W&J History Department Newsletter May 2018
Welcome to the History Department Newsletter. Read on to learn what students and faculty have done this academic year, and for messages from alumni. We hope to expand our alumni section in the next Newsletter, so please send an entry by email to the editor, Patrick Caffrey. Entries from current students are also welcome.
Our faculty took students on study trips to France and Vietnam and to historic sites at home. Other students travelled on their own abroad and domestically to study or to conduct research. Students also created a display for the Flight 93 Memorial, presented research papers at a conference, and received awards.
Our faculty published books and articles, gave presentations at conferences, and brought guest speakers to campus. They also tested their wits with students over Trivial Pursuit, and enjoyed chatting with them over meals on and off campus and during countless meetings.
Twelve students graduated with a history major, and nine with a history minor. 2
Officers of the History Club and of the Phi Alpha Theta History Honorary Society
The joint officers of the History Club and of the College’s Alpha Sigma chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta history honorary society for the 2017-2018 academic year were Cameron Lumley, president, Shannon Boehm, vice-president, and Katie Prinkey, secretary and treasurer. In the coming year Cameron and Shannon will continue to serve as president and vice-president, with Molly Riley stepping in as secretary and treasurer.
The History Club is advised by David Kieran, and Phi Alpha Theta by Jennifer Sweatman.
November Class Trip to Old Economy
In November 2017 Dr. Mainwaring brought his Jacksonian America class to Ambridge, Pennsylvania, to examine a communitarian settlement called Old Economy. It was founded in 1826 by George Rapp, who believed he was a modern-day prophet. No private property existed at Old Economy, and celibacy prevailed for most of its existence. The community closed circa 1910.
Left to right: Garrett Cilli, Liam Casey, Mason Radford, Sarah Peterson, Jacob Dunlap, Rachel Reska, Tyler Neyman, Jessica Brown, Gregory Krinock, Caroline DeIullis, and Thomas Mainwaring. 3
December History Club Spaghetti Dinner at Dr. List’s House On the last day of the Fall semester Dr. List hosted students and faculty at her home for her annual History Club spaghetti dinner.
January Intersession Class in France
Dr. Sweatman and Dr. Nicole Fifer of the Political Science Department brought students to Paris. For more about the trip see Dr. Sweatman’s profile below.
Left to right: John Howell, Bethany Brennan, Sarah Shaw, Morgan Jacques, Molly Kilbourne, Julia Alvarez, Caroline Kallos, Nicole Walters, Lena Difulvio, Caitlyn Brenner, Makenzie Coughlin, Olivia Engl, and Seth Rupert. 4
January Intersession Class in Vietnam Dr. Kieran brought his “American War in Vietnam” class to Vietnam. Eleven students spent 10 days exploring how the American War there impacted the country. This included visiting sites like the Cu Chi Tunnels to explore how sites of violence have been commodified as tourist destinations and meeting with a variety of organizations from the US Consulate, where their work includes helping Vietnamese refugees in the US and Vietnamese-Americans reconnect with relatives still in Vietnam and locating and repatriating the remains of US service members, and Project RENEW, which works to clear rural areas of unexploded ordnance dropped by the US military during the war. And, of course, they got to experience the lovely culture and amazing food.
David Kieran and wife Emma with his Intersession class in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, January 2018
Left to right: Matthew Rowe, Cameron Lumley, Adam Joyce, Tony D'Amico, Caden Meir, Alissa Williams, Rena Israel, Sofiya Bobrovnikova, David Kieran, Emma Gilmore Kieran, Kayla Williams, Jason LePage, and Savannah Warner.
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March Student Presentations at the Phi Alpha Theta conference
Ten students presented their research at the annual Phi Alpha Theta conference, held at Thiel College. PAT advisor Jennifer Sweatman and History Club advisor David Kieran organized W&J’s attendance. In 2019 the conference will be at W&J.
Left to right: Jake Harrison, Gavin Koratich, Shannon Boehm, Zachary Lauer, Caroline DeIullis, Jonathan Cadez, David Kieran, Jennifer Sweatman, Caden Meier, Cameron Lumley, and Katie Prinkey.
Katie Prinkey won the best paper award for the panel in which she presented. Her paper was “Deep Dive: Hobby Lobby and the Larger Problem with the Trade of Ancient Artifacts out of the Middle East.”
Abstract: In 2011, the Green family, founders and owners of the multibillion dollar craft store chain Hobby Lobby, came under investigation by the federal government for a shipment of “clay tile samples” that had been stopped by borders and customs. The shipment was one of many shipped from Israel and the United Arab Emirates to several Hobby Lobby locations, although they were purchased independently by the Green family. The incident begs the questions, Who is responsible for the deal? Why and how is the Green family involved? Who is to blame for the oversight? What happens to the artifacts now, and, What is the provenance of the rest of the Green family’s collection? This paper addresses the larger problem of the illicit trade of artifacts coming out of the Middle East. 6
April Honors Convocation
The Alfred Henry Sweet Prize in History was awarded to Jake Harrison for his honors project, “Wounded Pride: A Revolutionary and a Confederate Officer Undone.” The prize is a monetary award given to the student who has done the most competent piece of research in history. It is funded by an endowment established by Dr. Sweet’s students, friends, and colleagues.
