“A Piece of the Past” Museum Essay Contest

Prior Winners

2020 Winners – 10th Annual Piece of the Past essay Contest

(Since this year’s Awards Event was virtual, due to COVID, there were no photos taken.)

GRAND PRIZE ($1500)-Hannah Gentry, “The Knightley Family Bible: Faith Throughout the Years” (Dunham Bible Museum)
SOUTHERN HISTORY/AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE AND DECORATIVE ARTS
- 1^st ($500) Colleen Dunne, “The 79^th Field Artillery: Christmas Day 1917, Camp Logan”
- 2^nd ($250) Andrea Matis, “The Original Timekeeper: The Railroad Clock”
DUNHAM BIBLE MUSEUM
- 1^st ($500) Kalon Corrallo, “Foxe’s Book of Martyrs and the Protestant Reformation”
- 2^nd($250) Michella Taylor, “The Trial of Henry Garnet and Jesuit Equivocation in Early Modern England”
ART MUSEUMS
- 1^st ($500)Sofia Guzman, “Chagall’s Creativity For Change”
- 2^nd ($250) Rebecca L. Torres, “The Last Judgment: Tribunal of Penance”
FRESHMEN/ACADEMY
- 1st ($500) Rebecca S. Rizzotti, “A Threefold Legacy: How Adoniram Judson’s Wives Contributed to the Ministry of the Man Who First Translated the Bible for the Burmese People” (Dunham Bible Museum)
- 2^nd ($250) Mary S. Napper, “Die Heilige Bibel: Bach’s Bible” (Dunham Bible Museum)

Plus the following Honorable Mention ($50)

Marissa Campisse, Daniel Dicken, Linh Dinh, Alan Omar Garay, Diana Gonzalez, Caroline Gillispie, Hailey Harvey, Daniel Idowu, Michael Knapton, Tieu Phuong Nguyen, Obianuju Favour Onyenso, Brandon Patterson, Renee Peters, Erik Pho, Esther Pouluse, Anissa Sanchez, Jayden Seals, Zeinah Wafi, Kayla Wilson, Alvina Zia

2019 Winners:

2019 winners with mentors, Dr. Sloan. and sponsor Stewart Morris

Grand Prize Winner ($1500):

Victoria Thorpe, “Flooded But Flourishing: The 1869 Map of the City of Houston” (Decorative Arts)

Mrs. Sloan, Victoria Thorpe, Stewart Morris, and Dr. Sloan

HBU Academy

1^st ($500) Sol Pittman, “Harriet Lane’s Bell” (Southern History)

2^nd ($250) Asiyyah Abass, “Indistinct Visions of Divided Wings: Aaron Novak’s Monarch Art” (Get Ready MFA Exhibit 2019, University Academic Center)

Plus: 25 Honorable Mention Awards $50 each

2018 Winners:

A Piece of the Past 2018 Winners, with Stewart Morris and Dr. Robert Sloan

Grand Prize Winner:

Katrina Bolman, “Time Present and Time Past All Present in Time Future: The Russian Icon of the Triumphant Entry of Christ Into Jerusalem” (Fine Arts Museum)

Southern History/American Architecture and Decorative Arts

1^st Phillip E. Salazar, “Seminole Doll: The Art of Selling Culture” (Decorative Arts)

2^nd Jeremiah T. Holcomb, “The Radio—Waves of Progress: The 1940s Motorola Electric Box Radio” (Southern History)

Dunham Bible Museum

1^st Seth Grant, “The Gospel of America’s Russian Apostle: The Gospel of Matthew, 1848, Aleut Translation”

2^nd Jacob R. Johnson, “A Link in the Chain: The Pump Organ’s Role in the History of Christian Worship”

Art Museums

1^st Kelley McLemore, “Christ’s Crucifixion—An Artist’s Clarion Call: Marc Chagall’s “Esquisse Pour L’Exode” (Fine Arts Museum)

2^nd Corrie McCloy, “Christ in Exile: Marc Chagall on Jewish Identity” (Fine Arts Museum)

Freshmen

1st Ngozi Paula Ejim, “She Builds Upon the Mirror: Jenny Fine’s ME” (Contemporary Art Museum)

2^nd Rebecca A. Bargainer, “Mapping Houston’s Past: The 1869 Map of the City of Houston” (Decorative Arts Museum)

HBU Academy

1^st Gabrielle Thomason, “The Child’s Bible By a Lady of Cincinnati” (Dunham Bible Museum)

2^nd Cole O. Reynolds, “’A Well Founded Translation’: Charles Thomson’s Translation of the Bible” (Dunham Bible Museum)

2017 Winners:

Grand Prize Winner:

Corrie McCloy, “American Zouave: Fighting in Style”

Southern History/American Architecture and Decorative Arts

1st Christina Ta, “The Winnebago Indian: A Mysterious Doll and A People We Are Forever Connected to”

2nd Veronica Valle, “Dolls, Art, and Revolution: The Lay Figure Dolls for Jacques-Loui David’s The Coronation of Napoleon”

