National History Day
James J Wengert Award for Labor history
One of the ways that ILHS brings Iowa labor and working-class history to the K-12 classroom is through its support for National History Day (NHD) in Iowa. NHD is a series of district, state, and national contests for middle and high school students. Students create projects on a specific theme in a variety of categories, including documentaries, exhibits, essays, websites, and dramatic performances.
Each year, ILHS sponsors an award for the best projects in labor and working-class history. The award is named for James “Jim” Wengert, a Sioux City packinghouse worker who rose to become a state legislator and president of the Iowa Federation of Labor. Wengert was passionate about bringing Iowa labor and working-class history to students, and the Wengert award is a wonderful way to preserve his legacy.
Beginning in 2021-22, the Wengert Award will focus on one junior and one senior level project that best represents Iowa’s labor and working-class history. In particular, we hope to promote projects that reflect research on Iowa workers and the state’s labor movement (broadly defined) in the Iowa Labor Collection at the State Historical Society of Iowa in Iowa City, and/or the Iowa Labor History Oral Project (available at the State Historical Society, and online through the University of Iowa’s Digital Library). Each award comes with a prize of $500.
Wengert Award Winners
2022
Mandolin Young, Performance, “Upton Sinclair: Bringing Debate to Expose Appalling Conditions Reforming the Meat Industry”
Claudia Dixon, Gracelynn Tangen, and Rachel Weis, “The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire’s Impact on America”
2020
Rebecca Kane, Paper, “Mother Jones: Breaking the Silence Surrounding Child Labor”
Alana Corwin, Documentary, “Virtue of Violence: The Rath Packing Plant Riot of 1948”
2019
Katrina Miller, Essay, “The Radium Girls”
Cameron LaPage, Website, “Tragedy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire”
Abigail Tilberg, Exhibit, “Overcoming the Great Depression”
Alex Kane, Performance, “Frances Perkins and the New Deal”
2018
Cora Brant and Taylor Myers, “Button Button: Conflict and Compromise in Muscatine”
Alex Kane, “Conflict and Compromise in Lowell: Girls Go on Strike”
2017
Maddie Gregurek, “A Striking Situation in the Washing Machine Capitol of the World”
Emily Cline, “Actors Stand for Equity: the Actors Equity Strike of 1919”