The first Sharlot Hall Award for outstanding contributions to “the understanding and awareness of Arizona and its history” was presented to Byrd Howell Granger on October 13, 1984, at the Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame luncheon.
 

Dr. Byrd Granger received her doctoral degree in English from the University of California at Los Angeles, from which she also received a fellowship in folklore.  Between 1964 and 1984 she earned various honors, among them Best Professor on Campus and the Faculty Recognition Annual Award in 1972, both at the University of Arizona.  In 1978, she was elected to the University’s Hall of Fame.
 

Her publications include Arizona Place Names, Folklore Along the Colorado River, Tucson: The Way it Was, Arizona Names:  X Marks the Place, and Progress in Arizona:  Problems of Ethnic Minority.  In 1984, her works in progress were a two-volume Arizona Dictionary of Customs and Beliefs, a volume on Arizona Legends and Official History of the Women Air Force Service Pilots of World War II.