Rachel Reska was the senior-class recipient of the Henry Willson Temple Book Prize. The junior-class recipient was Harley Moyer. Henry Willson Temple Book Prizes are awarded to students in recognition of their outstanding curiosity and scholarly accomplishments in history.
The William H. Davis Scholarships, which are given each year to outstanding junior and senior history majors, were awarded to Rachel Reska and Harley Moyer. The scholarship is funded by a gift to the Department by William H. Davis, class of 1981.
Honors Convocation, First Presbyterian Church, April 19
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April Phi Alpha Theta History Honorary Society Induction
On April 10th Phi Alpha Theta advisor Jennifer Sweatman inducted seventeen students into the honorary society at a dinner at the Union Grill. The inductees were Colton Blair, Orren Dinwiddie, Dylan Grayson, Erin Haughey, Gavin Koratich, Mario Lombardi, Caden Meier, Morgan Miller, Daniel Mochan, Harley Moyer, Molly Riley, Jessica Skobel, Jordan Thomas, Forrest Thompson, Lila Joy Thompson, Katherine Tice, and Natalie Wareham.
Phi Alpha Theta history honorary society initiation and dinner, April 10
Left to right: Cameron Lumley, Victoria List, Jonathan Cadez, Shannon Boehm, Caden Meier, Katie Prinkey, David Kieran, Harley Moyer, Jordan Thomas, Gavin Koratich, Daniel Mochan, Mario Lombardi, Lila Joy Thompson, Orren Dinwiddie, Colton Blair, Patrick Caffrey, Erin Haughey, Jessica Skobel, Dylan Grayson, Natalie Wareham, Katherine Tice, Morgan Miller, W. Thomas Mainwaring, and Jennifer Sweatman.
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April Jake Harrison Gives an Honors Presentation
On April 25th Jake Harrison delivered his history honors paper, which he completed under the guidance of Dr. Mainwaring.
I wrote about the famous American traitor Benedict Arnold and Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, and how their shared concept of honor affected their lives, careers, and reactions when their sense of honor was challenged. Their pathological need for public approval formed the common thread between these two seemingly disparate men. During their careers they faced adversity both real and fabricated by their minds. Their reactions were often disproportionate to the instigating insult or issue due to their arrogance and immense feelings of self- worth. My project focused on the way in which these men reacted to their circumstances by examining their betrayal or increasing indignation through the mindset of an "honorable man."
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May Opening of a Museum Exhibit Designed by Students On May 5th the Flight 93 National Memorial celebrated the opening of an exhibit designed by students in Dr. Kieran’s Museum Exhibit and Design class. “Down But Not Out: Baseball After September 11th, 2001” examines the longstanding relationship between baseball and the nation during times of crisis, with the focus on baseball's role in recovery following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. See Dr. Kieran’s profile for more information. The display is open during the following remaining weekends: May 26-27, June 2-3, 9-10, 23-24, June 30 – July 1, and July 7-8.
Students in the class were Jonathan Cadez, Liam Casey, Caroline Deiulius, Cameron Lumley, Caden Meir, Harley Moyer, Katie Prinkey, and Ryan Willen.
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May Annual end-of-the-year Chili Dinner at Dr. List’s House On May 8th Dr. List hosted students and faculty at her annual History Club chili dinner in her home.
Faces towards the camera, left to right: Harley Moyer, Orren Dinwiddie, Thomas Mainwaring, Victoria List, Jake Harrison, Mason Radford, Catherine McAdoo, David Kieran, and Robert Dodge. Patrick Caffrey was behind the camera.
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May Commencement 2018
Hundreds of students took history classes during the 2017-2018 academic year. Twelve students graduated with a history major, and nine with a history minor.
History majors:
Jonathan Cadez, Liam Casey, Jake Harrison, Kelly Himes, Brian Lindquist, Elisabeth Miday, Harley Moyer, Sarah Peterson, Gabriella Porazzi, Mason Radford, Rachel Reska, and Samuel Stanton.
History minors:
Bryce Egger, Rachel Hall, Milton Hennessy, Scott King, Gregory Krinock, Kyle Petersen, Forrest Thompson, Mary Wessell, and Ryan Willen.
President John Knapp presiding over his first W&J commencement, in the James David Ross Family Recreation Center, May 19
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Faculty Profiles
Dr. Patrick Caffrey [email protected]
Dr. Caffrey joined the College in 2002. He teaches courses about Asia, and a world history course on how humans have affected the environment and how changes to the environment affect us. He advises the Asian Culture Association.
