The Emerson Award is given for the best article on material culture in the Military Collector & Historian in a given year.
The award was first awarded for 2010. LTC Emerson and Mr. Munnikhuysen are pictured to the right.
This award is given annually, beginning in 2010, for the best article in Military Historian & Collector about material culture (annually is defined as an article contained in issue numbers one through four in the given year). The award is named in honor of past Company President, Lt.Col. Bill Emerson, who proposed its creation to the Board and who so generously, funded the minting of the medals which are part of this recognition.
The selection criteria are:
- Adds to the knowledge base of military material culture or collectible military artifacts. This may include weapons, flags, uniforms, insignia, medals, vehicles, rations, accoutrements, hardware of any size used by military in the conduct of their duties, or other tangible material pieces; objects as small as buttons or as large as warships or components of hardware may be considered an artifact.
- Articles primarily describing battles, commanders, individual actions or incidents, time periods, and MUIA plates and texts are not eligible. It is understood that many artifacts should be presented in historical context and to describe a battle, time period, war, person or unit, staff action, or other supporting information does not disqualify an article.
- Fact based. The selection committee will base their judgment for this criterion on the facts presented in cited references in footnotes, or in the case of a field in which there is not an adequate scholarly base of work, upon archeological evidence or a through presentation of surveys of existing artifacts from which the author(s) may logically draw a conclusion. This latter case is to encourage CMH members and the MC&H to present cutting edge scholarship and to recognize that many fields of military material culture have not yet been explored well.
- Rarity of an object or objects written about, while a consideration shall not be the overwhelming factor in the committee’s selection.
- The article will be well-written and logically presented.
- Text length shall be at least 800 words, excluding any caption illustrations, notes, and tables.
- The author(s) shall be a member of the Company of Military Historians and not serving on the review committee.
- In the opinion of the committee, if no article has been published in a given year on material artifacts in the MC&H, no award shall be recommended for that year.
- If in the opinion of the committee, only one article has been published on material artifacts, the committee may recommend an award for that year or they may consider that one article along with eligible articles the following year. If the latter course is chosen, the committee shall recommend only one award for the two years.
The award is a cast medal bearing the award titleand the Company Rifleman on the front.It will be presented in a velvet-lined hinged case; the back of the medal to be engraved with the winner’s name, article title,and the year of the issue in which the article appeared in Military Collector & Historian. The medal will be presented along with a certificate signed by the President and Secretary of the Board and will be presented at the annual meeting,
A complete list of Emerson Writing Award recipients is below. The list is searchable and sortable.
| Year | Name | Title of Article |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Laurence Munnikhuysen III | The Cavalry and Infantry Style Tank Helmets |
| 2011 | Michael S. McGurty | “A tolerbly decent apprearance”: the Clothing of the Continental Army at New Windsor Cantonment |
| 2012 | Ron Field | The New Hampshire Volunteers of 1861 |
| 2013 | Frederick C. Gaede & Joseph R. Marsden | Maryland’s Acquisitions of Muskets and Bayonets for the War of 1812 |
| 2014 | Laurence Munnikhuysen III | U.S. Navy Combat Helmets |
| 2016 | David Jarnagin and Ken R. Knopp | The Strange History of Buff Leather: It’s Origins and Military Applications |
| 2017 | Richard M. Milstead | The Tale of Two Jackets: Examination of Two Jackets Made by the Richmond Clothing Bureau in Spring 186 |
| 2018 | John F. DePue with C. Grazzini & J. Thillman | Imported American Hussar-style Sabers of the Late Eighteenth Century |
| 2019 | Ephriam D. Dickson | Sappers. Miners, and Pontoniers; Outfitting Company A, Engineers |
