In memory of folklife scholar Warren E. Roberts, a longtime PAS: APAL member and former member of the Board of Directors, this annual competitive award recognizes excellence in original graduate student fieldwork, documentary research, and writing in the area of traditional North American material culture.
Born in 1924, Warren E. Roberts received, in 1953, the first Ph.D. in folklore awarded in the United States. At first a literary folklorist, Dr. Roberts’ interests turned to material culture after spending one year in Norway under a Fulbright fellowship and an additional two months under a Guggenheim fellowship. The remainder of his long career was spent researching and writing about traditional material culture, most notably tree stump tombstones and log buildings. Warren E. Roberts died on February 1st, 1999.
Students, who are unfamiliar with Warren E. Roberts or his contributions to the field of material culture studies or uncertain whether their paper meets the eligibility requirements are strongly urged to read his i important article, “Folklife and Traditional Material Culture: A Credo,” first published in Material Culture 17 (1985): 89-95 and reprinted in Viewpoints on Folklife: Looking at the Overlooked (1988): 15-19.
Award Criteria Eligibility
Eligibility: Students in any field who are working toward a graduate degree in an accredited program, or who have graduated from such a program within one academic year of the submission deadline, are eligible for the Warren E. Roberts Graduate Student Paper Competition.
Submissions and requirements: All research must be original, based on fieldwork, and accompanied by a brief paragraph as to how the submission reflects the sentiment expressed in “Folklife and Material Culture: A Credo.” Four copies of the paper must be submitted to the chairperson of the Award Review Committee. Papers must be double-spaced and should be 20-25 pages in length. The winning paper must be presented at the annual meeting of PAS: APAL in the year in which the Award is sought.
Selection: The Award Review Committee will choose one award winner. However, the Committee does reserve the right to withhold the Award for any given year if no papers are considered to be meritable.
Deadline: The deadline for submission is June 30th, 2010.
Award: The winner of the Warren E. Roberts Award will receive a certificate of recognition, a cash prize of $200.00, one free conference registration, and a banquet ticket.
Award Presentation: Awards will be announced and presented at the PAS: APAL Annual Conference, which will be held in Castleton, Vermont, on October 13-16, 2010.
Award Review Committee: The Committee is comprised of the winner of the previous year’s Award and three PAS members appointed by the Executive Director.
For more information, contact:
Dr. Joanne Raetz Stuttgen, Chair
WER Graduate Student Paper Competition
PAS: APAL
759 E. Washington Street
Martinsville, Indiana 46151
Phone: 317/349-1537
Email: jstuttgen@comcast.net
Website: http://www.pioneeramerica.org
(Front row, left to right) Joanne Raetz Stuttgen, Committee Chair, and Alice Reed Morrison, Committee Member. (Back Row, left to right) Cathy A. Wilson, Committee Member, Larry Koplik, and his wife, Warren Robert's daughter, Sarah Roberts Koplik.Recipients of the Warren Roberts Graduate Student Paper Award
2008: No Award Given.
2007: No Award Given.
2006: Hillary Murtha, University of Delaware, for “ ‘Sweet Bells Jangled Out of Tune:’ Sound and Silence, Visibility and Presence in the American Domestic Setting, 1800-1870”
2005: No Award Given.
2004: Kathy Roberts, Indiana University Folklore Department — “Living the Good Life: Cellar Houses and Social Changes in West Virginia”
(Photo of Dr. Roberts from Viewpoints on Folklife: Looking at the Overlooked. Ann Arbor: UMI Reearch Press, 1988)