The Distinguished Service Award recognizes an archival institution, education program, nonprofit organization, or government organization that has provided outstanding service to its public and has made an exemplary contribution to the archives profession. The institution being nominated should have achieved distinction in one or more of the following ways:
Any archival institution, archival organization, records center, or manuscript repository, archival education program, or nonprofit or government organization providing service or support to the archives community in North America.
In addition to a completed nomination form, each nomination must include three letters of support, of which at least two are from SAA members, each representing a different institution. Self-nominations are accepted and encouraged.
Created in 1964 through the generosity of three SAA Fellows—Leon de Valinger Jr., Mary Givens Bryan, and Delores Renze—the award was revised in 1993 and is funded through the Society of American Archivists Foundation.
A plaque.
The Distinguished Service Award Subcommittee of the SAA Awards Committee is composed of three members of SAA and one of the co-chairs of the Awards Committee (ex officio). One member of the subcommittee shall be appointed each year by the SAA Vice President to serve a three-year term. The senior member of the subcommittee in years of service shall serve as its chair.
Click here to preview the nomination form and/or to start a nomination. All nominations must be submitted by February 28 of each year.
Updates Approved by Council: August 2024
2024: FRASER Team of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
2023: BitCurator Consortium
2022: ChromaDiverse, Inc.
2021: Knox County Archives and Doris Rivers Martinson
2020: Orange County Regional History Center
2019: New England Archivists Mentoring Program
2018: Council of State Archivists AND Society of Southwest Archivists
2017: No applicants
2016: Georgia Archives Institute
2015: Archives Leadership Institute
2014: Not awarded
2013: Black Metropolis Research Consortium
2012: Archival Education Collaborative
2011: Not awarded
2010: American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming
2009: National Historical Publications and Records Commission, National Archives and Records Administration
2008: Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut
2007: Not awarded
2006: The Modern Archives Institute, National Archives and Records Administration
2005: Not awarded
2004: The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
2003: Not awarded
2002: Duke University
2001: The Ohio Historical Society
2000: Not awarded
1999: Not awarded
1998: Masters of Archival Studies Program at the University of British Columbia
1997: Not awarded
1996: Not awarded
1995: Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives, The Johns Hopkins University
1994: The Research Libraries Group
1993: Not awarded
1992: Oberlin College Archives
1991: Billy Graham Center Archives, Wheaton College
1990: The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University
1989: Not awarded
1988: Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan
1987: New York State Archives
1986: Not awarded
1985: American Institute of Physics, Center for the History of Physics
1984: Public Archives of Canada
1983: Not awarded
1982: Illinois State Archives
1981: City of Toronto Archives
1980: Minnesota Historical Society, Division of Archives and Manuscripts
1977: Georgia Department of Archives and History
1976: Wayne State University, Archives of Labor History and Urban Affairs
1975: Ohio Historical Society
1972: Oregon State Archives
1970: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
1969: Colorado Division of State Archives and Public Records
1968: Not awarded
1967: Not awarded
1966: Wisconsin State Historical Society, Department of Archives and Manuscripts
1965: Maryland Hall of Records
1964: North Carolina Department of Archives and History