History Majors Awarded Prizes At 71st Honors Day Ceremony
Elizabeth M. Sockwell ’21 won the D.G. Brinton Thompson Prize In American History. Ms. Sockwell was awarded $500.00 with the prize. The prize is awarded to a thesis considered by the Department to be an excellent one in the field of American history.
Brendan W. Clark ’21 and Corey T. Cheung ’21 won the Miles A. Tuttle Prize. Mr. Clark and Mr. Cheung were awarded $700.00 with the prize. The prize is awarded to a senior whose thesis considered by the Department to be an excellent one any the field of history.
Brendan W. Clark ’21 won the George B. Cooper Prize In British History. Mr. Tuckwell and was awarded $300.00 with the prize. The prize is awarded to a senior majoring or minoring in History considered by the Department to have done excellent work in British history.
Brendan W. Clark ’21 and Tanuja A. Budraj ’21 won the Ferguson Prize In History. Mr. Clerk and Ms. Budraj were awarded $500.00 with the prize. The prize is awarded to a senior history major who has the best portfolio of essays. Essay portfolios consisted of three essays and a cover letter.
The George J. Mead Prize In History for Scholarship In Non-English Sources, the George J. Mead Prize in History, and the Gerald A. McNamara prize were not awarded this year.
Trinity College History Department: Fifty Years Later
By Brendan W. Clark ’21
Editor; History Major
The Trinity College Class of 1969 is celebrating their 50th Reunion in June of 2019. In honor of the Class of 1969, the History Department posed for a department picture fifty years later.
A Conversation With Associate Academic Dean, Emeritus, J. Ronald Spencer
By Brendan W. Clark ’21
Editor; History Major
Professor and Associate Academic Dean, Emeritus, J. Ronald Spencer ’64 has long been a fixture of Trinity College and for more than forty years taught the history of the Civil War, among other topics, in the Trinity College History Department.
While at Trinity, Spencer studied history and took a class colloquially referred to as from “Christ to Khrushchev.” Spencer notes that during his early years as a history major, United States history was relatively weak in comparison to the European canon. Spencer recalls that that changed when former Professor Edward “Ted” Sloan, Charles H. Northam Professor of History, a graduate of Harvard and Yale, arrived on the campus.
A Conversation with Professor of History, Emeritus, Borden Painter
By Brendan W. Clark ’21
Editor; History Major
Professor Borden W. Painter, Jr. ’58, H’95, is an alumnus of Trinity and a former Professor of History, interim Dean of the Faculty, and twice interim President of Trinity College.
Painter’s time at Trinity as a student included participating in football and swimming as well as majoring in history. Painter characterized the importance of “good, close relationships” with the faculty while at Trinity as a major asset to the college. Painter was also active in the Chapel and felt that, ultimately, Trinity was a “great choice” for his undergraduate studies.