The W. Turrentine Jackson Prize is given at the annual meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch of the AHA to a graduate student whose essay has been published in the Pacific Historical Review and has been adjudged to be of outstanding quality.

 

This prize honors Professor W. Turrentine Jackson (1915-2000), who taught for more than three decades at the University of California, Davis. Jackson, a leading historian of the American West, received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1940. He wrote or edited numerous books and articles, including the prize-winning Wagon Roads West (1952); Treasure Hill: Portrait of a Silver Mining Camp (1963); and The Enterprising Scot: Investors in the American West after 1873 (1968).

 

Jackson was also a pioneering public historian, serving as a consulting historian for Wells Fargo for two decades and writing thirteen monographs and articles on the company’s history, and taking on public history projects for law firms, environmental consultants, and government agencies. He consulted for several government and private organizations and lectured widely on the history of the American West in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe. In addition, he was a decorated and popular teacher, winning the Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award (1973-1974) and the Associated Students of U.C., Davis teaching award (1982). Jackson and his family generously gave back to both U.C. Davis and the broader historical community as well, endowing several scholarships and awards in addition to the PCB-AHA and Pacific Historical Review prizes that honor his legacy.

The winning essay will receive a $250 cash award and certificate. Applicants must submit their articles for publication in the Pacific Historical Review and undergo the journal’s normal blind referee process. When articles by graduate students are accepted for publication, they will automatically be considered for the prize, usually in the year that they are published. Applicants should submit their essays at any time during the year.