Memphis Historians on the Go

The saga continues -- still stranded in Belgium, the Perrys enjoy Belgian hospitality

2010-04-18T21:06:00.002-05:00

Today, we went into Brussels town center (Grand Place, en francais) and just wandered the streets, taking it in. A much more cosmopolitan (and certainly more “discovered”) city than either Ghent or Brugges, it also claims stunning stonework of the kind I have never seen. Every street, every alley… everywhere… is a gem. But, today was Sunday, and it was filled with people... wall-to-wall people, and I actually looked forward to getting back to the pseudo-hangar with the International Red Cross we have been calling home the past several days.

We returned and had a lovely time talking with the Red Cross people – they were from many different places in Belgium and all touted their particular region as we asked for recommendations of places to go tomorrow (we’re stuck here until at least Tuesday morning, when the airport will, I HOPE, allow us to finally head for home). Tremendous hearts, all of these volunteers, and they brought excellent senses of humor with them to share with us today… I was so glad, because I must admit I was getting a little weary. If ever you consider charities, please consider ones who do work with people who are displaced for any reason… I cannot tell you the meaning of the IRC’s kindnesses the past several days.

Well, I finally decided to go do something about freshening up… and when I came back the Red Cross workers said, “Rapide! Rapide! You must go over to votre husband – something wonderful seems to be happening!”

I went over to our cots and found two pilots - a couple with two children – who are, as they are putting it, temporarily “ecologically unemployed” due to Mother Iceland - standing there asking if we would like to share the hospitality of their home. I nearly cried, took a chance and we said yes.

Well, we are at this moment in this lovely village outside Brussels. It is quiet, peaceful… there are goats in the field next to us… and sheep a few doors down. The fields are greening and undulating … and as I look out the bedroom window I can see a sliver of moonlight… which I suppose you will all see later tonight.

If you wonder where it is, just ask Napoleon. He met his Waterloo here.

I am *not* kidding. We are five minutes away from the surrender site and will be going there tomorrow.

Life takes many twists and turns, but this is surely the least of the ones I expected today. I am grateful.

Laura P.

Icelandic volcano does indeed strand Laura Perry in Belgium

2010-04-17T15:03:00.002-05:00

We are being patiently and kindly cared for by the International Red Cross.

We were told by our airline to check out of our hotel in Ghent last night and “get to the airport as quickly as possible” in case the airport opened this morning, since the check-in and customs lines were likely to be very long this morning if our plane actually flew; inter-city trains in Belgium do not run overnight, arriving from Ghent to Brussels airport at 7 am, and making it potentially only a three-hour window to get our boarding passes, pass through customs AND get to the gate – not a good idea.

Well, we arrived at the airport last night to … desolation. And the International Red Cross. Once we knew where to go in the terminal, they greeted us with large smiles and fresh water and food – much appreciated all the way around. And, cots. Now, cots wouldn’t normally seem wonderful… but I am thrilled! And they have been bringing in more all night – the Brussels Fire and Rescue, International Red Cross… everyone – it’s a steady stream of cots, food and people.

All due to the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano.

We’ll make it home when we can; our flight this morning has already been canceled and it looks as though the airport will be closed yet another day. But, so far it’s not too bad – and tempers are not frayed at all – it’s very much the “comme ci, comme ca” attitude many here adopt anyway. Not a bad way to lower the blood pressure, I must admit. Who is to say what tomorrow will bring, but we’ll take it in stride as best we can.

Best of luck there where it sounds as though the only pressing issues are allergies and temperatures. And classes!

See you as soon as possible! Boy, is this more than I had planned on! I mean… really? A volcano?

Your International Red Cross “refugee,”
Laura P.

Icelandic volcano complicates Laura Perry's travel plans

2010-04-16T10:30:00.002-05:00

FYI – we’re trying to get home tomorrow, but Brussels Luchthaven is closed until 10 a.m. tomorrow at this point… and our flight is scheduled out at 10:30 a.m. I’ll keep you up-to-date; hopefully we will get home tomorrow or Sunday.

Crazy Icelandic volcano! But I have attached my favorite picture of it!

Laura P

Laura Perry reports on presentation at conference

2010-04-16T10:18:00.002-05:00

It’s the last day of the conference, and I am already mourning leaving Flanders – what a lovely, lovely part of the world! However, we may get to see a little more than we had planned; the Icelandic volcano has shut down the Brussels airport for three days along with nearly every other airport in Europe. I hope to get our boarding passes for tomorrow this afternoon… but it could be dicey. We’re trying!

Gave my presentation yesterday and I think it went well. I had some very helpful feedback and was thrilled to have been on a panel with some people about whom I have been reading for years. Rather intimidating, though!

Need to run to my first roundtable of the day, but I thought I would leave you with a picture my husband took on Monday in de Markt in Brugges – another gorgeous, enchanting town.

A smitten traveler,
Laura P.

Laura Perry reports on second day in Belgium

2010-04-14T16:10:00.003-05:00

Yesterday and today have been full of conference participation – and I am getting ready for the evening’s events at the Bijloke (pronounced Bay-loh-ke) School (the conference center), a sprawling complex of building originally begun in the 14th century as a hospital and now an enormous educational complex on the south side of old Ghent. It is about a 20-minute walk from the old city center where I am staying.

I could not be more blessed by the people here, both at the conference and in Flanders in general. They are open and generous with their time and energies and I am learning so much. There are more than 1500 people at the conference yet it is not overwhelming – it feels small and friendly, and everyone is exceedingly kind and excited about learning more and more and more. At the conference I am learning a vast amount of material, both theoretically and practically, and am stunned at the applications of geographic information systems to history – and how historians are applying history to make GIS make even more sense to the humanities.

As for the cultural things ? there is plenty of time to get around town in the evenings, and since we are in the old city center, everything is within short walking distance. The picture I have enclosed today is of our walk last night along the Graslei, the old houses of the richest of the rich in town from the 15th (?) century (I am sorry – I don’t have my literature with me here at the
conference center where I have internet access). They are right on one of the main canals and are some of the most beautiful buildings in town – though this city is blessed with beauty everywhere.

We also had dinner last night at a restaurant that backed one of these buildings, and had the best appeltaart I could ever have imagined (basically an apple pie… but made with different spices and served with home made ice cream, fresh whipped cream, and Belgian chocolate). The food is stunning verywhere – haven’t had a bad meal yet – even from the street vendors – but I
am not worrying about gaining pounds; I walk about 7 miles a day.

Oh – there appear to be few traffic laws here – pedestrians first, bicycles second, buses third and cars fourth … with no stop signs anywhere. You never look to cross the street, and simply rely on the fact that everyone else will fall back on those four cardinal rules! The politite (police) here re usually on foot and very friendly and helpful. I did smile, though, when I realized that the police station across from the hotel was housed in a building built in 1708. New, to Belgian standards.

More tomorrow, I hope!

Your happy learner and traveler,
Laura Perry

Laura Perry reports from Belgium

2010-04-14T15:58:00.003-05:00

Laura Perry, doctoral candidate, is in Belgium, primarily to learn about Geographic Information Systems. Here is her first report on what she is doing:

It is a wondrous thing to be here in Belgium!

We arrived on Sunday and have had a busy schedule since then – hit the ground running. We arrived in Ghent at 11: 30 a.m., checked in at the hotel and immediately started sightseeing (the registration desk for the conference wasn’t scheduled to open until Monday), and we were out until dark, visiting cathedrals – some started in the 600s and finished in the 18th century – and
eating traditional Flemish food (the best beef stew I have ever had, among other things – especially Belgian frites with mayonnaise).

The next day was a whirlwind tour of Brugges, which is 23 minutes away from Ghent by express train, and it’s true – it truly is the Venice of the North. It is a stunning city with most of its medieval architecture intact. We arrived back in Ghent just in time to make the registration desk, and then continued the sightseeing – lots and lots of pictures.

Today I have been attending sessions all morning learning the neatest things about the meld of history with technology, geographic information systems, in particular. I have been meeting people about whom I have read for years and that is a marvelous thing… talking with these down-to-earth and terrific scholars is really invigorating, and I can’t wait to continue the conference this afternoon. By the way – the conference site started out in the 14th century as a hospital and has become a large university. It is a stunning, sprawling site and I am awed by the architecture. Will take lots of pictures here, too.

But for now, I am going to run and find some lunch – or even better, some Belgian chocolate – to sate my appetite. The sun is shining and it is a gorgeous day. Attached is a picture from early this morning; it was still very chilly, but as you can see, I am proudly wearing my Memphis Tiger shirt despite the cool temps. Now the weather has moderated and I am going to venture out.

Will send another e-mail tomorrow if I can.

Happily,
Laura P.

Dr F. Jack Hurley reports on family trip to England and Scotland, and on Emmy nomination

2009-08-12T14:09:00.003-05:00

We are just back from a nearly three-week trip through England and Scotland. It was one of those things that just grew like topsy. Suzanne wanted to go to the Cameron Clan gathering, a once-per-decade affair (her maiden name was Cameron) up above Ft. William in the Scottish Highlands, and I wanted to go to the CLA Game Fair, a massive celebration of everything about the English countryside (including um, English shotguns), so we compromised and did both. The Game Fair was held at Belvoir Castle in the northern English countryside on the last full week-end in July; with the Cameron Gathering coming the next week-end.

We told our friends and relations about our plan and that is when things started gathering momentum. Suzanne's son, Jim Linder, decided that he wanted to see the Game Fair and attend the Clan Gathering as well, so he and his wife signed on.

Then our son-in-law, Robin Johnson, told his teenaged daughters, Erin (16) and Lachlan (14) that if they won at the state level in their respective catagories in High School History Day, he would send them to England and Scotland with us. Both girls really buckled down on their History Day projects. They had gotten interested in my books about documentary photography and both wound up doing Marion Post Wolcott. They interviewed me a couple of times and then went off and did their projects. I still have never seen Erin's, which was a monologue. I did see Lachlan's ten-minute film, and suggested one change, a word which was mispronounced, but that was all. Both girls won first place at the local level and also at the North Carolina History Day competition in Raleigh. Lachlan's film won the national gold medal for the best project relating to agriculture! How about that! Needless to say, we were delighted to have both girls with us for the trip.

Because the girls had not been to Great Britain before, we added a few days in London at the beginning and end of the journey. Erin loves the theatre, so we got tickets to see "Billy Elliot" (great fun, but the film is better). We also worked in short visits with my nieces and their families, as well as my sister and brother-in-law.

The three days between Game Fair and the Cameron Gathering were spent knocking around the Yorkshire Dales, so the girls got a good taste of the British countryside. We used the train system to do the long runs and rented cars when necessary to get out and about. It really worked nicely. Although there were challenges in getting six people moved around and housed and fed, I think this may well have been the best trip to the UK that I have had in many years. The girls were totally "gob smacked" (stunned) by London, the English countryside, and especially Scotland. It was really lovely seeing everything new again through their eyes.

It is good to be home now. I went to my blacksmith shop and worked yesterday and will be there again this afternoon. Good, hot, sweaty work. One other bit of news. "Documenting the Face of America," the PBS film I worked on, has been nominated for an Emmy. Pretty neat, eh?

