College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Agricultural History and Rural Studies Program
Department of History
| Got a question or comment? Pamela Riney-Kehrberg |
Newsnotes I extend special congratulations to Sara Egge, who began the AHRS program a year ago. This summer, the Department of Education awarded her a Jacob Javits Fellowship. This is a highly selective, four year fellowship, covering tuition and all expenses. Many congratulations, Sarah. AHRS students continued their success in the State Historical Society of Iowa’s research grant competition. Receiving 2008 awards were Sara Egge, for her work on rural women and suffrage, and Angela Gumm, for her study of the waste-to-energy systems at the Ames Resource Recovery Plant. We are also thrilled to announce the publication of Joe Anderson’s dissertation as Industrializing the Corn Belt: Agriculture, Technology, and Environment, 1945-1972. You can find a copy through the University of Northern Illinois Press, or any internet bookseller. I would also like to extend special congratulations to AHRS graduate Anne Effland who has begun her tenure as the president of the Agricultural History Society. We are proud of you! If you attend the annual Agricultural History Society Meeting in June of 2009 in Little Rock, Arkansas, you will be able to hear her presidential address. Pamela Riney-Kehrberg
New Student The AHRS program welcomes Audrey Shoemaker. Audrey hails from rural Illinois, and graduated from the University of Illinois – Urbana – Champaign in May of 2008.
Adam Ebert Adam Ebert is in his final year as a graduate student at Iowa State. After a few months of researching in the UK and Ireland, he presented “Nectar for the Taking: The Promotion of Bee Culture in Early Modern England” in July 2008 at the Land, Landscape and Environment symposium at the University of Reading, England. The next several months will be dedicated to completion of his dissertation on the popularization of scientific beekeeping in Britain. The doctoral defense is scheduled for April 2009. Sara Egge Sara Egge will begin her second year in the Agricultural and Rural Studies Program at Iowa State. This summer, Sara worked on a research project funded by the provost's office. She explores various aspects of the lives of women at Iowa State from its first class of students to the students of today. The project will become an interactive website that details the history of women students, faculty, and staff at Iowa State. Sara also received a Jacob Javits Fellowship this year. The award supports graduate students in humanities by paying for their tuition and fees and providing a living stipend. She is Angie Gumm Angie writes, “Since last year I have become not only a fields-passer but a published historian as well! My article “Looking for the Good in Garbage: Bill Compton Builds Wichita a Pyrolysis Plant” came out in the Fall 2008 issue of Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains. Now, I am excited to start working on my dissertation, which will be titled “Waste, Energy and Ideology: The History of Resource Recovery in the United States.” It will look at how waste (agricultural, construction, and municipal solid waste) and energy are connected and how seriously waste has been pursued as an answer to our energy problems. I also will examine various ideologies and values associated with different perspectives on waste and energy. Along with my dissertation, I’ll be working on my project that received a State of Iowa Historical Society grant, “The Ames Anomaly: How a ‘Little City with Big Ideas’ came to have the most enduring resource recovery plant in the country.” And be sure to check out the History of Women at ISU site, which should be up in January 2009, that I worked on with Sara Egge—it will be neat.” Peter Noll Peter Noll begins his second year in the AHRS program optimistically looking forward to preparation for field exams. His research interests continue to be loosely constructed as some confluence of the built environment, rural landscape, culture, transportation infrastructure and market awareness/access--in no particular order. He continues to think about, but accomplish few tangible results, toward an eventual dissertation along those lines, focusing on the late nineteenth century collar counties of Chicago’s immediate rural hinterland. Peter received an MA in Historical Administration at Eastern Illinois University in 2002 before spending five years working in the public history field. He is formerly the Editor-in-Chief of the Midwest Open-Air Museums Coordinating Council (MOMCC) Magazine. Peter spent two years on that organization’s board of directors along with two years as Treasurer for the Historical Administration Program Association. Currently he is serving his time as Phi Alpha Theta (Kappa Iota chapter) President. Peter’s greatest accomplishment, since moving to Iowa, has been wining the Ames City League C4 coed softball championship (all by himself)! Robert Welch Bob writes, “The previous school year found me studying for and somehow passing my field exams, which means that I am now dipping my toe into the waters of dissertation research. I am currently looking at the world of antebellum agriculture in the Upper Midwest and Iowa with an emphasis on the changing world of the Yeoman Farmer during the period. Yeomanry is a term that has been applied mainly to Southern farmers in the antebellum era, and I intend to apply this term to Midwestern farmers as well. I am privileged to have been selected as a recipient of the Garst Fellowship, and am hoping to spend some time on the road this year casting a wide net for research and new experiences.” Rick Woten "In the past year, I have been most fortunate to secure research fellowships from both the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History and the Filson Historical Society. The research fellowships, supporting my dissertation, focus on providing access to archival materials at the New York Historical Society Library and The Filson in Louisville, Kentucky. Last fall, I presented a paper entitled, "Navigating Improvement in a Settler Society: Constructing the Des Moines River Improvement Project, 1846-1902" at the Society for the History of Technology Conference in Washington, D.C. I also presented a paper entitled, "Boosterism, Statehood, and Law: The Politics of Improvement in nineteenth century Iowa" at the Policy History Conference in St. Louis, Missouri this past spring. In the spring, I received a teaching excellence award from the Graduate and Professional Student Senate. Summer research included research and preparation of an historical review of the Mortensen Road Dairy Farm for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Additionally, the history department provided me the opportunity to teach the United States Agriculture Surveys this past academic year."
