The National Council on Public History (NCPH) conferred the first Robert Kelley Memorial Award on Page Putnam Miller. The award was established to perpetuate the legacy and memory of one of the pioneers of the public history movement. The award is intended to honor distinguished and outstanding achievements by individuals, institutions, and nonprofit or corporate entities for having made significant contributions in making history relevant to individual lives of ordinary people outside academia.

A selection committee chose Page Miller as the recipient of the first award in recognition of her long-term contributions to the public history movement as director of the National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History, for exemplary scholarly contributions to public history, for her meritorious service to the NCPH, and for her dedication to history in general. The award, consisting of $500 and a framed certificate (decorated by original artwork executed by Mrs. Robert Kelley), was presented to Page Miller at a banquet held during the annual meeting of the NCPH in May 1997.

Diane F. Britton, president of the NCPH declared that she had the honor of presenting the award to Page Miller, and that she was pleased to do so. "The selection committee did a wonderful job and Page was an excellent choice for the first award," Britton said, because "her work and personal commitment to the profession embody the goals and philosophy of the public history movement."