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Robert Caro ’53 Honored With Bodley Medal

On October 26th at Carnegie Hall, the Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford held the first North American edition of its annual lecture. At that lecture, HM alumnus Robert Caro '53 was honored with the Libraries' prestigious Bodley Medal. According to the Bodleian Library press release, the ceremony featured a conversation between Richard Ovenden, Bodley's Librarian, and Mr. Caro. As Ovenden shared, "Robert Caro is simply one of the greatest American historians. He has used libraries and archives extensively to paint the most vividly illuminating portrait of American politics and society in the 20th century through his biographies on Robert Moses and Lyndon B Johnson. Caro's work demonstrates a rigorous respect for facts and the persistent determination of a researcher. There could be no better person to inaugurate the Bodley Lecture in North America and to receive the Bodley Medal."

Mr. Caro, Pulitzer Prize winner and acclaimed author-historian, visits HM annually to present the Robert Caro '53 Prize for Literary Excellence in the Writing of History. Last June, Caro presented the 2022 award to Liliana Greyf '22 for her work "AIDS Does Not Discriminate, But Memory Does:  How History Unified and Whitewashed the AIDS Epidemics of New York City.” Caro's work is also the focus of a current exhibition at the New York Historical Society entitled, Turn Every Page:  Inside the Robert A. Caro Archive.

The Bodley Medal is "the highest award bestowed by the Bodleian Libraries, presented to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the worlds of books and literature, libraries, media and communications, science and philanthropy." To read more about the Bodley Medal, visit the Bodleian Libraries website here.