The Richards Center's many programs are made possible in part by the generosity of private donors who share a commitment to liberal arts education as well as an interest in Civil War-era history. We would like to express our profound thanks to the following individuals for their contributions to the Center:

  • Steven and Janice Brose
    Sponsors of the Steven and Janice Brose Distinguished Lecture and Book Series in the Civil War Era and the Charles Joseph Lindstrom Graduate Scholarship Fund

  • Laurence H. and Lynne G. Brown
    Sponsors of the Undergraduate Internship Support Fund

  • Thomas L. and Jane Ferrier
    Sponsors of the Ferrier Family Director's Fund

  • Arthur J. and Susan W. Glatfelter
    Sponsors of the Glatfelter Program Fund for Teacher Education

  • Special friends of the Richards Center pose at the
    cemetery of the Gettysburg National Military Park in May 2008.
    The custom-made flag was a gift to the Center from Lewis Gold.

  • Karen and Lewis Gold
    Sponsors of the Karen and Lewis H. Gold Fellowship

  • Matthew Isham
    Sponsor of the Carl M. Isham Graduate Award

  • Lawrence J. and Gretchen McCabe
    Sponsors of the McCabe Greer Professorship in American Civil War Era History and the McCabe Program Fund for Faculty and Graduate Student Research

  • Anne and George Miller
    Sponsors of the James Landing Graduate Fellowship and the George and Anne Miller Civil War Era Center Director's Fund

  • George Middlemas and Sherry Petska
    Sponsors of the Warren W. Hassler Graduate Fellowship

  • Joseph V. and Suzanne Paterno
    Sponsors of the Paterno Family Fund

  • John and Carol Paulus
    Sponsors of the John and Carol Paulus Director's Fund

  • George and Ann Richards
    Sponsors of the Richards Center Named Endowment


Professor Carol Reardon


Arthur L. Welsh

Arthur L. Welsh Memorial Award is awarded each year to the person who most significantly advances the mission of the George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center to serve as a national leader in research and outreach for this period of history. The honor remembers the contributions of Arthur L. Welsh, a retired professor of economics from Penn State and avid student of the American Civil War. A naval veteran who served in the Korean War, Mr. Welsh was a pioneering member of the Richards Center and an individual whose wit and grace enriched the pursuit and disseminsation of knowledge. The honor comes with an 1878 lithograph of the Penn State campus that features the original Old Main.

The Richards Center recognized the efforts of Ted H. and Tracy Winfree McCourtney and Howell and Sondra Rosenberg with the Arthur L. Welsh Award in 2008.

Ted H. and Tracy Winfree McCourtney were critical in helping the Center achieve the second leg of a fairly daunting challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Their generosity came at the eleventh-hour of the third-year deadline, ensuring a match of $300,000 from the Federal government.

Howell and Sondra Rosenberg singlehandedly made two ventures possible—the first biennial conference for the Society of Civil War Historians and the start of a project to find and digitize materials that tell the northern side of the Civil War.