Undergraduate Studies Newsletter Spring 2019

UGSNewsletter Spring 2019 PDF

Click on the above to access the History Department Undergraduate Student Newsletter for Spring 2019, with information on scholarships, research and travel opportunities, and much, much more!

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Courses of Interest for Spring 2019!

Want to know more about our connected histories?

Consider one of these courses for Spring 2019!

HISTORY LOWER DIVISION COURSES:

HIST 1900-001 Nation Building: Stories, Identity, and Conflicts, 1/22/2019-5/18/2019, Jared Benson, TU/TH 12:15-1:30PM, Centennial Hall 106. Description: Nation-Building explores the historical manufacture of states through a progressive examination of evolving material and ideological contexts. Most people today think of the world and its peoples in terms of “countries” (nation-states) and rarely consider how and why they have been conditioned over time to do so. Nation-states, relatively speaking, represent a very recent development in social organization over the course of human history.

HISTORY 3000 LEVEL COURSES:

HIST 3000-001 Steam, Stench, and Strikes, 1/22/2029-5/18/2019, Barbara Headle and Leah Davis-Witherow, TH 4:45-7:20PM, Columbine Hall 114. Description: Over the course of the nineteenth century, the United States experienced a series of revolutions that challenged citizens’ notions of class, race, gender, labor, leisure, modernity, and democracy. Such upheavals were not always overtly political; rather, they occurred in various contexts including technology, architecture, medicine, material culture, and the workplace. This class examines the economic, political, cultural, social, gendered, environmental, and artistic themes of late 19th-century and early 20th-century America.

HIST 3000-002 Laws of War, 1/22/2019-5/18/2019, Robin Lynch, WE 1:40-4:20PM, Columbine Hall 136 Description: This course explores the changing ethics and laws of war (organized violence) overtime. Specific thematic topics include debates over justice and expediency in the Peloponnesian War, feudalism and the Peace of God, the treatment of prisoners of war, Machiavellianism and Realpolitik, the U.S. Constitution and the roles of the President and Congress, nuclear and chemical weapons bans from WWI to the present, and the emerging norm over humanitarian intervention and RTP (the Right to Protect).

HIST 3000-004 History of Medicine/Body, 1/22/2019-5/18/2019, Susan Brandt, TU 1:40-4:20PM, Centennial Hall 191 Description: Media headlines confirm that healthcare is at the center of current debates over politics. Has medicine always played such a visible role in our culture? This course offers an introduction to the history of healthcare and medicine in the United States from the colonial period to the present. Students will consider topics such as the effects of epidemics, the persistence of lay healing, medical professionalization, the authority of anatomical training, the role of healthcare institutions, public health, medical consumerism, women’s health, and healthcare activism. Students will interrogate how cultural discourses about healing and diseases have shaped our understandings of the body in sickness and health.

HIST 3000-005 Russian History, 1/22/2019-5/18/2019, Melvyn Weissman, TU 1:40-4:20PM, Columbine Hall 117 Description:  Learn about the fascinating history of Russia from Peter the Great through the Russian Revolution to the Cold War and Soviet USSR. Your appreciation of current global politics will be grounded in new historical perspectives.

HIST 3100-001 Digital History, 1/22/2019-5/18/2019, Roger Martinez, TU 10:50-1:30PM, Columbine Hall 136  Description:  This course introduces students to the newly developing field of digital history, and gives students a chance to present a serious project of historical research in a digital medium, specifically building virtual worlds. We will learn visual programming and practice using Unity (a game development engine) and other digital tools.

HIST 4120 The Twelfth Century Renaissance, 1/22/2019-5/18/2019, Janet Myers, WE 7:30-10:05PM, Columbine Hall 216  Description: Scope of the course: 11th century through the 13th century. Themes covered will be political, social, religious, and economic developments that shaped Medieval Europe into a unique civilization.

