NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Historical Commission and the Tennessee Historical Society are pleased to announce the Tennessee History Book Award for 2024 goes to The Realms of Oblivion: An Excavation of the Davies Manor Historic Site’s Omitted Stories by Andrew C. Ross, published by Vanderbilt University Press. The prize includes $2,000 to the winning author.
Judged by a panel of historians from across Tennessee, two other books were finalists for the prize: Radical Volunteers: Dissent, Desegregation, and Student Power in Tennessee (University of Georgia Press) by Katherine J. Ballantyne and Tennessee’s Experience During the First World War (University of Tennessee Press) edited by Michael E. Birdwell.
The panel of judges described The Realms of Oblivion as a powerful and humanizing examination of a cultural site and praised Ross for elegantly illuminating an important aspect of West Tennessee history. The book explores competing narratives of the Davies Manor, located in Bartlett. By including the voices of the Davies family and of the Black families they enslaved, the author tells the larger story of Shelby County and Tennessee.
“We are honored by our partnership with the Tennessee Historical Society on this longstanding annual award program that highlights works centering on Tennessee History,” said Patrick McIntyre, Tennessee Historical Commission executive director and Tennessee State Historic Preservation Officer.
THS executive director Jennifer C. Core said, “We’re happy to join with THC in congratulating Andrew Ross on this well-deserved honor. His skill in challenging accepted lore with extensive archival research is a model for historians documenting omitted stories and overlooked peoples.”
The winning author, Andrew C. Ross, formerly served as the projects director and executive director for the Davies Manor Historic Site. He later worked as museum director for the Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame Museum in Memphis. He is currently the director of exhibitions for Humanities Texas.
Additional information about the award and nomination forms can be found on the Tennessee Historical Society website. Nominations for the 2025 Tennessee History Book Award will be accepted in November 2025.