Littleton-Griswold Prize
In 1961, the Littleton-Griswold Fund Committee created the Littleton-Griswold 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, Council revived the prize as an annual award for the best book in any subject on the history of American law and society, broadly defined.
The general rules for submission are:
- Only books of high scholarly and literary merit will be considered.
- Books with a copyright of 2017 will be eligible for consideration for the 2018 award.
- Nominators must complete an online prize submission form for each book submitted.
- 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: Entries must be received by May 15, 2018, to be eligible for the 2018 competition. Entries will not be returned. Recipients will be announced on the AHA website in October 2018 and recognized during a ceremony at the January 2019 AHA annual meeting in Chicago.
For questions, please contact the Prize Administrator.
The review committee contact information and prize submission form will be posted by March 1 for submissions due May 15.
2016 Littleton-Griswold Prize
Deborah A. Rosen, Lafayette Coll.
Border Law: The First Seminole War and American Nationhood (Harvard Univ. Press)
In Border Law, Deborah Rosen establishes the Seminole War (1816–18) as the moment in American nation-building when Jacksonian struggles against the British, the Spanish, and indigenous peoples established a nation with diplomatic influence and legal sovereignty. Rosen’s detailed research in military and legal history provides a definitive account of how, early in the 19th century, disparate and unwieldy legal uncertainties were reimagined as coherent legal frameworks that would organize American expansionism over the next century.