Dugan Wins National Paper Prize!

Caroline Dugan, UL Lafayette Master’s Candidate in Public History, recently won Phi Alpha Theta's Nels Andrew N. Cleven Founder's Paper Prize.

The Nels Andrew N. Cleven Paper Prize honors one of the founders of Phi Alpha Theta, History Honors Society. Cleven established the first chapter of Phi Alpha Theta at the University of Arkansas in 1921. He earned two bachelor’s degrees (PhB and EdB) from the University of Chicago in 1906 before receiving his PhD from the University of Munich in 1913. Cleven envisioned Phi Alpha Theta’s goals to “embrace the ‘entire History of Mankind.’” The paper prize in his name seeks to reward papers that exemplify his initial goal for the organization.

Caroline’s paper, “Dr. Jean 'Shewolf' Boudreaux: Re-Archiving Second-wave Feminism in Lafayette, Louisiana” illuminates the impact that Dr. Boudreaux had on the Lafayette women's community and the southern LGBTQ+ community. Boudreaux, who helped lead the Equal Pay Initiative at USL (now UL Lafayette) in the 1970s, was an activist for Women's and Lesbian rights. During her tenure in Lafayette, she helped to foster community among lesbians and queer people. After retiring, her activism spread across the South. Despite her connection to and impact on Lafayette, Boudreaux’s archived materials are scattered across the United States with the most significant collection located in the Newcomb Archives and Vorhoff Collection at Tulane University. Caroline demonstrates the importance of local activists existing in community archives, while also demonstrating the silences of LGBTQ+ Archiving.