Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology

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Lifetime 
 Archey     J. Alden Mason     John Witthoft     Shrader/George     Frances Dorrance     James Hatch    Fred Kinsey    Jacob Grimm C-14 Cowin Graybill Erb

Awards and Grants
Call for Nominations for the Annual SPA Awards
Deadline for the Individual Recognition Awards is March 15, 2024

(Deadlines for other awards are listed in the award descriptions)

 

General Guidelines for Individual Recognition Awards:

1) Any State SPA member in good standing or an SPA Chapter as a group, may submit one or more nominations in writing to the Awards Committee.

2) Required membership in the State SPA organization and/or in a SPA chapter is specified for each award,

3) Award nominations must have one or more letters of support,

4) If no nomination is made for a specific award, or the nominee(s) did not meet the eligibility criteria of the award, or the award committee determines that no nominee(s) meets the standards merited for that award, the award will not be given.

 

SPA Individual Recognition Awards:

 

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

 
 

ARCHEY AWARD

 
 

J. ALDEN MASON AWARD

 
 

SHRADER/GEORGE AWARD

 

SPA Chapter Recognition Awards:

  JOHN WITTHOFT AWARD  
  FRANCES DORRANCE AWARD  

Student Competitive Awards:

  JAMES W. HATCH SCHOLARSHIP  
  W. FRED KINSEY SCHOLARSHIP  

SPA Monetary Awards:

  JACOB L. GRIMM C-14 AWARD  
  COWIN AWARD  
 

ELMER ERB RESEARCH AWARD

 

NEW: SPECIALIZED RESEARCH FUND:

  GRAYBILL RESEARCH FUND
  ELMER ERB PERMANENT FUND RESEARCH FUND

 

Please mail or email nominations to:

 

SPA Awards Chair:

Dr. John P. Nass, Jr.
7500 National Pike
Uniontown, PA 15401

nass81@atlanticbb.net

Awards Committee Members

John Nass, Jr,, Committee Chair
Andrea Campbell
Paul Nevin
Kim Sebestyen
Amanda Valko
Erich Zeh 

 


LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Past Recipients

The Lifetime Achievement Award is a special award that is given during the dinner banquet at the SPA annual meeting.  A nominee must have at least 20 years of outstanding service to archaeology in Pennsylvania and/or the SPA, should have been a member of SPA for the same amount of time, and be an exemplary proponent of the mission of the SPA.  

Recipients can be professional archaeologists (or professionals in a closely related science), or avocational archaeologists who exhibit an outstanding record of contributions to the field of archaeology and/or historic preservation in the Commonwealth, and to the mission of the SPA through public outreach activities (inspiring others to become involved in the SPA and in Pennsylvania archaeology, or served as a mentor for students interested in a career in archaeology or a related field) and leadership.

Nomination Form


J. ALDEN MASON AWARD
Past Recipients

The J. Alden Mason Award is given to a professional archaeologist based upon her/his contribution to education and encouragement of SPA members in the proper pursuit of archaeology over an appreciable number of years. A professional in a related science who similarly assists SPA members may be considered for this award as well. The recipient of this award must be a member of the State SPA (not just a local chapter), but not necessarily a resident of Pennsylvania. Any individual SPA member or Chapter as a whole, may nominate a current SPA member for this award. To be considered for this award, a nominee must have a Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Archaeology or a related science. The award is announced during the dinner banquet at the SPA Annual Meeting.

Nomination Form


ARCHEY AWARD
Past Recipients

The Archey Award is given to a member of the Society able to devote only spare time to their archaeological interests. Any individual SPA member or Chapter as a whole, may nominate someone for this award. The recipient of this award must be a member of the State SPA (not just a local chapter), but not necessarily a resident of Pennsylvania. The award is presented to an individual who has given significant contributions, over an appreciable period of time, toward the unselfish furtherance of Pennsylvania’s Archaeology. This includes offices held; numbers and kinds of speaking engagements; published articles or reports; number and kinds of sites recorded and/or excavated; work with young people to acquaint them with archaeology, etc. The number of separate nominations and the significance of the reasons given for the nomination are weighed in making the selection for this award. The award is announced during the dinner banquet at the SPA Annual Meeting.

