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Written by Professor Ruth Herndon
For more than a decade, I have been tracking down information about needy children who caught the attention of Boston’s overseers of the poor in the 1600s and 1700s. Continue reading
16 Monday Sep 2019
Posted Faculty News
in≈ Comments Off on Tracing the Stories of Poor Children in Early America
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Written by Professor Ruth Herndon
For more than a decade, I have been tracking down information about needy children who caught the attention of Boston’s overseers of the poor in the 1600s and 1700s. Continue reading
02 Friday Aug 2019
When I replied “No” to Kinzey’s question, and to Colin’s follow-up, I was pretty sure of my answer.
I was wrong. The resulting historical adventure began with a lively class discussion, continued through an independent study, and eventually resulted in an article that undergraduates Kinzey McLaren-Czerr, Colin Spicer and I wrote together. Continue reading
08 Monday Jul 2019
Posted Faculty News
in≈ Comments Off on The Lunar Landing at 50: Prestige in History and Memory
I recently had an opportunity to contribute to the “First on the Moon” series of events sponsored by Auglaize County Historical Societyand the Armstrong Air and Space Museum that commemorate this year’s 50thanniversary of the moon landing. My discussion at St. Mary’s Community Public Library cautioned that our commemoration of the moon landing must firmly situate this episode in the tumultuous context of 1969. Although the lunar landing garnered immediate international admiration and adulation, its benefits were frustratingly fleeting, as other events at home and abroad continued to diminish America’s international prestige and moral authority. Continue reading
03 Friday May 2019
Posted Faculty News
in≈ Comments Off on Professor Grunden obtains SOKENDAI grant in Japan
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Professor Walter Grunden has been invited to the Graduate University for Advanced Studies (Sōgō kenkyū daigakuin daigaku, or SOKENDAI) in Hayama, Japan, to participate in a collaborative research project examining science policy under the Allied Occupation (1945-1952). Funded by an internal grant awarded to principal investigator Professor Kenji Ito (SOKENDAI), Grunden, Ito, and Professor Takashi Nishiyama (State University of New York, Brockport) will travel extensively throughout Japan this summer to conduct research in government and university archives and will begin collaboration on a book-length monograph. Their project will examine the links between occupation-era reconstruction and postwar remilitarization and economic recovery, with a particular focus on how science policy both contributed to and obstructed these processes. Grunden’s primary interest in the project is to illustrate how the Cold War era imperative to contain the spread of communism in East Asia directly informed policy decisions affecting the reformation of science institutions and the reintegration of Japanese scientists into the global scientific community even well after the occupation ended. Grunden’s preliminary findings on this subject were presented in the article, “Physicists and ‘Fellow Travelers’: Nuclear Fear, the Red Scare, and Science Policy in Occupied Japan,” published in the Journal of American-East Asian Relations (2018). The collaborative book-length project with Ito and Nishiyama will expand this study beyond physics and into the fields of aeronautics, engineering, and medicine. Continue reading
15 Monday Apr 2019
Posted Faculty News
in≈ Comments Off on Learning about “Fred’s House” Brings A Greater Understanding of Local History
In the courses I teach on local history, my main message is that every place has a history, no matter how ordinary or how small. An abandoned storefront on a city block, a tumble-down farm house sitting in its lonely quarter acre, or your own home, has a history miles deep. If we’re willing to think creatively about the possibilities that small spaces hold, we can uncover intriguing stories about our communities that inspire and connect us.
29 Friday Mar 2019
Posted Faculty News
in≈ Comments Off on Is Catholic Enlightenment Possible?
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Recently, while working on my own research, I was struck by the parallel trials facing the writers who participated in what we might call a project of Catholic Enlightenment in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the current headline-making struggle to reconcile the institution of the Catholic Church with modern realities. Broadly speaking, the participants in the early modern Catholic Enlightenment were much the same as their twenty-first century counterparts: women and men who both valued their Catholic identities and sought to resolve the apparent tensions between that identity and more secular understandings of reform, progress, and essential human dignity engendered by the Enlightenment. Ulrich Lehner, the foremost scholar currently working on the Catholic Enlightenment project, depicts a project of social reform which sought to address a variety of perceived flaws within the church, from the despotic reign of the papacy and episcopacy to the church’s stance on controversial issues like slavery and the treatment of women.[1] My own research into the theological and philosophical side of all this reveals much the same: dedicated Catholics who nonetheless saw value for the Church in embracing new philosophical concepts that reconsidered the nature of human identity and individuality, many of which the Church had remained skeptical if not openly hostile. Continue reading
02 Monday Jul 2018
Posted Faculty News
in≈ Comments Off on Dr. Nicole Jackson’s Presentation at Way Library
“Toledo’s Great Migrations: Two or Three?” BGSU’s own Dr. Nicole Jackson, Associate Professor of History, posed this question to a diverse audience at Way Public Library in Perrysburg on Wednesday evening, June 27.
The usual story identifies Toledo as part of two great migrations: Migration #1 was the movement of former slaves away from their masters’ homes after the Civil War; Migration #2 was the movement of rural African Americans to urban areas in the north and west between the 1940s and 1970s. Dr. Jackson suggested an additional Migration for Toledo: the movement of fugitive slaves from slave-holding states to Ohio, other northern states and Canada. In this alternate Migration #1, Toledo played a major role, both by creating incipient black communities and by extending the pathway from slavery to freedom for those fleeing bondage in slave-holding states. Black communities established in the Toledo area during the first two migrations attracted those who came in the third migration. Dr. Jackson’s presentation on this aspect of local history drew lively questions and discussion from the audience and provided an excellent example of the way scholars can connect the university and the public.
