Peggy Williams Bryant is the 2019 Sharlot Hall Award honoree for her decades-long career in journalism that has left an indelible contribution to the history or Arizona communities. A native Texan, Peggy and her family moved to Fort Grant, Arizona, where she graduated (1948) class salutorian at Safford High School, and was editor of the campus newspaper. She enrolled at Arizona State College (now ASU) where she earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism (1952) and considered becoming a teacher, but chose journalism.
Christine Marin is the 2018 Sharlot Hall Award honoree for her research and extensive education work in 20th century Mexican-American and Southwest history. A native of Globe, Arizona, she grew up in a colorful, working-class neighborhood of this copper mining community. Born of immigrant parents from Mexico, she was inspired by them both to "Dream Big!" After graduating from the local high school, she went on to attend Arizona State University, where she ultimately received her Ph.D. in history.
Read MoreCatherine H. Ellis is the 2017 Sharlot Hall Award honoree, recognized for her wide-ranging work as a writer, author and historian. A fifth-generation Arizonan, she is a descendant of Mormon Battalion captain Jefferson Hunt, who first marched through southern Arizona in the 1840s. Her family later settled in the northeast Territory.
Sharlot Hall Award Recipient 2016
Nancy fell in love with Arizona and its history as a young adult, even though she was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee. Armed with a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Minnesota, and being of an adventurous mind and spirit, she headed for the west coast with a friend in 1947.Read More
Benson-based Winifred “Winn” Bundy, a historian, preservationist and archivist of Southwest literature, has been named the Sharlot Hall Award honoree for 2015, and will be presented it at the Western History Symposium, August 6, 2016. As a small child, Winn was drawn to books – her first love! – and would follow grown-ups around with book-in-hand demanding it be read to her.
Read MoreSylvia first moved to Prescott in 1948 when her father, Dr. James Soderstrom, was transferred to Fort Whipple. Sylvia attended Washington Elementary School and went through the Prescott school system graduating from Prescott High School in 1955. Sylvia graduated from Arizona State University in Tempe in 1959 with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. Sylvia married Bill Neely, who was also a teacher.
Read MoreReba Wells Grandrud moved from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Phoenix in 1982. For the next 30-plus years she has been involved in historical research, writing and publishing, as well as serving on a variety of boards and historical societies all over Arizona. She holds degrees from the University of New Mexico in education, Southwest history, and history of the American West.
Read MoreMary Jayne Peace Pyle is a native of Globe, Arizona. Like our founder, Sharlot M. Hall, Mrs. Pyle grew up on a ranch. And also much like Miss Hall, Mrs. Pyle heard stories as a young girl about the past (in particular from her grandmother) that captured her young imagination. Although she became fond of these thrilling tales, she soon learned that careful research would be needed to capture the historical record accurately.
Read MoreHeidi J. Osselaer received her undergraduate degree in history at the University of California, Berkeley, and earned both her master’s degree and doctorate in United States history at Arizona State University. In the years thereafter, she has firmly established her preeminence in historical scholarship respecting the pioneering women who contributed significantly to the political, economic and social development of the Arizona Territory and its transition to statehood and beyond.
Read MoreNancy Burgess’ love of Arizona history began at an early age. A native of Phoenix, her passion for the state’s past began in elementary school. I grew up with Arizona pioneers and was interested in their stories”, she said.
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