Blewett Research Prize
Named in honor of Prof. Mary Blewett emerita, a distinguished scholar of American history who taught at UMass Lowell until her retirement in 1999. Blewett was an expert in American social history. She published several books about local history, including The Last Generation: Work and Life in the Textile Mills of Lowell, 1910-1960, and Surviving Hard Times: The Working People of Lowell, and Constant Turmoil: The Politics of Industrial Life in Nineteenth-Century New England. She is also the author of To Enrich and To Serve: The Centennial History of the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.
This award is given annually every spring by a sub-committee comprised of History Department faculty, for student essays completed over the preceding academic year. Students may self-nominate or faculty may submit essays with the student’s permission. The paper must be unmarked (without comments or grades) and unrevised. Students have to be enrolled when the award is given. There is no requirement regarding sources used or length, though papers incorporating primary source research will receive preference. All entries should be submitted anonymously, in hard copy or electronically, to the Chair of the Blewett Prize committee, currently Prof. Chad Montrie, at any time prior to April 1st of a given academic year. The winner receives a book award at the end of the year; honorable mentions are sometimes selected at the discretion of the committee.
Prior winners include:
- Christina Sirignano and Grace Nealey, 2018
- Kelley Leonhard, 2017
- Jacob Strout and Liam Keegan, 2016
- Bernard Trubowitz, 2015
- Victoria Crenshaw and Eric Hinds, 2014
- Christopher Lynch, 2013
- Alex Temple, 2012
- Lauren Jean, 2011
- Katie Marlene Harris, 2010