Thanks to the generosity of the Byrnes Family, in memory of Joseph R. and Anne S. Byrnes, the Baltimore City Historical Society presents an annual Joseph L. Arnold Prize for Outstanding Writing on Baltimore's History, in the amount of $500.

Joseph L. Arnold, Professor of History at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, died in 2004, at the age of sixty-six.  He was a vital and enormously important member of the UMBC faculty for some three and a half decades, as well as a leading historian of urban and planning history. He also played an active and often leading role with a variety of private and public historical institutions in the Baltimore area, and at his death was hailed as the "dean of Baltimore historians."

Entries should be unpublished manuscripts between 15 and 45 double-spaced pages in length (including footnotes/endnotes). Entries should be submitted via e-mail as attachments in MS Word or PC-convertible format. If illustrations are included, they must be submitted
along with the text in either JPG or TIF format.

There will be a "blind judging" of entries by a panel of historians. Criteria for selection are: significance, originality, quality of research, and clarity of presentation. The winner will be announced in Spring 2013. The BCHS reserves the right not to award the prize. The winning entry will be considered for publication in the Maryland Historical Magazine.

Further inquiries may be addressed to: baltimorehistory@law.umaryland.edu or call Suzann Langrall at 410.706.4529.

2012 AWARD

Eric L. Goldstein, Associate Professor of History at Emory University won the 2012 contest with his essay, How German Were ‘German’ Jews in America in the Nineteenth Century?  A View from Baltimore, and was ranked highest by a panel of five distinguished scholars of Baltimore history. The winner paper can be found here.

2011 AWARD

Winner of the 2011 contest was Sara Patenaude, PH.D. candidate in the History Department of Georgia State University, for her paper, Playing Fair: The Fight for Interracial Athletics in Baltimore. The Society thanks all those who submitted entries, as well as the following judges, who helped to select the winners: Dr. John Beihan, Loyola University of Maryland; Dr. Elizabeth M. Nix, University of Baltimore; and Dr. Michael Franch, Past-president, Baltimore City Historical Society. Thanks, too, to Dr. W. Edward Orser, UMBC, who administered the 2011 competition. To view the winning paper, click here.

2010 AWARDS

Co-winners of the 2010 contest were Eric M. Daniel, for his paper, Northwest Real Estate Company v. Serio: The "Invasion" of a Northwest Baltimore Suburb, and Jordan Vardon, for his paper, Green v. Garrett: How the Economic Boom of Professional Sports Helped to Create, and Destroy, Baltimore's Memorial Stadium. The Society thanks all those who submitted entries, as well as the following judges, who helped to select the winners: Dr. Jean H. Baker, Goucher College; Dr. Peter B. Levy, York College; Dr. W. Edward Orser, UMBC; and Dr. Kaye Whitehead, Loyola College. To view the winning entries, click here and here.