Bridget Barry Selected as 2004 Gilder Lehrman History Scholar

Bridget Barry, a junior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has been named one of 15 Gilder Lehrman History Scholars, chosen from more than 300 candidates nationwide. Each Scholar will be brought to New York City in June for an exclusive six-week program that combines research training, seminars with eminent historians and behind-the-scenes tours of rare archives.

In addition to transportation, room-and-board, and a $2,400 stipend, each scholar receives a chance to produce original research resulting from his or her summer work. Applicants to the scholarship program represent more than 191 different colleges and universities across the United States.

"These are the brightest young historians in America," said Professor James G. Basker of Barnard College and president of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, which sponsors the program. "We see them as a kind of Rhodes Scholar elite among history majors. We hope this spurs them all to consider careers as scholarly historians in the future."

Barry, a history and Great Plains studies major from Raymond, is an officer in UNL's Model United Nations Club, a speech coach at her former high school, Raymond Central, and a 4-H judging assistant. On the dean's list throughout her college career, she has also received a number of scholarships, including the Regents Scholarship, the Chancellor's Leadership Class Scholarship, and the Undergraduate Creative Activities and Research Experiences Program Grant. As a research assistant with the Cather Project and the university's archives, Barry transcribed and researched the 19th-century diaries of George Cather, an early settler.

In New York, she will join 14 other scholars from colleges including Bucknell University, Claremont McKenna College, Columbia University, Florida State University, Grinnell College, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Mercer University, Oklahoma State University, the University of Alberta, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Wisconsin, and Yale University.

Further information about the Gilder Lehrman History Scholars Program can be obtained from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, 19 W. 44th Street, Suite 500, New York, NY 10036, 646-366-9666, by e-mail, or by visiting the institute's Web site.

CONTACT: Justine Ahlstrom, Gilder Lehrman Institute, (212) 316-5280