The Ray Allen Billington Prize is given biennially by the Organization of American Historians (OAH) for the best book about American frontier history. The "American frontier" includes all of North and South America, all post-1492 pioneer experiences, and comparisons between American frontiers and others around the world. First given in 1981, this prize honors Ray Allen Billington, OAH President (1962-1963) and prolific writer about American frontiers. A three-member committee, chosen by the OAH President for a two-year term, selects the winner who receives $1000. The first award was made posthumously to John D. Unruh who died in 1976.[1] No award was made in 1997, and two awards were made in 1999.[2]
The following table lists past recipients.[3]
Year
Winner
Affiliation
Title
1981
John D. Unruh[4]
Bluffton University
The Plains Across: The Overland Emigrants and the Trans-Mississippi West, 1840-60[5]
1983
David J. Weber
Southern Methodist University
The Mexican Frontier, 1821-1846: The American Southwest Under Mexico
1985
Francis Paul Prucha, S.J.
Marquette University
The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians
1987
Paul Andrew Hutton
University of New Mexico
Phil Sheridan and His Army
1989
Albert L. Hurtado[6]
Arizona State University
Indian Survival on the California Frontier
1991
James N. Gregory[7]
University of Washington
American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California
1993
Daniel K. Richter
University of Pennsylvania
The Ordeal of the Longhouse: The Peoples of the Iroquois League in the Era of European Colonization
1995
John Putnam Demos
Yale University
The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America
1997
No award given
1999co
Malcolm J. Rohrbough[8]
University of Iowa
Days of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the American Nation
1999co
Elliott West[9]
University of Arkansas
The Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers, and the Rush to Colorado
2001
Gunther Peck[10]
Duke University
Reinventing Free Labor: Padrones and Immigrant Workers in The North American West, 1880-1930
2003
Martha A. Sandweiss[11]
Amherst College
Print the Legend: Photography and the American West
2005
Colin G. Calloway[12]
Dartmouth College
One Vast Winter Count: The Native American West before Lewis and Clark
2007
Pablo R. Mitchell[13]
Oberlin College
Coyote Nation: Sexuality, Race, and Conquest in Modernizing New Mexico, 1880-1920
2009
Matthew Klingle[14]
Bowdoin College
Emerald City: An Environmental History of Seattle
2011
Louise Pubols[15]
Oakland Museum of California
The Father of All: The de la Guerra Family, Power, and Patriarchy in Mexican California
2013
Peter Boag
Washington State University
Re-Dressing America's Frontier Past
2015
Jared Farmer[16]
Stony Brook University
Trees in Paradise: A California History
2017
Karl Jacoby
Columbia University
The Strange Career of William Ellis: The Texas Slave Who Became a Mexican Millionaire
2019
Elizabeth Lew-Williams
Princeton University
The Chinese Must Go: Violence, Exclusion, and the Making of the Alien in America
2021
Jeffrey Ostler
University of Oregon
Surviving Genocide: Native Nations and the United States from the American Revolution to Bleeding Kansas
2023
Paul Conrad
University of Texas at Arlington
The Apache Diaspora: Four Centuries of Displacement and Survival
^"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-08-04. Retrieved 2011-02-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) (last retrieved 02/16/2011)
^"Ray Allen Billington Prize". The Organization of American Historians: Programs & Resources: OAH Awards and Prizes. The Organization of American Historians. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
^"Ray Allen Billington Prize Winners". The Organization of American Historians. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
^"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-08-04. Retrieved 2011-02-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) (last retrieved 02/16/2011)
RayAllenBillington (September 28, 1903 in Bay City, Michigan - March 7, 1981 in San Marino, California) was an American historian who researched the...
work won the 1999 Francis Parkman Prize from the Society of American Historians and shared the RayAllenBillingtonPrize from the Organization of American...
2009 Francis Parkman Prize from the Society of American Historians. His book Trees in Paradise won the 2015 RayAllenBillingtonPrize from the Organization...
Retrieved November 11, 2013. "Special Look - Debbie Allen | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Michael Billington (December 2, 2009) "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof",...
entries name the prize and sponsoring organization, give notes on the purpose or criteria, and where available give the period in which the prize was awarded...
of Awards and Prizes given by Organization of American Historians. Willi Paul Adams Award Erik Barnouw Award RayAllenBillingtonPrize Binkley-Stephenson...
non-profit organization, was founded in 1961 at Santa Fe, New Mexico by RayAllenBillington, et al. Included in the field of study are the American West and...
Billington, RayAllen. America's Frontier Heritage (1984). detailed analysis of Turner's theories from social science perspective. Billington, Ray Allen...
'Scrambled' For Early Winter". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 21, 2023. Billington, Alex (January 11, 2024). "Prison Escape Movie 'Bosco' Trailer Starring...
Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America (Winner of the RayAllenBillington Award) The Enemy Within: 2,000 Years of Witch-Hunting in the Western...
following is a list of winners and shortlisted authors of the Booker Prize for Fiction. The prize has been awarded each year since 1969 to the best original full-length...
The Bancroft Prize is awarded each year by the trustees of Columbia University for books about diplomacy or the history of the Americas. It was established...
ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 26 May 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2018. Billington, Michael (19 July 2009). "Theatre review: Dreams of Violence | Soho, London"...
to American Historical Biography: vol. IV (1990), pp. 1779–1782. RayAllenBillington, "James Forten: Forgotten Abolitionist." Negro History Bulletin 13...
Olivier joined the Birmingham Repertory Company. His biographer Michael Billington describes the Birmingham company as "Olivier's university", where in his...
the Los Angeles Times has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Los Angeles Times Book Prize currently has nine categories: biography, current interest...
S. National Book Award in History in 1972. Historians including RayAllenBillington compiled Allan Nevins on History (1975) to celebrate his accomplishments...
Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved June 3, 2008. Billington, Michael (May 25, 2002). "Up for Grabs, Wyndham's Theatre, London Stage"...