10 receive Virginia Historical Society honors

The Virginia Historical Society, 428 N. Boulevard, recently honored authors, staff members, a philanthropist, a volunteer and a student for their contributions to research, education and the mission of the society.

The 10 honorees are:

Olga Korostolina, a student at W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax County. She received the $5,000 Wyndham B. Blanton Scholarship Award for her paper written during the Wyndham B. Blanton Scholars Forum, a program that brings 20 high school students to the society to participate in a discussion with one of the nation's leading historians.

Dr. James R. Sweeney, author of "Race, Reason, and Massive Resistance: The Diary of David J. Mays, 19541959." He received the Richard Slatten Award for Excellence in Virginia Biography.

Sweeney teaches history at Old Dominion University and is a former member of the editorial board of the VHS quarterly journal Virginia Magazine of History and Biography.

Dr. John Ragosta earned the C. Coleman McGehee Award that recognizes the best article in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography written by a graduate student.

His article titled "Fighting for Freedom: Virginia Dissenters' Struggles for Religious Liberty During the American Revolution" was submitted when he was a Ph.D. student at the University of Virginia.

Author Caroline E. Janney earned the William M.E. Rachal Award for her article "One of the Best Loved, North and South': The Appropriation of National Reconciliation by LaSalle Corbell Pickett." The award recognizes the overall best article to appear in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography.

Janney is a U.Va. graduate and Purdue University professor.

Ethel Mezger, the lead docent for six years and volunteer at the society for more than 10 years, was presented with the Patricia Rodman and Martin Kirwan King Volunteer of the Year Award.

Mezger is a liaison between the education department and the volunteers who help the VHS fulfill its educational mission.

L. Paige Newman, assistant archivist; Katherine Wilkins, reference librarian; and Jennifer Guild, media relations specialist, were given the President's Awards for Excellence for outstanding service. The awards are given to VHS staff who demonstrate a spirit of teamwork and cooperation. The honorees were nominated by their colleagues.

William R. Berkley, chairman and CEO of Fortune 500 property-casualty insurance holding company W.R. Berkley Corp., received the The Lora Robins Award, which is named for the widow of E. Claiborne Robins Sr.

Berkley, the first non-Virginian to win the Robins Award, was recognized for his leadership, generosity and foresight in collecting evidence of Virginia's history for the benefit of future generations. Berkley donated one of the most important collections to the VHS in the past 20 years: 156 original pen-and-ink drawings by Civil War artist Edwin Forbes. This collection, which documents the Union Army of the Potomac in Virginia from 1862 to 1864, makes the society one of the premier holders of Civil War imagery.

Lawrence I. Steed, a member of the Virginia House staff for 48 years until he retired in 2008, was honored posthumously with the Howson W. Cole Award.

The award, named for the retired longtime VHS archivist, honors staff for extraordinary skill and dedication.

Steed's daughter, Pamela, and members of her family, accepted the award.

The awards were presented at the VHS annual meeting on May 21.