I think that pretty well brings things up to date. You are welcome to share any or all of this massive missive with departmental folks.

Best regards to you and all,
Jack H.

Webmaster's note: The film that Dr Hurley refers to is "Documenting the Face of America: Roy Stryker and the FSA/OWI Photographers," which appeared on PBS stations in August 2008. Dr Hurley is the author of three books on FSA photographers: Portrait of a Decade, Roy Stryker and the FSA/OWI Photographers; Russell Lee: Photographer; and Marion Post Wolcott: A Photographic Journey. (For a fuller story about the film, visit the article on the Department of History Web site.)

Since his retirement in 2004 after 38 years of teaching, during which he twice served as chair of the department, Dr Hurley has lived in Davidson, North Carolina. His wife, Dr Suzanne Linder Hurley, is also a historian.

Drs Dennis Laumann and Daniel Unowsky report on Spring Break study-tour of Europe by students in their course on genocide

2009-04-23T16:15:00.006-05:00

Dr Dennis Laumann and Dr Daniel Unowsky, associate professors in the Department of History, led a group of 16 Memphis students to Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic over Spring Break in March. The study tour was part of their Spring 2009 course entitled “Genocide in German History” offered through the university’s Helen Hardin Honors Program.

In the first half of the semester, the class met on Friday afternoons for lectures and discussions on topics related to the course theme, including German colonialism, the genocide of the Herero in German Southwest Africa, the Holocaust, and history and memory in today’s Germany.

The students and professors flew to Berlin on 6 March and on arrival visited the new Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe located in the heart of the reunited German capital. Dr Laumann is shown here in the Memorial.

Over the following nine days, the Memphis group attended lectures by German scholars (shown here is Heike Wieters of Humboldt University),

toured Berlin’s Jewish Museum

and Olympic Stadium,

traveled on an overnight train to Cracow, and walked through Cracow’s medieval town center and Kazimierz, the city’s historic Jewish quarter.

The class also took a guided tour of the Nazis’ largest concentration and extermination camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, just outside Cracow. The following photographs show the fences at Auschwitz, the train entrance to the camp, and barracks inside Auschwitz.

The trip ended in Prague with a walking tour of the Jewish quarter and a final day in Europe spent as tourists. Dr Unowsky is shown in front of his favorite Art Deco hotel, in Prague.

The study-tour was the first trip abroad for many of the students, who focused on the very serious subject of the course but were also able to take advantage of this opportunity to see and learn about three great European cities.

Donald and Caroline Ellis settle into new house, visit England

2009-01-19T17:01:00.005-06:00

We seem to have settled into our house in Russellville, KY, after 7 months of bathroom renovations (a triple job that was estimated to take "a long month"--a very long month indeed).

We are getting acclimated to small town life and have made some very interesting friends tucked away in this rural backwater, but thank heavens for Nashville and Louisville with their symphonies and museums which are both easy drives from here. We have had lots of visitors and have scoped out some points of local interest to show them.

We had a good trip to England, leaving the USA at the end of September and returning at the beginning of November (just in time to vote) and were thus ideally placed to watch the collapse of capitalism spread to Europe (hope you didn't throw away your copy of Das Kapital), including the fall of the pound sterling which lost 25% during the course of the month, thereby greatly increasing our purchasing power.

We spent two weeks in London concert- and museum-going as well as researching the history of the last of the German WWI zeppelins (LZ113)--even going so far as to acquire the onboard anemometer of same at auction--wow, the pearl of great price! and spent another two weeks in the west country, shopping real estate.

Since we flew out of and into Washington DC and then drove back to KY, we experienced one of the most dazzling fall displays in memory.

Our next trip will be in a few weeks time to Oklahoma, returning via our favorite Arkansas state park lodge where we will spend 3 days with friends, followed by a trip to New York City in the spring to see our latest grandson.

We would be delighted to see anyone heading in this direction. Call us on: 270.726.6567

Donald and Caroline Ellis

Scott Marler visits the United Nations while recruiting for the Department of History

2009-01-08T14:05:00.003-06:00

Dr Scott Marler and Dr Aram Goudsouzian were in New York during the first week of January 2009 attending the convention of the American Historical Association and interviewing applicants for the department's position in southern history.

Dr Marler had been in New York on several occasions, sometimes for several weeks in a row, but he realized that he had never seen the United Nations. During a break he remedied that deficiency by going with his wife Candice, who, as it happens, lived only a few blocks away some years ago. He remarked that given the current crisis over Gaza, he was a little surprised that there were no demonstrators in evidence when he was there on Friday.

Julie Elb presents historical paper and sings in Opera Memphis production

2008-11-29T16:01:00.005-06:00

Julie Elb, currently the history department chair at Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis, attended the GEMCS (Group for Early Modern Cultural Studies) conference in Philadelphia this past weekend. She presented a paper, "The Taming of the Stew: Food and Feminine Identity in Early Victorian England." The paper was part of a larger project which involved her new class, Women and Power in Europe 1100-1900, a new elective she designed at Lausanne this year.

She also just finished singing in Opera Memphis' La Traviata, which ran in late October. Her next project will be Faust this coming April. The first photograph below is from her performance in La Traviata; the second is from her performance as one of the witches in last season's production of Macbeth.

Julie received her Ph.D. in history from The University of Memphis in 2003, writing her dissertation on food and feminine identity in England during the period 1750-1850, under the direction of Dr Walter R. Brown.

Cathy Ginn's class has a project on ancestors and family trees

2008-11-10T16:15:00.003-06:00

Cathy Ginn, a candidate for the M.A. degree in history, is currently teaching American History 280 (the first-half of the 20th century) at the National College of Business and Technology in Bartlett. Following the class trip to Alex Haley’s house which was reported on 9 October 2008, continuing the theme “My History is American History,” the class had a project in which the members could either write an essay about one significant ancestor or make a poster that displayed his or her family tree, using his or her choice of creative ways to display the information.

The posters were placed on display at the college. Here are some of them:

Ms Ginn, in reporting this project, remarked on how the students displayed creativity, imagination, and, in some cases, significant courage in asking lineage questions that had long been understood to be “off limits” in family conversation. In the photos displayed, the students showed their knowledge of culture, events, and fashions, including such things as military uniforms, hairstyles, automobiles, big bands, night life, and Jim Crow laws. Ms Ginn felt that this project reinforced in a practical and hands-on way what the class had learned from the textbook about the first half of the 20th century, and that the students began to realize more deeply that their ancestors played a significant part in building this country.

Cathy Ginn and her class visit Alex Haley's home

2008-10-09T11:43:00.003-05:00

Cathy Ginn, master's candidate in history, teaches history at the National College of Business and Technology in Bartlett. On 26 September she took her class to visit Alex Haley's home in Henning, Tennessee. The class is pictured here sitting on the same porch that Mr Haley, the author of Roots, sat on when he heard his great-grandmother tell stories from Africa that sparked his famous search for his own roots.

Before the visit, Ms Ginn had asked Dr Louis Gates to write to her students about his friend. The reply was presented to the museum in Henning when the students visited. (Dr Gates and Ms Ginn both come from the same town in West Virginia, she noted.) Dr Gates is now Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University, where he is Director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. He is well known for his work in identity politics, which includes work with DNA to establish ancestry. His note to the students follows:

I met Alex Haley through his friend, Quincy Jones. Quincy, one of my closest friends, scored the music for "Roots" when it aired in 1977. At that time, Quincy became obsessed with tracing his roots. And he introduced me to Alex, a small, warm, gentle, and open man. Alex always went out of his way to be kind to me, to say a good word. He was one of our generation's greatest myth makers, inventing a concept of reversing the Middle Passage by finding the source of one's tribal ancestors. Now, of course, we can do this through DNA. And when I conceived of my series, "African American Lives," it was because I had developed one very serious case of "Roots Envy" since I watched Alex's gripping television mini-series! And that is what we have done: "Roots" for the twenty-first century, "Roots" in a test-tube. I loved Alex, and his farm reflects his sense of peaceful reflection and a profound love of the world.

Ms Ginn remarked on how well the visit fit the theme of her history class: "My History is American History." About the class's sitting on Haley's porch, she said, "It was a poignant moment, needless to say, for each of us."

Dr. Doug Cupples's class tours sites of river war in Memphis during the Civil War

2008-09-12T12:07:00.006-05:00

Students of Dr. Doug Cupples’s Civil War Navy History class recently toured sites related to the river war in Memphis. They began the tour at the war-time Mississippi River Landing between Poplar Avenue and Jefferson Avenue on Riverside Drive. The class next visited the South Bluff site of Fort Pickering. Confederates used this location as camps of induction in early 1861. The fort was later fortified by the Union Army under Major General W. T. Sherman and was manned by several units of heavy artillery composed of former slaves . On the batture below the fort, the Confederate government constructed two ironclad rams in late 1861-1862, the CSS Tennessee and the CSS Arkansas.

The students then examined the two Indian mounds used to mount heavy artillery that regularly shelled the wooded area across the river in Arkansas during the war.

One of the most popular stops of the day was the Mississippi River Museum on Mud Island with its replicas of a Union ironclad gunboat and a Confederate bluff fortification mounting large bore cannon. Scale models of Mississippi River steamers and warships also were on display. Several class members were visiting the museum for the first time and they expressed appreciation for the educational experience it offers. The day ended with more discussion about the war over lunch at a downtown restaurant.

Mark Miller (B.A. 2005) reports on studies since graduating; will seek Ph.D. at Cambridge

2008-09-10T20:29:00.004-05:00

I attended the University of Memphis from 2001 to 2005 and earned a BA in History, Summa Cum Laude, in December 2005. My historical studies during that period were focused mostly on the twentieth century, and I covered a wide range of areas including America, Europe, the Soviet Union, Vietnam, and South Africa. Under the guidance of history professors Dr. Daniel Unowsky, Dr. Dennis Laumann, and Dr. D'Ann Penner I matured in the field and decided to continue my academic career in the study of history.

I spent my final semester studying in an intensive German language course in Heidelberg, Germany, which I arranged through the international office at the University of Memphis. During this time I traveled extensively throughout Europe and decided to focus my studies on German history.

In 2006 I moved to England to begin a Masters in German History at University College London under the supervision of Dr. Mark Hewitson. In the summer of 2007 I lived in Berlin, Germany to attend another intensive language course and carry out research for my MA dissertation, which looked at public reaction to Joseph Goebbels' 1943 'Total War' campaign after the German defeat at Stalingrad.

After finishing the MA and working one year in London for a small corporate language-training provider, I will begin studies for a PhD in History at Jesus College, University of Cambridge under the supervision of Professor Richard Evans. My proposed thesis focuses on East German media propaganda.

--Mark Miller

Don Ellis and Caroline Getaz report on latest travels and discoveries

2008-08-21T21:28:00.005-05:00

Since our last report we were married (in Hot Springs, AK on January 17 of this year) and are happily ensconced in our new old house in Russellville, KY which we have almost finished renovating. We actually moved here in April and since then have done quite a bit of traveling.

