Arline Custer Memorial Award Committee

The Arline Custer Memorial Award Committee was established by a vote of the membership in October 1976 at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to honor the memory of Arline Custer, former MARAC member and editor of the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, who died in 1975.

Mission and Goals

The Committee awards prizes honoring books, exhibition catalogues, and articles by an individual, individuals, or an institution in the states comprising MARAC. The awards winners are announced annually at the Fall MARAC Business Meeting.

Operations

The Committee accepts submissions or nominations of books, exhibition catalogues, and articles for the Arline Custer Memorial Award. Multiple submissions are accepted. Publications submitted for the award must have appeared between July 1 and the June 30 deadline for submissions.

Entries are reviewed independently by the Committee members and the results are sent to the Committee Chair. The Committee usually conducts its work by mail or telephone although the Committee Chair may convene a meeting should it be necessary to reach agreement on the awards. The awards are decided by a majority vote of the Committee members. Committee members affiliated with an institution that submits entries for the awards should abstain from voting on the submission.

Entries are judged on scholarship, relevancy, innovation, quality of writing, and presentation and layout.

Submission guidelines for the Arline Custer Memorial Award

See a list of previous Arline Custer Memorial Award winners

Membership

The Committee consists of six members who each serve for a term of three years. Two are elected each year by the MARAC membership. The elected member receiving the most votes becomes the Junior Co-chair of the Arline Custer Committee in their second year of service. The Junior Co-chair shall become the Senior Co-chair in their third year of service. The MARAC Chair shall fill any vacancies on the Committee.

The Senior Co-chair of the Committee reports to the Chair of the Awards Committee and also serves on that committee to share information and coordinate activities with the chairs of the other awards committees.

Last revised July 2024