Events

Dieter Ullrich Receives Maness Award from Jackson Purchase Historical Society

The Jackson Purchase Historical Society is pleased to announce that Dieter C. Ullrich is the recipient of the Third Annual Dr. Lonnie E. Maness Award for his article, “The Confederate Surrender at Tiptonville and the Conclusion of the Island No. 10 Campaign” selected by the officers and editorial board as The Outstanding Article in the Journal of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society in 2021.

Society president Bill Mulligan commented “It is always a pleasure to notify the winner of this award. The quality of the articles in our Journal is very high and something of which we, as a society, are proud. Dieter’s essay was chosen from a very strong pool. As editorial board member Catherine Carls wrote to Dieter congratulating him, ‘You deserve the award because of the depth of your analysis, the originality of your topic, and your excellent writing style. I enjoyed reading your article.’”

In response to learning he had won the award, Ullrich responded, “It is a great honor to receive the Lonnie Maness Award for outstanding article published in the Jackson Purchase Historical Society Journal for 2021. I had the pleasure of knowing Professor Maness when I served as the Special Collection Librarian and Archivist at the University of Tennessee at Martin from 1995 to 2000 and later when I worked for Murray State University from 2010 to 2014. I vividly recall Dr. Maness calling me soon after I arrived at UTM to welcome me to the campus community and that he wished to meet. He had heard that I was a Civil War enthusiast and wanted to discuss the ‘War between the States.’ We met in his office where we spoke for about an hour before he left to teach a class. During the conversation, as was always to be expected with Dr. Maness, Nathan Bedford Forrest came up and he presented me with his book. Though we may have disagreed on certain aspects of the war, he always was very encouraging and upbeat about my research. I do miss those conversations.”

Dieter C. Ullrich is the Head of Special Collections & Archives at Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky. He holds a M.A. in history from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and M.S. in Library Science from the University of Kentucky. For the past twenty-nine years he has served as a special collections librarian and archivist at several research libraries including the University of Tennessee at Martin and Murray State University. He has authored over twenty scholarly articles on the Civil War and co-authored two books: General E. A. Paine in Western Kentucky: Assessing the “Reign of terror” of the Summer of 1864 (2018) and Unconditional Unionist: The Hazardous Life of Lucian Anderson, Kentucky Congressman (2016). He also has been a member of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society since 2010.

The Jackson Purchase Historical Society initiated the Dr. Lonnie E. Maness Award in 2019 to honor a long-time active member, past president, and frequent contributor to its Journal. Lonnie was a long-time faculty member at UT-Martin where he mentored many students. He was active in the Society and attended and participated in meetings until a few months before his death. The Maness Award recognizes the outstanding article in the society’s journal each year.

In 1958, a group of historians met in Murray, Kentucky led by faculty from Murray State University and University of Tennessee-Martin and formed the Jackson Purchase Historical Society to promote interest, study, and preservation of the regional history of the territory encompassed in the Treaty of Tuscaloosa, known as the Jackson Purchase. The society holds a number of meetings each year with a speaker on Jackson Purchase history, publishes an award-winning journal on local history, and has recently launched an online Encyclopedia of the Jackson Purchase. Members include a wide range of people who simply have a love of history and a love of the Jackson Purchase area.

Articles are welcome for next year’s Journal and can be sent to the editor, Jim Humphreys, at jhumphreys@murraystate.edu. The editor also welcomes inquiries about topics for future articles, books for review, or offers to review a book. Copies of the Journal are available from the Jackson Purchase Historical Society, PO Box 531, Murray, KY 42071. The cost is $15.90, including postage and sales tax. Anyone interested in Jackson Purchase history is welcome to join the JPHS. Information about membership and future programs is available on the society’s website: https://jacksonpurchasehistoricalsociety.org/become-a-member/. Back issues of the Journal through 2016 are available through the Murray State University Libraries’ digital Commons at href=https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/jphs/.