Since 1995, the Barnes Club, the graduate student organization in the Department of History at Temple University, has hosted an annual peer-level conference, one of the largest and most prestigious of its kind, drawing participants from across the United States and around the world. The annual 2-day event gives rising scholars the opportunity to present their research, receive critical feedback, and network.
Since 2005, the Army Heritage Center Foundation has supported the Russell F. Weigley Award at the James A. Barnes Club Graduate Conference at Temple University. The Foundation provides a cash stipend to the student with the best military history paper. Established in 1999, the Foundation is the non-profit partner to the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center. The Foundation also works to share Soldier Stories to educate the American Public about the service and sacrifice of our Soldiers and Veterans.
Russell F. Weigley was the Distinguished University Professor of History at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a noted military historian. His research and teaching interests centered on American and world military history, World War II, and the American Civil War. One of Weigley’s most important contributions was his conceptualization of a specifically American Way of War, i.e. an approach to strategy and military operations, that, while not predetermined, is distinct to the United States due to cultural and historical influences.
A Pennsylvania native, Weigley graduated from Albright College in 1952, attended the University of Pennsylvania for his master’s degree and doctorate, and wrote his dissertation under Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, Roy F. Nichols. After receiving his PhD, Weigley taught at the University of Pennsylvania from 1956 to 1958, and from 1958 to 1962 at Drexel University. Then he joined the faculty at Temple as an associate professor and remained until his retirement in 1998. The school considered him the heart and soul of its History Department, and at one point he had over 30 PhD candidates working under him concurrently. He also was a visiting professor at Dartmouth College and the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Weigley’s graduate teaching emphasized military history including operational, larger issues of war and its significance, history of ideas about war, peace, and the armed forces; and soldier’s place in the state and society.
Weigley received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in 1969–70, the Athenaeum Literary Award in 1983, and the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize from the Society for Military History (SMH) in 1989. His book, The Age of Battles, received the SMH’s Distinguished Book Award in 1992. He has served as president of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the SMH. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1993.
The Foundation is working to maintain an endowment for the Weigley Award as a tribute to one of the greatest military historians of the previous century. The endowment will provide long-term funding support for this annual award. Keep his legacy alive and support budding military historians by making a charitable contribution to the Weigley Award Endowment.
All donations are tax deductible, and each donor receives a formal thank you. If you have questions or would like more information about this program, please contact Amanda Neal at aneal@armyheritage.org or (717) 258-1102.
Images of Dr. Weigley and his work
