Zeidler Scholarships
ZEIDLER ACADEMIC AWARDS
For Research Papers in Wisconsin Labor and Working-Class History
For college and university students, the Wisconsin Labor History Society conducts an annual competition to determine the winners of the Zeidler Academic Awards for the best original research papers about Wisconsin labor and working-class history. The awards honor Milwaukee Mayor Frank P. Zeidler, the most recent Socialist to hold that office (1948-1960), for his lifelong efforts toward the advancement of Wisconsin’s citizens. Two cash prizes are offered each year:
One $500 prize for an original, previously unpublished research paper of approximately 4,000-8,000 words produced by an undergraduate student enrolled in any college or university (not restricted to Wisconsin or to four-year programs); and,
One $1,000 prize for an original research paper or article of approximately 8,000-14,000 words produced by a student enrolled in any graduate program (not restricted to Wisconsin), including law and other professional departments.
Complete details regarding the Zeidler Academic Awards will be found in a “Call for Research Papers” (which is issued annually with an updated deadline) and in the competition’s “Writing Guidelines” (which remain the same from year to year). PDF versions of these documents, as well as any others needed for the competition, will be found in the links immediately below:
2009 Call for Zeidler Scholarship Essays
The List of Graduate and Undergraduate Students who have won the awards since 2002 are:
2002 Graduate Category: Eric J. Morser, a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for his paper, “Battling for the Soul of the Second City: Workers, Municipal Government, and the Labor Movement in La Crosse, Wisconsin, 1850-1900”
2003 Graduate Category: Thomas O. Noonan, a master’s student at Marquette University, for his paper, “Child Labor in Wisconsin: An Assessment of Early Twentieth-Century Reform Movements”
2004 Graduate Category: Zachary K. Lutz, a doctoral student at Northern Illinois University, for his paper, “Militant Pragmatism: The Socialist Party and the Activist Unemployed in Milwaukee, 1929-1935”
2005 Undergraduate Category: Cassandra Irwin, a senior student at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, for her paper, “The Kohler Strike of 1954: The Kohler Company’s Resistance to ‘Outside’ Union Representation”
2006 Graduate Category: Maia Surdam, a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for her paper, “Migrant Camps and Family Farms: The Politics of Housing, Community, and Citizenship in Wisconsin Agriculture, 1930s-1970s”NEW
2007 Undergraduate Category: Joel Feingold, of Janesville, a student at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, for his undergraduate essay on “Red (White and Blue): Communism, Finnishness and America in the Upper Midwest, 1907-1940.”
2008 Undergraduate Category: Zachary Sell, a senior student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, for his paper, “‘Good Homes Make Good Workers’: Migration, Housing, and the Making of Black Beloit”