Prizes

Announcement of Prize Competition Winners: 2003

8 May 2003

The Committee on Lesbian and Gay History (CLGH), an affiliated society of the American Historical Association, is pleased to announce the winners of its 2003 prize competitions:

The John Boswell Prize for an outstanding book on lesbian/gay history written in English by a North American (and published in 2001 or 2002) has been awarded to Jonathan Katz, Love Stories: Sex Between Men Before Homosexuality (University of Chicago Press, 2002) and Laura Doan, Fashioning Sapphism: The Origins of a Modern English Lesbian Culture (Columbia University Press, 2001).

The prize for an outstanding paper on lesbian/gay history written in English by an undergraduate student at a North American institution (in 1999 or 2000) has been awarded to Gabriel Rosenberg of Grinnell College, working under Professor Russell Osgood, for "Of Battles and Wars: Bowers v. Hardwick, The Advocate, and the Struggle for Gay Rights."

The 2003 Prize Committee was chaired by John D’Emilio and included Lori Ginzberg and Robert Frame. The Committee prepared the following commendations:

The Prize Committee is pleased to announce that the co-winners of the John Boswell Prize for the best book in lesbian and gay history published in 2001-2002 are Love Stories: Sex Between Men Before Homosexuality (University of Chicago Press, 2002), by Jonathan Ned Katz, and Fashioning Sapphism: The Origins of a Modern English Lesbian Culture (Columbia University Press, 2001), by Laura Doan. Each was excellent in its own right; together they made for interesting parallels and contrasts. In one case a historian relied on sources normally used by literary scholars; in the other, a literary scholar plunged into the kind of documents historians customarily work with. In Love Stories, Katz spans a whole century; in Fashioning Sapphism, Doan zooms into a key moment in English history. Katz explores a topic badly understudied by historians and throws light on a neglected aspect of history; Doan steps into a much-investigated episode and offers a provocative revisionist view of Radclyffe Hall and The Well of Loneliness. Together these books demonstrate the value of a history grounded in meticulous research, careful sifting of evidence, and the imaginative reading of sources.

The committee awarded the undergraduate paper prize to Gabriel Rosenberg of Grinnell College, working under Professor Russell Osgood, for "Of Battles and Wars: Bowers v. Hardwick, The Advocate, and the Struggle for Gay Rights." A model paper on a very timely topic, it was carefully researched, clearly written, and carried its argument through from start to finish. Rather than interpret the Hardwick case as a moment in constitutional history, Rosenberg used it as a window into the state of gay and lesbian politics. He makes a persuasive argument that the Supreme Court decision to uphold the constitutionality of sodomy statutes had a galvanizing effect on the gay and lesbian movement of the mid-1980s. It helped revitalize a politics that had grown stagnant in the preceding decade. With the fate of the new Lawrence case hovering over us, Rosenberg's essay suggests the usefulness of historical study as a way of gauging the impact of current events.

For further information on CLGH and CLGH prizes, please contact Leisa Meyer, CLGH Chair, Associate Professor of History, Department of History, P.O. Box 8795, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795; 757-221-3737; ldmeye@wm.edu.

For further information on CLGH and CLGH prizes, please contact
Leisa D. Meyer
Director of Women's Studies
Associate Professor of History
College of William and Mary
P.O. Box 8795
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795
(757)221-2453 or (757)221-3737 (offices)
ldmeye@wm.edu