The Pioneer America Society seeks to encourage and recognize books by authors regarding material culture in North America. Named for the renowned geographer, Fred Kniffen, the prize in his honor is granted annually for the best book in the field published within two years of the award.

Selection

A three-member committee of the Pioneer America Society reviews candidate-books and recommends them to the full board of the Society. The board authorizes the prize and prizewinner each year. Prizewinners are invited to the annual meeting and receive:

1.  A year's free membership to PAS:APAL
2.  A free entry ticket to the awards banquet
3.  A Book Award Certificate
The committee also recommends the Allen G. Noble Book Prize of the Pioneer America Society.

Contact

The committee is open to suggestions for the books to be considered. Contact the committee chair:

Cathy Ambler (Chair)   cambler@sbcglobal.net
Paula S. Reed   paula@paulasreed.com
Jeff Wanser wanserjc@hiram.edu

2006 Recipient for the Fred Kniffen Award:
An Unnatural Metropolis: Wresting New Orleans From Nature by Craig E. Colton, Louisiana State University Press in 2005.

Craig Colton is the Carl O. Sauer Professor of Geography at Louisiana State University, he worked with state government in Illinois and as a private consultant in Washington. His previous books include the American Environment, The Road to Love Canal, Transforming New Orleans and Its Environs, and Louisiana Geography . Colton's book reveals critical environmental concerns not customarily addressed in the history of urban areas. Well illustrated, the book provides in-depth scrutiny of a city and society uniquely bound to the natural forces that shaped it.

2005 Recipient:
Edward Matthews, III

The Fred Kniffen Book Award honors the work he completed as a long-time scholar at Louisiana State University. His work was influential especially in the fields of cultural geography and the vernacular architecture, and he is known as the founder of an entire approach to looking at and understanding the landscape.

The Kniffen Award recognizes the best-authored book in the field of North American material culture, and this year’s award goes to Matthews: The Historic Adventures of a Pioneer Family, by Edward Matthews, III, published by Southeast Missouri University Press (2004).

The book is a story of the Matthews family over 200 years beginning in 1779, from their early home in Virginia, to their move to southeastern Missouri, near and in the town of Sikeston. Told from original family records, the family’s chronicle is one ingrained in our nation’s history since their story reflects the many settlers who moved west to create new homes and new lives as our nation “settled-up”. The Matthews’ adversities, success and hard work reflect the social and cultural evolution of a unique region of our country. The interplay shown between family, national issues, regional themes and the community building process makes this book worthy of the Kniffen Award.

Delilah Tayloe reported that the Book Awards Committee, consisting of herself, Brett Rogers (Chair) and Cathy Ambler, has recommended that the Fred Kniffen Best-Authored Book Award be presented to John Rehder for his book Appalachian Folkways.