For immediate release | April 18, 2025
Laura E. Helton's Scattered and Fugitive Things: How Black Collectors Created Archives and Remade History selected as the winner of the Gleason Book Award in 2025
CHICAGO - The Eliza Atkins Gleason Book Award is presented every three years by the Library History Round Table of the American Library Association to the best book published in English in the three preceding years in the field of library history. We are pleased to announce Laura E. Helton's Scattered and Fugitive Things: How Black Collectors Created Archives and Remade History (Columbia University Press, 2024) as the winner of the Gleason Book Award in 2025.
Scattered and Fugitive Things explores the significance of Black archiving and archives in the first half of the twentieth century. It tells the fascinating story of how African American librarians and collectors created, organized, and administered the archival foundations of Black history and culture for their own and later generations.
The members of the Gleason Book Award Committee were particularly impressed by the range and depth of archival research informing this study, by the book's methodological and theoretical rigor, and by the readability of its narrative. In selecting a winner of the Gleason Book Award, the Library History Round Table is also particularly interested in works that situate library history in a broader context. As a major contribution not only to the history of Black librarianship and archives, but also to Black social and intellectual history, Scattered and Fugitive Things is a worthy winner of this award in 2025.
ABOUT THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
The American Library Association (ALA) is the only non-partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated entirely to America's libraries and library professionals. For almost 150 years, ALA has provided resources to inspire library and information professionals to transform their communities through essential programs and services. The ALA serves academic, public, school, government, and special libraries, advocating for the profession and the library's role in enhancing learning and ensuring access to information for all. For more information, visit www.ala.org.
Contact:
Alea Henle
LHRT Chair
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