Established in 1979, this award enables international archivists, who are currently training or studying in the United States or Canada, to augment their experience by traveling to the Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archivists.
Applications are evaluated based on archivists who are not U.S. or Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
Funded by the Society of American Archivists Foundation. The award is named in honor of Oliver Wendell Holmes, who joined the National Archives staff in 1935 and served in many capacities, including that of executive director of the National Historical Publications Commission. Holmes was a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists and served as SAA's fourteenth president in 1958–1959.
The committee is composed of three members of the Society and one of the co-chairs of the SAA Awards Committee (ex officio). One member of the subcommittee shall be appointed each year by the SAA President-elect to serve a three-year term. The senior member of the subcommittee in years of service shall serve as its chair.
A certificate and a cash award of $1,000.
1979
Click here to preview the application and/or to apply. All applications must be submitted by February 28 of each year.
2024: Jiarui Sun (China)
2023: Matthew Yang (Singapore)
2022: Chaeyeon Kim (South Korea)
2021: Jiarui Sun (China)
2020: Klavier Jie Ying Wang (China)
2019: Not awarded
2018: Tianjiao Qi (China)
2017: No applicants
2016: Tristan Triponez (Switzerland)
2015: Mary Grace Golfo (Philippines)
2014: Not awarded
2013: Weimei Pan (China)
2012: Georgia Barlaoura (Greece) and Lara Mancuso (Brazil)
2011: Patrick Ansah (Ghana) and Umi Asma’ Mokhtar (Malaysia)
2010: Elaine Goh (British Columbia, Canada)
2009: Ricardo L. Punzalan (Philippines)
2008: Not awarded
2007: Gerald Chaudron (New Zealand)
2006: Not awarded
2005: Not awarded
2004: Bart Ballaux (Belgium)
2003: Ji-Hyun Kim (Korea)
2002: Not awarded
2001: Eun G. Park (Korea)
2000: Zhou Xiaomu (China)
1999: Ciaran Trace (Ireland)
1998: Ntombizandile Kwatsha (South Africa)
1997: Liu Yunming (China)
1996: In support of an International Reception
1995: Not awarded
1994: Not awarded
1993: Not awarded
1992: Veronika Emlerova (Czechoslovakia)
1991: Julie Stacker (Australia)
1990: Samuel Njovana (Zimbabwe)
1989: Valerii Leonov (USSR)
1988: Ann Pederson (Australia), Jan E.A. Boomgaard (The Netherlands), Alan Ives (Australia)
1987: Jan E.A. Boomgaard (The Netherlands), Darwin Matthews (Australia), Gordon Read, Peter Sigmond (The Netherlands)
1986: Joan VanAlbada (The Netherlands), Michael Roper (Great Britain), Michael Dreyfus, Charles Kecskemeti (France), Alvan Ives (Australia), Egart Anderson (The Netherlands), Luciana Duranti (Italy), Peter Sigmond (The Netherlands), Maryna Fraser
1985: Luciana Duranti (Italy), Maria Luisa Acuna (Mexico), Amanda Rosales (Mexico)
1984: Alvan Ives (Australia), Aauel Polka Toe (Liberia)
1983: Stuart Strachan (New Zealand)
1982: Egart Anderson (The Netherlands)
1981: Zhang Tien-ming (China)
1980: Not awarded
1979: Steve Mwiyeriwa (Malawi)