The Littleton-Griswold Prize is an annual award for the best book in any subject on the history of American law and society, broadly defined. In 1961, the Littleton-Griswold Fund Committee created the prize for studies in the legal history of the American colonies and of the United States prior to 1900. The prize was not awarded, however, until 1966, and was abolished the following year. In 1985, the Council revived the prize and expanded the scope to cover all of American history.
The current prize amount is $1,000.
The general rules for submission are:
- Only books of high scholarly and literary merit will be considered.
- Books with a copyright of 2024 will be eligible for consideration for the 2025 award.
- Nomination submissions may be made by an author or by a publisher. Publishers may submit as many entries as they wish. Authors or publishers may submit the same book for multiple AHA prizes.
- Nominators must complete an online prize submission form for each book submitted. Once you fill out the form you will receive an email with the committee’s contact information.
- One copy of each entry must be sent to each committee member and clearly labeled “Littleton-Griswold Prize Entry.” Print copies preferred unless otherwise indicated. If only e-copy is available, please contact review committee members beforehand to arrange submission format.
Please Note: The competition will open in mid-March. Entries must be received by May 15, 2025, to be eligible for the 2025 competition. Entries will not be returned. Recipients will be announced on the AHA website in October 2025 and recognized during a ceremony at the January 2026 AHA annual meeting in Chicago.
For questions, please contact the Prize Administrator.
William E. Littleton and Frank Tracy Griswold
In 1927, a gift of $25,000 from Mrs. Frank T. Griswold created the Littleton-Griswold Fund "to honor the memory of my father, William E. Littleton, and of my husband, Frank Tracy Griswold, and in appreciation of the beauty of their minds."
Past Recipients
Current Recipient
Dylan C. Penningroth, University of California, Berkeley
Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights (Liveright)
This is an epic study that revolutionizes our understanding of how Black Americans interacted with legal institutions from the time of slavery to the 1960s. By revealing civil rights as “rights of everyday use,” Dylan C. Penningroth underscores Black Americans’ legal savvy while registering the deeply human relations embedded in laws of property, contract, families, and associations. Based on ingenious research in civil court records and written in vibrant prose, this is a pathbreaking work.