In June we drove to Virginia to see Caroline's new grandaughter, Maria Eduarda--the daughter of Chris who graduated MSU History Dept and is now living in Alexandria, VA. Maria's mom is from Brazil. We also drove north from Roanoake along the Blue Ridge Parkway, something Donald had always wanted to do. We spent some time in Rihmond with Caroline's daughter and grandaughter, Molly.

At the beginning of August we drove to Kansas City by way of St Louis and visited friends--old colleagues of Donald's before his MSU days. From there we drove west to Boulder, CO, stopping en route at a small place named the City of Ellis, KS which turns out to be the world headquarters of the Bukovina Society--we know you always wondered where that was!--(see pictures). In Boulder we met with old friends/former colleagues, with whom we drove on to Aspen to attend the music festival there, spending five glorious days of music, cool and rain. Fortunately we just missed a piano recital by Condeleeza (Condi to her very few friends) Rice. Leaving Aspen we headed for Oklahoma City via Pueblo, CO and miles of relentless Oklahoma panhandle. After crossing the whole of Missouri, the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, we finally arrived home to Kentucky, having driven almost 3,000 miles in 2 weeks.

We are planning to spend the month of October in England, both in London, getting a bit of culture, and in North Devon looking for a house to buy with Caroline's brother, Clive. The plan also included a visit to Caroline's new grandson, Arthur, in London but, since he and his parents have been transfered to New York City, this will have to wait until Christmas when all the Getaz offspring--and their offspring--together with Donald's son, Adam and his family will visit the Ellis household.

Since we now have 6 grandchildren between us, Donald refers to the situation as a Malthusian nightmare.

Guiomar Duenas-Vargas celebrates her new granddaughter

2008-06-18T17:04:00.003-05:00

Guiomar Dueñas-Vargas, Associate Professor of History, sends news about her new granddaughter, Amelie:

"My NIETA is here enlightening my life. It is totally a new feeling. Disbelief of such an adorable human being, a need to protect her, to be close to her every minute. Needless to say that she is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life."

Amelie's mother is Guiomar's daughter Francina, who is a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Hydrology at the University of Arizona. She received her Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois in 2006.

Dr Steven Patterson receives teaching award, gets dissertation accepted for publication, and has a new son

2008-05-27T16:55:00.003-05:00

Dr Steven Patterson, Assistant Professor of History at Lambuth University, has had a “triple crown” achievement — he received the Billie P. Exum Outstanding Educator Award, presented by the Student Government Association to the faculty member who demonstrates the qualities of dedication, professionalism, fairness and good rapport with his/her students; Palgrave Macmillan has accepted his dissertation for publication in summer 2009; and he and his wife had their second son, David.

The dissertation which is to be published was written at The University of Memphis under the direction of Dr Abraham Kriegel. It was entitled “Tin Gods on Wheels: Gentlemanly Honor and the Imperial Ideal in India.” Dr Patterson received his Ph.D. in 2003.

Here is new son David with his older brother Dean:

Sun continues to shine on Italian tour by Jan Sherman and Kim Nichols

2008-05-24T10:29:00.004-05:00

This is the Fortezza Vecchia... (Old Fort)... In the Port of Livorn

This is the Leaning Tower of Pisa... Yes, again. Since we were not able to do everything the first day we came, we drove back into town. The military base is only 10 mins from here. And this time, you will notice that there are blue skies... No rain today! We are lovin it!

This is the Pisa Duomo, from inside the cemetery.

This is the Bascilica of San Piero a Grado. This church was built where it is believed that St. Peter first stepped foot in Italy. It is here, that in Roman times, the mouth of the River Arno flowed into the Sea and it is from this point that St. Peter began his pilgrimage to Rome in 42 AD. The church standing today has its foundations dated back to 1004 to 1009. That's pretty damn old!

Started our trek thru the Cinque Terra - 5 villages that cling to the Mediteranean Sea coast. Can only get there by train or boat.

This is the village of Vernazza. Along the "Cinque Terra"

The sun shines -- a bit -- on Jan Sherman and Kim Nichols in Italy

2008-05-21T19:56:00.004-05:00

Dr Jan Sherman and Kim Nichols had been fearing a week of rain on their Italian tour, but luck was with them today.

They also found that no matter how far away from Memphis you go, you don't really leave it behind.

Came all the way to Cortona, Italy, to find Elvis!

This is the "town hall" or Uffici Communale in Cortona. Please notice the bit of blue sky above it.... Sun is out... No rain for the time being! Woohoo!

Duomo of Arezzo, Italy... And yep... You can see it, can't you? The SUN is shining. Been a beautiful day.... Finally!

Jan Sherman and Kim Nichols send report from Siena and Assisi

2008-05-20T14:38:00.004-05:00

May 20:
Dr Jan Sherman and Kim Nichols were in Siena yesterday and are in Assisi today. Here are the latest photographs, with the identifications they sent:

Inside the Siena Duomo

This is the ceiling of the library in the Duomo of Siena

This is one of the beautiful paintings on the walls of the library in the Duomo of Siena

This is the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi

Dr Jan Sherman and Kim Nichols continue their tour of Italy

2008-05-19T15:06:00.005-05:00

Dr Jan Sherman and Kim Nichols are now in their second week of touring Italy. Here is the latest report:

May 19:
We are driving around today. Visited Volterra, a hilltop medieval town famous for its alabaster. Then to another medieval hilltop town called San Gimignano, this one with lots of tourists. Lovely overlooking the Tuscan hills but no Tuscan sun. Cold and drizzly which seriously impairs my photos. Rain predicted all week, but having a grand time anyway. Tomorrow Assisi.

Etruscan archway to enter the city of Volterra... Foundations date to the 6th century BC!

The baptistry at Volterra.

Entrance archway to the city of San Gimignano, a Tuscan hilltown with 13 towers.

The building is the Palazzo Publicco. It's on the town square (il campo) in Siena.

Third report of Italian tour by Jan Sherman and Kim Nichols

2008-05-17T13:22:00.003-05:00

Boboli Gardens at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence:

Another view in the Boboli Gardens

Overlooking Florence from the Boboli Gardens, at the Palazzo Pitti

The photographs from the Italian tour that Jan Sherman and Kim Nichols are making come via Blackberry with minimal text accompanying them. The text for this one says simply: Can you say "GRANDE" in Italian? I think we get the idea.

The Duomo of Prato, Italy. The exterior pulpit in foreground, designed by Donatello:

More pictures from Jan Sherman's tour of Italy

2008-05-15T09:51:00.003-05:00

Dr Jan Sherman and Kim Nichols have sent a few more photographs from their continuing tour of Italy. While they were in Pisa they took this shot of the back side of the Duomo from a spot midway up the famous Leaning Tower:

From Florence they sent two photographs of tombs of famous persons buried in the Basilica di Santa Croce, the principal Franciscan church in that city (and the largest Franciscan church in the world). The first is the tomb of Michelangelo and the second is the tomb of Galileo:

And here is the Ponte Vecchio in Florence:

Jan Sherman sends first reports from Italy

2008-05-14T20:41:00.003-05:00

Dr Jan Sherman and Kim Nichols are touring Italy. Dr Sherman has sent the following messages and photographs so far and plans to send more as the tour continues:

May 12:
We are finally here--after 48 hours of missed connections. Left Memphis at 9 am Friday, arrived Pisa at 6 pm Sunday local time--noon Sunday to you. The luggage arrived much later, but we are all together now. We plan to ignore jet lag and go commune with the leaning tower today.

May 13:
Hello again from Italy. I'm again at the foot of a tower while Kim climbs. This one is in Lucca [Church of San Michele]. The center of the old city is round--an old Roman amphitheatre, now filled with cafes. We are hoping she'll get a great view of it from up there-only 247 steps. Tomorrow Florence, real name is better: Firenze.

Here is the garden in the Palazzo Pfanner in Lucca:

May 14:
Will be sending misc. pics as we journey thru Italy. This is Michelangelo's LA PIETA made in the 16th century.

Here's Dr Catherine Phipps's new daughter

2008-04-24T10:47:00.003-05:00

Jane Elizabeth Mercer was born 13 April 2008 and weighted 8 pounds, 12 ounces. She is shown here with her brother, Cabell. Dr Phipps reports that mother, dad, brother, and Jane are all doing great.

"The latest" from Don Ellis and Caroline Getaz

2007-12-23T17:53:00.001-06:00

We seem to have been very busy thoughout 2007 after returning from our English trip in April. One of the things keeping us occupied is the move we decided to make to Russellville, Kentucky, next March, where Donald's son Adam is a surgeon. This seems like a good idea in the light of our declining years and the pleasant prospect of being close to children and grandchildren--not to mention some decent health care. So--after 73 years of his trying to live in Oklahoma City without noticing, Donald has failed and we have decided to try Kentucky (When fascism comes it will be wrapped in the flag, brandishing a cross and will arrive in Okie-bozo City first).

We have bought a nice old house in the Russellville historic district (just about 65 miles due north of Nashville) and are trying to get floors refinished, walls painted and book shelves built before we move in around the end of February. (Enclosed is a photo of our new house). This is difficult as we are commuting 700 miles on a regular basis to get things done.

Donald is finally divorced after two and a half long years (the longest divorce since Henry VIII). We are happy together and plan to marry.

Adam is settled in a nice surgical practice, finally happily married to wife # 3 with two children age 4 and 20 months as well as an 11-year-old stepson. Caroline's children are well; Nicholas is an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in London; he and his French wife are expecting their first child in June. Sally is in Richmond, married to a specialist in artificial intelligence (computer stuff, robotics etc.) She teaches 5th grade and has a 1-year-old daughter. Chris, who some of you may remember as a student in the department, is a lawyer in New York City, married to a Brazilian dentist from Rio, and expecting his first child in May.

We survived the recent ice storm in Oklahoma City, even though we were without power for 4 days--and it was very cold. Enclosed was the view from our front garden.

Happy holidays and may 2008 be a banner year for us all.

Regards, Donald Ellis and Caroline Getaz

Here's Dr Judaken's new daughter

2007-11-16T15:07:00.000-06:00

The latest addition to the growing list of children born to faculty members of the Department of History is Joelle Ranne Judaken (shown below).

Dr Judaken announced her birth in a message to members of the department, saying that she weighted 6 pounds, 7 ounces, and measured 19 inches. She "entered the world with her eyes wide open." He added that the birth was relatively calm, considering that the delivery was by Caesarian section, and that she "felt holistic and organic from the outset. Joelle was collected, only yelling a little to let us know she was healthy and what she needed, and then she seemed to focus in on the tasks at hand." Dr Judaken concluded his announcement: "May she do her part in redeeming the world."

Geckos find a home in Mitchell Hall

2007-09-10T14:51:00.000-05:00

A faculty member in the Department of History recently discovered a small gecko in his office in Mitchell Hall. Another faculty member reported that this was not actually the first sighting of geckos, which apparently live in the ductwork of interior offices, and expressed the hope that they might grow big enough to devour the dinosaur-sized cockroaches that also lurk in the hallowed halls of history.

