The Ferguson Prize
The Eugene S. Ferguson Prize is awarded by SHOT for outstanding and original reference work that will support future scholarship in the history of technology. The Ferguson Prize recognizes work that is in the tradition of scholarly excellence established by Eugene S. Ferguson (1916–2004), SHOT's pioneering bibliographer, a founding member of the Society (President, 1977–78; da Vinci Medalist, 1977), museum curator and exhibit catalog author, editor, annotator, university professor, and scholar of the history of engineering and technology. The prize consists of a plaque and a cash award of $2,500.Reflecting the scope of Eugene Ferguson's contributions to the history of technology, submissions and nominations for the following types of reference and scholarly works and tools will be considered for the Ferguson Prize:
- Bibliographies
- Biographical dictionaries
- Critical editions of primary source materials in English
- Exhibition catalogues
- Guides to the field of the history of technology
- Historical dictionaries and encyclopedias
- Subject guides to archival repositories and library sources
- Topical atlases
- Translated works (into English) with substantial annotation and other scholarly apparatus
Works that extend beyond the printed text, including other media, such as CDs, World Wide Web sites, and electronic data bases and tools, keeping in mind that the principal criterion of "support [of] future scholarship" for judging excellence requires that such works exhibit a degree of permanence similar to that of books.
In light of Eugene Ferguson's noteworthy contributions to our understanding of visual thinking and visual display, nominations of works that demonstrate commitment to and achievement of nonverbal knowledge generation and transmission are especially encouraged.
Works published in the four calendar years prior to the year of the award are eligible for consideration. Publication date shall be interpreted as the year in which the work to be considered first appeared (i.e., first edition, first issuance, first availability, first uploading to the World Wide Web, etc.)
All works considered must be in English.
The Ferguson Prize is awarded every other year. The next award will be given in 2009, and so nominations will not be accepted in 2008. By spring, 2009, publishers and authors will be invited to nominate titles for this prize. To nominate a book, please send one copy to each of the committee members listed below. The deadline for receipt of books is 1 April. If you wish to nominate an item other than a book, please contact the committee chair for instructions on how to submit an official nominations letter.
A brochure describing the Eugene S. Ferguson prize is also available.
2008 Ferguson Prize Committee
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Carlene Stephens National Museum of American History Rm 5002, MRC629 PO Box 37012 Washington DC 20013-7012 stephensc@si.edu |
Ernst Homberg (chair)
Department of History Faculty of Arts and Culture University of Maastricht P.O. Box 616 6200 MD Maastricht The Netherlands E.Homburg@HISTORY.unimaas.nl |
|
Robert D. Friedel
Department of History University of Maryland College Park MD 20742 friedel@umd.edu |
For more information, please contact the committee chair or Amy Bix, SHOT Secretary, 515.294.8469, shot@iastate.edu.
Previous Recipients of the Ferguson Prize
| 2007 | The Papers of Joseph Henry, ed. Nathan Reingold (vols. 1–5) and Marc Rothenberg (vols. 6–11) |
| 2005 | James R. Hansen, ed., The Wind and Beyond: A Documentary Journey into the History of Aerodynamics in America (NASA History Series, 2004) |
| Special retrospective award | The Papers of Thomas A. Edison (Johns Hopkins University Press) |