HIST 4530-001 Civil War and Reconstruction, 1850-1877, Amy Haines and Paul Harvey, 1/22/2019-5/18/2019, TH 1:40-4:20PM Columbine Hall 216 Description: Intensive study of the causes and consequences of the Civil War, and the struggle over reconstruction. Course focuses on the period 1850 – 1877. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirements: Inclusiveness (Global/Diversity); Writing Intensive.

GES 4700: Power, Populations, and the U.S. Census, Barbara Headle, Friday 1:40-4:20, Columbine Hall 334. The Census is coming in 2020! Why do we care? In this course, student study the social, political, economic, racial, ethnic, and gender issues that have plagued the census since 1790 and continue today.

HISTORY ONLINE COURSES: HIST 4540-OL1 American Religious Cultures, 1945-2000, Karen deVries and Paul Harvey, 1/22/2019-5/18/2019, Online course. Description: Intensive research seminar focusing on primary texts of recent American religions from Cold War Protestantism to New Age Buddhism. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirements: Inclusiveness (Global/Diversity); Writing Intensive.

HISTORY WEEKEND UNIVERSITY SPRING 2019 HIS 3980-WK1- The Vietnam War Through Film, Samantha Christiansen, 2/16/2019-4/27/2019, SA 1:00-5:00PM  Description: A survey of the war in Southeast Asia through the eyes of Hollywood. Major periods include France’s war with Vietnam, early American involvement, the war through Asian eyes (as portrayed in Hollywood), the soldiers’ war back home, and the fall of Vietnam. HIST 1400-WK1 Latin America to 1810, Sarah Clay, 2/16/2019-4/27/2019, Osborne Center B215, SA 8:30-12:30PM  Description: Survey of the political, social and economic development of Latin America from pre-Columbian beginnings to 1810. Approved for LAS Humanities area and Global Awareness requirements. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirements: Inclusiveness (Global/Diversity); Explore-Arts, Humanities, and Cultures; Writing Intensive. GT-HI1.

HISTORY SUMMER Travel course, June 2019  HIST 3000: Special Topics: Pilgrims, Patriots, and Poets–Travel Course Janet Myers and Barbara Headle, 6/3/2019-6/7//2019. Description: Be a Pilgrim! Journey to Massachusetts on the history department’s maiden in-country travel course. We will venture to Boston, Plymouth, Lexington and Concord where we follow the footsteps of the determined, but not always so pure, Puritans; of the rabble-rousing, tea-tossing, rebel Patriots; and of the literary giants whose works range from the sublime to the downright eerie. This is a 3-credit hour upper division history course. When: June 3 – 7 2019. How Much: Tuition $1300. Travel expenses $2544. (Prices are approximate (subject to confirmation) Contact: Barbara Headle: bheadle@uccs.edu or Jan Myers: jmyers@uccs.edu

Women of Influence: Leah Davis Witherow

The History Department is proud to have Leah Davis Witherow as one of our proud MA alumni, as well as former Instructor and now part-time Lecturer in the Department. Recently Leah received a wonderful recognition locally, as a “Woman of Influence,” from the Colorado Springs Business Journal.

Here’s the article, which discusses Leah’s background and her work now as archivist and curator of history at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum:

https://www.csbj.com/2018/11/16/women-of-influence-leah-davis-witherow/

And here’s a video interview with Leah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=SGllS7vfXpM.

Congratulations to Leah, who has been a major force in shaping the teaching of history both to UCCS students and to the general public here in Colorado Springs.

How to Remember Reconstruction

An important new short article to recommend to you, from two prominent historians of the Civil War and Reconstruction, about why Reconstruction has not been remembered well in our national history, and what Congress and the National Park Service can do to remedy that.

GES 4700,Spring 2019: Power, Population, and the U.S. Census

GES 4700 Census Course Flier2 Spring 2019 (1)

Please click on the link for an exciting new course in Spring 2019:

GES 4700: Power, Populations, and the U. S. Census
The Census is coming! The Census is coming! Okay, so it won’t be here until 2020.
But! What does the census mean for UCCS students? For citizens? Why do we care?
In this course, students study the social, political, economic, racial, ethnic, and gender
issues that have plagued the census since 1790 and continue to today.

