Every year the Public History Program at the University of South Carolina awards the Darrick Hart Award for Excellence in Public History to one of its graduate students. A prize of $250 is presented to the winner at the university's Graduate Student Day ceremony held in the spring.

The award, given in memory of Darrick Hart, recognizes outstanding contributions made by a graduate student in the field of public history over the previous calendar year in the areas of historic preservation museums and material culture, or archival administration and library and information science.

Nominees must be currently-enrolled graduate students in the Public History program at the University of South Carolina.  The award winner is selected by a committee of faculty and alumni from the Public History program. Nominations may be made by faculty, students, alumni, and members of the wider public history community. Self-nominations are also welcomed.

Nominations should consist of a letter or letters describing the nominee's contribution to the field of public history. Nominees will be asked to provide a resume and a short letter describing their accomplishments. Samples of work may also be submitted.

Nominations (in hard copy only please) should be sent by the 15th of February to:

Professor Robert Weyeneth
Department of History
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
Direct any questions to Professor Weyeneth at 803-777-6398 or weyeneth@gwm.sc.edu

Who was Darrick Hart?

Darrick Hart died of a tragic illness in October 2002 at the beginning of his career as an archivist and paper conservator. He had a long relationship with the University of South Carolina, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in History in 1995, his Master of Arts in Public History in 2000, and his Master of Library and Information Science in 2000. Following graduation, he took a position with Thomas Cooper Library, working as a preservation archivist and assistant conservator in the conservation lab and teaching University 101. As a graduate student and later as a young professional, Darrick worked extensively with the Columbia Fire Department as a volunteer archivist and historian, documenting the desegregation of the fire department through manuscript research and oral histories.

A Funding Plea In honoring Darrick we are also honoring the Public History program, its students, and its many alumni. Although several departmental prizes exist to acknowledge scholarship in traditional history fields, the Hart Award is the first and only award to recognize contributions made by graduate students in public history. Even if you did not have the good fortune to know Darrick, please consider making a contribution and/or a pledge to the Hart Fund. At present, the annual prize is awarded due to the generosity of the Department of History. Our goal is to endow a fund so that the Hart Award may be given on an annual basis without this external support.

At the University of South Carolina, the minimum level of endowment is $10,000. (In other words, USC will not transfer any funds to separate designated, interest-bearing accounts until the donations for that designated purpose have reached $10,000.) The Department of History has verbally committed to awarding the prize money yearly until the fund reaches endowed status. In light of the substantial amount of money required, Professor Constance Schulz has suggested that friends, faculty, alumni, and students consider making pledges to donate a sum of money on an annual basis until the fund reaches endowed status.

Checks should be made payable to the USC Educational Foundation (please write "Darrick Hart Award" in the memorandum line) and mailed to: Development Office, College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia SC 29208. Thank you for any support you can offer.