Established in 1993 and funded by David ’51 and Audrey Lowe ’52 Hammer, the prize distinguishes the dynamic classroom contributions of Frederick Baumann (1889-1967), professor of history at Grinnell from 1927 to 1954. Students from any department and any class may compete for the Spring 2025 $2,900 prize by submitting an essay on a general topic of “Ideas and Society”, taking an interdisciplinary and historical approach. For the purposes of this contest, an essay is defined as a prose discourse on a well-defined subject that presents in a stimulating, entertaining, as well as informative way the personal view of the author. Essays must be original work; they may be based on coursework or independent study but should not be work previously submitted in connection with a course. Essays should be 15 to 20 double-spaced pages, including the single-spaced works cited.
The prize is awarded each May, if in the opinion of the interdisciplinary panel of judges, an entry of prize-winning caliber is made.
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Eligibility: Open to all current students
Application Deadline: Thursday, April 10, 2025 by 5 p.m. CST
Application Components:
- A short abstract of the essay (a minimum of one page).
- A description of the genesis of the essay (one-paragraph only).
- The essay (15-20 pages, including works cited within the 20 page maximum).
- Grinnell College Scholarship Nomination Permission Form and Waiver Acknowledgement.
Campus Application Checklist: Baumann Essay Prize Application Checklist – for Spring 2024 (Spring 2025 Checklist-TBA)
Application Link: Students who wish to enter an essay in this competition should upload the required documents in PDF format to the designated Qualtrics link: Baumann Essay Prize Application, by the deadline noted above.
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Special Application Advice
All applicants are encouraged to obtain feedback on their essays by consulting with a professor and/or the Writing, Reading, and Speaking Center for assistance. Applicants should also consult the examples of past winning essays that are available online at Digital Grinnell.
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About Frederick Baumann (1889-1967)
Frederick Baumann joined the Grinnell faculty in 1927. He retired in 1954 but continued to teach one course each year until 1966. Born and raised in Elgin, Ill., Baumann received a PhD in English and a MA in history from the University of Chicago, as well as a PhD in history from Cornell University. He studied under noted historians at Chicago and Cornell: James Westfall Thompson, Preserved Smith, and Carl Becker. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the American Historical Society, the Iowa Historical Society, and the Far Eastern History Association. In May 1917, Baumann enlisted in a Red Cross ambulance unit. He served in Italy and in 1919 was awarded the Italian Cross of Merit. After the war, he taught at the New Mexico Military Institute and Carleton College before joining the faculty at Grinnell. He died June 30, 1967 of a heart attack.
It is appropriate that a $2,900 prize offered in Baumann’s memory emphasizes the history of ideas. Baumann was particularly interested in the relationship of ideas to society. As a historian, he believed that every movement of ideas, every intellectual discipline, was rooted in changing social realities. His famous course, “History D10, Evolution of the European Mind and Society,” which he taught until 1960, dealt with the social and historical basis of religious, political, and scientific ideas. Baumann’s intellectual interest in the Renaissance – especially in the Utopian ideas of Sir Thomas More – reflected his concern with the changing role of religion in post-medieval European society. Baumann taught an interdisciplinary course, “Historical Studies,” until 1966. His attention to the American historian Charles Beard – whose famous book about the economic interpretation of the constitution revolutionized American historical thinking – reflected his own belief that economic realities underlay most political ideas.
Vivid speech and strong metaphors were Baumann’s forte. One of his former students, Mike Alft ’49, created a list of “Baumannisms” – Baumann’s observations about many things. A few of his more notable epigrams are:
- “I say what I think, and I say it emphatically.”
- “When you use a tool, remember the tool shapes you as much as the object upon which the tool is employed.”
- “Knowledge isn’t appreciated until it is labored over. Read the book!”
- “History is life, human life. You are nothing except as history has entered into you. Life is not rational or logical, but historical.”
- “Political institutions are nothing when confronted with economic realities.”
- “Seniors, hail and farewell. The world which you are about to enter is hard, crass, selfish, and brutal, and most of you aren’t prepared for it.”
Although humor embellished his classes, Baumann challenged students and pressed them to do their best. He maintained a lasting concern for honesty, integrity of spirit, and vigorous intellectual discipline. Baumann was determined to teach students to think, more than once observing that most people thought they were thinking when they were merely conscious. A strong individualist, Baumann believed it was important to shake his students into examining things apart from an inherited perspective.