The medal's obverse bears bust of young laurel-crowned Apollo, facing right, within beaded border. Signed at lower right (AAW monogram).
The reverse bears oil lamp with three flames and light rays within beaded border and raised rim. Below, NATIONAL·INSTITUTE· / ·OF·ARTS·AND · / · LETTERS ·
The medal is inscribed to Charles McLean Andrews on the edge.
Charles McLean Andrews (1863-1943) was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, where his father was a minister in the Catholic Apostolic Church. He studied first at Trinity and then at Johns Hopkins, where he received his Ph.D. in 1889. After teaching stints at Bryn Mawr and Johns Hopkins he finished his career at Yale, where he taught American history from 1910 until his retirement in 1931.
Honored with many memberships and fellowships for his historical publications‒he published 102 major scholarly articles and books as well as over 360 book reviews, newspaper articles and short items‒he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1935 and this medal in 1937. The National Institute of Arts and Letters' Gold Medal is only awarded once a decade and easily one of the most coveted prizes in the humanities.
The circular medal measures 57.6mm in diameter and was struck in bronze and gold-plated bronze by the Medallic Art Company of New York. No mintages are reported but the awarded medal should be an exceedingly rare specimen!
Many thanks to the Yale University Art Gallery's Numismatics department for its generosity and assistance in making this beautiful medal available to me for research.
References: Baxter 176, MACo 1909-007