The Society for History in the Federal Government granted two prizes to the Library of Congress at its annual awards luncheon on March 19.
The first, given jointly to the Interpretive Programs Office and to the Manuscript Division, was the John Wesley Powell Prize (for historical exhibition) for "Religion and the Founding of the American Republic," and the accompanying catalog of the same title prepared by James H. Hutson, chief of the Manuscript Division. The exhibition was on view at the Library from June 4 through Aug. 22, 1998.
The second, awarded to Paul H. Smith and Ronald M. Gephart, was the Thomas Jefferson Prize (for documentary editing) for volume 25 of Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789, the final textual volume in that series. Mr. Smith and Mr. Gephart, both Manuscript historians in the Manuscript Division, edited the volume.
The projects were "judged on the basis of research, style and thoroughness of presentation to be outstanding contributions to research in the history of the federal government for 1998." They were selected from among dozens of submissions from federal agencies thoughout the United States. Exhibition Coordinator Giulia Adelfio of the Interpretive Programs Office and Mr. Hutson accepted the Powell Prize on the Library's behalf; Mr. Smith and Mr. Gephart accepted the Jefferson Prize. Assistant Chief David Wigdor represented the Manuscript Division at the awards ceremony, and Editor Evelyn Sinclair represented the Publishing Office.