Ed Hamelrath reports on talk at Gedenkstätte Bautzen (Bautzen, Germany) on 18 July 2007

2007-08-31T15:38:00.000-05:00

[Ed Hamelrath is currently working on his dissertation in the Department of History at The University of Memphis.]

On July 18 of this year, I gave a talk concerning my dissertation topic on the transition of the East German (GDR) Police from Dictatorship to Democracy (1989-1994), which explores how the police force of a former dictatorship made the radical transition to serving in a democratic society in the time of the collapse of communism in Europe (1989-1990).

I was invited to give a talk by Gedenkstätte Bautzen, which is a museum-research-memorial center dedicated to preserving the memory of the true repressive nature of the East German communist regime. The city of Bautzen, located approximately one hour northeast of Dresden in the state of Saxony, was home to the notorious East German Secret Police (Stasi) prison for politic opponents of the GDR, and unfortunately this beautiful town’s name has become synonymous with the worst aspects of the former dictatorship.

The museum is open for tours on a regular basis, and in fact I had already visited there twice before while I lived in Dresden. Each year, the Gedenkstätte Bautzen staff organizes a lecture series revolving around a certain theme concerning the German Democratic Republic. This year, it concerns a look at the nature of culpability for GDR institutions after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and includes a look at the vetting processes and possible criminal investigations for various institutions of the GDR system (e.g. the justice systems, doctors involved in doping GDR athletes, and my topic, the regular police force, the Volkspolizei, as repression apparatus).

My initial nervousness was greatly eased by the incredible support and hospitality of the staff of Gedenkstätte Bautzen, and the presence of my German mentor Dr. Michael Richter of the Hannah Arendt Institute for Research on Totalitarianism in Dresden where I did the majority of my research, who was kind enough to accompany me to the talk. My trepidation would have been substantially worse had I known at the time that the museum had been heavily advertising the talk in both newspaper and radio! In fact, a couple of write-ups appeared in the local press the next day.

The staff of museum, headed up by Klewin and Hatting, could not have been more helpful. Everything was provided for me including computer equipment for my PowerPoint presentation. Lasting approximately 50 minutes, the talk focused on the nature of the vetting process of the German Volkspolizei in the German state of Saxony of 1989. The key point of investigation can be simplified to the question: “Was there a de-communization process for government personnel of the GDR after 1989?”

I have to say the most interesting part of the evening came with the question-and-answer session that followed for about an hour, in the audience of about 40 people (a very good turnout, according to the museum staff), which included a couple of former East German police staff. As is typical in these sorts of talks in eastern Germany, several Communist Party veterans turned up to give their version of events or simply to give statements completely unrelated to the topic.

All in all the staff indicated that they were very pleased with the course of the talk and the public reaction. In the German tradition, the staff (about ten people) and I followed up the event with a long night at a neighboring brewery, enjoying the best of the local cuisine and libation.

Very special thanks to the staff of Gedenkstätte Bautzen, my former colleagues at the Hannah Arendt Institute in Dresden, Dr. Michael Richter, the Djawid family in Dresden, and of course to Dr. Hawes and the Endowment Committee of our own History Department (U of Memphis) for their kind support in funding the travel costs to and within Germany. Special thanks to Karen for all her help.

Max Laumann is one year old

2007-04-20T14:18:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since we've had any family pictures posted here. Dr Dennis Laumann's son Max recently had his first birthday. Here is a photograph taken for the happy occasion:

Drs Donald Ellis and Caroline Getaz write from London

2007-02-20T12:16:00.000-06:00

Last time we contributed to Historians on the Go [click here to read the report] we were planning the trip to England. We have now been in London for three weeks and have packed a lot into that time. Caroline and I went to the British Library to renew our reader's cards and to see the exhibit of London maps which was really stunning! We've been going to concerts and enjoyed them as you never could in Land of the Redman. The Royal Concertgebouw orchestra did Schubert's third Symphony followed by Bruckner's Third Symphony. The Schubert was like hearing it for the first time! The Bruckner was.....well, Bruckner (if it sounds like Mahler but is bombastic, loud, repetitive and lacking in continuity it has to be Bruckner). That he was Hitler's favorite symphonist doesn't help. There was an exhibition of Hogarth which was great and packed not only with Hogarths but representatives from the world over. That's the trouble with great things, you are not the only one who wants in.

On the 17th of February we innocentlly went to see what we could see in an afternoon in the British Museum. The trouble was that we didn't realize that the biggest celebration of Chinese New Year outside Peking is....you guessed it, in Soho and Trafalgar Square.

They have just imposed another expanded congestion tax on anyone intrepid enough to drive a car in central London. What London needed in 1945 was a Baron Hausmann who could have opened up the 16th-century rabbit warren infrastructure, or failing that simply close off the central city to all but pedestrians as Munich did.

At the end of the month we're off to Somerset and Glocestershire where the congestion is not so great and the prices not so high. A standard lunch at the cafeteria of the British Library is about $16.00! So if you come over, bring money, preferably not dollars which are falling against the pound.

We're having a great time and will send a couple of pictures when we are back with that capability. Meantime we have our laptop and electrons do really exist and will cross large bodies of water. [Dr Ellis' e-mail address is hugoeckner@hotmail.com.]

P.S. I read something in the Guardian which should be required reading for all historians.
click on
http://www.sovereignty.org.uk/siteinfo/newsround/holo3.html

regards,

Donald and Caroline

Here's Dr Gudmestad's new daughter

2007-01-31T15:35:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, the blog published the first round of baby pictures from persons associated with the Department of History at The University of Memphis. Since then, Sadie has been born to Dr Robert Gudmestad and his wife Beth. Here she is.

Baby pictures from Dr Laumann, Dr Ellis, and Dr Getaz

2007-01-19T15:17:00.000-06:00

By coincidence, the blog editor received in a single day photographs of chldren and grandchildren from three persons associated with the Department of History at The University of Memphis. Although they are only tenuously (if at all) related to the subject of "historians on the go," who can resist the temptation to show off the children and grandchildren?

We may be opening up the floodgates to a surge of such pictures, but here are the first to arrive:

Dr Laumann's son Max

Dr Ellis's grandson Grant

Dr Getaz's granddaughter Molly

Dr Donald Ellis projects plans for travel in England

2007-01-19T14:58:00.000-06:00

Dr Donald Ellis, emeritus associate professor, reports that he survived the recent siege of winter weather in Oklahoma City. (The photo shows how things looked.)

He also reports that he and Caroline Getaz (Ph.D., history, 2003) will be leaving soon for London, where they will be spending about a month doing museums, concerts, and (perhaps) archives. They have already booked a concert by the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra and another by the London Baroque Ensemble. The latter is coupled with a lecture on Hogarth by the curator of the exhibition on Hogarth at the Tate Museum.

After spending some time at Hinton St. George in Somerset to visit Caroline's brother Clive, they will visit a friend who owns a 17th-century house in the Cotswolds. Finally, returning to London for a final week, they will leave for the U..S. during the first week in April.

The possible archive work will involve research into the wartime service of Caroline's father, who served in the Royal Air Force during World War II.

Dr Ellis says they will have a laptop computer with them during their travels and invite e-mail sent to hugoeckner@hotmail.com

Dr Donald Ellis reports from retirement in Oklahoma City

2006-10-09T11:57:00.000-05:00

Dr Donald Ellis taught German history and world civilizations in the Department of History at The University of Memphis before his retirement. Since retiring. he has alternated in living between Oklahoma City and England. A long-time student of technology in general, he has only recently become active as a computer user. He invites email at hugoeckner@hotmail.com The following is extracted from a recent email message to the Webmaster:

I am still a volunteer at the Oklahoma Historical Society in Oklahoma City. There is a new purpose-built building for this and my work space is very nice indeed. I am working with the Barney Hillerman Collection of Oklahoma City photographs. When this brother of Tony died he left a gigantic collection of mostly 8x10 negatives from the best known OKC photgrapher who worked here from about 1926 until 1962. The problem with it is that these negatives are catalogued as by who paid the bill and since no one is a born Oklahoma Citian and aged to boot my work is cut out for me identifying what is in the photo. Armed with a heap of Oklahoma City phone directories and Polk street directories and a light table I work at this a couple of hours per day.

Having just been converted to belief in electrons I also enjoy e-mail and get off an occasional letter to the editor of the local rag (which the Columbia school of journalism has voted the worst newspaper in the continental United States). I keep warning myself that becoming a writer of letters to the editor is a bad career move . But it is irresistable given the climate of opinion which prevails here. I call Oklahoma the Lower Frankonia of the United States. Those familiar with German political (electoral) history will know what I mean.

My new bumper sticker reads "avoid your share of collective guilt! Emigrate now!" This probably gives you an idea of my drift in letters to the editor. People here who are likely to read bumpers have no concept of irony, no idea of history and the conscience of a Tasmanian Devil, which makes my bumper stickers as useless as my letters.

With the zeal of a convert I can be counted on to answer e-mails (hint, hint). Students used to explain the almost total lack of epistolary writing among the modern generation as the convenience of e-mail. I can tell you, however that most go off into the great poste restante in the sky.

Josh Gorman reports on museums conference in Mexico City

2006-10-03T12:22:00.000-05:00

Josh Gorman is a doctoral student in the Department of History at The University of Memphis. He sent the following report and photographs from a recent conference that he attended in Mexico City:

Dear Colleagues,

My attendance at the sixth annual conference for the University Museums and Collections Committee of ICOM [International Council of Museums] has been a resounding success thus far. My presentation concerning the intellectual foundations for exhibitions and programming at Chucalissa was well-received, generating many questions and leads for further reading and research. The facilities provided by the National Autonomous University (UNAM) are fantastic - the University serves 300,000 students on a campus the size of a small city. Below are a couple of pictures of the city and of Teotihuacan that I took the morning before the conference started.

Josh Gorman
28 September 2006

Trygve Has-Ellison reports from Texas on publications and presentations

2006-08-09T14:18:00.000-05:00

Dr Trygve Has-Ellison received his Ph.D. in history from The University of Memphis in 2004. His dissertation, written under the direction of Dr Daniel Unowsky, was "'True Art is Always an Aristocratic Matter': Nobles and the Fine Arts in Turn-of-the-Century Bavaria, 1890-1094." The following is taken from an email message to the editor of Memphis Historians on the Go:

I was inspired by glancing at the History blog page to write in about my current activities.

Since I graduated (Fall, 2004) I have been feverishly working at making a career out of history. Often I think I should have stuck to the music business, but I'm old and in too deep now.

I have been teaching primarily at the University of Texas at Dallas where my current title is Lecturer in European History.

I was a sabbatical replacement at University of Texas Arlington last year for Dr. Thomas Adam, while he was in Leipzig doing research for his latest book.

On the research front, I gave four papers this last year: In October, I was in Sigmaringen for the Tagung "Adel im Wandel". I gave a presentation on the writer Emanuel Baron von Bodman that was well received - with plenty of pointed questions and stimulating (liquid) conversation with Georg Schmidt, Eckart Conze, Peter Blickle, Mark Hengerer, Wolfgang Wüst, Ewald Frie etc. Why can't American conferences be more like this? Out of this conference, my paper on Bodman was published in a volume edited by Mark Hengerer and Peter Blickle. My first big publication!