My wife, Paula, and I made half a dozen trips back home to the New York Metro area to visit our families and to go to the City. During the summer we went to Italy. When travelling and visiting museums I take photos to use in my classes.
I began learning Italian a few months before our trip using apps, movies, and radio programs. The little that I learned helped me be polite and increased my appreciation of Italy. A few months ago I switched from studying Italian to using it, reading fiction with help from Google Translate and a dictionary, and continuing with movies and radio programs. I haven’t given up Chinese. I listen to it walking to and from campus, and I read fiction, poetry, and essays for pleasure.
In March I gave a presentation at the annual AsiaNetwork conference on methods for teaching Chinese pronunciation and about the Chinese writing system to students in non-language classes.
With a seventy-second generation Portrait of Confucius, circa 500 BC, descendant of Confucius, in Beijing from a friend in Manchuria 13
Dr. Robert Dodge [email protected]
Dr. Dodge joined the college in 1970. Since retiring in 2014 he has been teaching part time.
In Fall 2017 he taught HIS 239 Kiev, Muscovy and Russia; during Intersession 2018 HIS 241 Russian Foreign Policy, 1991 to the Present; and in Spring 2018 HIS 240 Russia, the Soviet Union, and the Commonwealth of Independent States. During the Fall Dr. Dodge will teach HIS 285 The Middle East.
Dr. David Kieran [email protected] Dr. Kieran joined the College in 2016. He teaches about the U.S., and advises the History Club.
David Kieran at the Organization of American History annual conference, with At War: The Military and American Culture in the Twentieth Century and Beyond, which he co-edited with Edwin A. Martini.
It’s been another exciting, busy and productive year for me at W&J. In the classroom, I developed three new courses. Among them was an intersession course in which eleven W&J students traveled with me and my wife to Vietnam. 14
This Spring, I am teaching a course entitled “Museum Exhibit and Design,” in which my students are designing a major exhibit entitled “Down But Not Out: Baseball After September 11th, 2001” for the National Park Service Flight 93 National Memorial. With the NPS support, my students researched baseball’s role as a cultural space in which Americans have responded to war and other national tragedies and collected items from the Hall of Fame, Major League Baseball, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Office of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the George W. Bush Presidential Library, and the personal collection of President Bush to tell the story. This was an entirely student-designed and executed project, and a real testament to what our amazing students are able to accomplish. It opened at the Memorial on May 5 and will run until July 8. I’ve also had a busy year with regard to scholarship. I presented papers at the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, the COSOLE-ING Passions International Conference on Television, Video, Audio, New Media, and Feminism, the American Studies Association, and the Society for Military History Annual Meeting. I was also thrilled to have come to fruition two editing projects. The first is a special issue of The Journal of War and Culture Studies on the topic “New Cultures of Remote Warfare”, which I co-edited with Rebecca A. Adelman and which appeared in January. The second, At War: The Military and American Culture in the Twentieth Century and Beyond, which I co-edited with Edwin A. Martini, was published by Rutgers University Press in February. It collects eighteen essays on all aspects of the military’s intersection with US culture and is designed for undergraduate audiences and general readers. Perhaps most exciting, though, was that in February I completed the manuscript for my second book-length project, Signature Wounds: Mental Health, The Military, and American Culture in the 21st Century. The book is in production with New York University Press, and it should be out in February, 2019. On the popular writing side, I published an op-ed about Ken Burns’ series The Vietnam War in the Washington Post last fall. This summer, I will be working on two projects. The first is an edited collection that grew out of the special issue of JWCS, entitled New Cultures of Remote Warfare: Visions, Intimacies, and Reconfigurations, which I will also co-edit with Rebecca A. Adelman and which is under contract with the University of Minnesota Press. Second, I will begin research on my third sole- 15 authored book, which will examine the debate over offering amnesty to those men who refused induction into the Armed Forces during the Vietnam War.
Dr. Victoria List [email protected] Dr. List joined the College in 1987. She teaches European history from the ancient world to the dawn of the 19th century, with a special interest in English and American legal and constitutional history.
Dr. List hosting her annual chili dinner, May 2016
Victoria List spent a quiet but pleasant summer reading up on recent research on the Renaissance, Reformation and Tudor/Stuart England. She escaped from this arduous task with a few visits to New York City, for friends, food and theater. She hopes to repeat both summer activities this coming break, shifting her attention to American constitutional history, with a focus on civil liberties and the impeachment process. She continues to enjoy cooking dinner for the History Club twice a year, which is always a lively last-day-of-the-semester feast.
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Dr. W. Thomas Mainwaring [email protected]
Dr. Mainwaring joined the College in 1989. He teaches about the U.S., and serves as the chair of the department.
