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Charles R. Barnum History Awards
The Charles R. Barnum History Awards were established by a grant from Mr. Barnum in the late fall of 1952. Mr. Barnum was a realtor and insurance broker in Eureka. He was a member of the Humboldt State College Advisory Board from March 1946 until his death in February 1953. The purpose of the trust he established is "to aid, assist and encourage worthy students of Humboldt State College in furthering their interest in original historical research of Humboldt County." The first awards from the Barnum Trust were made in 1956. Two copies of each award essay are located in Special Collections (HumCo F 868 H8 B37); each one is fully cataloged by author, title, and subject in the Library catalog. In addition, there is a chronological index of all of them. Selective titles are now available online through Humboldt Digital Scholar.
Charles R. Barnum History Awards - Index
Established by Charles Barnum, formerly Advisory Board member; first awarded in 1956.
1956
Claudia Wood, 1st prize: History of Pacific Lumber Company
Mary Sue Ray Brown, 2nd prize: Fort Humboldt
1957
Dwight Manning, 1st prize: History of Trinidad
John Marcus, 2nd prize: Racial conflicts in Humboldt County
1958
Kay Escards, 1st prize: Arcata volunteer fire department
Wendy Turner, 2nd prize: Indian disturbances in Humboldt County
1959
Jerry Willis, 1st prize: Founding of Humboldt State College
Vernon Grist, 2nd prize: History of First Baptist Church of Arcata
Mahlon Marshall, 3rd prize: History of Klamath County
1960
Olin Charles Kirkland, 1st prize: An historical study of military operations in Humboldt County, California
Robert Chester Daetweiler, 2nd prize: A history of the Arcata Police Department
1961
Richard William Donley, 1st prize: The expulsion of the Chinese from Humboldt County
Betty Joan Stromland, 2nd prize: The early schools of Humboldt County
Flora R. Sproul, 3rd prize: Early Humboldt County: A brief history of the early Indian tribes, and Humboldt's most disgraceful incident, the massacre of Indian Island
1962
No awards made this year; manuscripts submitted did not measure up to a point where awards could be granted.
1963
Gary E. Thomson, 1st prize: Military operations against the Indians in the Humboldt military districts, 1861-1865
Stuart L. Bernath, 2nd prize: Shipwrecks of the Humboldt Bay region
Michael Berry, 3rd prize: A study of the growth and development of agriculture and fruit growing in Humboldt County, 1850-1900
Larry L. Hines, 4th prize: The image of Lincoln as developed in the Humboldt Times
Flora R. Sproul, 5th prize: Bret Harte in Humboldt County
1964
Charles Leonard Ehlers, 1st prize: The packing trade--from Union to the mines
Larry L. Hines, 2nd prize: The Chinese must go
1965
Georgene Dolezal, 1st prize: Men who came to Humboldt County by sea, 1542 to April 1850
Linda L. Rogers, 2nd prize: A history of the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park area
Stephen Smith, 3rd prize: The history of Gunther Island, 1850-1965
1966
Kenneth Lytle, 1st prize: Early history of the oil industry in Humboldt County
William K. Woodcock, 2nd prize: The growth of Humboldt County schools, 1900 to 1966
Linda L. Rogers, 3rd prize: Klamath County, California, 1851 to 1874
1967
No awards were given in 1967
1968
Richard Bennett, 1st prize ($75): A history of Humboldt State College (Thesis Sentence: Humboldt State College was started as Humboldt Normal School in 1914 and is now one of the highest rated state colleges on the west coast.)
Pamela Renner, 2nd prize ($60): History of Catholic activity in Rohnerville
Karen Krautter, 3rd prize ($40): Commercial fishing in Humboldt Bay
1969
Raymond E. Chips, 1st prize ($100): A history of the automobile dealers in Humboldt County, California
Helen Fletcher Collins, 2nd prize ($50): Prostitution and gambling in Eureka and Humboldt County
1970
Patricia A. Newell, 1st prize ($100): The landing aids experiment station
David Clark, 2nd prize ($50): The history of the Arcata and Mad River Railroad
1971
Dennis O'Reilly, 1st prize ($100): Racial minorities in Humboldt County, 1850- 1971
Andrew J. Malovos, 2nd prize ($75): Marine disasters off the Humboldt County coastline north and south of Humboldt Bay
Gregory Brogdon, 3rd prize ($25): Eureka's Chinese Expulsion
1972
Carol Bess, 1st prize ($100): The whaling industry in northwestern California
Dennis O'Reilly, 2nd prize ($60): The black experience in Humboldt County, 1850- 1972
Frederick Thompson, 3rd prize ($40): Eureka's omnibus on rails
1973
Mark Salyer, 1st prize ($100): An application of the frontier thesis to patterns of settlement and frontier life in Kneeland, 1850-1880
Michael L. Smith, 2nd prize ($50): "Hardly Jackassable": The state of Jefferson and regional secession movements in California
J. Michael Kellogg, 3rd prize ($25): Minority groups in Humboldt County: A history of the treatment of the indians
1974
John Faulkner, 1st prize: The importance of shelter Cove to the growth of southern Humboldt County
1975
Jim L. Anker, 1st prize: The establishment of Humboldt State Normal School
Craig N. Moon, 2nd prize: The west coast experience of Ulysses Simpson Grant
Susan E. McCue, 3rd prize (tie): The history of women's athletics: Humboldt State University
Paul A. Brisso, 3rd prize (tie): A history of the Humboldt State University residence halls: facilities and philosophy
1976
