A Look at This Year's ABC-CLIO Online History Award Winner

The 2011 ABC-CLIO Online History Award has been awarded to Professor Stephen Robertson, Professor Shane White, Professor Stephen Garton, and Dr. Graham White for Digital Harlem: Everyday Life, 1915-1930. The award recognizes a person or group who produces a free, online reference resource, historical collection, or teaching tool aimed at encouraging historical scholarship in an innovative way. Digital Harlem was selected for its unique approach to the presentation of information on everyday life during the Harlem Renaissance.

“The committee was taken with the novel and sophisticated approach to the presentation of primary-source ephemera on this site. Unlike so many history sites, Digital Harlem: Everyday Life, 1915-1930 does not merely reproduce digitized copies of primary documents. Instead its usefulness derives from the integration of historical 'fragments' that can be combined and recombined into 'maps that show aspects of daily life that are otherwise easy to overlook and difficult to characterize in narrative' (applicants’ nomination form). This site, which continues to be updated regularly, will contribute to new historical interpretations and ways of understanding the Harlem Renaissance. Already it is one of the most unique history sites we have seen. It is a fantastic teaching tool for high school and college instructors.” - David C. Murray, Committee Chair


The ABC-CLIO Online History Award is given out by the Reference and User Services Association every other year beginning in 2005. For more information on this award, click here.