The endowment for the Joan Kelly Memorial Prize in Women’s History, established in 1983 with contributions from members of AHA affiliate the Coordinating Council for Women in History (CCWH), has fallen below the level required to sustain an annual $1,000 award.

The award is administered by the AHA and given annually for a book in women’s history and/or feminist theory that best reflects the high intellectual and scholarly ideals exemplified by the life and work of Joan Kelly (1928–82). The CCWH has set a goal of raising $15,000 over the next three years to restore the endowment.

The award honors the life and pioneering women’s history scholarship of Joan Kelly, who taught at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center and was trained as a Renaissance scholar. Her first book, Leone Battista Alberti: Universal Man of the Early Renaissance, embodied the theme of her life’s work: to discover the sources of thought that shape our worldview. Kelly was the author of a widely reprinted article, “Did Women Have a Renaissance?” which was regarded as groundbreaking in the area of historical scholarship, and co-author of a feminist work in family history, Households and Kin: Families in Flux, a supplemental text for high school students.

The Joan Kelly Award is the only prize in women’s history/feminist history and/or feminist theory given by the AHA. Past winners include authors of major works in the field.

Your contributions will keep the legacy of Joan Kelly alive and encourage and enhance the best scholarship in women’s history and feminist theory.

Tax-deductible contributions of any amount should be made out to CCWH and marked for the Joan Kelly Award Fund. Please send checks to:

Kathleen Banks Nutter
Archivist, Sophia Smith Collection
Smith College
7 Neilson Dr.
Northampton, MA 01063

This post first appeared on AHA Today.