PAS: APAL Announces 2012 Awardees

Written by Mandi Magnuson-Hung

From H-Material Culture:

The Pioneer America Society: Association for the Preservation of Artifacts & Landscapes (PAS: APAL) announced the recipients of its 2012 Awards.  We would like to extend special congratulations to the Mid-Atlantic recipients; Cathy A. Wilson of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania received the newly instituted W. Frank Ainsley Outstanding Service Award; Ryan and Eric Berley recieved an Historic Preservation Award for their restoration of the Shane Candies Confectionery in Philadelphia, PA; Temple University received an Historic Preservation Certificate of Merit for its rehabilitation of the North Broad Street Baptist Temple; and Kristen L. Britanik, a recent graduate of the Historic Preservation program at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD, received the Wilhelm-Keiffer Student Research Award.  More information on all the Pioneer America Society: Association for the Preservation of Artifacts & Landscapes awards below.

Henry H. Douglas Distinguished Service Award was given to long-term Society member, Alexander T. Bobersky of Warren, Ohio. Prior to his retirement, Mr. Bobersky was the Urban Design & Grant Coordinator for the Warren, Ohio Community Development Department.

The award is named in memory of the founder of the Pioneer America Society: Association for the Preservation of Artifacts & Landscapes, Mr. Henry H. Douglas, and is given to an individual who has made significant contributions over the years in furthering the Society’s goals through service, teaching, publications, and/or the promotion of historic preservation.

W. Frank Ainsley Outstanding Service Award was given to Cathy A. Wilson of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the Society’s current secretary.

The award, established in 2012, is named in memory of geographer, W. Frank Ainsley, who faithfully served as the Society’s Secretary-Treasurer for 20 years. This special award is only presented periodically to a PAS: APAL member for outstanding service and dedication to the Society.

Fred B. Kniffen Book Award was presented to  Peter Benes, the director of the Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife in affiliation with Historic Deerfield, Inc., in Deerfield, Massachusetts, for: Meetinghouses of Early New England. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 2012.

The award was established in 1989 and honors the work of Fred B. Kniffen, a long-time scholar at Louisiana State University. The Kniffen Award recognizes the best-authored book in the field of North American material culture.


Allen G. Noble Book Award was given to Michael P. Conzen of the University of Chicago, editor, for: The Making of the American Landscape, 2nd edition. London: Routledge Press, 2010.

The Allen G. Noble Book Award is given in honor of the scholarship Allen G. Noble contributed to cultural geography. The award recognizes the best-edited book in the field of North American material culture.

PAS:APAL Historic Preservation Award recognizes the preservation, interpretation, instruction, celebration, or exhibit of American material culture.

The Historic Preservation Award winners were Ryan and Eric Berley for their restoration of the Shane Candies Confectionery at 110 Market Street in the Old City District of Philadelphia, PA.

The Historic Preservation Certificate of Merit recipient was Temple University of Philadelphia, PA, in recognition of its outstanding efforts to rehabilitate the 1891 North Broad Street Baptist Temple. The structure is now used as the Temple University Preforming Arts Center and is an excellent example of adaptive reuse.

Wilhelm-Keiffer Student Research Award was established in 2012, is in honor of long-time PAS: APAL member, Hubert Wilhelm, a cultural geographer, whose enthusiasm for teaching has had a global impact, and is in memory of the Society’s Executive Director, Artimus Keiffer, an architectural geographer and student of Hubert Wilhelm. The award is an annual competitive prize in the field of American material culture which is open to both undergraduate and graduate students.  The first recipient of the award was Kristin L. Britanik, a recent graduate of the Historic Preservation program at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD, for her paper, “Where are the Ladies’ Rest Rooms? The Evolution of Women-Only Resting Rooms Amid Social Changes of the Early Twentieth Century.”

The Warren E. Roberts Graduate Student Paper Competition Award  was established in 2004 in memory of folklife scholar Warren E. Roberts, a longtime PAS: APAL member and former member of the Board of Directors, is an annual competitive award that recognizes excellence in original graduate student fieldwork, documentary research, and writing in the area of traditional North American material culture.  It was not awarded this year.