Dunham Bible Museum

Dunham Bible Museum Award Winners

1st Jonathan Richie, “On the Style and Substance in Fragments of a Greek Manuscript”

2nd Marisa Villarreal, “Clearing the Hurdles: The Gullah Bible of 2005”

Art Museums

1st Emilia Forbau, “Reclaiming the Christianized Jesus: Chagall’s Esquisse Pour L’Exode”

2nd Abigail Sims, “Split Rings: An Exercise in Minimalism, or How I Met Modern Art and Learned to Love It”

Freshman/HBU Academy

1st Alexander Hale, “War of the Boys: The Child’s Zouave Uniform”

2nd Ana Kriletic, “The Bible As A Weapon of Defense: Julia Evelina Smith’s Translated Bible”

2016 Winners

6th Annual “A Piece of the Past” Museum Essay Contest Winners, 2016

2016 Winners:

2016 Winners of the “Piece of the Past” contest, with Stewart Morris in center and Dr. Sloan in background.

Grand Prize Winner:

Jonathan Richie, “The Bodey Oil Lamp: The Illumination of Dating Through Construction and Design”

Southern History/American Architecture and Decorative Arts

1st Cora Cobb, “Reconstruction Era Quilts: Piecing Families Together”

2nd Nathan Cobb, “The Pianola: Profane or Beneficial?”

Dunham Bible Museum

1st Madeline Thorpe, “Justice in the Balance: The Word against the World in Acts and Monuments —An Original Leaf—Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, 1576”

2rd Emil Simon, “The Bible Says What? The Wicked Bible”

Art Museums

1st Allison Thai, “The Marriage At Cana by Marten Pepyn: A Baroque Treatment of Christ’s First Miracle”

2nd Duyen Nguyen, “Francken’s The Last Judgment”

Freshmen

1st Corrie McCloy, “The Realm of the Brownie”

2nd Amber Ontiveros, “The Birth of Modern Medicine”: William Gunnell’s Surgeon’s Set”

HBU Academy

1st Alexander B. Hale, “Surgical Saviors: The Civil War Era Surgeon’s Set”

2nd Sidarth Joshi, “The Minie Ball —The Innovation that Devastated the Confederacy”

2015

Grand Prize Winner

Nicholas Van Cleve, “Into the Heavens: The Lunar Bible”

Southern History Museum

1^st Colton Michael Roath, “The Colt Revolver and Its Role In American Gun Culture”

2^nd Elizabeth Wilkerson, “War Poster: The Home Front Reflected on a Single Printed Page”

American Architecture and Decorative Arts

1^st Victoria Simms, “A Piece of the Past: The Kewpie Doll”

2^nd Evan Huegel, “In Defense of Dolls: An Argument for the Return of Dolls As Art”

Dunham Bible Museum

1^st Jonathan Richie, “Faience Ushabti: The Purpose and Religion of the Egyptian Ushabti”

2^nd Kyra Brown, “The Julia Evelina Smith Bible: Changing Society’s Rules—The First Woman to Translate the Bible”

Art Museums

1^st Katherine Denise Brown, “Icons—Truth that Transcends Time: Icon of the Entry of Christ Into Jerusalem”

2^nd Jeremiah Macha, “English Portraiture and Engraving: The Reynolds Mezzotint Files”

Freshmen

1st Blake Richards, “The Surrender of Galveston and the Battle to Win It Back” (Southern History Museum)

2^nd Doris M. Benavides, “Girls Gone Wild: The Flapper Dress” (Southern History Museum)

2014

Winners of the 2014 “A Piece of the Past” museum essay contest were announced March 27, 2014 at a special dinner for participants at the River Oaks Country Club. Essays from the contest can be read here.

Grand Prize Winner

Andrew S. Jimenez, “America’s Heroes: Houston’s WWI Training Camp” (Southern History Museum)

American Architecture and Decorative Arts

1st Justin R. Brittain, “Transcending the Toy Box: The Changing Meaning of the Doll”
2nd Katie L. Kuhlman, “Always Remembered: A Human Hair Decoration from VictorianTimes”

Dunham Bible Museum

1st Nicholas Van Cleve, “The Scroll of Esther: Catharsis on Vellum—A Triumph Celebrated”
2nd Hayley DeBolt, “The Making of the King James Bible”

Museum of Southern History

1st Kyra Brown, “More Than Just A Mammy: The Story Behind the Historic Academy Award Win of Hattie McDaniel”
2nd Dayna C. Patterson, “Violence and Hate Without Reason”: A Ku Klux Klan Hood of the 1920s”

Fine Arts Museum and Contemporary Art Gallery

1st Tia Lee Wettman, “Chagall’s Symbolism: Esquisse Pour L’Exode”
2nd Nathan Cobb, “The Matterhorn: A Spirit of Adventure”

Freshman Category

1st Elizabeth J. Shecterle, “A Different Kind of Surgery: A Civil War Era Surgeon’s Set”
2nd Samuel J. DeForke, “The Model 1842 Percussion Pistol – Its Time in History”