Nomination Form


SHRADER/GEORGE YOUTH AWARD
Past Recipients

The Shrader/George Youth Award is given to an SPA member who is 18 years old or younger, and is an example of the SPA’s ideal of youth, whose character, accomplishments, and unselfish effort has furthered the cause of Pennsylvania archaeology. The recipient of this award must be a member of the State SPA (not just a local chapter), but not necessarily a resident of Pennsylvania. Any individual SPA member or Chapter as a whole, may nominate a current SPA member for this award It is expected that any archaeological sites upon which the nominee has participated in archaeological investigations should be recorded and have a designated State site number, and that they should have experience recording such sites and training to properly cataloging artifacts from those sites The award is announced during the dinner banquet at the SPA Annual Meeting.

Nomination Form


Student Competitive Awards

JAMES W. HATCH SCHOLARSHIP
Past Recipients

The Pennsylvania Archaeological Council (PAC), in cooperation with the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology (SPA), will again award scholarships to enable students of archaeology to attend the annual joint SPA/PAC meeting, April 14-16, 2023, in DuBois, Pennsylvania. We anticipate that up to four awards of $150 apiece will be made. We encourage all current college or high school students with a demonstrated interest in Pennsylvania archaeology and the activities of the SPA to apply, although preference will be given to students planning to present papers or posters at the meeting. Applications, in the form of a brief letter of interest explaining the student’s background and qualifications for the award, should be sent by mail or e-mail by April 7, 2023 to:

Paul Raber
Heberling Associates, Inc.
904 Main Street
PO Box 376
Alexandria, PA, 16611
praber@heberlingassociates.com
(717) 935-2204

 


 W. Fred Kinsey Scholarship
Past Recipients

(Illustrations by Frederick Mayhew)

Calling All Students-

Win an SPA Membership, free food and money for your research!  
 

The W. Fred Kinsey Scholarship was created in 2009 to encourage students to participate at the annual meetings of the Society by presenting scholarly research in a friendly, professional atmosphere. Dr. Kinsey was a curator with the former William Penn Memorial Museum, now The State Museum, before going on to Franklin and Marshall College and The North Museum in the early 60’s thru the mid 1980’s. He made significant contributions to the archaeological record and mentored many students who went on to become noteworthy archaeologists on their own merits. 

Students currently pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree are eligible to apply for the W. Fred Kinsey Scholarship. Eligibility is dependent on a complete, single-author paper with PowerPoint slides (if appropriate) to be presented at the annual meeting of The Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology. Students are not required to attend Pennsylvania institutions, but research must be relevant to Pennsylvania Archaeology. Student presentations must be accepted by the program chair for the SPA annual meeting to qualify. Award of the Scholarship requires submission of the completed paper by a single author, in an electronic format to the Program Chair by the regular submission deadline date (March 7, 2023). Any student wanting to be considered for the W. Fred Kinsey Scholarship should notify the program chair so that the student’s name, title/abstract can be forwarded to the Scholarship committee, contingent upon being accepted by the program chair for the 2022 SPA Annual Meeting. If a student’s title/abstract is accepted for the annual meeting, the scholarship committee chair, Janet Johnson, will contact the student(s) directly with further instructions. Students should not contact the scholarship committee themselves.

Selection of the winning paper is decided by committee review and will be based on quality of original research, presentation, and appeal to the avocational and professional archaeology community. The committee consists of at least three members of the Society: one member from the PHMC, one member from the education committee of the Society, and the annual meeting program chair or her/his designate. For more information go to www.pennsylvaniaarchaeology.com/Awards.  

Presentation of the award will be announced during the banquet at the annual meeting of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology, scheduled for April 14-16, 2023, in DuBois, Pennsylvania. The selected student paper will go through a preliminary editing process prior to submission to the editor of the journal, Pennsylvania Archaeologist, for possible publication. The editor of the journal will make the final decision on publication. Donations to support this scholarship fund are encouraged to support student achievement and development. In addition to the monetary award of $150.00 and publication assistance, a one year membership in the Society is included in the award, as well as a reimbursement for the banquet. Questions about the Kinsey scholarship may be directed to Janet Johnson, Curator of Archaeology at the State Museum of Pennsylvania janjohnson@pa.gov


SPA Chapter Recognition Awards

The John Witthoft and the Frances Dorrance Awards are specialty awards which are non-competitive. The John Witthoft award is determined by the SPA Treasurer and Secretary and the Frances Dorrance Award is determined by the State Historic Preservation Office staff.  

