Sue Curtis of Salisbury won the President’s Award Saturday at the N.C. Society of Historians’ annual banquet in Mooresville.
Her husband, Ed, also received a Joe M. McLaurin Newsletter Award from the society.
President Elizabeth Bray Sherrill headed the banquet.
The President’s Award is given each year by the president to someone who has qualified with a winning entry that had been selected by unanimous decision by a panel of judges.
Sue Curtis received the award for the 14th Annual Salisbury Confederate Prison Symposium held April 13-15.
Sue Curtis also received a Paul Green Multimedia Award for the symposium, hosted by the Robert F. Hoke Chapter No. 78 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
The N.C. Society of Historians recognized the symposium for its seven lectures focusing on the 1861-1865 Salisbury military prison, displays, banquet, two memorial services and tour of the prison site. Endorsements from several symposium attendees accompanied the nomination.
The symposium was recognized once again for bringing to Salisbury about 100 descendants, authors and historians from Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, Georgia, Florida, Michigan, Colorado, Wisconsin and Canada.
In her acceptance remarks Sue Curtis gave a brief history of the Salisbury Confederate Prison.
For her article “Archibald Henderson Boyden: A Confederate Veteran Who Never Forgot,” Sue Curtis received a D.T. Smithwick Newspaper and Magazine Article Award.
This article about a Salisburian was published October 2010 in the national UDC Magazine. It focused on the military service of young Boyden, and his life afterwards, which included his leadership in getting a North Carolina memorial erected at the Gettysburg National Battlefield.
Ed Curtis received a Joe M. McLaurin Newsletter Award for his work as editor of The Prison Exchange, the quarterly publication of the Salisbury Confederate Prison Association, Inc.
The eight-page newsletter for the 2010-2011 year was recognized for providing information about the local Confederate military prison and those who were there. The newsletter was mailed to more than 200 members in 29 states, District of Columbia, Canada and England, as well as to a number of museums and libraries.
In addition to the historical information the newsletter included military and genealogical material on prisoners and guards and details on what they did prior to being sent to Salisbury and for some, what they did after the war. Updates were given on the work of the organization, such as fund-raising efforts for a second archaeological dig and seeking a site for a learning center.
Both Curtises prepared material for the newsletter. Endorsements for this award came from SCPA members in several states.