In March, I presented a paper on the Free Imperial Knights and the reception of Nietzsche at the European Social Science Conference, Division Elites, in Amsterdam. I know what you're thinking. To be honest, I won't present at this conference again, the conference fees were highway robbery- particularly on an adjunct's budget.

This last July, I presented at Cambridge University, Magdalene College, for the conference "Internationalism and the Arts in the Fin-de-Siècle". Naturally, my topic was German nobles and the reception of International art. This was a brilliant three days, hosted and paid for my the British Academy - the atmosphere was particularly collegial with many art historians (who like to have fun) as opposed to other disciplines I could write about. There will be a publication with Cambridge coming out in the future.

Two days later I gave a paper at the Conference "History and Memory" atNorwich University on German nobles, Memory, and Modernism. I shared the panel with Maiken Umbach from Manchester University (co-editor of the journal German History). This came about because my article on "Nobles, Modernism, and Fin-de-Siècle Munich" was accepted by German History - a
real coup for me. Umbach liked my work enough to ask me to sit on this panel - and possibly collaborate on future projects.

I have more stuff going on - but until it is finally confirmed - mums the word.

Lisa is doing well in her position as assistant to the chief curator at the Dallas Museum of Art. She curated her first show at the museum this last winter with a series of Mexican Prints from the Twentieth Century. She is currently re-installing the Latin American permanent collection.

I don't miss the humidity in Memphis, but it's great to read how everyone is doing.

Sincerely,

Trygve Has-Ellison
jxh058000@utdallas.edu
jhasllsn@eaze.net

Janann Sherman sends pictures from trip to Austria, Italy, and Switzerland

2006-06-20T15:11:00.000-05:00

During the period between the end of the Spring Semester and the beginning of the First Summer Term, Dr Janann Sherman, Chair of the Department of History, visited Austria, Italy, and Switzerland. Out of the hundreds of photographs she took, here are a few to give some of the flavor of her visit.

A street in the center of Innsbruck, Austria

A scene among the Dolomite mountains in northern Italy

A view from a Swiss highway

Chateau Chillion is a beautifully preserved 13th-century castle on the shores of Lake Geneva

The interior of a path between the monastery and the church in Balzano, Italy

The Doges Palace in St. Mark's Square, Venice

Speedboats on the Grand Canal, Venice

Church of Santa Maria del Salute from the tower in St. Mark's Square

A lovely scene as the sun goes down and the lights come on along the Grand Canal

My favorite shot of one of the lesser canals

Gondolas on the Grand Canal

The town of Lautenbrunner with its famous waterfall at the foot of the Swiss Alps

A village, taken from the train on the way to the Top of Europe, the Jungfraujoch

A view of the setting for the small town of Sion, Switzerland

Swiss love their cows, whether the real ones or these whimsical painted ones.

Reggie Ellis reports on interviewing one of the "Memphis State Eight"

2006-04-12T17:32:00.000-05:00

Reggie Ellis, a past president of the Graduate Association for African American History at The University of Memphis, submitted the following contribution. The photograph of Mr Ellis and Mrs Jones was taken by Mark Stansbury. The issue of the Daily Helmsman in the foreground contains an article about the "Memphis State Eight."

On March 31, 2006, with the assistance of Mr. Mark Stansbury (Assistant to the President of The University of Memphis), I had the privilege of interviewing Mrs. Marvis Kneeland Jones, one of the first African Americans to be admitted at Memphis State University in 1959. The Memphis State Eight, as they came to be called, were made up of five women and three men from around the greater Memphis area. During our interview, Mrs. Jones shared her experience of integrating this institution, which she recalled as a very trying situation.

At this year’s 8th Annual Graduate Association for African American History Conference (to be held 13-15 September 2006), the Memphis State Eight will be honored for their heroic efforts in integrating the University of Memphis, which now has a population of approximately thirty-seven percent African American students. During this event please join me, GAAAH and the entire Memphis community in thanking these eight individuals for their special contributions to The University of Memphis and West Tennessee as a whole.

Reginald Ellis

Janann Sherman celebrates her Mom's 91st birthday in Ireland

2006-03-19T17:35:00.000-06:00

Dr Janann Sherman, Professor and Chair, Department of History, took her Mom to Ireland for her 91st birthday over the spring break. She reports that it was off-season and a bit blustery, rainy and cold, but that they had a marvelous time. And they celebrated her Mom's birthday every day that week.

Here are some of the photographs that she took during the trip:

This photo was taken along Galway Bay near the village of Doolin. Lots
of these stone monuments are scattered around Ireland, most of them, like this
one, without a name or story attached.

I took many photos of Celtic crosses, but this one, taken in the
graveyard at a 12th century Franciscan abbey, was the best one.

This is my favorite of my Ireland pictures. It has all the elements so
lovely in the Irish countryside: rolling hills, intensely green fields, spring
flowers, stone structures, cattle.

We played hide-and-seek with the sun nearly every day. After
the shower moved on, we often saw lovely rainbows. Most of them lasted too
briefly to capture on film. This is the upper of the three Killarney lakes.

I never expected to see snow-capped mountains in Ireland, much
less drive over them, but we did. This is the McGillicuddy Reeks, overlooking
the Killarney lakes.

This is a stone circle near Rosscarberry. These were allegedly
constructed by the Druids for unknown religious reasons.

On Mom's actual birthday, we had lunch in this lovely hotel in
Bantry.

This is my graduate school friend, Van Gosse, who teaches at
Franklin and Marshall in Pennsylvania. He was on a Fulbright in Cork--and my
excuse to visit Ireland this year. With him is his daughter, Johanna. She was
born the day we started graduate school together.

We attended a "medieval banquet" at Bunratty Castle. Held in
the great hall of a 13th century castle, the food was good (although we were
denied utensils), the mead was unlimited, and the music delightful.

Along the ring of Kerry on a beautiful afternoon.

We made some new friends eager to toast Mom on her birthday. This was
taken in the Grand Pub in Killarney.

This is at the tip of the Kerry peninsula overlooking Ballinskellig
Bay.

Jim Blythe and Sheila Martin post some of their arty photographs

2006-03-16T12:53:00.000-06:00

Dr James Blythe, Professor, Department of History, and his wife Sheila Martin toured Italy in May 2005. Recently they have posted lots of their arty photographs from that trip on an Epson PhotoCenter site, along with others that were taken elsewhere. (Sheila noted in an email message that they have also posted albums of their family members, but she advises us to skip those unless we know their relatives.)

These photographs are not "your usual tourist shots," although Jim and Sheila must have taken at least a few of them too. (You can see a nice shot of Jim in Venice on both his personal Web page and his biographical page in the Department of History's web pages.)

To view the photographs, go to the Epson PhotoCenter site and select albums 1 and 3, or you may go directly to Album 1: Italy 2005 or Album 3: More Arty photos.

Roy Hopper writes about his work with the Amenmesse Tomb Project (KV 10) in 2001

2006-02-23T16:46:00.000-06:00

The recent discovery of a new tomb in Egypt's "Valley of the Kings" by a team sponsored by The University of Memphis has been followed with great interest in the Department of History. Dr Peter Brand, Assistant Professor, heads the Great Hypostyle Hall Project, which is sponsored by the Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology at the University, and several students have worked with him in Egypt on that project.

The Amenmesse Tomb Project (KV 10), which discovered the new tomb, is also sponsored by the IEAA, though many of the team members are from the University of Akron. Roy Hopper, Teaching Assistant, worked with that project in 2001 when the project first discovered a workmen's hut. Excavations in later seasons of the area occupied by several huts, just to the east of the Amenmesse tomb, uncovered a shaft which led to the recent discovery, the first tomb discovered since 1922, when Howard Carter discovered the tomb of the famous Tutunkhamun (KV 62). Interestingly, the shaft was only about 25 meters south of that site.

The IEAA has recently created a Web page about the new discovery, which has been designated KV 63, following a pattern of naming of sites in the "Valley of the Kings" that is commonly used by archaeologists. That page gives a fairly full account of the discovery, including pictures and links to the numerous news articles that have appeared. Rather than repeat what appears there, HistoryWeb urges you to visit that page. We recommend an especially interesting Weblog being kept by Sharon Nichols, an art history graduate student from The University of Memphis who is working at KV 10 and KV 63 as a current member of the team. [Administrator's note: Since the original posting, Sharon Nichols has removed her Weblog.]

[Aministrator's note: Since the original posting of this article, we have discovered that Dr Otto Schaden, Director of the KV 10 and KV 63, is maintaining another Web page about the new discovery. It has many photographs that do not appear to be available elsewhere.]

Here is Roy Hopper's account of his experiences as a member of the team in 2001:

During the Spring 2001 semester, I participated in the Amenmesse Project’s excavations at the tomb of King Amenmesse located within the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. It was due to the extremely generous and gracious consideration of Dr. Lorelei Corcoran, director of the Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology at The University of Memphis, and Department of History professor of Ancient History and Egyptology Dr. William Murnane that a grant permitted me to join the Amenmesse Project under the direction of Dr. Otto J. Schaden, Mudir, in Egypt from February to April 2001.

Roy Hopper resting outside the excavation area at KV 10.

Amenmesse was a mysterious king whose association with the late Nineteenth Dynasty royal family is poorly understood by Egyptologists and ancient historians. In 1993, excavations began in KV 10, the tomb of Amenmesse, with the hope of discovering more information about Amenmesse and his exact place within Nineteenth Dynasty chronology. The goals of the 2001 excavations at KV 10 were searching for foundation deposits outside the tomb entrance. Foundation deposits for ancient Egyptians were something similar to cornerstone deposits in modern buildings. Foundation deposits were food, tools, pottery, and sometimes inscribed tablets with the pharaoh’s name that the ancient Egyptians ritually buried in pits outside a tomb to consecrate it. A few tombs in the Valley of the Kings contained foundation deposits, so the Amenmesse project began excavations hoping to find such deposits.

I arrived in Luxor, Egypt, site of the Valley of the Kings, after a ten-hour plane ride from New York City and a nine-hour ride by train from Cairo, Egypt. The Amenmesse Project’s daily routine consisted of rising early in the morning by 6:00 A.M. to catch the daily ferry over to the West Bank of Luxor, which is the geographic location for the Valley of the Kings. On the West Bank, the excavation team boarded a truck for the ride into the valley. On the way, the rising sun changed the landscape of surrounding hills from a vibrant orange-red to a dusty chalky-tan. Plus, ancient Egyptian mortuary temples dotted the landscape along the way and added to the breathtaking vistas before the excavation team.

Looking toward the Theban Hills on the West Bank of Luxor at dawn

Work began around 7:00 A.M. and continued until 12:00 Noon, when the excavations quit for the day.