News from Program Alumni
Joe Anderson, PhD 05 In November, 2008 Northern Illinois University Press published his book, Industrializing the Corn Belt: Agriculture, Technology, and Environment, 1945-1972. His essay, “Lard to Lean: Making the Meat-Type Hog in Post World War II America” will appear this fall in Food Chains: From Farm Yard to Shopping Cart, edited by Warren Belasco and Roger Horowitz, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. In 2008 Annals of Iowa published his article “Vacant Chair on the Farm: Soldier Husbands, Farm Wives, and the Iowa Home Front, 1861-1865”. Joe continues to do consulting work. This past year he worked with the National Institutes of Environmental Health and the Indiana State Museum. Jenny Barker Devine, PhD 08 Jenny is an assistant professor at Illinois College, Jacksonville, Illinois. Jenny writes, “I started a Facebook group called "Rural Women's Studies Association - Graduate Student Lounge," which all interested persons should join. Also, I published one article titled “The Farmer and the Atom: The Iowa State Cooperative Extension Service and Rural Civil Defense, 1955-1970,” Annals of Iowa 66, no. 2 (Spring 2007), 161-194. The date is not a typo, by the way, the issue was just a little late in coming out. And I graduated in May and started a new position as Assistant Professor of History at Illinois College in Jacksonville. Next semester I'll be teaching a course: Manure, Muckfarms, and Mainstreet: Agrarian Myth in American History (they're trying to jazz up course titles, so "Rural History" didn't quite cut it, but it’s one and the same).” Randal Beeman, PhD 95 Stephanie Carpenter, PhD 97 Stephanie Carpenter is associate professor of history at Murray State University, in Murray, Kentucky. Jean Choate, PhD 1992 Jean Choate is a full professor at Coastal Georgia Community College, Brunswick, Georgia. Jean writes “I am in my tenth year at a community college in Georgia. The Board of Regents has recently voted to make us a four year college. But I would like to assure my colleagues that teaching at a community college can be great. There are fewer committee meetings, less demands that you publish when they want you to, etc. etc. and the students are good average students. I personally enjoy research and publishing and find time for it mostly in the summer and during vacations. My third book which is on impressed sailors has been tentatively approved for publication, now if I can only get some illustrations.” Francis Danquah, PhD, 1991 Francis Danquah continues as Professor of History at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Anne Effland, PhD 91 Anne Effland continues to work in the Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. She organized several sessions for last June’s Agricultural History Society meeting in Reno. We are particularly excited to announce that she has assumed the presidency of the Agricultural History Society. Valerie Grim, PhD 90 Professor Valerie Grim is Chair of the African American and African Diaspora Studies Department at Indiana University. She is the local arrangements chair for next September’s Rural Women’s Studies Association meeting in Bloomington, Indiana. Valerie writes, “Since your last publication, I have been doing work in rural west Africa, rural Germany, and rural Mexico, working on research projects connected to Blacks in the Rural African Diaspora. I am revising a book to emphasize the relationship between white paternalism and black self-determinism in the pre-civil rights rural south; current research includes a book length project on black farmers and civil rights. I have also submitted several articles for consideration for publication.” Kevin Hill, PhD 02 Kevin Hill continues as academic advisor for the ISU Department of History. He has recently finished a history of Parks Library. Peter Hoehnle, PhD 03 Peter writes, “I am the Project manager for the Iowa Valley Resource, Conservation and Development. Part of my position is serving as Land stewardship Program Director. This position involves doing ecological restorations, prairie burns but, more importantly, developing landscape histories of particular sites. I research original survey notes, agricultural and population census statistics and other sources in order to trace the changes that have come to particular sites across Iowa. I am the manager for both the Iowa Valley Scenic Byway and a portion of the new Lincoln Highway Scenic Byway, and am currently involved in developing historical and cultural resource materials for a revision of the Iowa Valley Scenic Byway Corridor management plan. I serve on three boards here in Amana, and I continue to serve on the board of the Communal Studies Association and as co editor of that organization's newsletter. I presented at DMACC in April as part of their Iowa Studies Program (and got to see Joanne Dudgeon again), I also did a paper at the 2008 Shaker Seminar at Oneida New York this July and will be presenting at the CSA Conference in October. I still serve on the Shambaugh Award Committee for the State Historical Society.” Bruce Homan, PhD 02 Bruce Homann continues to teach history at the Coon Rapids campus of the Anoka Ramsey Community College in Minnesota. Alexandra Kindell, PhD 06 Alexandra Kindell is teaching at Indiana University Northwest and is looking for a publisher for her book manuscript. Several students nominated her last fall for a teaching award at IUN. Derek Oden, PhD 07 Derek writes, “I am currently an Assistant Professor at Del Mar College. I have served on a variety of faculty committees, including a program review committee. I was a session commenter at the Missouri Valley History Conference this spring and will be presenting a paper at the Great Lakes History Conference this October. I continue to do research on farm safety and have made great progress on improving my teaching. Jen and I are enjoying our two