ANNUAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION BOOK PRIZE
2026 BOOK PRIZE CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Established by the Center in 1988, the Historic Preservation Book Prize is awarded annually by a jury of preservation academics and professionals to the book with the most potential for positively impacting the discipline of historic preservation in the United States. In making its selection, the jury focuses on books that break new ground or contribute to the intellectual vitality of the preservation movement. Entries may come from any discipline that relates to the theory or practice of historic preservation. Nominations may be made by any source.
In order for a book to be eligible for the 2026 Historic Preservation Book Prize, it must be available in the United States between January 1, and December 31, 2025. Letters of nomination and six (6) copies of the nominated book must be postmarked by January 9, 2025, and sent to:
Christine Rae Henry, Ph.D.
Center for Historic Preservation
University of Mary Washington
1301 College Avenue, Combs 135
Fredericksburg, VA 22401-5300
Announcement of the book selected for the 2026 Historic Preservation Book Prize will be made during Preservation Month, May 2026. The author will receive a check in the amount of $500.00 and will be invited to deliver a lecture at The University of Mary Washington. Both the author and the publisher will receive certificates in recognition of the award. N.B: Second and later editions of previously published texts will not be considered for the Book Prize unless substantial revisions to the book’s contents have occurred. Publishers are urged to contact the Center (chenry5@umw.edu) if they have any questions regarding this stipulation.
PREVIOUS BOOK PRIZE WINNERS
| Year | Author | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Daniel Campo | Postindustrial DIY: Recovering American Rust Belt Icons |
| 2024 | Della A. Scott-Ireton, Jennifer E. Jones, and Jason T. Raupp, editors | Citizen Science in Maritime Archaeology: The Power of Public Engagement |
| 2023 | Paul Hardin Kapp | Heritage and Hoop Skirts: How Natchez Created the Old South |
| 2022 | Krysta Ryzewski | Detroit Remains: Archaeology and Community Histories of Six Legendary Places in Detroit |
| 2021 (tie) | Emily Williams | Stories in Stone: Memorialization, the Creation of History and the Role of Preservation |
| 2021 (tie) | Thomas Hubka | How the Working-Class Home Became Modern, 1900-1940 |
| 2020 | Katherine Crawford-Lackey and Megan E. Springate (editors) | Preservation and Place: Historic Preservation by and of LGBTQ Communities in the United States |
| 2019 | Michèle Valerie Cloonan | The Monumental Challenge of Preservation: The Past in a Volatile World |
| 2018 | Caitlin Desilvey | Curated Decay: Heritage Beyond Saving |
| 2017 | Catherine Fleming Bruce | The Sustainers: Being, Building and Doing Good Through Activism in the Sacred Spaces of Civil Rights, Human Rights and Social Movements |
| 2016 | Barbara Miller Lane | Houses for a New World: Builders and Buyers in American Suburbs, 1945-1965 |
| 2015 | Marta Gutman | A City for Children; Women, Architecture, and the Charitable Landscapes of Oakland, 1850-1950 |
| 2014 | Françoise Bollack | Old Buildings New Forms |
| 2013 | Paul Hardin Kapp and Paul J. Armstrong | SynergiCity: Reinventing the Postindustrial City |
| 2012 | Jeffrey Chusid | Saving Wright: The Freeman House and the Preservation of Meaning, Materials, and Modernity |
| 2011 | Lois Olcott Price | Line, Shade and Shadow |
| 2010 | Edna E. Kimbro and Julia G. Costello with Tevvy Ball | California Missions: History, Art, and Preservation |
| 2006 | Stephanie Yuhl | A Golden Haze of Memory: The Making of Historic Charleston |
| 2005 | Alison Isenberg | Downtown America: A History of the Place and the People Who Made It |
| 2004 | Nancy S. Seasholes | Gaining Ground, A History of Landmaking in Boston |
| 2003 | Susan L. Klaus | A Modern Arcadia: Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. and the Plan for Forest Hills Gardens< |
| 2002 | Joseph C. Biggott | From Cottage to Bungalow: Houses and the Working Class in Metropolitan Chicago, 1869-1929 |
| 2001 | Daniel Reiff | Houses from Books: Treatises, Pattern Books, and Catalogs in American Architecture, 1738-1950 |
| 2000 | Richard Longstreth | The Drive-In, The Supermarket, and The Transformation of Commercial Space in Los Angeles, 1914-1941 |
| 1999 | Roy R. Rosenzweig | The Presence of the Past: Popular Uses of History in American Life |
| 1998 | Kenneth E. Foote | Shadowed Ground: America’s Landscapes of Violence and Tragedy |
| 1997 | Mike Wallace | Mickey Mouse History and Other Essays on American Memory |
| 1996 | Elizabeth Collins Cromley and Carter Hudgins | Gender, Class, and Shelter: Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture |
| 1995 | Carl R. Lounsbury | An Illustrated Glossary of Early Southern Architecture and Landscape |
| 1994 | Martha K. Norkunas | The Politics of Public Memory: Tourism, History, and Ethnicity in Monterey, California |
| 1993 | Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar | The Park and the People: A History of Central Park |
| 1992 | Daniel Bluestone | Constructing Chicago |
| 1991 | Catherine W. Bishir, Charlotte V. Brown, Carl R. Lounsbury and Ernest H. Wood | Architects and Builders in North Carolina: A History of the Practice of Building |
| 1990 (tie) | Samuel N. Stokes and A. Elizabeth Watson and others | Saving America’s Countryside: A Guide to Rural Conservation |
| 1990 (tie) | T. H. Breen | Imagining the Past: East Hampton Histories |
| 1989 | David Lowenthal | The Past is a Foreign Country |