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Safianow article named best of 2004 by Indiana Historical Society
November 8, 2004 | ||||||
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KOKOMO, Ind.—The Indiana Historical Society has presented its Emma Lou and Gayle Thornbrough Award to IU Kokomo Professor of History Allen Safianow, Ph.D., for his authorship of the best article published in 2004 editions of Indiana Magazine of History. Presented November 6 during the historical society’s annual conference, the award included a $1,000 cash prize. IU Bloomington publishes the quarterly journal in cooperation with the Indiana Historical Society. Safianow was honored for the lead article in the June 2004 edition, “ ‘You Can’t Burn History’: Getting Right with the Klan in Noblesville, Indiana.” The article concerns the 1995 discovery in Noblesville of records revealing the names of hundreds of local Ku Klux Klan members from the 1920s. Working from those records, as well as from local histories, personal recollections, and press accounts, Safianow recounted “the sensitive issue of how a community deals with the fact that its most respected citizens, its esteemed forefathers, embraced an organization which now is commonly regarded as an anathema, a gross antithesis of the fundamental ideals of this nation.” Indiana Magazine of History editor Eric Sandweiss said Safianow has previously contributed articles to the journal and is recognized as “one of the prominent historians of Indiana.” Safianow’s article on the Klan artifacts “is at once a first-rate contribution to Indiana scholarship and a compelling story about events that have affected all of us,” said Sandweiss, who is also Carmony Associate Professor of History at IUB. “[Safianow’s] carefully researched study sheds light on not one but two periods in Indiana: the 1920s and our own time. By unearthing the reactions of early Noblesville residents to the presence of the Ku Klux Klan in their community, he tells us a great deal about how racism incorporated itself into the lives of ordinary Americans. By listening carefully to the reactions of the town’s citizens today, he demonstrates that coming to terms with the past is a job that engages all of us—not just historians in their archives and classrooms.” The Thornbrough Award was established in memory of the sisters Gayle Thornbrough (former executive secretary of the Indiana Historical Society) and Emma Lou Thornbrough (former professor of history at Butler University) and is supported by a gift from the late Allen W. Clowes.
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