Abbott Lowell Cummings Award

The Abbott Lowell Cummings Award, named after the founding president of the Vernacular Architecture Forum, is conferred annually upon the book that has made the most significant contribution to the study of vernacular architecture and cultural landscapes. In judging the nominated works, the jurors look for a publication that:

• is based on primary research;
• emphasizes fieldwork that takes seriously the materiality of architecture and landscapes, and draws on particular elements of  environments as evidence;
• breaks new ground in interpretation or methodology; 
• contributes generally to the intellectual vitality of vernacular studies in North America; and
• nominated works must be in English.

2023 Cummings Award Recipient

Sarah Fayen Scarlett, Company Suburbs: Architecture, Power, and the Transformation of Michigan’s Mining Frontier published by The University of Tennessee Press, 2021

Please visit the 2023 Cummings Award page for more details about Company Suburbs: Architecture, Power, and the Transformation of Michigan’s Mining Frontier. 

Past Cummings Award Winners