sons, Luke and Caleb.” Joel Orth, PhD 04: Joel Orth was promoted to tenure track assistant professor at California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo. He recently completed a major revision to Cal Poly's history-social sciences single subject program, and continues as the history-social sciences credential adviser. Lisa Ossian, PhD 98: Lisa Ossian teaches at Des Moines Area Community College, Ankeny Campus. She is the director of DMACC’s Iowa Studies Center. Knut Oyangen, PhD 07 Knut writes, “I am still a researcher at the Norwegian School of Managment BI, working on a book about the Kongsberg Arms Factory. This year I've also presented at two business history conferences and had an article accepted by the Journal of Interdisciplinary History (it's not out yet).” Cameron Saffell, PhD 07 Cameron Saffell continues as Curator of History and director of the Oral History Program at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces. He also serves as an adjunct professor of history at New Mexico State University. Last fall he graduated after completing his dissertation, “Common Roots of a New Industry: The Introduction and Expansion of Cotton Farming in the American West.” He published two book reviews and popular articles for Chronicles of the Trail and New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage News. He continues to review manuscripts for Agricultural History and the Southern New Mexico Historical Review, makes several public presentations annually for the Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, and this year concludes eight years of service for the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro Trail Association (CARTA). He also served as a guest curator on the “Medieval Southwest: Manifestations of the Old World in the New” at the Southwest Collection, Texas Tech University. Claire Strom, PhD 98 Claire Strom has been awarded the Rapetti-Trunzo Chair of History at Rollins College, in Winter Park, Florida. Consequently, she and the journal have moved to sunny Florida. So far she is thoroughly enjoying all the benefits of an endowed chair and a liberal arts college, but she is not quite so keen on the hurricanes.
AHRS GRADUATES AND CURRENT The AHRS program is doing its best to update its records and to find past graduates who seem to have slipped through the cracks. Here is a list of AHRS graduates, and their last known places of employment. If you are in contact with any of those whose current employment is unknown, or if you know of a graduate with whom we have lost contact, please let me know. And thank you ahead of time. Ginette Aley, 2005, Southern Indiana University, Evansville, Indiana Joe Anderson, 2005, Mount Royal College, Calgary, Alberta Jenny Barker Devine, 2008, Illinois College, Jacksonville, Illinois Randall Beeman, 1995, Bakersfield College, Bakersfield, California Stephanie Carpenter, 1997, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky Jean Choate, 1992, College of Coastal Georgia, Brunswick, Georgia Francis Danquah, 1991, Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. John Davis, 2002, retired Denise Dial, 1998, Army National Guard Anne Effland, 1991, Economic Research Service, USDA, Washington, D.C. Karla Ekquist, 1999, Naugatuck Valley Community College, Waterbury, Connecticut Judith Fabry, 1993, National Park Service Katherine Fromm, 2000, Honors College, Iowa State University Valerie Grim, 1990, African American and African Diaspora Studies Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana Kevin Hill, 2002, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa Peter Hoehnle, 2003, Iowa Valley Resource and Conservation Development (RC&D), Williamsburg, Iowa Bruce Homan, 2002, Coon Rapids Campus, Anoka Ramsey Community College, Coon Rapids, Minnesota Cecil Kirk Hutson, 1995, Chief of Staff for California Senator Tom McClintock, California State Senate Alexandra Kindell, 2007, Indiana University Northwest, Gary, Indiana Philip J. Nelson, 1996 Derek Oden, 2006, Del Mar College, Corpus Christi, Texas Joel Orth, 2004, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, California Lisa Ossian, 1998, Des Moines Area Community College, Ankeny, Iowa Knut Oyangen, 2007, Department of Innovation and Economic Organization of the BI Norwegian School of Management Cameron Saffell, 2007, New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, Las Cruces, New Mexico Suzanne Schenken, 1992, Independent Scholar Bert Schnieders, 1997 Claire Strom, 1998, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida Louis Tremante, 2000, last known, advising, the College of the University of Chicago Cherilyn Walley, 2003, Technical Publications Manager, Dynamic Educational Systems, Inc., Phoenix, Arizona Fuming Wang, 1998, People’s Republic of China Douglas Wertsch, 1992, last known, Athens State University, Athens, Alabama RESEARCH AND TRAVEL SUPPORT Iowa State University graduate students may apply to the Graduate College for one travel and one research grant each fiscal year. The applications require a brief budget. The forms are available on the Graduate College web site. Iowa State University’s Department of History offers the prestigious Garst Dissertation Fellowship each year to a graduate student or students in the advanced stages of dissertation research and writing. Students intending to apply must submit a formal letter of application and a current vita to the program director by 1 March 2008. Each semester, Phi Alpha Theta, Kappa Iota Chapter, sponsors a travel grant for active members in good standing who present their work at academic conferences. Students can receive up to $200 for travel expenses or conference registration fees. For more information on membership, as well as application forms, please visit the PAT website, www.stuorg.iastate.edu/pat. Further questions may be addressed to the Chapter Advisor, Dr. Charles Dobbs, cdobbs@iastate.edu.
