Named after the late Kathryn T. Preyer, a distinguished historian of the law of early America known for her generosity to early career legal historians, the program of Kathryn T. Preyer Scholars is designed to help legal historians at the beginning of their careers. At the annual meeting of the Society two early career legal historians designated Kathryn T. Preyer Scholars will present what would normally be their first papers to the Society. The generosity of Professor Preyer’s friends and family has enabled the Society to offer a small honorarium to the Preyer Scholars and to reimburse, in some measure or entirely, their costs of attending the meeting.This year's awardees are Ofra Bloch (Yale Law School) for her paper "The Untold History of Israel’s Affirmative Action for Arab Citizens, 1948-1968" and Brianna Nofil (Columbia University) for her paper "'Chinese Jails' and the Birth of Immigration Detention for Profit, 1900-1905."
The Society celebrated the Preyer Scholars at the meeting with a session dedicated to their papers. Laura Kalman (University of California, Santa Barbara) chaired; Gerald Neuman (Harvard University) and Sophia Lee (University of Pennsylvania) offered comments.
Members of the the 2019 Preyer Memorial Committee were Laura Kalman (Chair); Rabia Belt (Stanford University); Anne Fleming (Georgetown University); Will Smiley (Reed College); Gautham Rao (ex officio) (Editor, Law & History Review) (American University); and Jed Shugerman (Fordham University). We thank them for their service and offer our congratulations to Ofra Bloch and Brianna Nofil!
-- Karen Tani
