Award for Scholarly Distinction Recipients
In 1984 the Council of the American Historical Association established an award entitled the Award for Scholarly Distinction. The awards go to senior historians of the highest distinction who have spent the bulk of their professional careers in the United States.
2015 Awards for Scholarly Distinction
Ira Berlin, Univ. of Maryland, College Park
Ira Berlin’s scholarship extends from the 15th to the 21st century; his influence on African American social history as broad and deep as any living scholar’s. Berlin’s influence crosses genre as readily as it crosses time and space. Berlin’s recent publications reveal a tireless pursuit of meaning by an accessible writer with an immensely fertile mind.
Asuncion Lavrin, Arizona State Univ.
Asuncion Lavrin has become a benchmark figure in Latin American history and feminist historiography. Publishing in English and Spanish, Lavrin has transnational influence. Her focus has since ranged from masculinity and the priesthood to labor and the left in Chile and Argentina, and Lavrin has served on eight editorial boards as well as editing the Oxford Encyclopedia of Women’s History.