020.

The 2020 First Book Award was made possible with the generous support of Maria M. Thompson.

Library Company of Philadelphia Review Committee
Chair: William D. Fenton, Director of Research and Public Programs

Deirdre Cooper Owens, Director of the Program in African American History
James N. Green, Librarian
Cornelia King, Chief of Reference and Curator of Women’s History
Cathy Matson, Director of the Program in Early American Economy and Society
Erika Piola, Curator of Graphic Arts and Director of the Visual Culture Program

External Review Committee
Chair: William D. Fenton, Director of Research and Public Programs

Michael Blaakman, Assistant Professor of History at Princeton University and 2016-17 PEAES Postdoctoral Fellow
Radiclani Clytus, Documentary Filmmaker and 2000-01 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellow
Molly Hardy, Senior Program Officer at the National Endowment for the Humanities and 2010-11 American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Fellow

Past Recipients

2018 First Book Award
Zara Anishanslin, Portrait of a Woman in Silk: Hidden Histories of the British Atlantic World (Yale University Press, 2016)