05 Thursday Apr 2018
Posted Faculty News
in≈ Comments Off on Dr. Grunden’s guest lecture at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing
On Tuesday, April 3, 2018, BGSU History Department Professor Walter Grunden visited the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing to present an invited guest lecture at the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences. The lecture, entitled, “The Left Behind: Travel Restrictions, Science Policy, and the Cold War in Occupied Japan,” examined how United States occupation officials used visas for international travel from 1945 to 1952 as both a carrot and stick to influence the political behavior of Japanese scientists, which ultimately resulted in the isolation of a select group who were deemed to have been communists, socialists, or “fellow travelers.” Grunden’s host, Professor Zaiqing Fang, noted that this is an aspect of postwar Japanese history about which Chinese academics know too little. The essay upon which the lecture was based has been accepted for publication in the Journal of American-East Asian Relations.
Grunden’s visit to Beijing marks the halfway point in a six-month long journey in Asia, which so far has taken him to South Korea, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and several destinations in China. “I am trying to get the most out of my spring sabbatical not only by conducting research for my primary project, but also by visiting important historical sites, such as the Great Wall, and pursuing side interests, such as experiencing national history museums, as well as exploring numerous temples to examine up close the many forms of Buddhist iconography that can be found throughout East and Southeast Asia. I’m really looking forward to sharing these experiences with my students when I return to Bowling Green,” Grunden said. Grunden also remarked that the trip has had some particularly memorable moments. “One day last week as we exited a museum, we found that all the traffic in our part of the city had come to a complete stop. There was an incredible security presence with both police and uniformed military officers lining the streets. Suddenly, on the overpass ahead, there arrived a number of police and military vehicles followed by series of luxury sedans speeding by. Only the next day did we learn that we had encountered Kim Jong-Un’s motorcade on its way to downtown Beijing.”
The next stop for Grunden will be Japan, where he will continue his research on science policy during the years of the US
occupation. Grunden has been awarded a grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to collaborate on this project with Professor Kenji Ito at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI) in Hayama, Japan.
Photo 1: Grunden (center) and Professor Zaiqing Fang (left) pose for a photo with faculty and graduate students of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of the Chinese Academy of Science’s College of Humanities & Social Sciences
Photo 2: Promotional poster for Grunden’s lecture, “The Left Behind”
Photo 3: Grunden and his wife, Han Li, on the Great Wall at Juyongguan north of Beijing
02 Friday Mar 2018
Posted Faculty News, Public History
in≈ Comments Off on Partners of the Public History Program Receive Grants to Support Their Work
Two key partners of the Graduate Certificate in Public History have received grants from Ohio History Connections to support their work in preserving and making accessible our region’s history.
First, the Center of Archival Collections at BGSU, in partnership with the History Department, has obtained an Ohio History Connections grant to digitize interviews with WWII veterans and holocaust survivors. The interviews were collected from 2001 to 2004 by students enrolled in the HIST3030 course on World War II, under the direction of Dr. Walter Grunden. Both Dr. Grunden and Kasey Harrington, M.A. student in History with a specialization in Public History, are core contributors to this project. The project is led by Michelle Sweetser, head of the Center for Archival Collections. Dr. Grunden and Sweetser regularly teach graduate seminars in History and the Graduate Certificate of Public History; Kasey Harrington has contributed to this project since her senior year as a major in History; she is graduating from our M.A. program in May.
Additionally, the Wood County Historical Society obtained funding to improve the storage of artifacts in its collection and serve as a model of stewardship practices for other institutions. The project is led by Holly Hartlerode, who regularly teaches ACS/HIST 6530, Historical Organization, in the Graduate Certificate of Public History.
A full description of the grant is available in The Toledo Blade: http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2018/03/02/BGSU-s-collection-of-World-War-II-era-stories-to-be-digitized.html
The grants demonstrate the contributions of our public history program to the preservation and diffusion of the history of our region.
27 Tuesday Feb 2018
Posted Events, Faculty News, Graduate Student News, Phi Alpha Theta
in≈ Comments Off on Trivia Night Recap
The History Department’s Annual Trivia Night occurred last Friday, February 23. Here is a quick recap of the night’s events.
Michael Ginnetti and Phi Alpha Theta sponsored the event, with Ginnetti serving as the MC/providing commentary. Carol Singer served as official scorekeeper.
The Professor’s team, aptly named after the Aztec God of War Huitzilopochtli and inspired by Dr. Challu’s crest, entered as the heavy favorites after having decimated the competition last year. Drs. Brooks, Challu, Carver and Jackson faced off against 2 undergraduate and 2 graduate teams. Would the underdogs be able to beat the dynasty? The short answer is no.
As the night started, many students in attendance seemed to be slightly dazed from the large amount of pizza they stocked up on prior to the event. Because of this, Team Huitzilopochtli (The Professors) got out to an early 7-5-4-4-4 lead. After a quick score update, which induced an unwarranted feeling of hope for the student teams, Dr. Challu was forced to leave due to a prior commitment, but his crest featuring the Aztec God of War remained with the team. The crest seemingly inspired The Professors and they soon took a commanding lead, led by Dr. Brook’s knowledge of local history and Dr. Carver’s knowledge of all things trivia. Despite losing Dr. Challu (or because they lost Dr. Challu?), Team Huitzliopochtli easily won the event by 10+ points. Dr. Brooks, bad foot and all, proudly started dancing with the Huitzilopochtli crest, with the student teams glimmering in envy. With the event coming to a close and plenty of fun times had, Michael Ginnetti thanked all participants and commended the student teams on a hard fought battle, but in the end The Professors were simply to much to handle. Despite this, students left with a feeling of hope and professors with a feeling of dread as the same thought crossed everyone’s mind: Dynasties are destined to fall.
See you next year!