Gold Medal Winners, 1913 To 1987

Tucked away in some closet or storeroom at the P&C there is a large wooden escutcheon that bears upon its face dozens of brass nametags, all of them tacked to the wood in neat columns and rows, each no greater in size than a stick of gum--and each tarnished to the point of near indecipherability. The escutcheon and its nameplates--here and there you'll see a blank space--is the permanent record of the winners of the Gold Medal, the P&C's annual
members' award exhibition. More than once, I have tried to make out the names of the past winners; other than to be able to read the names of the more recent winners--whose nametags had not yet corroded into near blivion--I had no success.

Another of the documents that Frank Hensley recently vouchsafed to me is a typewritten list entitled "Winners of the Gold Medal Award." I don't know if Frank typed it himself or not--at a time when the names of past winners were still unbedimmed--but the list sets forth the winners of the Palette and Chisel Gold Medal for the years 1913 to 1965.

Here they are:

Year Winner

1913 Victor Higgins
1914 Joseph Kleitsch
1915 E. Martin Hennings
1916 Wilson Irvine
1917 J. Jeffrey Grant
1918 John H. Carlson
1919 Karl Ouren
1920 David L. Adams
1921 L. O. Griffith
1922 Edward J. Holslag
1923 Harry Engle
1924 James Topping
1925 Frank J. Gavencky
1926 Oskar Gross
1927 Emory P. Seidel
1928 Edward T. Grigware
1929 Rudolph F. Ingerle
1930 Othmar Hoffler
1931 C. Curry Bohm
1932 Oscar B. Erickson
1933 John A. Spelman
1934 Holger W. Jensen
1935 Otto E. Hake
1936 Karl Brandner
1937 Arnold E. Turtle
1938 Joseph Tomanek
1939 Norman Andersen
1940 Leo A. Marzolo
1941 Edwin Wappler
1942 Roy C. Keister
1943 Nicola Veronica
1944 Leo R. Weeks
1945 A. H. Ullrich
1946 Glen C. Sheffer
1947 Walter Graham
1948 Alfred Muenzenthaler
1949 Harold F. Johnson
1950 H. L. Jorgensen
1951 James Eccles
1952 Oscar M. Lumby
1953 N. P. Steinberg
1954 Theodore Winfield
1955 Albert Alfredson
1956 Erwin G. Kummer
1957 Anthony Buchte
1958 Adolph Heinze
1959 Gianni Cilfone
1960 Walter Parke
1961 Frank Beatty
1962 Thomas McLoughlin
1963 Paul Kufrin
1964 Charles Vickery
1965 S. B. Nielson

UPDATE: I have found a document that carries forward the list of Gold Medal winners from 1966 to 1987. Here they are:

1966 Frank Poschenreiter
1967 Ralph C. Johnson
1968 Floyd A. Johnston
1969 Charles Vickery
1970 Alberto DeLama
1971 Walter Parke
1972 Walter Parke
1973 Alfred Muenzenthaler
1974 Nicola Veronica
1975 Alberto DeLama
1976 Cyril Mills
1977 Liliane Kirby
1978 L. D. Caynor Spence
1979 Max Ranft
1980 Walter Parke
1982 Max Ranft
1983 Phil Kantz
1985 Catherine Maize
1986 George Fischer
1987 Nancy Guzik

There have been several repeat winners of the Gold Medal from 1913 to 1987: Muenzenthaler (1948, 1973), Ranft (1979, 1982), Parke (1960, 1971, 1972, 1980), Vickery (1964, 1969), DeLama (1970, 1975), Veronica (1943, 1974).

Interestingly, there is no recorded winner of the award in 1981 or 1984.

Apparently there was something called the Gold Star award, as well, for certain paintings that won the Gold Medal. Here are the recorded winners of the Gold Star award:

1917 J. Jeffrey Grant
1932 Oscar Erickson
1943 Nicola Veronica
1948 Alfred Muenzenthaler
1951 James Eccles
1954 Theodore Winfield
1955 Albert Alfredson
1960 Walter Parke
1961 Frank Beatty
1969 Charles Vickery