Philip M. Hamer and Elizabeth Hamer Kegan Award: The Legacy Center, Drexel University College of Medicine

The Legacy Center, Drexel University College of Medicine, is the 2015 recipient of the Philip M. Hamer–Elizabeth Hamer Kegan Award. The award recognizes individuals or institutions that have increased public awareness of archives documents. The Legacy Center has made a portion of its unique primary sources accessible to new audiences. The stories featured on the website Doctor or Doctress? Explore American history through the eyes of women physicians (www.doctordoctress.org) make history approachable by guiding users in interpreting and understanding these materials. The site leverages women’s stories to help students build critical analysis skills while learning about the broader scope of American history. It is a polished combination of images of primary source documents, video, audio, timelines, maps, and contextual information, packaged to help users understand why these stories matter.

“With this wonderful mix of materials, the resource most importantly offers to researchers the guidance needed to place primary source documents in historical and cultural context,” the Award Committee wrote. “Since its inception, the site has . . . [raised] awareness about its materials while being very user-friendly for the general population.”

The Hamer-Kegan Award was established in 1973 and is named for two SAA Fellows and former presidents.