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The Department of History would like to congratulate the recipients of the Ida Pilling Welch prize and the Charles E. Payne scholarship. Last spring’s Ida Pilling Welch prize was awarded to Josh Spellman, ’99, and Moses Mason, ’99, for their record of diligent study of history over and beyond the requirements established by any course. The Charles E. Payne scholarship is awarded by vote of the Department of History every year to the outstanding history major in the prospective senior class. This year’s recipient of the Charles E. Payne scholarship is Christian Petersen. Congratulations to all!

Grinnell High School is constructing a new course with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The interdisciplinary course will focus on the Depression era in the US, and will utilize new digital technologies in its construction and operation. Nine Grinnell College faculty will join with Grinnell High School teachers in a series of colloquia devoted to the Depression era. Two members of the history department faculty will participate in the colloquia. Professor Victoria Brown will conduct a talk concerning “Gender and Work in the Depression Era,” and Professor Thomas Hietala will consider “Race in Depression-era America.” The NEH grant was awarded to only fourteen K-12 schools nationwide.

President Osgood will teach a special topic history course next semester entitled “History of Major Western Legal Systems.” The focus of the course will be a comparative treatment of the history of the common law as it developed in Britain and the civil law systems of Western Europe with particular attention to forms of trial and adjudication, substantive private law, and development over the centuries. The four credit course will be offered on Tuesday and Thursday from 8:00 to 9:50 in the morning. There will be no prequisites for the course and no Plus-2 option.