New Article by Professor Emeritus Johanna Shields

Retirement sure hasn't slowed down the scholarly efforts of Johanna Shields! She has recently published an article, "The Dynamics of Southern Friendship in the Civil
War Novels of Augusta Evans and Jeremiah Clemens," in Mississippi Quarterly, 60
(Spring 2007), 305-33.

Congratulations, Johanna. We hope we will remain so productive over the years!

Congratulations to Sandra Mendiola

We are pleased to announce that first year faculty member Dr. Sandra Mendiola has received a UAH Research Mini-Grant for $4,651.00 and a UAH Humanities Center Faculty Research Grant of $2165.00 to pursue research on "Mexico's 'Dirty War' on Street Vendors, 1973-1986" in Puebla and Mexico City, Mexico, in Summer 2009. In Mexico City, she will visit the General National Archive and the National Autonomous University's newspapers collection, and in Puebla, she will also conduct oral interviews with female street vendors. This research will contribute to Sandra's book manuscript, a revision of her doctoral dissertation, tentatively entitled "Marketers, Street Vendors, and Politics in Mexico."

Sandra has also been invited to be the featured scholar at a February meeting of the Newberry Library in Chicago. Her pre-circulated paper on the state repression that street vendors faced as they formed a militant union that fought for access to public spaces will be the sole subject of discussion for organizers and participants.

Pictured here see Sandra conducting an oral history interview during her dissertation research.

The History Department is delighted that Sandra is off to such a good start and congratulations her on her early successes!

Congratulations to Sam Thomas

Congratulations are in order for Dr. Sam Thomas. Sam just received word that he received a UAHuntsville Research Mini-Grant worth $7800 and a Wellcome Institute Grant (based in England) for $2200.

Sam will use the funding for two primary projects. In May, he will attend a seminar at the Folger Library in Washington, DC, on "Secularization and Selfhood." The seminar will explore how individuals in England and America understood the shift from the religious culture of the early modern period to the so-called "disenchantment of the world" that developed in the wake of the Enlightenment.

Then in July, he'll spend two weeks in Cheshire, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, England, laying the groundwork for his project under development on "Midwifery, Medicine and Society in Early Modern England." While there, he'll survey archives that he will use as he researches and writes two books on the social and cultural history of midwifery between 1660 and 1800.

Well done, Sam!

Scholarship Application Deadline on December 1

Reminder to All Students:

The deadline to apply for UAHuntsville scholarships is December 1! Click here for information.

Please consider applying!

History Club: Halloween Visit to West Mastin Lake Elementary School and Election Day Fundraiser

The History Club has been very active lately. On Halloween Friday, the History Club visited a third grade class at West Mastin Lake Elementary School in Huntsville. President Veronica Ferreira brought goodie bags full of healthy treats, and member Craig Noneman talked to students about how Halloween started, how Irish immigrants brought Halloween with them to the New World, how trick-or-treating came about, why people make Jack-o-lanterns, and how Americans began the practice of carving pumpkins. Students then asked a lot of questions.

The History Club also held a successful fundraiser on November 4, Election Day, selling baked goods in Morton Hall and making $120.00. The Club will use the money to organize additional service activities at West Mastin Lake Elementary, one for Presidents' Day in February and for Women's History Month in March.

Great work, History Club!

Pictured here are Craig, Veronica, and Veronica's son Timothy, a member of the third grade class at West Mastin Lake Elementary.

UAHuntsville History Alum Featured in Huntsville Times

Rusty Hughes, a UAHuntsville History Alum, was recently featured in the Huntsville Times, which described a mock election activity that he organized with all 780 students at Riverton Middle School to help them learn about the electoral college.

According to the article, "Each classroom in the building represents a state, from the largest homeroom designated as California, which has the most electors at 55. Principal Todd Markham's office represents Montana, with its three electoral votes. The students will vote Tuesday by homeroom, or state, and the votes will be tallied to see who wins the election."

Hughes' eighth grade students also hosted a debate with ten students researching Barack Obama's positions and another ten researching those of John McCain.

Hughes teaches seventh grade civics and geography and eighth grade world history.

It is so exciting to see our alums engaging so creatively in the classroom and in their schools! Good work, Rusty!

Dr. Johnson publishes "Training Socialist Citizens"

Molly Johnson's book, Training Socialist Citizens: Sports and the State in East Germany is out! The press is Brill Academic Publisher of Leiden, The Netherlands. Here is the summary from the back of the dust jacket:

"Offering a counterbalance to previous scholarship on elite Olympics sports and doping scandals, this study analyzes how the East German government used participatory sports programs, sports festivals, and sports spectatorship to transform its population into new socialist citizens. It illuminates the power of the East German dictatorship over its population, the ways that citizens participated in, accommodated to, and resisted state goals, and the government's ultimate failure to create eager socialist citizens. It also highlights the orchestration of participation in modern dictatorships, the role of mass participatory sports as both a valuable political tool and a popular leisure activity, and elements of continuity and change in twentieth-century German history."

Congratulations, Molly, we are proud of you!