Outside of KV 10 before 2001 excavations

Dr. Otto Schaden (right) and photographer Heather Alexander (left) discussing photos to be taken before excavations

First day of excavations in early February 2001

Excavations about the middle of February

Heather Alexander photographing remains of outside entry stairs

Excavations outside KV 10 entry stairs

From the beginning of excavations, the foundation deposit search encountered a great deal of rock chippings and rubble covering the natural rock surface, or gebel, of the valley floor. These stratified layers had to be cleared away by painstaking archaeological excavations using a sizable Egyptian excavation crew and tools such as trowels, picks, and baskets.

Stratigraphic layers of rock chippings and other debris, west side of KV 10

The excavated material was taken and sifted for various artifacts that might be present.

Otto Schaden directing excavations on the east side of KV 10

Dr. Otto Schaden examining an artifact discovered outside KV 10

By the end of the season, the Amenmesse Project excavated a deep pit nearly five meters (sixteen feet) deep in front and partially to the west of KV 10.

Excavations outside KV 10, looking west

Looking into the pit outside KV 10, about 13 feet (4 meter) level, looking west, showing the deep stratigraphic layers. The iron pipe contains wiring installed by Howard Carter in the 1900s for illuminating the tombs with electric lighting via a generator in a nearby tomb.

No foundation deposits were found during the 2001 excavations, but several discoveries gave glimpses of the ancient Egyptian work force that constructed the tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

Around four meters (thirteen feet) below the entrance of KV 10 and directly west of the tomb entrance, excavations uncovered remains of an ancient worker’s hut. These huts were usually constructed by piling stones up to form a rough structure topped with a roof. Conceivably, ancient Egyptian workers used these huts to relax and rest in a shady place during their workday or during lunch. Besides this hut, the Amenmesse Project found further traces of the ancient workforce in the Valley of the Kings buried amongst the rock debris. Pottery sherds, paint pigments, bits of copper chisels, and decorated limestone flakes are just a few of the many artifacts discovered during excavations. However, the proper historical context of these artifacts is still under evaluation, and it would be hasty to make any association between these objects, including the worker’s hut, to Amenmesse’s tomb at this date.

While in Egypt, I was struck by the sincere loss felt by the Egyptological community and Egyptian people concerning Dr. Murnane’s death in November 2000. From the highest ranking inspector in the Supreme Council of Antiquities to water vendors on the street near the Windsor Hotel, headquarters for the Amenmesse Project in 2001, Egyptians expressed their sorrow because “Dr. William” had passed away so suddenly. Many Egyptologists I met while in Egypt also expressed their sorrow over Dr. Murnane’s death, and their sincerity cannot be expressed through mere words alone.

Although the 2001 excavations discovered no foundation deposits, the Amenmesse Project’s work continues with future excavations and analysis of artifacts. Further work from 2003-2005 uncovered more huts to the east of KV 10 buried under more rock chippings and rubble. Work in this area outside KV 10 resulted in the announcement on February 8, 2006, that a shaft leading to a single room tomb had been discovered by the Amenmesse Project resulting in worldwide Egyptological and media attention for the project. It will take painstaking analysis and conservation of the mummies and artifacts found within KV 63, the name given to the new tomb, before the discovery can be placed within the proper historical context.

I am extremely grateful and would like to extend my sincere thanks to Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology at the University of Memphis for the grant, The Department of History at The University of Memphis for allowing me to represent the Ancient History program, and Dr. Otto J. Schaden for allowing me to participate in the Amenmesse Project’s excavations. An opportunity such as this allows qualified Ancient History students, who concentrate in Egyptology, the ability to travel to Egypt and gain research topics for future studies. Furthermore, such an opportunity allows students who might have never traveled to Egypt due to financial shortcomings the ability to do so. Hopefully, these opportunities will continue as long as The University of Memphis continues to sponsor and fund expeditions in Egypt.

[Mr Hopper doesn't mention tourists in his report, but he furnished the following photograph of tourists thronging to the "Valley of the Kings." Sharon Nichols, in her Weblog about KV 10, has some penetrating remarks about tourists.]

The throngs of tourists who came into the valley every day

[The team members became tourists themselves, on occasion:]

The KV 10 team visits the Ramesseum after excavating. Left to right are Roxanne Wilson (artist), Heather Alexander (photographer), and Dr. Otto Schaden.

Roy Hopper standing beside a colossal statue of Ramesses II at the Ramesseum, nearly 57 feet (17.5 meters) tall when upright.

Roy Hopper visits a neighboring project (KV 43) during a break from his work at KV 10 and poses beside the sarcophagus of Thutmose IV.

Roy Hopper at the tomb of Roy, a high official in the 18th Dynasty

Close-up of Roy at the tomb of Roy

A bit of winter comes to Memphis

2006-02-11T16:48:00.000-06:00

A bit of winter came to Memphis on Friday, 10 February. The rain which had been falling since morning suddenly changed to big, wet flakes of snow about 1:30 pm. The University of Memphis closed at 3 pm, sending everybody home and calling off evening classes.

The snow continued through the evening hours and gradually tapered off around 10 pm. Despite all fears about terrible driving conditions developing before morning, the streets and sidewalks apparently had held enough heat that there was almost no snow or ice on them Saturday morning. By afternoon, much of the snow everywhere had melted, but not before the following photographs were taken:

A typical scene Saturday morning

The snow provided plenty of opportunities for children (and even adults) to play in it and create snow men and other snow creatures

It probably took a whole crew of people to create this snow bear and the bench. The bench was big enough for several persons to sit on, and the snow bear stood taller than a person's head.

Here's the bear up close

The weight of the snow was too much for some of the pine trees

Keith Sisson sends pictures from trip to Rome

2006-02-08T14:09:00.000-06:00

Keith Sisson, a doctoral candidate at The University of Memphis, is researching a dissertation entitled "Giles of Rome's Doctrine of Papal Supremacy," in which Pope Boniface VIII is a central figure. In connection with that research he was in Rome from 30 December 2005 until 15 Janury 2006. Below is his report from that trip. He has posted these photographs and others in a photo gallery on Yahoo: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/kdsisson212/my_photos.

I was awarded a University Foundation Endowment Grant for Dissertation Research. I conducted my research at the Vatican Library and Archives (among other archives) and the Vatican Treasury Museum. At the Treasury Museum, I was able to view the papal bull, i.e., the original document dated 22 February 1300, in which Boniface VIII proclaimed the year 1300 as the Holy Year of Jubilee. My wife Lisa was able to travel with me to Rome on 30 December, but she had to return to Atlanta on 5 January to tend to our seven-month-old daughter! Indeed, the trip proved to be most beneficial to my overall research experience, and an integral part of my dissertation research efforts.

St. Peter's Basilica at night

St. Peter's Basilica

Interior of St. Peter's Basilica

La Pieta, by Michelangelo, sculpture located just inside St. Peter's

Papal Apartments, St. Peter's Square

Marble tablet in Vatican Treasury Museum,
List of all the Popes buried in St. Peter's

Sarcophagus of Pope Boniface VIII
(A central figure in my dissertation; Benedict Gaetani was Pope from 1294 to 1303)

The Last Judgment, by Michelangelo
Altar wall of the Sistine Chapel

Michelangelo's Dome

The Colosseum, picture taken from the Via dei Fori Imperalii

Interior of the Colosseum, area beneath the surface floor which housed the gladiators and animals prior to the day's game

The Arch of Constantine, picture taken from the Via San Gregorio

Vittorio Emanuele II Monument, Piazza Venezia

The Pantheon

The Arch of Titus, picture taken from the Via Sacra

Lisa and Keith at the Trevi Fountain

Janann Sherman sends pictures from Florida vacation

2006-01-20T15:34:00.000-06:00

I visited sunny Florida the first week in January for a little R 'n' R
after two weeks in rainy Oregon doing home repair for my mother. Florida
is filled with countless shopping strips interspersed with gated
retirement communities. Nonetheless, I found some pretty beaches and
some of the most marvelous birds I've ever seen. I have sought great
blue herons wherever possible, but only in Florida did I manage to see
them every day. And the pelicans are so tame that they let me come close
enough to capture them on film in great detail. Enjoy the photos!

Janann

Heron

Pelican

Pelican in sunset

Clouds

Marco Beach

Marco Beach esplanade

Sailboat in the unset

Egret

Naples scene

Ed Hamelrath sends news from Dresden

2005-12-05T11:02:00.000-06:00

Hallo to One and All at the History Dept. in Memphis!

First of all, I apologize profusely for not checking in earlier. The time simply goes by so fast it is difficult to keep track.

For those of you who don’t remember me, or who never met, I took off in September, 2003 with a Fulbright scholarship (I was actually part of their help for intellectually needy students program known as the ‘Half-Brighters’) to research my dissertation on the East German Police. The scholarship only lasted 10 months, but it was a great 10 months! Not enough to finish the research, but an excellent headstart. (Full of some fascinating people some of whom were geniuses and some who were dangerous.) Anyway, since then I have been keeping my head – barely – above water by teaching English, and doing numerous written translation jobs. This is the former East Germany, so this kind of thing is always in demand. Sometimes in fact, I feel I am the only American in a 200 km square area of Dresden.

Unfortunately it takes time away from my diss, but that is preceeding actually these days much better. I have just been accepted to participate in a conference in Omaha in March, so that helps to bring focus. Dan (Unowsky) is doing his best to keep me in line, and I think it is working. On the way to Nebraska, I will stop into the department so say hello.

Part I: A few highlights

To expand on the above: I am guest-scholar here at the Hannah Arendt Institute for Research on Totalitarianism. I have a little office with several other graduate hopefuls who are from Canada, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and even Germany. We are in Dresden’s former Judicial Center (on the Technical University Campus), that was later used by both the Nazis and the Communists to execute political prisoners, often by guillotine. My ‘caretaker’ here is Dr. Michael Richter who has been entirely open with help and advice. I even get to use all his files. Simply a great guy with a knack for German word-play – he has even published a book of aphorisms. He has nearly killed himself lately, sliding off of an icy cliff and falling off a ladder picking apples.

Last semester and this semester I have been teaching classes on American History (for the Hannah Arendt Insitute) with a colleague, Dr. Mike Schmeitzner (from Saxony) who has really developed a fascination for the US in the past few years. The level of negativity against the US is really quite astounding, and is often felt in these classes – but more about that later. I have also done some lectures on American history, politics, and culture, etc., for the language department of the TU Dresden – one last semester with a current Fulbrighter.

For my dissertation, I have travelled to Berlin, Leipzig, Chemnitz, Munich, Stuttgart just to name a few places. It is either trudging through the archives or getting personal interviews, which are always interesting. Everyone wants to know what the heck an American is doing researching such a things as the East German Police.

In the past year, the Hannah Arendt Institute has developed a partnership with an organization in Walbrzych, Poland in Lower Silesia (south of Wroclaw/Breslau), called the ‘European Centre.’ It is based in an old German castle (this is of course in pre-1945 German territory) that reportedly ‘King O’ Pop’ Michael Jackson nearly bought to ‘get away from it all’ (should a’ done it, Mike!). Things here have been a bit uneven in the birthing pains, but there have been some good conferences. For example, I helped work a conference there in August on Communist and ex-Communists Political Parties, hosted by Stephane Courtois who edited the famous ‘Black Book of Communism’ (1997). Many of the participants had at some time been in the party, including Courtois. I am convinced that they make the best commentators. Appropos, one of my highlights in Germany has been to meet the brilliant Wolfgang Leonhard who wrote, among many, ‘Children of the Revolution’ (I think it is so-called in English). He was with Walter Ulbricht’s group out of Moscow in 1945 that helped to found the GDR in 1949. Though Leonhard became critical and had to flee already in 1948.)

