Keene State College

    
     

            Welcome to the History Department

As a field of study, History provides students wtih many of the necessary skills for a productive professional career and an intellectually fulfilling life.Toward these ends, the History major aims to provide students with the ability to think and read critically and analytically, to form sound opinions and support them with logical arguments based on documentary evidence, to communicate ideas effectively, and to conduct historical research.  The History major further attempts to provide students with a body of historical knowledge that will enable them to understand contemporary events of local, national, and global importance, as well as to understand and appreciate various cultures and civilizations that make up the world community.  Above all, the History   major helps to provide students with the means for lifelong learning. Learning Outcomes.   

"A historian has many duties . . . The first is not to slander; the second is not to bore." -Voltaire

Emma Fogg (BA in History. Class of '08) was awarded an internship for the fall 2008 at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.. This internship is with Katherine Ott in the division of Medicine and Science. Emma will work on topics and artifacts related to the history of disability. The main project is an exhibit on the history of disability that is planned for 2010, the twentieth anniversary of the ADA.    

                          

          

        John Singleton Copley, "Watson and the Shark," 1778

For more information please contact:

Shawna-Lee Perrin, Administrative Assistant

603 358 2965

sperrin@keene.edu

History Department

Morrison Hall

Keene State College

Keene, New Hampshire 03435

 

 

Department News

Professor Andrew Wilson's essay "The Unity of Physics and Poetry: H.C. Orsted and the Aesthetics of Force," has been accepted for publication in the Journal of the History of Ideas 69.4 (October 2008).

Noted Historian Christopher Browning will deliver Keene State College's 11th Annual Holocaust Memorial Lecture entitled "Holocaust Denial In The Courtroom." Assistant Professor Nicholas Germana will join Professor Browning on stage following the keynote address to begin a campus-wide open discussion of the topics raised by Dr. Browning in his talk.

Lecturer John Lund's essay, "The Contested Will of  'Goodman Penn': Anglo-New England Politics, Cultures, and Legalities, 1688 - 1716," has been accepted for publication by Law and History Review and will appear in volume 27:3 (Fall 2009).

Associate Professor Matthew Crocker's essay "The Missouri Compromise, the Monroe Doctrine, and the Southern Strategy," is included in the 2008 edition of Major Problems in the Early Republic,1787 - 1848.

Assistant Professor Nicholas Germana addresses the German Studies Association annual conference in St. Paul, Minnesota. October 2008.  www.thegsa.org

Assistant Professor Graham Warder addresses the "Disability History: Theory and Practice" conference at San Francisco State University and present his work on a panel called “Referencing Disability: The Encyclopedia of American Disability History Project.” July/August 2008. Disability

Associate Professor and Chair Greg Knouff addresses the 14th Annual Omohundro Insitute of Early American History and Culture Conference, Suffolk University, Boston, Massachusetts.June 2008 Program

Lecturer John Lund addresses The Historical Society’s 2008 Conference, "Migration, Diaspora, Ethnicity, & Nationalism in History," Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. June 2008. Program

Lecturer Susan Wade addresses the 43rd International Congress of Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan. May 2008. Congress

         

NEH Grant for Helen Keller Project
The department is pleased to announce that in May 2007 the College received a grant of $199,740 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for a project entitled "Helen Keller in Her Times." Assistant Professor of History Graham Warder is the project director. The project addresses several themes, including the historically rooted experiences of disability, class, and gender; how models of language acquisition have changed over time; Keller's use of and manipulation by various media as an international celebrity; and her efforts as a human rights activist. Over the next three years, a partnership between Keene State, the Hampshire Educational Collaborative, and the Disability History Museum will develop curriculum materials for secondary and higher education that will place the life and legacy of Helen Keller in historical context.

The institutional grant administrator is Mary-Ellen Fortini. All materials financed by the grant will be made publicly available on both the Disability History Museum and PBS websites.

The work is connected with the ongoing production of a documentary film, Becoming Helen Keller, produced by Laurie Block and tentatively scheduled to be broadcast nationally by PBS in 2010. Through the grant, primary sources about Helen Keller from various archives will be collected, digitized, and annotated for classroom use. Background essays by scholars from across the nation will also be produced, and classroom activities will be outlined and piloted.