CHICAGO (April 30, 2009) - The Newberry Library will honor noted Environmental Historian William Cronon on May 11, 2009, with The Newberry Library Award at the annual Newberry Library Award Dinner.
"The Newberry is delighted to recognize William Cronon with the highest honor the Library bestows," said David Spadafora, president and librarian of the Newberry Library. "Bill's study of American history, from New England to Chicago to the West, and especially of how we have interacted with the environment and shaped the landscape, has had far-reaching effects on scholarship in several disciplines. We are very pleased that the Newberry Library Award is going to such a distinguished Newberry alumnus."
The Newberry Library Award recognizes achievement in the humanities in the tradition of the Newberry Library, which has cultivated the life of the mind across more than a century. In conferring the award, the Newberry honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the humanities, particularly in fields of endeavor related to the Newberry's collections and activities. Recent past honorees include European historian Anthony Grafton (2008), Richard M. Daley, Mayor, City of Chicago (2007), and Hanna H. Gray, President Emerita, University of Chicago (2006).
Since 2002, Cronon has been the Frederick Jackson Turner Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin Madison. In 2003, he was also named Vilas Research Professor at UW-Madison, the university's most distinguished chaired professorship. Previously, he was a history professor at Yale University.
In 1991, Cronon completed a book entitled Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West, which examines Chicago 's relationship to its rural hinterland during the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1991, it was awarded the Chicago Tribune 's Heartland Prize for the best literary work of non-fiction published during the preceding year; in 1992, it won the Bancroft Prize for the best work of American history published during the previous year, and was also one of three nominees for the Pulitzer Prize in History; and in 1993, it received the George Perkins Marsh Prize from the American Society for Environmental History and the Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Award from the Forest History Society for the best book of environmental and conservation history published during the preceding two years.
Cronon is currently at work on a history of Portage, Wisconsin, from the end of the last Ice Age down to the present. He is also completing a book entitled Saving Nature in Time: The Environmental Past and the Human Future.
Cronon received his B.A. (1976) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He holds an M.A. (1979), M.Phil. (1980), and Ph.D. (1990) from Yale, and a D.Phil. (1981) from Oxford University. Cronon has been a Rhodes Scholar, Danforth Fellow, Guggenheim Fellow, and MacArthur Fellow; has won prizes for his teaching at both Yale and Wisconsin; in 1999 was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society; and in 2006 was elected a Fellow of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His association with the Newberry Library includes a research fellowship in the fall of 1980 and service as an instructor in humanities' computer methods in the summers of 1980 and 1981.
About The Newberry Award Dinner
The 2009 Newberry Award Dinner on May 11 celebrates the elegance, possibilities, and rewards of sustainable living. Chef Rick Bayless of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo will present a menu featuring food that is local in origin, organic, and sustainable. The Newberry Library Award will be presented to William J. Cronon, for his outstanding contributions to the humanities.
Individual ticket prices start at $400. Please call (312) 255-3778 to purchase tickets or for more information.
ABOUT THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY
The Newberry Library, a preeminent humanities research and reference institution, is home to a world-class collection of books, manuscripts, maps, music, and other printed materials related to the history and culture of Western Europe and the Americas. The collections span many centuries and feature items such as illuminated medieval manuscripts, rare early maps, rich genealogical resources, and the personal papers of Midwest authors. The Newberry offers exhibits based on its collections, musical and theatrical performances, lectures and discussions with today's leading humanists, seminars and workshops, and teacher programs. Visit us online at www.newberry.org or in person at 60 W. Walton St., Chicago, IL.