NEW YORK, NY (MAY 4, 2006) – Jessica Wallace, a junior from Fletcher, North Carolina, was recently named a 2006 Gilder Lehrman History Scholar. She is one of fifteen students selected from more than 300 undergraduate applicants nationwide. This summer, the scholars will study in New York City for six weeks in a program that combines historical research, seminars with eminent historians, and behind-the-scenes tours of rare archives. Each scholar will have the opportunity to produce original research resulting from his or her work. This year’s class will research the unique – and in some cases unpublished – correspondence of 19th century abolitionist Frederick Douglass in the Gilder Lehrman Collection.

“These are the brightest young historians in America,” said Professor James G. Basker, president of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, which sponsors the program. “We see them as something like Rhodes Scholars among history majors. We hope this spurs them all to consider careers as scholars or public historians in the future.”

Now in its fourth year, the Gilder Lehrman History Scholars Program has included students who have gone on to history Ph.D. programs at Columbia University, the University of Michigan, and the University of North Carolina. Some now work for history research organizations. One is a winner of the renowned Marshall Scholarship, and another was awarded a Gates Scholarship to Cambridge University.

In addition to the fifteen Gilder Lehrman History Scholars, forty-five finalists will take part in a one-week compressed version of the program. These finalists will meet with eminent scholars, as well as history professionals outside academia, and visit important archives and museums across New York City.

Applicants to the 2006 program represented 195 colleges and universities across the United States and Canada.

Founded in 1994, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History promotes the study and love of American history. Increasingly national and international in scope, the Institute targets audiences ranging from students to scholars to the general public. It creates history-centered schools and academic research centers, organizes seminars and enrichment programs for educators, partners with school districts to implement Teaching American History grants, produces print and electronic publications and traveling exhibitions, and sponsors lectures by eminent historians. The Institute also funds awards including the Lincoln, Frederick Douglass and George Washington Book Prizes and offers fellowships for scholars to work in history archives, including the Gilder Lehrman Collection. For more information, visit www.gilderlehrman.org