2025 Roger Trask Award
Kristin l. ahlberg
Commendation
In her twenty-year career at the Office of the Historian at the Department of State, Kristin L. Ahlberg worked tirelessly to produce and promote the Foreign Relations of the United States series. She had a hand in researching, compiling, editing, or reviewing over 70 Foreign Relations volumes during her tenure, a remarkable number, all the while mentoring a new generation of FRUS compilers. It is impossible to overstate the contributions Ahlberg made to the Office of the Historian and the FRUS series.
Through her work with numerous organizations, Ahlberg also served the professional history community with dedication. She held a variety of leadership and committee positions for the AHA, AHS, OAH, NCPH, WHA, SHAFR, and of course, SHFG. At conferences and in presentations, she advocated for the federal history community and government openness and transparency. Ahlberg's contributions to the Society as President, an Executive Council member, and on several other committees are appreciated by everyone who had the pleasure of working with her.
Kristin L. Ahlberg retired from the Department of State in 2024 and the Trask Award honors her many years of dedicated service to SHFG, the federal history community, and the Office of the Historian.
BiographyKristin L. Ahlberg spent her entire federal career (2003-2024) in the Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, first as a technical editor (2003-2007), then as a compiler (2007-2011), and later as Assistant General Editor of the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series (2011-2024). In this last position, she reviewed FRUS volumes for content and style and managed archival access issues. She compiled or co-compiled 10 volumes in the series focusing on human rights and humanitarian affairs; intellectual foundations of U.S. foreign policy; public diplomacy; arms control and nonproliferation; and refugees and immigration issues. Kristin either edited or reviewed another 70 volumes in the series, covering the Kennedy through George HW Bush administrations. She has presented talks about the series at the International Conference for Editors of Diplomatic Documents (ICEDD), the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), the White House Historical Society (WHHS), the Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas, the Foreign Policy Seminar at the University of Connecticut, the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, and the U.S. Embassies in the Hague and Ottawa, as well as at the annual meetings of professional historical associations, and as part of the Secretary of State’s Hometown Diplomats program.
Kristin is the author of Transplanting the Great Society: Lyndon Johnson and Food for Peace (University of Missouri Press, 2008), the recipient of the 2010 SHFG Pendleton Award, and Cultivating Compassion: Human Rights, World Hunger, and the Carter Administration (University Press of Kansas, forthcoming 2026). Her articles have appeared in Agricultural History, Diplomatic History, Great Plains Quarterly, and The Public Historian, as well as in State Magazine; Passport: The Newsletter of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations; American Historical Association Perspectives; H-DIPLO, and The Federalist. Kristin’s book chapters are in Debra A. Reid, Karen-Beth Scholthoft, and David D. Vail, eds., Interpreting Science in Museums and Historic Sites (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023); Katherine A.S. Sibley, ed., Southern First Ladies: Changing America’s Compass (University Press of Kansas, 2021); Jon Butler, ed., Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History (Oxford University Press, 2019); Katherine A.S. Sibley, ed., A Companion to First Ladies (Wiley-Blackwell, 2016); and Scott Kaufman, ed., A Companion to Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015).
Currently, Kristin serves on the Board of Directors for the University of Wisconsin-Superior Alumni and Friends Foundation (UWSAFF), the Board of Directors for the Camp Nebagamon Scholarship Fund (CNSF), and on committees for professional history associations. She served as SHFG Vice President (2018-2019) and President (2019-2020), on the Executive Council (2005-2007 and 2016-2018) and Nominating Committee (2007-2009 and 2014-2016), and on the Book Prize, Program, Membership, and Strategic Planning Committees.
Ahlberg grew up in Northwestern Wisconsin and earned her B.A. summa cum laude in History and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Superior in May 1997, a M.A. in History from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in August 1999, and a Ph.D. in Diplomatic/International/Military History from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in May 2003.