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The Department of History
December 2021 Alumni Newsletter
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 | Students return to the classroom during the first week of the fall semester. Pictured are Dr. Renée Baernstein’s students in her survey of Early-Modern European History.
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Dear Alumni and Friends of the History Department:
This fall students once again crowded the streets of Oxford as they began or resumed campus life at Miami University. And the history faculty were delighted to welcome them to our brick-and-mortar classrooms. Once again, we were able to engage in projects that are only possible when we meet in person. As the holidays approach, I send out this newsletter to give you some sense of what that looked like.
Most of the stories you will find below showcase classroom experiences. They reflect students’ genuine enthusiasm about being back on campus and engaging with each other in their coursework. Instructors, on their part, drew heavily on modern pedagogies to foster collaboration and interrogate the past in innovative ways. Thus, students put on the hat of the intrepid researcher (a.k.a. an historical Indiana Jones), re-enacted past events, or connected with peers abroad to discuss past and present.
Moreover, we were able to resume our custom of hosting guest speakers, creating extracurricular opportunities that are such an important part of the college experience. The crucial skill sets developed by history majors were at the heart of a presentation by Mr. John Pepper, former CEO of Procter & Gamble, who majored in history himself. His visit offered students “real-world” perspectives both on the value of what they study and on what lies ahead beyond college. The department also inaugurated a new lecture series, the Sippola Family Lectures, focused on “conspiracies in world history.”
Despite the disruptions of the pandemic, history faculty also continued to be active scholars, publishing books and articles, attending conferences remotely, or presenting their work in new online formats, often reaching far greater audiences than ever before. This newsletter has previously reported on the remarkable success of the online history journal Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, co-edited by our own Steven Conn. The magazine continues to grow in readership (1.8 million between 2020-21), initiatives (such as student-teacher outreach efforts), and platforms (podcasts, videos, and social media). Origins also offers students opportunities to be involved as writers, editorial assistants, or interns. The project demonstrates our conviction that teaching, research, and public engagement are not separate endeavors, but mutually reinforce and enrich each other. In closing, I hope that you and your families are well. I also want to thank all those who support the department and our students. Please keep in touch and don’t forget to follow us on the department’s Facebook page. Best wishes for the coming holiday season!
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History novices become Raiders of the Lost Archive
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 | Team Pit Vipers celebrates the completion of their quest as Raiders of the Lost Archives. Pictured are, from left to right, Carver Spangle, Caitlin Zawodny, Andrew Murray, Bethany Flannery, Alexis Salamone, and Enrique Robles.
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In a new class this semester, " Raiders of the Lost Archive," Dr. Andrew Offenburger used the Indiana Jones films as a starting point to introduce students to historical research. On the first day of class, Indiana Jones himself made an appearance (portrayed by theater major Jonathan Erwin), and "stole" a real historical document from Dr. Offenburger. Students have been chasing Dr. Jones ever since, learning from scholars across the university along the way, and even gaining experience conducting preliminary research for history professors Dr. Kimberly Hamlin and Dr. Steven Conn.
Earlier this month, students arrived in class expecting a routine quiz. Instead, they were greeted with a video message from Dr. Jones, which launched them on a five-stage scavenger hunt related to Miami history. At the end of the hunt, teams had to document their completion of the chase by taking a selfie near the Myaamia Center. Congratulations to "Team Pit Vipers" for finishing first!
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 | Evening event in Wilks Theater with Mr. John Pepper
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In September, corporate leader and author John Pepper, former CEO of Procter & Gamble, visited Miami with his wife Francie Pepper to discuss the value of a history major and other humanities degrees. Mr. Pepper, himself a history graduate, drew an evening crowd in Wilks Theater as he engaged in conversation with history honors students Alexa Lawhorn and Aidan McKeon and fielded many questions from the audience. The event, co-organized by the Department of History and the Humanities Center, was moderated by Dr. Kimberly Hamlin. The Department of History also launched a new series of lectures, made possible by the generosity of Miami alumni (and parents) Rick and Cyndi Sippola, on “Conspiracies in World History.” The first two well-attended lectures took place this fall. Dr. Eugene Avrutin (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) explored the long and tragic history of blood libel accusations against Jewish communities, focusing on the Velizh Affair in 19th-century Russia. Dr. Marjoleine Kars (University of Maryland-Baltimore County) lectured on 18th-century revolutions in the Americas, especially a little-known, dramatic slave rebellion in colonial Guyana Dr. Kars uncovered in her recent book, Blood on the River.
