The Great Depression - then and now?

In 2019, the pandemic crashed the economy creating a great deal of uncertainty about the future.  HOw long would it last?  What would be the long-term consequences?  Would the recovery be V shaped, K shaped or something else?  The crisis didn't hit all parts of society equally; social justice issues already being debated intensified.

How should our leadership respond?  What is the role of the government?  Economic Stimulus?  Calling for sacrifice?  Try something new?  Deficit spending?  Modern Monetary Theory?  Universal Basic Income?

We've had these debates before.  During the Great Depressions Americans debated how to respond to an economic collapse accompanied by other disasters.  The details differ, but many of the big themes remain.  Economic orthodoxy of Keynesian economics? Raise tariffs?  Stay on the gold standard?  Provide economic relief?  

Like now, the crisis changed society and brought existing conditions into the light.  Families were under stress.  Jim Crow segregation presented a real challenge to recovery efforts.

The Great Depression changed American politics, economics, and society.  What lessons can we learn for today?  Take the special topics course, the Great Depression taught by Phillip Payne.

  

American Tapestry and the Culture Wars

 Andrew Roth, former interim president of SBU, has started a podcast called The American Tapestry Project. You can find it on most podcast apps including NPR One. The web page is https://www.npr.org/.../910.../the-american-tapestry-project Students who took my culture wars course and public history course will hear familiar themes. He visited with both classes.

Spring 2021 Classes: Putting the World in Context

 

The Dustbowl of the 1930s.  Natural disaster accompanied economic collapse.

The people take to the street. The Storming of the Bastille.

The world seems topsy-turvy right now.  Want to make sense of it?  Would you like some context for the 2020 pandemic?  Dr. Pitt is offering a seminar on the history of disease.  We keep hearing that the current economic numbers are the worse since the Great Depression (are we in a depression?), but what does that mean?  Dr. Payne is teaching a class on the Great Depression.  Perplexed by all the talk of pandemics, trade, Brexit and other things international.  Dr. Henning and Dr. Pitt are teaching classes placing Europe and the United States in a global context.  Folks are marching in the streets.  Riots.  Clashes between protestors and authorities.  Are we in a revolution?  Will a man on a white horse restore order?  Look to Dr. Henning's French Revolution and Napoleon class for some perspective.  Finally, looking to escape into the world of sports only to find the world follows you into the sporting arena.  Take Professor Dalton's Sports in American Society.  Let's say you wanted to escape into a good Korean film on Netflix or maybe chill with some K-Pop, then take Professor Dalton's Asia in Film and Media. 

The History Department is offering a variety of courses, including the usual array of European, World, and United States surveys but if you want a deeper dive, if you want to see the through-line that connects the past to the present, you should consider one of these courses.

Spring 2021 Courses

• History 207:  Sports in American Society.  Prof. Dalton
• History 327:  French Revolution and Napoleon.  Dr. Henning
• History 359:  The United States and the World.  Dr. Pitt
• History 365:  History of Modern Middle East.  Dr. Calabria
• History 394:  Special Topic:  Asia in Film and Media.  Prof Dalton
• History 492:  Advanced History Reading Program:  Disease.  Dr. Pitt
• History 494:  Special Topic:  The Great Depression.  Dr. Payne
• History 394T:  Europe in the World

The 19th Amendment: 100 years ago today

 On August 18, 1920 Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment, the final state needed for it to become law.  The 19th Amendment guarantees women the right to vote, making the 1920 presidential election the first one in which women voted. The Republican and Democratic Parties tried to figure out how to attract women voters - what issues would drive them?  

How has the pandemic changed your experience at SBU?

Documenting the Pandemic at SBU Update

Homemade Face Mask with Instructions

We now have a Google Doc explaining three ways you can share your experience with the archives, and thus the future.  (1) You can email the document to pandemic2020@sbu.edu.  You can do it as a Google Doc (which it is), download it as a MS Word doc, or cut and past it into MS Word.  (2) You can complete this Google Form.  If you want to send us audio, video or pictures use WeTransfer to send them to pandemic2020@sbu.edu.  WeTransfer is easy to use.  Just enter your email, the destination email of pandemic2020@sbu.edu, select the file and let it send the file.  It works on most devices.

If you work or study at St. Bonaventure University, we hope you take a few minutes to reflect and document this experience.

Documenting the Pandemic at St. Bonaventure University

Josie, Alex, and Kurt in History 419 (Computer Lab in Friedsam Memorial Library)

Josie Barcley, Alex Jodush, and Kurt Stitzel (pictured above in History 419:  Digital History and Archival Practices) have set out to capture at least some of the Bonas experience during the pandemic.  Growing out of a discussion with University Archivist Dennis Frank that there are very few records from the 1918 pandemic at St. Bonaventure University, the three students proposed that they set up a system and start collecting documents and reflections on what the 2020 pandemic has meant for the SBU community. 

This is a work in progress, but the Josie, Alex, and Kurt are reaching out to students and others to ask them to share their materials.  You can learn more on the archives web site or you can contact the team at pandemic2020@sbu.edu

Historical Detective Work and Information Literacy

Is it real, or is it Memorex?

Henry Ford once famously said that history is bunk.  During the Fall 2020 semester, Professor Chris Dalton is taking on that charge in History 106:  The Art of Historical Detection.  Students will apply historical methods to exam bunk history.  In this age of fake news, misinformation, and deep fakes, determining what is real is a valuable skill.  How do we tell what is real?  Some might call it information literacy, we call it debunking.

1920 Election

The folks at the Jandoli School of Communication are doing good work.  Check out the Jandoli Institute.  The published two essays of mine comparing the 1920 and 2020 elections, America First:  Make America Nostalgic Again and Like Writing History with Lightning: The Politics of Nostalgia and the New Media.