Bart Elmore, an associate professor in the Department of History, was one of nine early- to mid-career scholars of history to receive the 2022 Dan David Prize. A selection committee of eminent scholars in the historical fields assessed hundreds of nominations from around the world as part of a rigorous process to select the winners, who will each receive $300,000 to recognize their achievements to date and support their future work.

Elmore is an environmental historian who uses everyday products — from sodas to seeds — to demonstrate how large multinational firms have reshaped global ecosystems. In addition to uncovering the environmental impacts of capitalism, he invites us to draw on the past to find strategies for developing an ecologically healthier economy for the future. Elmore is the author of Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism and Seed Money: Monsanto’s Past and Our Food Future.   

Elmore is part of the inaugural cohort of winners under the newly redesigned Dan David Prize. The winners’ specialties cut across a wide array of historical disciplines — from prehistorical bioarchaeology to medieval studies to modern U.S. history — and their projects explore uncharted territory in history.

“We live in a world in which the humanities, and particularly history, are devalued and attract less investment, even as it remains clear that only by deepening our knowledge of the past we can gain a better understanding of the present,” said Ariel David, board member of prize and son of the founder. “For this reason we have chosen to focus exclusively on the historical disciplines and support emerging scholars and practitioners, within and beyond the academy, at a stage in their career when the prize can make a bigger impact.”

"Every day I come into the office and think about how the history of multinational firms I study — firms like Coca-Cola and Monstanto — can be a lens on the larger economy," Elmore said. "And using that lens, I’m looking for patterns. I’m looking for lessons learned in the past that we can apply to the future. My goal is to think about how history can help us create a more sustainable economy in the years ahead, and to me there’s no better work than that."

Elmore joins eight other renowned history scholars:

• Mirjam Brusius, A cultural historian who studies visual and material culture in global and colonial contexts
• Tyrone McKinley Freeman, A historian of philanthropy who looks at the long story of African-American community giving
• Verena Krebs, A historian of medieval Ethiopia who studies cross-cultural interactions between Africa and Europe
• Efthymia Nikita, A bioarcheologist using human skeletal remains to explore questions of demography and migration
• Nana Oforiatta Ayim, A curator and art historian whose work centers African narratives in museums and heritage
• Kristina Richardson, A historian of the medieval Islamic world and the Romani people in the pre-modern Middle East
• Natalia Romik, A public historian and architect who works to preserve and commemorate lost Jewish lives in Eastern Europe
• Kimberly Welch, A legal historian who studies the roles of Black litigants and moneylenders in the antebellum South 

Established in 2001 by the late entrepreneur and philanthropist Dan David, the prize is endowed by the Dan David Foundation and headquartered at Tel Aviv University. The nine winners will be honored at the 2022 Dan David Prize Award Ceremony held in May.