Fall 2019 Courses

The department is going to be offering some cool classes next fall.  Professor Dalton will be teaching two new courses, one on world cinema and one on wizards and witchcraft.  He will be teaching the first-year seminar on the topic of wizards and witchcraft using case studies from different continents and time periods.  Dr. Henning will be offering European military history and modern Ireland.  Dr. Pitt is offering his course on Native American history, which will be a nice complement to some of the anticipated activities on campus.  Dr. Payne will be offering introduction to public history.  This class is designed to help students explore history careers but also to develop career skills such as team-work and iterative design.  Students create games based on research in Civil War materials in the archives.

Dr. Henning's Book is Now Available

Dr. Lori Henning, new to our history department, has a new book.  Harnessing the Airplane is published by the University of Oklahoma Press.  Her research is timely and important.

From the description from the University of Oklahoma Press:  At its dawn in the early twentieth century the new technology of aviation posed a crucial question to American and British cavalry:  what do we do with the airplane?  Lacking the hindsight of historical perspective, cavalry planners based their decisions on incomplete information.  Harnessing the Airplane compares how the American and British armies dealt with this unique challenge.  A multilayered look at a critical aspect of modern industrial warfare, this book examines the ramifications of technological innovation and its role in the fraught relationship that developed between traditional ground units and emerging air forces.

"Lori Henning demonstrates that not all who oppose new developments are opposed to the technology that drives them.  Harnessing the Airplane is an intriguing work that will appeal to anyone interested in the history of air power, the cavalry, and science and technology."  Brian D. Laslie, author of Architect of Air Power:  General Laurence S. Kuter and the Birth of the US Air Force.

American Historical Association Careers for History Majors

The American Historical Association (AHA) has published an updated version of Career for HistorytMajors.  It's worth checking.  While you are at it, look at other recorses by following the careers label.

Some Cool Projects by Students

This fall semester, three seniors did cool projects.  Joe Aldridge wrote a senior thesis on the history or propaganda in which he looked at several case studies in the United States of propaganda and misinformation, older versions of "fake news."  Gina Gerard created a web page on Games in Education with resources and plans for educators using games to teach social studies.  Jeremiah Horrigan's thesis on the Compromise of 1850 provided an interesting look at the political conflict that was a stepping stone to the Civil War.

Over in the archives, students working on history internships with Dennis Frank did good work.  Ashlee Gray's work on the NY 154 resulted in, among other things, the map that visualizes casualties mentioned earlier.  Joseph Giglio worked on the John F. Carr collection.  Adam Wojcik did extensive archival work in the Antonucci Collection of World War II materials.  All gained valuable experience working with original documents and preparing them for use that includes digital access.

The Hardtack Regiment Newsletter mentions the good work of our students.  Mark Dunkelman writes,

"Recently I had reason to visit the website of the Dunkelman and Winey Collection of the 154th New York at St. Bonaventure University for the first time in quite a while and was greatly pleased to find much progress has been made in digitizing materials and adding links to them. University Archivist Dennis Frank credits intern Ashlee Gray and work/study student Anna Giglio for their work on the site. Anna has been working on the A-F list of soldiers; Ashlee on the P-Z list. There is still plenty to be done, but these two dedicated women are steadily chipping away at it and I’m very grateful to them for their efforts. Take a look:  http://achives.sbu.edu/civil_war/154th_site.html

Data Visualization and History Internship

Ashlee Gray, double-major in History and English, is wrapping up her internship in the University Archives with Dennis Frank.  Ashlee, an alumnus of the digital history class that experimented with app making, worked on collecting, analyzing, and displaying data from the New York 154 regiment papers in the University Archives.  She worked in Microsoft Excel and then moved on to visualizing and mapping the data.  Above is a map she produced.  Next semester she plans on continuing the project to produce a more refined final product.  (Hint:  give it a moment to load and it works best if you expand it to full screen.)

Practical Advice on Getting a Public History Job

The American Historical Association has a nice article, Practical Advice on Getting a Public History Job, that is worth a read.  The short version, in addition to studying history get the media, communications and other skills you need to land a job.

Board Games on Friday

It's the last day of classes!  Blow of some steam.  Chill before finals start.  Friday Dec 7 we'll be playing games and eating pizza (as long as it lasts) in the uppers seminar room in the Friedsam Memorial Library.