Edward T. Gargan was an engaged scholar who generously shared his passions for life with undergraduates, graduates and colleagues in the world of French History. The son of Irish immigrants, Ed took inspiration from a childhood spent observing the selfless giving of his father, Tom, a New York City fireman. His stories of training at the High School of Music and Art, Brooklyn College and Catholic University as his mother, Liz, kept feeding him brain food, still evoke laughter and tears among those who had the fortune to hear the storyteller. His first book, Alexis de Tocqueville: The Critical Years, 1848-1851 grew out of his work in these early years. It is a model for prize-winning scholarship. Ed's personal and political struggles as a new professor at Boston College and Loyola University-Chicago added to his ability to nurture compassion and humanity in the scholarly communities he constructed. He moved from Wesleyan University in Connecticut to the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1967, taking a year between appointments as a Guggenheim Fellow in Paris.

As a mentor, Ed devoted his time and energy to developing the gifts, strengths and talents of each of his students. During his early years in Madison, Ed and Bunny Gargan were tireless champions for graduate and undergraduate students. They worked together, recognizing the necessity and fulfilling the promise of creating the human and intellectual diversity and excellence. The women and men who completed their doctorates with Ed, from 1973 through 1994, and the countless others who studied with him, are part of his legacy to French History. The prize given in recognition of his contributions carries his vision and hope for our work into the future, and celebrates the best paper presented by a graduate student at the annual conference.

Any graduate student who presented a paper at the 2008 meeting of the WSFH in Quebec City is eligible to enter this year's competition. To be considered, papers must be submitted in electronic format (as email attachments in Microsoft Word) by 15 December 2008. Submissions should be no longer than 14 pages (double-spaced), including all appropriate citations and bibliographical information. The award will be announced at the next annual business meeting. Please send submissions to:

Kathleen Wellman, Vice-President
Western Society for French History
kwellman@smu.edu

Previous recipients of the Gargan prize:

2009. Alexia Yates (University of Chicago), “’C’est comme ca que vous entendez les affaires?’  Gogos and the Moral Parameters of the Marketplace in Nineteenth-Century France.” 

2008. Guillaume Ratel (Cornell University), "An Engineer in the Judicial Maze: Space and Practice in the Parlement de Toulouse (1550-1778)."

2007. C. Kieko Matteson (Yale University): "'Mauvais citoyens' and 'dents meurtrières': Goats into Frenchmen, 1789-1827."

2006. Howard Padwa (UCLA): "National Security and Narcotics Control in France, 1907-1920."

2005. Sean Takats (University of Michigan): "Domestic Expertise: Literacy and Numeracy in the Eighteenth-Century Kitchen."

2004. Rebecca Pulju (University of Iowa): "Changing Homes, Changing Lives: Material Conditions, Women's Demands, and Consumer Society in Post-World War II France."

2002. Claire Salinas (Stanford University): "Les non-classées: Colonial Emigration, Gender, and Republican Liberalism, 1897-1900."

1998. Jennifer Sartori (Emory University): "'Wanted: A Jewish Governess': The Education of Middle-Class Jewish Girls in Nineteenth-Century Paris."

1997. Michael Vann (University of California, Santa Cruz): "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Variation and Difference in French Racism in Colonial Indochine."

1996. Cherilyn Lacy (University of Chicago): "Science or Savoir-Faire? Domestic Hygiene and Medicine in Girls' Public Education During the Early Third French Republic, 1882-1914."