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Re-enacting the past and engaging with the present
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 | In this picture, revolutionary factions mingle, with the student wearing a British wig representing James Delancey, wealthy leader of the Loyalist faction.
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Representing the past through historical re-enactment has become an effective tool for students to exercise their historical imagination and critical skills as they interpret important historical episodes. This fall, students in Dr. Lindsay Schakenbach Regele’s class on the American Revolution represented the Provincial Congress in New York City in the spring of 1776, debating whether to support rebel calls for independence.
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 | Students in HST 313 (History of England) reflect on the upheavals the English Reformation caused in ordinary people’s lives.
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|  | Students of Revolutions and Social Movements in Latin America
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| Students of English history (in a course taught by Dr. Wietse de Boer) probed the turbulent twists and turns of the 16th-century English Reformation. They did so by re-enacting the experiences of the villagers of Morebath, in rural Devon, based on a microhistory by the British historian Eamon Duffy. And in Dr. Steven Tuck’s Greek and Roman history classes students took positions from ancient public debates in Greece and Rome, including the first recorded debate about the death penalty, held in ancient Rome.
Dr. Elena Albarrán’s students of Revolutions and Social Movements in Latin America kept an eye on the news this semester, tracking in real time the (counter-) revolutions in the region as they studied their Cold War antecedents. The Nov 7 elections in Nicaragua extended the regime of Daniel Ortega, long-time leader of the once-revolutionary FSLN party. The class reached out to peers in Nicaragua to learn about young people’s responses to this latest electoral cycle. These local contacts responded through social media and multimedia presentations conveying their discouragement and also their hopes for a new wave of democratization. The students recorded messages of solidarity to send back to these Nicaraguan youth.
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Faculty Spotlight: Daniel Prior leads international research project
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 | A Kyrgyz oral epic bard performs while a scribe records the text, 1920s
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An international team of scholars led by Dr. Daniel Prior was awarded a prestigious grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to conduct archival research on Central Asian oral traditions in the Kyrgyz Republic.
From the late 18th to the early 20th century, Kyrgyz nomads blended history, genealogy, and epic poetry in oral poems that were also preserved in writing. These rare manuscripts help historians fill in gaps in knowledge about the struggles of Central Asian nomadic tribes amid expanding empires. The project published its pilot website this summer, with support from Miami’s Humanities Center, and in collaboration with digital librarian Alia Levar Wegner, and history graduate Ben Storsved, now a graduate student at Indiana University.
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Joel Benson '77, Ph.D. '87 retired in May 2020 after teaching at Northwest Missouri State University for 33 years. During his tenure there, Dr. Benson served as Faculty Senate President and Department Chair. He calls the educational foundation he received from Miami’s History Department “instrumental in [his] success.” He wishes all 2021 graduates good luck.
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Elena Jackson Albarrán is the author of “ Globalizing the Americas Through Twentieth-Century Youth Organizations,” in The Oxford Handbook of the History of Youth Studies, edited by James Marten (Oxford University Press, 2021); “Infancia y la política cultural del desarrollo en el Día Panamericano, 1930-1948,” Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Niñez y Juventud 19:3 (2021); and “Medicalizing Modern Motherhood in the Americas,” Journal of Women’s History 33:2 (2021).
Kimberly Hamlin was named the James and Beth Lee Professor of History. This summer, she taught a virtual class on the history of the #MeToo movement at the Chautauqua Institution of New York. She continues to organize and host the “Women You Should Know” discussion series at Cincinnati’s Mercantile Library, which featured renowned speakers and was attended by multiple Miami students.
Steven Tuck published a new edition of his acclaimed History of Roman Art (Wiley, 2021), along with several articles. He also gave a variety of public lectures on Zoom and in-person. A two-page spread in Scholastic News reached over 2 million subscribers. It was his “greatest ever publication,” Dr. Tuck notes.
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Andrew R.L. Cayton, a much beloved History professor at Miami University, died on December 17, 2015 following a long illness. To honor his legacy, the Department of History has established the Andrew R.L. Cayton Memorial Fund.
The fund commemorates Professor Cayton’s profound impact as an instructor, advisor, and mentor of generations of students in the History Department and at Miami University. The fund will support history students’ research, internships, and other opportunities to expand their education and to prepare them for a wide range of careers.
Donations can be made by clicking the red button below. Please reference “Andrew R.L. Cayton Memorial Fund” in the memo section.
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College of Arts and Science at Miami University
© 2021 Miami University.
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