Yesterday, President Bush awarded the 2006 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal Recipients. Several of the awards were presented to historians, including Mark Noll, Historian of Religion, Notre Dame, IN, and Kevin Starr, Historian of California, San Francisco, CA, as well as the biographer Meryle Secrest.

The National Medal of Arts was established in 1984, and is considered the highest honor an artist or patron of the arts can receive from the United States Government. A maximum of 12 recipients are given the award each year. The National Humanities Medal was created in 1997, and is also only awarded to 12 or less recipients per year, it “honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens’ engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to important resources in the humanities.”

A full list of the winners can be found at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/11/20061108.html

This post first appeared on AHA Today.