Jon Gjerde Prize

The Jon Gjerde Prize is given annually by the Midwestern History Association to the author(s) of the best book in Midwestern history published during the previous calendar year (2024). The prize is named for the late historian of immigration and ethnicity, who made significant contributions to the historical understanding of American history, especially the history of the people of the Midwest. 

Publishers and authors are invited to submit books for consideration. A copy of the nominated book should be sent to each of the following committee members. The deadline for submissions is Jan. 15, 2025. 

Emiliano Aguilar 
Department of History
University of Notre Dame
434 Decio Hall
Notre Dame, IN 46556

Michelle Cassidy
Department of History, World Languages, and Cultures
Pearce Hall 305, 1501 S. Washington St. 
Central Michigan University
Mount Pleasant, MI 48859

Andrew Offenburger
Miami Univ. History Department
100 Bishop Circle, Upham Hall 236
Oxford, OH 45056

Past Recipients

2022 - Jon Lauck The Good Country https://www.oupress.com/9780806190648/the-good-country/

2021 - Samantha Seeley, Race, Removal and the Right to Remain https://uncpress.org/book/9781469664811/race-removal-and-the-right-to-remain/

2020 - Joseph Stanhope Cialdella Motor City Green https://upittpress.org/books/9780822945727/

2019 - Lauren Kroitz Cultivating Citizens: The Regional Work of Art in the New Deal Era https://www.ucpress.edu/books/cultivating-citizens/hardcover#awards

2018 - Christopher Phillips, The Rivers Ran Backwards, https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-rivers-ran-backward-9780195187236?cc=us&lang=en&

2017 - Andrew Diamond, Chicago on the Make https://www.ucpress.edu/books/chicago-on-the-make/paper#awards

2016 - Jason Weems, Barnstorming the Prairies https://www.upress.umn.edu/9780816677511/barnstorming-the-prairies/

2015 - Brenda Child, My Grandfather's Knocking Sticks, https://shop.mnhs.org/products/my-grandfathers-knocking-sticks

Photo by Cory Haala