JOHN WITTHOFT AWARD
Past Recipients

The John Witthoft Award is given to the SPA Chapter that recruited the most new State SPA members and/or reinstated the highest number of delinquent State SPA members in the previous calendar year. This award is determined by the SPA Treasurer and Secretary. The award is announced during the dinner banquet at the SPA Annual Meeting.


FRANCES DORRANCE AWARD
Past Recipients

The Frances Dorrance Award is given to the SPA Chapter that has recorded the most new sites and/or submitted the most site updates with the Pennsylvania Archaeology Site Survey (PASS) at the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) in the previous calendar year. This award is determined by the (SHPO) staff. To be considered for the award, site forms must include the SPA Chapter number on the Administrative form. The award is announced during the dinner banquet at the SPA Annual Meeting.

 


SPA MONETARY AWARDS 

SPA JACOB L. GRIMM C-14 AWARD
Submission Deadline is March 1, 2022

Any State SPA member in good standing may submit apply for this award for C-14 samples dating. SPA Chapters are especially encouraged to apply for this award. Submissions will be reviewed by the Jacob L. Grimm C-14 Award Review Committee. Generally a single sample is approved per year, but this varies depending on available funding. Please note that this is a MATCH and only half the cost of the C-14 analysis is awarded. The award is announced during the dinner banquet at the SPA Annual Meeting.

Nomination Form and Instructions

C-14 Award Chair:
Dr. Bernard K. Means
1205 Littlepage Street
Fredericksburg, VA 22401
bkmeans@juno.com
 


COWIN AWARD

The purpose of the Cowin Award is to commemorate the extensive contributions and dedication to the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology by the late Verna and Paul Cowin and for their work with avocational members of the SPA. The award is a monetary grant to an avocational (non-professional) archaeologist for their significant work on an archaeological site. The award is given to help defray out-of-pocket expenses incurred in volunteering on the site. The applicant for the Cowin Award must be a member in good standing with both the State SPA and one of its active chapters. The site must be recorded with the State Historic Preservation Office. The applicant must submit their application to the SPA President by November 1 for determination by the SPA Board of Directors at their Fall meeting. The award is announced during the dinner banquet at the subsequent SPA Annual Meeting.

Nomination Form and Instructions
Donations to the Cowin Award
 


GRAYBILL SPECIALIZED RESEARCH FUND

In memory of Jeff Graybill his family has donated funds to honor him and his career in archaeology. As a former student of W. Fred Kinsey, this donation supports the fundamental ideals of both Jeff and Fred towards research, specialized analysis, and publication. Award of funds is dependent on a research proposal which identifies the project, analysis method and its relevance to our understanding of Pennsylvania archaeology. The Application Form is available on the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology website. Review of proposals will be conducted by a three-person committee as approved by the fund administrator.

  • Proposals should be submitted in electronic format to the fund administrator, currently Janet Johnson (janjohnson@pa.gov)

  • Specialized analysis such as starch residue, phytolith, micro-wear, use-wear, DNA, trace element and Strontium Isotope Analysis

  • Application deadline is December 31st

  • Maximum award of $1,000 per applicant

  • Priority will be given to proposals from Pennsylvania schools, but approval is not restricted to Pennsylvania students or professionals.

Applications will be accepted for calendar year ending December 31st, awarded applicant/s will be notified by March 1st.

Graybill Fund Application


Elmer Erb Permanent Fund Research Grant

The Trustees of the Elmer Erb Permanent Fund are interested in providing funds to support Pennsylvania archaeology – research that will enhance our understanding of past cultural behavior. In support of that goal, we have developed a grants program for students and non-professional members of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology. Award of funds is dependent on a research proposal detailing methods, significance of the project and the feasibility of completion within 18 months. The application Form is available on the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology website.

  • Proposals should be submitted in electronic format at erbresearch22@gmail.com.

  • Grants are restricted to students (currently registered at an accredited college or university) or avocational archaeologists

  • The grant can be used in research to enhance our understanding of past cultural behavior in Pennsylvania such as travel, expendable supplies, equipment      rental, remote sensing studies, radiometric dating, or curation fees.

  • The application deadline is December 31st.

  • The maximum award is $1500.00 per applicant.

Applications will be accepted for calendar year ending December 31st; awarded applicant/s will be notified by March 1st.

Elmer Erb Permanent Fund Research Grant Application

 

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