I’m excited by the prospect of seeing my book on the local Underground Railroad between two covers. As many of you know, I’ve been working on this project a long time. (“I’ve been working on the railroad, all the live-long day…”) Abandoned Tracks: The Underground Railroad in Washington County, Pennsylvania, was published by the University of Notre Dame Press on April 30. I’d like to say that it will be appearing soon in your local bookstore, but realistically that’s not very likely. But it is available on Amazon.
At home, three blocks from campus
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Dr. Jennifer Sweatman [email protected] Dr. Sweatman joined the College in 2014. She teaches courses in Modern European and Women’s history, and advises the Phi Alpha Theta Honorary Society. On May 19th she was awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor.
Jennifer Sweatman and Sociology Professor Danielle Ficco took students to Paris for an Intersession travel course in January 2018 where students explored the rich, multicultural history of the French capital and indulged in some excellent French delicacies. The students were especially fond of hot chocolate and escargot. Dr. Sweatman is also working with two history majors on what promise to be very interesting independent study projects; one deals with the link between art and political revolution, while the other examines the campaign to legalize birth control and abortion in France in the 1960s and 1970s.
Jennifer Sweatman awarding Gavin Koratich with his Phi Alpha Theta membership certificate at the Union Grill, with Orren Dinwiddie looking on.
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W&J History Faculty
Dr. Patrick Caffrey Dr. Robert Dodge (emeritus) Dr. David Kieran [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Dr. Victoria List W. Thomas Mainwaring (chair) Dr. Jennifer Sweatman [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Messages from Alumni
Brianna Morrison, 2016
I am in my second semester of law school at the University of South Carolina, and I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. I am thoroughly impressed by the people here and their passion for history. I have had multiple conversations about Confederates in the Attic, by Tony Horwitz, with students, faculty, and lawyers. One of my colleagues had the chance to meet Mr. Horwitz and discuss his book with him.
Hilary Miller, 2008 After I finished my year teaching in the W&J History Department in 2016, I returned to the National Park Service at Fort Necessity National Battlefield and Friendship Hill National Historic Site in southwestern PA to work as a seasonal park ranger. In 2016 and 2017, I completed many important projects, but I have a few favorites. Believe it or not, I developed ranger-guided Pokémon “hunts,” or tours, for visitors playing the popular Pokémon GO game. A special project was creating a BARK Ranger Program where visitors can bring their dogs to Friendship Hill to become Bark Rangers for free (cute Bark Ranger collar tag included!). With all of the hype over the musical Hamilton, I began offering Hamilton-based tours of Friendship Hill, which may or may not have involved me singing and rapping at 19 park visitors. I have a feeling that Dr. Mainwaring singing the Erie Canal song in class may have helped prepare me for these programs.
This year is shaping up to be a busy one, with both parks commemorating the bicentennial of the opening of the National Road. I’m debuting a stagecoach passenger program, meaning I’ll get to dress up as if I were traveling in the 1840s, and I’m organizing an event focused on the National Road and American transportation. The National Road Bicentennial Symposium will be held at W&J in October 2018 and I’m so pleased to be working with Dr. Mainwaring on this project. With all of this activity at the parks, we have a lot of work that would be ideal for volunteers and interns. I’d be happy to work with W&J students interested in public history over the summer. After all, I began with the NPS as an intern while still a W&J student.
Although busy at the parks, I’m still writing my dissertation and hope to complete my Ph.D. in American Studies at Penn State this year. It’s amazing to think about how W&J has influenced my academic and professional pursuits.
Michael Plumb, 2006
In October of 2017, after almost nine years working at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, I moved to Richmond, Virginia, to take a new position as the Vice President for Guest Engagement at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture (formerly the Virginia Historical Society). In this role, I lead the museum’s education, public programming, guest services, special events, retail, and volunteer teams. It has been an exciting few months, and Richmond is a fantastic town for history lovers. Best of all, now that I work for an institution telling the entirety of Virginia’s story, I am able to focus my attention on Washington AND Jefferson while on the job!
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Contributing to the Department
We greatly appreciate contributions. Among the ways you can help:
Tell us of internships and jobs in fields such as teaching, museums, archives, libraries, public service, and business.
Tell us of connections that could lead to internships and jobs.
Host students doing internships.
Join the College’s Alumni Mentor Program, which pairs graduates with students in their fields of expertise. For details contact the Office of Alumni Relations.
Make a financial contribution to the Department’s unrestricted fund. Among the things the proceeds support:
Student travel to conferences, research sites, and seminars; Internship travel expenses; Dinner for Phi Alpha Theta initiates at the Union Grill; and, Instructional materials and equipment.
You might also consider creating a scholarship, as William H. Davis, class of 1981, has done. The Davis Award goes to exceptionally worthy junior and senior history majors.
To contribute, please contact our department chair, Tom Mainwaring, at [email protected].