Gail Opsahl, 1st prize: Lo, the poor indian
1977
Jamie Roscoe, 1st prize: The Mattole Valley: Economic survival in a rural community
Peggy Woo, 2nd prize: The problem of the Chinese expulsion from Humboldt County
1978
No prize awarded
1979
Richard Erickson, 1st prize: There were small mills in the hills
1980
No prize awarded
1981
Stephan Seely, 1st prize (tie): A case of noncompliance: The Prohibition Period in Humboldt County, 1919-1933
Mark Daniel Trentman, 1st prize (tie): One dollar a day men: The Civilian Conservation Corps on the North Coast of California, 1933-1942
John J. Amodio, 2nd prize: Save the redwoods, 1919-1925: The Humboldt County Redwood Movement
Todd Lufkin, 3rd prize: Ferndale and the 1964 Christmas flood
1982
No prize awarded
1983
James O'Shea, 1st prize: A history of Patrick's Point and its acquisition into the California State Park system
Emily Lewis, 2nd prize: Emily Jones: A frustrated reformer
Robert L. Graves, 3rd prize: Factors necessitating the U.S. Cavalry creation of Camp Curtis: its troops and maneuvers in and around Arcata, California
1984
Carleen M. Wing, 1st prize: An analysis of the "Humboldt Times" editorial policies toward sectional politics from 1854 to 1861
1985
James Roscoe, 1st prize: An ethnohistory of the Mattole
1986
No prize awarded
1987
Joseph T. Coohill, 1st prize: The Italian "internment": Restrictions placed on Italian aliens in Humboldt County during the Second World War
1988-1989
No prizes awarded
1990
Timothy J. Michael, 1st prize tie: Twentieth-century whaling in Humboldt County, 1920-1951
Richard Wilutis, 1st prize tie: The Development of Humboldt County Transportation
Jennifer Johnson, 2nd prize: Blue Lake: Social and economic growth around the lake
Natalie Wojinski, 3rd prize: Pastoral splendor
1991
Barbara Lani Stites, 2nd prize: The Arcata freeway: How it split the community more than just geographically
1993
Kaaren Beaver Buffington, 2nd prize: A quilt for General Grant: A local response to a national need, Humboldt County, the U.S. Sanitary Commission and the Great Civil War
Jennifer Jean Coyne, 3rd prize: How the 1964 flood devastated the town of Klamath, California
1995
Matt Pruden, 1st prize: "Organized efficiency" confronts pioneer values: Progressivism in Humboldt County, 1911-1914
Julie Milliman, 2nd prize: Falk: From a timber town to a ghost town
1996
Jeffrey L. Pollard, 1st prize: Matching peaceful protest with a peaceful response: How the Humboldt State College anti-Vietnam protest of 1969-1970 remained non- violent
Scott Green, 2nd prize: Homer P. Balabanis: Humboldt's own classical man
C. Andrew McGuffin, 3rd prize: Humboldt County's participation in World War II
1997
Colby Smart: Fort Humboldt: Profiles of an Era!
Jeanette Cooper: Horel House: The Essence of Victoriana
1998
No prizes awarded
1999
Sophie Huntington, 1st prize: In our midst: the Chinese expulsion from Eureka, California
Rita Jacinto, 2nd prize: Whilkut, white settlers, worlds apart
Lorraine A. Michaels, 3rd prize: Andersonia: a place that almost was
2000
No prizes awarded
2001
Elizabeth Claasen, 1st prize: The transformation of health care: national trends mirrored at the local level in Eureka, California's Union Labor Hospital
Paul G. Wilson, 2nd prize: The legacy of the log boom: Humboldt County logging from 1945 to 1955
2002
Cory Siebert, 1st prize: Humboldt Harbour Lighthouse--a case for competent government
2003
No prizes awarded
2004
Erin Denney, 1st prize: Redwood logging in Humboldt County and the rise of conservation awareness, 1870-1930
2005
No prizes awarded
2006
Stefan Shumaker, 1st prize: Railroad Development: San Francisco to Humboldt Bay 1854-1914
2007
Danielle Carmesin, 1st prize: Continuity or Change by Local BIA Agents on the Hoopa Valley Reservation
2008
No prizes awarded
2009
No prizes awarded
2010
Kathryn LaSala, 1st prize: Boosterism in Humboldt County
Hannah Sapunor-Davis, 2nd prize: The Big Picture: The Public Art Tradition in Humboldt County
2011
Matthew Herrera, 1st prize: World War II and Its Effect on Humboldt County
Monica Mays, 2nd prize: The Indian Island Massacre: A Powerful Reminder from the Published Perspective
2012
Jeff Coomber, 1st prize: Death In the Redwoods: The Effects of The Spanish Influenza on Humboldt County
Nicole Log, 2nd prize: Black Gold: The Doomed Oil Industry of the Mattole Valley
2013
James Garrison, 1st prize: The Company's Town: An Examination of the Longevity and Legacy of Scotia, California
Sean Mitchell, 2nd prize: The Demise of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad
Nicholas Gunvaldson, 3rd prize: A Dove's Honesty: Prostitution and Moral Reform Behind the Redwood Curtain
2014
James Garrison, 1st prize: Humboldt's Uncivil War
Echo Aloe, 2nd prize: Strike for Peace, Humboldt State College, 1970
2015
Colin Fulton, 1st prize: No compromise behind the Redwood Curtain: Earth First! and the timber wars in the California redwoods
2016
Joshua Buck, 1st prize: Remember the Rails
2017
Kevin Rieg, 1st prize: Eureka's Early Modern Theatres: The examination of local theatres between 1904-1906
2018
Joshua Buck, 1st prize: Awfully muddy, precariously ledged, and going nowhere in particular : the rise and fall of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad
2019
Gavin Rowley, 1st prize: Defining Genocide in Northwestern California: The Devastation of Humboldt and Del Norte County’s Indigenous Peoples
Ryan Call, 2nd prize: The Historical Development of Recycling in Humboldt County