During the Fulbright time 2003-2004, I was able to particpate in a the Berlin Journalists Program (where they wanted, in addition, a couple of Poly Sci and Historian types to jazz up the joint) – there were 11 participants. This was amazing as we met many politicians from the Bundestag, went to the Chancellor’s office, the President’s office, and the public news (main news services of Germany) studios of ARD and ZDF. We were all a bit surprised on the concensus on the need for change, no matter what side of the political spectrum they were on – and an American should know that the political concepts of ‘left’ and ‘right’ are deeply embedded here, and are really quite alien to the American scene I believe. (I have started to use these terms more myself if fact). Along for the ride were Charles Hawley, now editing the English ‘SPIEGEL-on-line’ service, Marek Dutschke (son of the famous German radical 60s leader Rudi Dutschke), and Nick Kulish who writes sometimes for the Wall Street Journal. We all became friends thanks to a common positivistic-cynical outlook we all seem to have on the world. Though this did not mean we agreed politically – hardly! But this made it all the more fun and interesting.

Most interesting for me, as my interests are in European History and Politics is to watch the bizarre situation that is on going with German politics. Very soon – if Dr. Crouse allows, and if all this is not too boring – I will send itstallments on the whacky politcal situation in Germany (with a side on Poland), anti-Americanism here (violently rearing its head again after ‘Katrina’), German self-hatred, and bits on the city of Dresden (including the big celebration of the dedication of the Frauenkirche, inevitably overloaded with symbolic meaning). Saxony politics is also interesting as now the extreme left (communists) and right parties (neo-nazis) have representatives in the state legistlature.

I should mention that in December of 2003, after a short stay in Budapest – still my favorite place in all of Europe - my girlfriend and I made it to Cluj, Rumania (capital of Transylvania) to see Chris Ivanes. He was doing very well, and in great spirits. He showed us a tape of an interview he did for a Rumanian TV stattionthat he works for. His girlfreind at the time was very pleasant and hospitable – we all met at her parents’ place one day where we ate like kings, and in the Eastern European tradition got stinking ‘blue’ on schnapps till we woke up the next morning!

I will leave it that for now, and send the next bit by the end of the week (I hope). Warning: my spelling has deteriorated and I have no English ‘spell-check’ on my computer.

All the best to the Dept., Ed

News about Ed Hamelrath and Chris Ivanes in Europe

2005-11-07T10:23:00.000-06:00

Dr Daniel Unowsky has passed along to the Weblog some information about two of our doctoral students in Europe.

Ed Hamelrath, who had a Fulbright and has stayed in Germany, is working on his dissertation, tentatively entitled From Dictatorship to Democracy: Decommunization of the East German Volkspolizei in the New State of Saxony, 1988-1991. He is also Guest Scholar at the Hannah Arendt Institute in Dresden and at the European Centre in Walbrzych, Poland.

Chris Ivanes is working on his disseration on Romanian national belonging and the Revolution of 1848 in Transylvania. He is currently hosting a daily call-in radio talk show on politics, culture, and society on Romanian Public Radio.

(Ed and Chris -- Both of you no doubt have more information that you could pass along to others about what you're doing. Send it to the departmental Webmaster at mcrouse@memphis.edu)

Beverly Bond reports on trip to Ghana

2005-08-29T15:51:00.000-05:00

From 11 July through 3 August, Dr Beverly Bond and Dr Dennis Laumann and nine students were in Ghana. Here is Dr Bond's report on the trip:

This summer I visited the West African nation of Ghana with our colleague, Dr. Dennis Laumann, and nine students in the African and African American Studies course "Ghanaian History and Cultures."

Dinner at the Institute of African Studies Chalets

Laura and Kristin with a group of Ghanaian students

Our first two weeks were spent in Accra based at the University of Ghana Legon.

Balme Library at the University of Ghana Legon

The students were housed in the Institute of African Studies Chalets (where they experienced a few little problems with hot water, lights and air conditioning), but Dennis and I stayed at a guest house on the campus. Our group listened to lectures by University of Ghana faculty members on culture, family and social structure, slavery and the slave trade, colonialism and the independence struggle, religion, funerals and festivals, music, and gender. Our local tours of Accra included the central market (and several smaller neighborhood marketplaces), a newly-constructed shopping mall in the East Legon neighborhood, the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial and Museum, the W.E.B. DuBois House and Mauseleum, and the beautiful Aburi Botanical Gardens.

Kwame Nkrumah statue and memorial

W.E.B. DuBois house and mausoleum

DuBois' crypt (Shirley Graham DuBois' ashes in container on pedestal)

We also visited the homes and shops of local artisans, seamstresses, hair braiders, and a cloth weavers.

Goldsmiths at work

Seamstress shop in Accra

Weaving Kente cloth

Our final week was spent traveling north to the Volta region (first on a Sunday cruise, then by van to Ho and Hohoe), then west and south to the coastal cities of Kumasi, Biriwa, Elmina, and Cape Coast.

Along the Volta River

Top of Wli Falls

Kumasi

Fishing boat in Biriwa

The most moving part of the trip was our tour of the slave castles of Elmina and Cape Coast.

Elmina

Inside Elmina

Display of shackles inside Elmina

Inside Elmina: The Door of No Return

Our final "challenge" was the "canopy" walk - crossing seven narrow suspension bridges high above the rainforest. We could look down and see the monkeys swinging in the trees. I purchased and can proudly wear my "I survived the Canopy Walk" tee shirt.

Canopy walk

I spent a week in Memphis after I returned from Ghana, then went to Massachusetts for a short visit. I'll send more pictures of that trip later.

Beverly Bond

Joe Hawes and Gail Murray tour Italy

2005-08-24T17:37:00.000-05:00

Gail and I were fortunate in that her trip to Italy was funded by a grant to Rhodes for their Search Program. She and twelve other faculty toured Italy visiting historic sites from the ancient world before we met in Florence. Stops on this part of the trip included Naples,
Pompeii, Herculaneum, Cuma, Rome, and Assisi. After an intense two weeks, we met in Florence for a more leisurely tour of Tuscany. The first several images are from Gail’s earlier trip.

Pompeii and Vesuvius

St. Claire, Assisi

Many of the best things to see in Florence are relatively close together and the city can be explored mostly on foot. For example the well-known Ponte Vecchio over the Arno was just a few blocks from our hotel.

Ponte Vecchio over the Arno in Florence

We did not have time to see all that Florence offered (next trip perhaps?) but we especially enjoyed the Boboli Gardens and the impressive Porta Roma at the bottom of the gardens.

Porta Roma

We also toured the “Academy” where Michelangelo’s original “David” is to be found. As we were looking at the statue, we heard a distinctive American voice exclaim “Nice butt!” We were surprised and delighted to find an exhibit of 17th-century musical instruments, including a most impressive snake-like bassoon.

The classic Pietà by Michelangelo

A later Pietà by Michelangelo

From Florence we traveled to the Cinque Terra (5 lands) on the coast just south of Genoa. This was very beautiful country with equally delightful weather.

Cinque Terra coast

Vernazza, a coastal town

Beach

We hiked between the towns and then returned by boat. Our accommodation was in the countryside in a terraced olive grove. We learned how to navigate Italian trains (pretty much on time) and busses traveling by train and bus from the Cinque Terra to Sienna, a truly inviting small city.

Sienna

Duomo, Sienna

St. Dominic's, Sienna

From Sienna we went on to Montepulciano, a well-known Tuscan hill town famous for the wine produced there. Our hotel room had a balcony which overlooked the Tuscan countryside. Both Sienna and Montepulciano were easy to navigate and we sometimes eavesdropped on tour groups (though most of these were German). In Sienna we went to the old fortress for a vista of the city. I don’t know what we expected inside the fortress, but certainly not the loud and garish carnival we found!

From Sienna we moved on to Rome for a short visit before returning to Memphis. We toured the Vatican and the Piazza de Populo where we found another carnival! Dinner at an open air restaurant capped off our trip.

St. Peter's Square, Rome

Vestal Virgins in the Forum

Our observations are few and simple. We would return to see more at the earliest opportunity –for the gelato if for no other reason. We never had a bad meal or any major difficulty (neither of us speak any Italian).

Vegetable market in Florence

Dining in Florence

People were friendly and helpful and at every turn there was something to see, but as always on such quick trips there is more still to see.

Joe Hawes

Dr Marcel Oyono writes from Cameroon

2005-08-19T21:21:00.000-05:00

Dr Marcel Oyono, who received his Ph.D. from the Department of History at The University of Memphis in 2004, writes from Cameroon that he is doing well and misses the folks in Memphis. He currently is the Director of the Department of Health of the Presbyterian Church of Cameroon. He hopes to teach at the state university during the coming year.

Dr Oyono asks that we pass along his addresses so that his friends can communicate with him. His email address is vipere_85@yahoo.fr and his mailing address is Dr Marcel Ngbwa Oyono, P.O.Box 37 Zoetele, Cameroon.

Dr Oyono's dissertation, which was directed by Dr Janann Sherman, was "Colonization and Ethnic Rivalries in Cameroon since 1884."

Jan Sherman sends pictures from trip to Colombia

2005-08-14T20:40:00.000-05:00

Jan Sherman, who sent pictures from Wyoming and Alberta a couple of weeks ago, is back from a trip to Colombia, where she visited with Guiomar Dueñas-Vargas. The following are samples of the many photographs she took while there:

The mountains are incredibly lush and beautiful. It rains a part of most days and the air is cool (60s) and moist.

Guiomar and I spent the night in this hacienda about 3 hours from Bogotá. It was built in 1638 by the Domincan monks and is now a luxury hotel.

Bogotá is a very large, noisy city. Eight million people call it home. It looks best from this angle.

In a small village two hours outside of Bogotá, we found this beautiful church. It's very different from the usual churches that dominate small villages, which more often resemble the Spanish colonial style church in the following picture.

Note the Colombian sculpture in the foreground. This village of Sopo honors both its pre-Spanish and Spanish heritage.

This is a Catholic country, and the veneration of the Madonna is ubiquitous. Shrines to the Madonna are found in public buildings, on street corners, in front yards, and, in this case, on top a hill next to a gas station.

This photo and the one following were taken in the lovely mountain village of Villa de Leyva. The architecture is typical of this part of Colombia. Buildings are either blindingly white or very colorful.

Staying in Memphis? See the exhibit "Battle for the Vote: A History of Voting Rights in America"

2005-08-05T13:02:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we posted an item about an exhibit in Atlanta about the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Today we learned that the National Civil Rights Museum here in Memphis is mounting its own exhibit about the Act. The Museum usually mounts exhibits organized by other institutions, but this exhibit was conceived and executed by the Museum's board and staff.

