Congratulations to Kimberly Welch (Vanderbilt University) and the eight other winners of "a new MacArthur-style ‘genius grant’ for history." As the Washington Post reports, the Dan David Prize is for "early and midcareer researchers and artists studying the human past." The backstory:
Dan
David was a Romanian Jewish immigrant to Israel who made a fortune on
photo booths all over the world. When he started the prize in 2001,
there were three winners per year, but each year focused on a different
discipline . . . .
David died in 2011, and his son took over the foundation that awards the prize. Over time, it became more of a “lifetime achievement award,” Ariel David told The Washington Post. Plus, “I felt that the prize could use more focus in a sense that, with it changing fields every year, it took out the focus and identity and impact of the prize.”
. . .
They
zeroed in on history for many reasons, David said. For one, his father
loved the subject. The field also is under threat. . . .
“This prize isn’t going to save history,” he said, “but in our little way, we want to leverage the prize to highlight to the general public the importance of historical research.”
Read on here. (H/t Joanna Grisinger)
-- Karen Tani
