Abraham Lincoln Institute Winning Scholarship

Dissertation Prize Winners

Lincoln standing with his hand on book.

The Abraham Lincoln Institute respects the commitment and talent required for significant research and presentation in dissertations and books.

Recognized dissertation honors of the past several years are listed by year, author, and title.

Annual Dissertation Award Winners

2009 – Robert J. Johnson, Jr.

Dissertation:  "Trial by Fire: Abraham Lincoln and the Law," CUNY Graduate School and University Center.  Dr. Johnson is now an Associate Professor in Liberal Arts at the Culinary Institute of America in New York City.

2008 – No award given.

2007 – Russell McClintock

Dissertation:  "Shall it be Peace or a Sword? Northern Political Culture and the Crisis of Secession, 1860-1861," Clark University.  The dissertation was then published as Lincoln and the Decision for War: The Northern Response to Secession (University of North Carolina Press, 2008). Dr. McClintock now teaches at Saint John's High School in Massachusetts.  VIDEO

2006 – David Work

Dissertation:  "Lincoln's Political Generals," Texas A & M University.  The dissertation was then published as Lincoln's Political Generals, (University of Illinois Press, 2009). Dr. Work is currently a visiting professor of history at Texas A & M University at Qatar.  VIDEO

2005 – Jennifer Weber

Dissertation:  "The Civil War and Northern Society," Princeton University.  The dissertation was then published as Copperheads: The Rise and Fall of Lincoln's Opponents in the North, (Oxford University Press, 2006). Dr. Weber is now Asst. Professor of History at the University of Kansas.  VIDEO

2004 – Matthew Parks

Dissertation:  "Self-Evident No More: American Political Thought, 1820-1850," Boston University.  Mr. Parks is now an Instructor in Political Science, University of New Hampshire and the Headmaster at the Exeter Classical Christian School.

2003 – Graham Peck

Dissertation:  "The Social and Cultural Origins of Sectional Politics: Illinois from Statehood to Civil War," Northwestern University.  Mr. Peck is now an Associate Professor of History at St. Xavier University (Illinois)

2002 – Brian Dirck

Dissertation:  "Mystic Chords: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, American Imagined Community, 1808-1860," University of Kansas.  Mr. Dirck is now an Asst. Professor of History at Anderson University (Indiana).

Books:  Lincoln and Davis: Imagining America, 1809-1865 (2001)
Waging War on Trial: A Handbook with Cases, Laws, and Documents (On Trial) (2003)

2001 – Stewart Winger

Dissertation:  "Lincoln's Religious Rhetoric: American Romanticism and the Antislavery Impulse," University of Chicago.   Stewart is now Assistant Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Lawrence Technological University (Michigan).

Book:  Lincoln, Religion, and Romantic Cultural Politics (2003)

2001 –   Deren Kellogg

Dissertation:  "The Lincoln Administration and the Southwestern Territories," University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.   Deren is now Asst. Professor of History, Millsaps College.