Travel Class to Boston next June: Announcement

Dear Students, Jan Myers and Barbara Headle are sponsoring a travel class to Boston next summer, and will be holding an information session on this soon, Please see the announcement below for more info:

For those students interested in the trip to Boston (June 3-7, 2019):  we are holding a trip meeting on Friday, October 26, in Columbine 136, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.  Pizza will be provided. This meeting will include a discussion on costs, finances, and payments.  If you have any questions, please contact Barbara Headle (bheadle@uccs.edu or Janet Myers (kpmyers@comcast.net).  

Publication by Graduate Student in our MA Program

Below is an article by our recent M.A. graduate Mike Stephen, published in the Idaho Statesman on September 9, 2018, based on historical work he had done about a Chinese-American community in Silver City, Idaho. Congratulations to Mike for this great public history work!
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Photos above, left to right:

1. Photo: ChineseFuneralProcession (reproduced July 2018 by permission of Lawson’s Emu-Z-Um Museum, Grandview, Idaho)  Title under photo is:  Funeral Procession of Song Lee Chinese Merchant in Front of Chinese Masonic Hall Silver City George Sampson Driver.  On back is dated late 1890s.
2. Photo: FormerSiteChineseMasonicHallSilverCityIdaho (taken by author July 2018)  Photo taken relative to attached historic photo of Song Lee’s funeral procession taken approximately late 1890s.

 

As the descendant community of Silver City in Owyhee County decided to cancel this year’s Open House (held the third weekend of September since 1991), I feel compelled to kindly ask the owners of the historic buildings to reconsider.

I have been researching the former mining town for over a year now and have focused on the quality of on-site historic interpretation since the existing buildings were placed in 1972 on the National Register of Historic Places.  Quite frankly, there is much room for improvement not only with the history of the historic buildings but with the story of the Chinese who were also there in the 19th century.  The buildings on the National Register do not lend itself to providing an oral historical narrative for the public who visit.  The main purpose for the NRHP was historic preservation.

And in most respects, this step has been successful as the homeowners fought the BLM for outright ownership of home and the land underneath.  But this hard fought battle for clear title overshadowed historic interpretation and thus the story for citizen-tourists has been significantly halted.  This significance can best be described as a loss of collective memory for the previous and most immediate generation.  If the living memory of the descendant generation is not shared appropriately then that collective memory for subsequent generations is compromised, or worse, corrupted.

Since the 1930s, when Silver City was mostly, but not completely, abandoned after the county seat was moved to Murphy, benevolent “call-outs” that bemoaned the loss of history were made.  The existing buildings on the NRHP notwithstanding, these call outs continue to be ignored.  The Statesman’s own Dick d’Easum in 1934 wrote concerning the slow loss of religion not only with the decaying church but also with the Chinese temple.  James Murphy from Portland, Maine cried out to the Statesman in July 24, 1935 to save the temple’s remaining relics.  The building itself would soon be gone after Murphy came through.  The Boise Chamber of Commerce, taking advantage of the new fledgling automobile tourism, sponsored field trips to Silver City to bring attention to saving the town’s history (Sunday Statesman, September 29, 1935).

The Statesman was not the only agent of benevolence in saving history.  Paul Tracy lived as a child in Silver City while his father ran a tin shop just across from Song Lee’s shop and the Chinese Masonic Hall on Jordan Street (BSU Archives).  Tracy would later publish a poem in 1968 that asked rather grimly, “Will no lift his voice for Song Lee” (Owyhee Verses and Prose).

As contemporary challenges are not mitigated, such as a less adversarial relationship with the visiting public and an acknowledgement in responsibility of an appropriate remembrance as well, then it is highly unlikely that Song Lee’s voice will be heard.  Not having the Open House only provides more constraints within the possibility of lifting his voice, a voice that was shared with the descendants of the homeowners.