Posted by SMAD October 10, 2008

The American Journalism Historians Association recently named JMU School of Media Arts & Design associate professor Dolores Flamiano as a 2008 recipient of the organization's research grant, awarded to scholars with distinguished and creative research agendas in media history.

Flamiano's grant will support a book project examining social reform photojournalism during the 1930s and 1940s. She will analyze the work of Hansel Mieth, a Life photographer, and other photographers of the time and “trace the historic convergence of social reform photography and commercial journalism.” Flamiano explains that the photographers used pictures as “a weapon against social injustice.”

Dr. Flamiano attended the annual meeting of the American Journalism Historians Association, which was held in Seattle from Oct. 1-4. There, she received $1,250 to support the book project.

The selection committee awarded four $1,250 grants to applicants whose proposals represented originality and significance to mass media history. Mike Sweeney, chair of the selection committee, says, “The judges were impressed with the quality and broad range of the research proposals. We look forward to seeing these projects develop into publications.”

Professor Flamiano also won the J. William Snorgrass Memorial Award for the outstanding paper on a minorities topic and the David Sloan Award for the outstanding faculty paper for paper entitled "Japanese American Internment in Popular Magazines: Race, Citizenship, and Gender in World War II Photojournalism."

The American Journalism Historians Association, founded in 1981, fosters research and teaching of journalism history. For information about this award, please visit our web site: AJHAonline.org.