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA The State Historical Society of Iowa has, for several years, funded eight or more $1,000 research grants for individuals pursuing research publishable in Annals of Iowa. The good news is that this year, they will be able to fund ten grants. Grants are normally advertised in January, and due in April. In the last five years, AHRS students have had very good luck with these awards.
Graduate students and graduates of the AHRS program may find opportunities to pursue their interests through the Smithsonian Institution’s fellowship program. Graduate Student Fellowships - These fellowships allow students to conduct research for ten-week periods in association with Smithsonian research staff members. Applicants must be formally enrolled in a graduate program of study, must have completed at least one semester, and must not yet have been advanced to candidacy in a doctoral program. Predoctoral Fellowships - These fellowships allow students to conduct research for periods of three to twelve months. Applicants must have completed coursework and preliminary examinations for the doctoral degree, and must be engaged in dissertation research. In addition, candidates must have the approval of their universities to conduct their doctoral research at the Smithsonian. Postdoctoral and Senior Fellowships - Postdoctoral Fellowships of three to twelve months are available for scholars who have held the doctoral degree or equivalent for fewer than seven years as of the application deadline. Senior Fellowships of three to twelve months are available for scholars who have held the doctoral degree or equivalent for more than seven years as of the application deadline. Deadline: January 15th (postmark) for awards to begin on or after June 1st For further information, go to http://www.si.edu/ofg/fell.htm
AWARDS The Agricultural History Society is now accepting submissions for its 2008 awards. All submissions should be made by December 31, 2008. The winners of the awards will be announced at the Society banquet at the annual meeting, Reno, Nevada, June 2008. The Everett E. Edwards Award Deadline: December 31, 2008 The Everett E. Edwards Award is presented to the graduate student who submits the best manuscript on any aspect of agricultural history and rural studies during the calendar year 2008. The award includes an honorarium and publication in the fall issue 2009 of Agricultural History. Gilbert C. Fite Dissertation Award Deadline: December 31, 2008 The Gilbert C. Fite Dissertation Award will be presented to the author of the best dissertation on any aspect of agricultural history completed during the calendar year 2008. Please submit three (3) copies of the dissertation. The award includes an honorarium of $300 and a certificate. Wayne D. Rasmussen Award Deadline: December 31, 2008 Amount $200 honorarium The Agricultural History Society offers the Wayne D. Rasmussen Award to the author of the best article on agricultural history, broadly conceived, published by a journal other than Agricultural History during the calendar year 2008. The award includes a $200 honorarium for the author and certificates for the author and publisher. Theodore Saloutos Book Award Amount: $500 honorarium The Theodore Saloutos Book Award was established in 1982 in memory of the distinguished historian and past president of the Agricultural History Society. An annual award of $500 is presented to the author of a book on any aspect of agricultural history in the United States, broadly interpreted. Publishers should send four copies of the book for consideration.
WEB PAGES: For more information about agricultural history and rural studies, as well as funding opportunities, search the following websites. Agricultural History and Rural Studies http://www.history.iastate.edu/aghistory.shtml Agricultural History Primer http://www.history.iastate.edu/index.htm Agricultural History Society http://www.aghistorysociety.org/ H-Net Humanities & Social Sciences OnLine http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~rural/ Phi Alpha Theta http://www.phialphatheta.org/2004winners.htm Rural Women’s Studies Association http://www.uncp.edu/rwsa/ State Historical Society of Iowa http://www.iowahistory.org/
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