The opening, with a free reception, will be Saturday, 6 August, from 3 pm to 6 pm. The exhibit will be up until 18 December 2005. The Museum's hours for the month of August are Monday, Wednesday-Saturday, 9 am to 6 pm; Sunday, 1 pm to 6 pm. Hours for the Fall season will be announaced later.

Admission for adults is $12; students (with ID) and the elderly, $10; children 4-17, $8.50. Free admission Monday, 3 pm to 6 pm. Call 901.521.9699, extension 241, to request group tours.

For further information, visit the Museum's Web site or call 901.521.9699.

Going to Atlanta? See the exhibit “Of Ballots Uncast: The African-American Struggle for the Right to Vote”

2005-08-04T13:05:00.000-05:00

If you are planning travel in the Atlanta area within the next six months, you might want to take in the exhibit entitled “Of Ballots Uncast: The African-American Struggle for the Right to Vote,” which opens at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site Visitor Center today (4 August 2005) and continues through 7 March 2006. The exhibit is in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson on 6 August 1965.

The exhibit is sponsored by the African American Experience Fund/National Park Foundation and the National Archives and Records Administration. There is no admission charge. The Visitor Center is located at 450 Auburn Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia. Exhibit hours are 9 am to 6 pm daily through 14 August, and 9 am to 5 pm thereafter through 7 March 2006, except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Days. For more information, call 404. 331.5190 or visit the Web site at
http://www.nps.gov/malu/pphtml/eventdetail18353.html

Peggy Caffrey reports research at the Library of Congress

2005-07-30T16:12:00.000-05:00

Hello, from the Library of Congress! I've been spending most of the summer here in American historians' Mecca, reading the papers of anthropologist Margaret Mead for a book of letters a friend and I are editing. I saw former student, now Asst. Prof. Mike Bertrand here one day--he was here researching his next book on African-American radio. I lug my computer in with me, but many people now are taking digital photos of documents, instead of notes and xeroxing.

The security is extensive and cumbersome, but necessary, I guess--x-ray machines and you need to have a special picture ID card made to use any of the collections. I did take time to see the new Museum of the American Indian--went intending to spend an hour or so and spent the whole day--an excellent shredding of the stereotypes and affirmation of Native American culture.

Looking forward to seeing you all in a few weeks!
Peggy Caffrey

John Robertson reports on research in Illinois, including "archival brownies"

2005-07-30T16:09:00.000-05:00

Regarding Dr. Sherman's suggestion that we share vacation anecdotes, I have one. After intense double stressing over selling my and Marcel's house there in Memphis and finally completing it, and preparing for comps, I went to visit my working-class relatives, mainly my first cousin/surrogate sister, in Illinois. The east Alton area was, in the 1950s, the only industrialized area in Southern Illinois - the "other" Illinois; hill country with a large concentration of second- and third-generation transplanted Illinois rurals, many of whom have, as my cousin, Southern ancestry.

The area is, for one thing, important for religious groups that three of us are studying. I was privileged to interview a key denominational historian for one of the denominations. This man has the status of a retired member of the papal curia within that organization. This particular group is a bit gun-shy over their treatment in the hands of some not-too-complimentary historians, and they are very guarded with access to their archives. The interview went very well, but what was more important, I think, was the establishment of an amicable relationship with the religious official's secretary and the other women on the staff there. In an effort to consolidate the good relations, at the suggestion of my cousin, I took the secretaries some fresh-baked brownies. Those brownies, and similar gestures, may be the most important component of my vacation.

Dr. Benin has repeatedly suggested that administration in large institutions should be left entirely up to the secretaries. They are, after all, the ones who actually know things.

By the way, Amanda and Karen like sugar-free Planter's turtles and low-carb ice cream.

John Robertson

Let's get blogging!

2005-07-29T16:13:00.000-05:00

(Janann Sherman, Chair of the Department of History, originated the idea of a Web "space" where anyone connected with the department -- faculty, staff, students, alumni -- could "talk," particularly about their travels throughout the country and throughout the world. This "blog," Memphis Historians on the Go, is where the action should be. Here's her invitation to get things moving more than they have been lately. Be sure to keep reading below to see all the great photos that she sent from her recent trip to Montana and Alberta. And then start clicking on the COMMENTS links to add your own comments.)

(You might want to visit the department's Web page about this blog to get a better idea of how it operates. You'll find it at http://history.memphis.edu/onthego.html. )

Hello everyone! I’d like to see us use this blog to keep in touch with one another, to debate current issues of concern in the department, the city, the state, the nation, the world!

If you wish to submit a message of your own (to begin a new blog) and/or photographs, you need to send those to mcrouse@memphis.edu. As “owner” of the site, he has to post them. But if you just want to engage in the conversation that begins here, you can do that by simply clicking on “comments.”

Okay. I’ll start. How about: how have you spent your summer? I’d like to hear from everyone before we get caught up in the new semester.

Cheers! Janann

Pictures from western trip ("photographer's paradise") by Jan Sherman and Kim Nichols

2005-07-28T15:07:00.000-05:00

Jan Sherman couldn't send pictures from her Blackberry while she and Kim Nichols were on a trip through western Canada and western U.S. Now that they're back, here is a sample of the many photos she took during that trip, with captions that she provided.

This was the first photo I took on the trip. We arrived at Many Glaciers Lodge in Glacier National Park, Montana, in the fog and rain the night before. I grabbed my camera in the morning, walked outside, and this is what I saw. I knew then that I was in paradise.

This lovely young grizzly was taking a morning stroll among the wildflowers in a field near Many Glaciers Lodge. Fortunately, I was in a large vehicle for this shot.

We arrived at the hotel in Waterton, Alberta, in late afternoon. On approach, we spotted this view. I could not have ordered up better lighting for a photo! The Prince of Wales, like several hotels where we stayed, was built by the Canadian Pacific Railroad near the turn of the previous century to stimulate tourism among the well-to-do. So out in the middle of pristine wilderness, you happen upon these fabulously elegant hotels. Now that's my idea of "roughing it"!

This is Waterton Lake from the hill upon which the Prince of Wales Hotel is perched. Note the white caps. The Chinook winds blow so strongly down this channel that it literally blew me off my feet.

Moonrise over Waterton Lake, as seen from the terrace of the Prince of Wales Hotel.

The deer were so tame at the edge of Waterton Lake (in Alberta, Canada) that I was able to come close to take their photographs. Lest the viewer think that I had simply used a telephoto lens, I present this photo with Kim Nichols as proof.

This tiny island (Spirit Island) was a half-hour's boat ride down Lake Maligne near Jasper, Alberta. I believe that of the 200 or so photographs I took on this trip to photographer's paradise, this one is the best one.

These canoe-ers on Maligne Lake gave me the perfect shot. The lake was allegedly named by a trapper who lost all his horses and supplies in the river feeding the lake. He wrote in his diary that this was "le traverse maligne"-- ie evil and perverse. Americans pronounce it MA-LINE; Canadians say MA-LEEN.

Mt Rundel is just outside of Banff, Alberta. We saw a photo of it reflecting in a lake, and set off to find the right lake. This is the result: Mt. Rundel reflected in Vermillion Lake.

Jan Sherman and Kim Nichols traveling in Canada

2005-07-19T21:41:00.000-05:00

Hello from Alberta! Kim is driving us across western Alberta on our way from Waterton to Banff. Since arriving in the mountains on Saturday we have been out of the reach of cell phones, TV etc-a wonderful break from civilization. I'm composing this on my blackberry while bouncing down the highway--not recommended for long messages.

We have seen spectaclar scenery, taken dozens of photos, hiked in the woods, rowed across a glacial lake, communed with several forms of wildlife. (Including the 4 legged kind), eaten well and rested much. In short, a grand vacation!

See you all in a week!
Janann

Dr Hong Li on faculty of Beijing Program of Asian Studies

2005-06-13T20:44:00.000-05:00

Dr Hong Li, who received her Ph.D. in history from The University of Memphis in 2003, writes from Beijing that she is doing well and is working for a program that brings American students to China for study. She is on the faculty of the Beijing Progam of Asian Studies, which is affiliated with American University in Washington, D.C. The program's Web site indicates that she is doing post-doctoral work at the Institute of Qing History, People’s University.

Dr Li wrote her dissertation under the direction of Dr Joseph Hawes and Dr Lung-kee Sun on "Speaking to the Wind": American Presbyterian Missionaries in Ningbo from the 1840s to the 1860s.

History class visits Shiloh National Military Park

2005-04-19T15:29:00.000-05:00

Dr Douglas Cupple's class HIST 4670/6670 (Civil War and Reconstruction) made a field trip to the Shiloh National Military Park in early April, when a renactment of the battle that was fought there in April 1862 was being held. Mike Altman was the photographer for the three views of the living history demonstrations you see here:

A University of Memphis student strolls through a Union camp to observe the daily soldiers' life during the American Civil War. On display were tents, uniforms, arms, accoutrements, camp cooking gear, tents, and a variety of other items used by the soldiers. Reenactors gave the students an authentic insight that included company drill and bayonet practice.

Dressed in authentic officers' and enlisted men's uniforms, reenactors give a narrative of the role played by both Union and Confederate navies during the war. Among the topics presented were the lives of the common sailors along with discussions on amphibious operations, life on the blockaders, and the evolving role of technology in naval warfare.

University of Memphis instructor Doug Cupples discusses the state of field artillery during the War and the important role of the Hornet's Nest in the Union defence and the Confederate's massing of sixty-two cannons (the largest number assembled in American warfare to that date) to break the Federal line. An artillery demonstration and firing gave students the feel, sound, and smell of black powder, muzzle-loading mid-19th-century artillery.

New History Web site is "live"

2005-02-28T16:26:00.000-06:00

The new Web site for the Department of History at The University of Memphis, of which this blog is a part, has been under test for several weeks. Today, it was placed online instead of the old pages. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out at http://history.memphis.edu/

KARNAK GREAT HYPOSTYLE HALL PROJECT

2005-02-27T19:42:00.000-06:00

One of the places that we expect to get a lot of reports from is Peter Brand's KARNAK GREAT HYPOSTYLE HALL PROJECT, which has a nice Web site. Peter usually takes a group to Egypt every fall to continue work on the epigraphy of the hall. While we're awaiting his next trip, you can visit his site on the Web to get the flavor of the project. It's a very informative site, full of interesting pictures.

Hi there!

2005-02-18T16:34:00.000-06:00

If you're associated with the Department of History at The University of Memphis in any way--faculty, staff, students, alumni--and are traveling anywhere, this page is for you. Let us know where you're traveling, what you're seeing, what you're experiencing.

We want to keep it as informal as possible, so this page has been set up as a blog (that's computerese for Web log, which is computerse for . . .well, you'll get the idea soon, if you don't already know).

You should be able to add your comments to whatever you see here, so there can be a lively exchange of information and ideas The moderator of the blog reserves the right to delete any inappropriate material, however.

Give it a try. We'll be liberal in our interpretation of "traveling" so that even if you're not traveling, you can still join in the fun.