Jennifer Raab’s Relics of War (Princeton Press, 2024) wins CAA’s Charles Rufus Morey Award, which honors an especially distinguished book in the history of art

The Morey Jury stated:

Jennifer Raab’s Relics of War: The History of a Photograph offers a groundbreaking study of a little-known nineteenth-century image documenting objects made and used by Union prisoners in the infamous Confederate camp at Andersonville. Raab argues that these humble artifacts, photographed under Clara Barton’s direction, became potent sites of mourning, memory, and political advocacy in the postwar years. Through this single, seemingly mundane photograph, the book opens onto broader questions of authorship, memory, and the emotional afterlives of the Civil War. Raab’s close attention to the photograph’s material, gendered, and human dimensions brings new depth to the study. The book also offers a sensitive and thorough treatment of race within the histories of Andersonville, Barton’s humanitarian work, and Civil War photography. Raab’s vivid insights, paired with her concise, evocative prose, make the book both engaging and reflective. Ultimately, Relics of War shows how a deep investigation of a single work of art can illuminate far-reaching cultural histories, provided that the narrative is crafted with precision and care.