Arrington Writing Award Winner Announced at Utah State University
Three students took top honors at the 2010 Leonard J. Arrington Writing Awards competition at Utah State University. The awards are offered in conjunction with the annual Arrington Mormon History Lecture.
The competition is open to university students studying at any of the regions universities. The top three winners all attend USU.
Sara Jordan, a graduate student studying in USU’s Folklore Program, took the top prize with a first place award of $1,000. The $500 second place prize went to Genevieve Draper, a USU sophomore studying history. The third place award of $250 went to John Brumbaugh, a graduate student in the History department.
The three winners were recognized Feb. 17 on the USU campus during the Friends of Merrill-Cazier Library spring lecture. The awards are provided by the Leonard J. Arrington Lecture and Archives Foundation.
The students’ winning essays were submitted to the competition following the fall Arrington lecture that featured two of Arrington’s children, Carl Arrington and Susan Arrington Madsen. The lecture, “A Paper Mountain: The Extraordinary Diary of Leonard James Arrington,” provided a personal snapshot of the lecture series namesake and acknowledged the opening of Arrington’s diary at Special Collections and Archives at USU.
“This year the Arrington Lecture provided insights to the lecture’s namesake and his extensive collection of writings and materials held at Utah State University,” said Brad Cole, of USU’s Special Collections and Archives and ex-officio member of the Leonard J. Arrington Foundation board. “We are pleased the interest in the writing competition continues to grow, and we congratulate this year’s winners.”
This year’s top essay was submitted by Jordan and is titled “Ordinary Words: Towards a New Understanding of the 19th Century Mormon Male Diary.” In the essay, Jordan looked at a 19th century Mormon male diary as both a source of information about a man and his era and as a text which can reveal a specific kind of literary writing.
At USU, Jordan began her studies in folklore after working in public health for several years. She said she left the United States in 2002 to “travel around the world, following a dream to learn from and listen to women and men about their histories, realities and hopes.” She said hearing their stories revived a deep interest in her heritage which led to a study of narrative, among other things, at USU. In addition to her own studies, she teaches the English 1010 course, and “loves exploring writing as a key to unlocking inner and outer worlds with USU’s curious and engaged students.”
Draper’s second place essay is titled “Knowing the Man in History.” She said Arrington’s diaries provide an understanding of the past.
“In researching and recording history, [Leonard] Arrington contributed to our honestly understanding the past,” Draper wrote in her essay. “In keeping his own diary, Arrington contributed to the understanding of what is now history to us.”
Draper majors in history, with a minor in Latin and is a staff writer for USU’s student newspaper, The Utah Statesman. She participates in USU’s Honors Program as well. The 19-year-old hails from Delta, Utah, and is the youngest of six children. Saying she never takes herself too seriously, her professional ambition includes earning a doctorate and teaching history.
Brumbaugh, the third place winner, grew up in Montana where he said he spent more time fly fishing than studying. The title of his winning effort is “Innovation and Entrepreneurial Spirit: Leonard J. Arrington and the Impact of New Mormon History.”
“At the center of the conflict within the Mormon historiography stands a farm boy from Idaho, Leonard J. Arrington,” Brumbaugh wrote in his essay. “This man carried the study of Mormonism into new areas of scholarly acceptance. His entrepreneurial spirit led to innovation within the field and anti-modern backlash from outside the profession.”
As a graduate student in history, Brumbaugh’s research interests include Western, Utah, social and cultural issues. His projects have appeared in the Journal of the West, Utah Historical Quarterly and the Journal of Mormon History.
Brumbaugh said he has great respect for Idaho’s most famous historian Leonard Arrington, and for the driving force Arrington was in transforming Western and Mormon historiography.
The Arrington Mormon History Lecture is hosted by Special Collections and Archives in USU’s Merrill-Cazier Library. Held each fall, the 2011 speaker is Richard Francaviglia who will present “‘Like the Hajjis of Mecca and Jerusalem’ — Orientalism and the Mormon Experience, 1820-1970.”
For information on the lecture or the writing competition, contact Cole at (435) 797-8268, or by e-mail, brad.cole@usu.edu.
Related links:
Special Collections and Archives
Writer: Patrick Williams, 435-797-1354, patrick.williams@usu.edu
Contact: Brad Cole, Special Collections and Archives, 435-797-8268, brad.cole@usu.edu
Sara Jordan, a graduate student studying in USU's Folklore Program, took the top prize of the Arrington Writing Award competition with a first place award of $1,000.
Genevieve Draper, a USU sophomore studying history, took second place.
History graduate student John Brumbaugh took third place with his essay in the writing competition.
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