2008 Peter Seaborg Winner and Finalists

The George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War at Shepherd University has announced the winner of the 2008 Peter Seaborg Award for Civil War Scholarship.  Dr. Jo-Ann Morgan, Associate Professor at Western Illinois University, received the award for her book entitled Uncle Tom’s Cabin as Visual Culture.  Published by University of Missouri Press, Morgan’s work reveals how prints and paintings of Uncle Tom and other characters in the novel shaped public perceptions and how this visual culture offered the country a means of both representing and reinventing its slave past.
Morgan is currently working on a journal article, “Topsy and Eva: Race, Place, and the Bipolarity of Black and White in Images of Children,” as part of a larger book project on the representation of African American women in the 19th century.
In March 2009, the family of Peter Seaborg will present Morgan with a commemorative plaque and a $5,000 award for her accomplishment.  The ceremony will be held on the Shepherd University campus.  All are welcome to attend at no cost.  Books will be sold, and the author will be available to autograph them.

Other finalists for the Peter Seaborg Award were:  Beleaguered Winchester: A Virginia Community at War 1861-1865 written by Richard R. Duncan and published by Louisiana State University Press; Diehard Rebels: The Confederate Culture of Invincibility written by Jason Philips and published by University of Georgia Press; The Road to Disunion: Volume II, Secessionists Triumphant 1854-1861 written by William H. Freehling and published by Oxford University Press; and Shenandoah Summer: The 1864 Valley Campaign written by Scott C. Patchan and published by University of Nebraska Press.

Established in 1998, the Peter Seaborg Award for Civil War Scholarship celebrates the life and interests of Peter Seaborg, son of Nobel Prize winner Glenn Seaborg.  The award is designed to encourage the publication of Civil War history of unique perspective and superior quality.  The George Tyler Moore Center is part of the History Department at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and administers the prize for the Seaborg Family.

Previous Seaborg Award Winners > >