Wichita State University doesn’t look like it did even just a few years ago. Our student union is complete, as is Shocker Hall. The “Innovation Campus” is in the works.

The Department of History is undergoing changes as well. There are plans in the works to add a small wing to Fiske that contains a second entrance and an elevator!

Here at the department, the biggest recent change is the arrival of our newest colleague, Jeff Hayton, who will be teaching in our modern European rotation.

Sadly, some changes have involved the loss of beloved members of the department, most notably Tony Gythiel, who passed away this summer.

You will notice that there are some changes in responsibility here at the department, particularly as John Dreifort takes a well-earned break from being graduate coordinator and Robert Owens filling that position with great enthusiasm and energy.

Over the past year, we have seen the arrival of new graduates and undergraduate students (part of a substantial increase in enrollment campus-wide). We have seen many graduations and always enjoy hearing about the new opportunities, careers, and additional degrees that our alums pursue.

Speaking of alums, other changes have been in the form of new gifts to the department. One is a generous donation from alum Sondra Van Meter McCoy. Two others are generous donations from the estates of Thomas diZerega and Mary Venning.

It seems that change has become the new normal at Wichita State. Stay tuned!

With Regards,

Jay M. Price

The department was saddened this summer with the passing of Medievalist Tony Gythiel. It was the end of a truly remarkable life. He was born in Poperinge, West Flanders in 1930. After his academic studies, he served as Jesuit missionary in Zaire.

In 1963, he left war-torn Kinshasa and, in a complete change in life, left the Jesuits, moved to Michigan, and received a master's in English literature and a Ph.D. in medieval studies from the University of Detroit. It was there that he met and married Dana Jorns, his devoted wife.

Soon afterward, Tony and Dana moved to Wichita, where Tony joined the Wichita State University English Department. He taught at WSU for 39 years, first in English and later, in the Department of History. A convert to Eastern Orthodoxy, Tony became especially noted for his detailed and scholarly translations of Orthodox spiritual writings, in total some 14 works. As a result of his efforts, he received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the WSU Foundation, which oversees two scholarships named for him, to St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, to Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice.

This fall, the department welcomes its newest faculty member, Jeff Hayton. A proud native of Canada, Dr. Hayton received his B.A. and M.A. from McMaster University and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2013. For the last year he has been teaching in Canada and looks forward to honing his teaching and research skills on the Kansas plains.

A modern Europeanist with a specialty in Germany, he is currently revising his dissertation, Culture from the Slums: Punk Rock, Authenticity, and Alternative Culture in East and West Germany, a monograph which explores the impact of punk rock in East and West Germany during the 1970s and 1980s. Dr. Hayton has also published widely on East German punk and repression by communist security forces, on Skinhead violence in East Germany, on rock’n’roll in West Germany, and on Nazism in video games.

Over the coming years, Dr. Hayton looks forward to developing a number of courses for students at WSU. Because he specializes in Germany, expect courses on Imperial Germany, Nazism, and the Holocaust in the future, as well as classes on Modern Europe and Popular Culture.

2014 saw several exciting speakers come to Wichita State University to speak about their exciting new research. This series is designed to bring regionally based historians to WSU for a public talk and a small discussion with our graduate students.

In spring 2014, the Department of History welcomed Dr. Sarah Tracy, Associate Professor from the University of Oklahoma, who gave a talk entitled “Fasting for Science and Faith: The Minnesota Starvation Experiment, 1944-1946”.

In fall 2014, on the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, Dr. Nathan Wood, Associate Professor from the University of Kansas, spoke on “All For You, Franz?: From the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand to Total War”.

In spring 2015, Dr. Robert Spoo, the Chapman Distinguished Chair in Law from the University of Tulsa, will speak on the history of copyright law in the United States in the 19th and 20th century.

If you would like further information on our upcoming 2014-2015 lecture events, please contact series organizer Dr. Robin Henry at robin.henry@wichita.edu

At its heart, the Public History Program is about local and community history. Using Wichita and Kansas as a source of study and exploration, students with the program have been active in documenting the history of this place. Some work involves research in the form of master’s theses. Among these are Jordan Poland’s study of Populist governor Lorenzo Lewelling, Austin Rhode’s exploration of saloons in 1870s Wichita, and Keith Wondra’s recently-completed history of Old Cowtown Museum.

Some students work with clients such as Sedgwick County Records Management, WSU Special Collections, Exploration Place, Old Cowtown Museum, and the Kansas Aviation Museum, among others. Others are oriented to historic preservation, documenting and interpreting historic structures.

Some work involves work with groups and organizations, as when public history students served as guides to the Kansas Association of Historians whose 2014 meeting took place at Old Cowtown Museum. Another recent event was a walking tour of Douglas Avenue, taking an in-depth view of one of Wichita’s most significant streets.

It is exciting to see what graduates of the program have done with their training. Some run museums. One alum, Christy Davis, recently became the director of Symphony in the Flint Hills. Judith Welfelt leads history-related tours across the state. Another, Donna Rae Pearson, is Local History Librarian at Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library. One alum, Bethany Kennedy, has applied her studies in her new home in the Marshall Islands, teaching at the College of the Marshall Islands, and serving as the Associate Director of the “Waan Aelon in Majel” (Canoes of the Marshall Islands).

This year, public history students got a chance to participate in the creation of a new regional public history group that connects the program here at WSU with that of Emporia State, Fort Hays State, the museum studies program at KU, and several programs in Missouri and Oklahoma. Connections such as these will likely lead to more opportunities in the future!

Thanks again to the generosity of the department’s benefactors, the History Department was able to deliver nearly $15,000 in scholarships and awards to our outstanding students. In the undergraduate paper category, Emma Snowden received the Bendell Award for the best research paper in History 300. Our two graduate paper awards went to a pair of selections which narrowly edged out a number of excellent papers. Kristina Haahr was given the Fiske Hall Seminar paper award while Jason Herbert’s submission was accorded the Fiske Hall Non-Seminar paper award.

As always, the competition for undergraduate scholarships was fierce. The following students were recognized for their academic excellence.

Emma Lavacek garnered the Lee and Helen Kamen Scholarship given to the most outstanding sophomore history major, while Matthew Conklin was selected for the prestigious Donna and Bill Ard scholarship. Claire Gregory’s work was honored with the Dr. Henry and Minnie Onsgard award. Kevin Kirchgessner and Kristopher Hiser’s continued high academic performance was rewarded with a renewal of the Decker-Kansas Society of the DAR and the Marie Graham Memorial Scholarships respectively. Frank Foster snagged the “Jed” Hurley Scholarship and Vanessa Landis’ excellent work merited the Russell “Jiggs” Nelson Scholarship.

The history department is pleased to announce the establishment of a new graduate award named in honor of Sondra McCoy. Sondra Van Meter McCoy received her MA in 1962 and she has directed that the award be given in memory of two WSU professors: Emory Lindquist and Kelly Sowards. The inaugural winner of this award is Jason Herbert. The department is also delighted to renew John Skelton’s Anthony and Dana Gythiel Scholarship in honor of his continued stellar work and to give the John Rydjord Graduate Award to Sarah Lavallee. The department is certain she will be able to put this award (given to the year’s superior graduate student) to good use as she begins her doctoral work at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Dr. Travis Bruce thoroughly enjoyed his second year at Wichita State University. He published a monograph, La taifa de Denia et la Méditerranée, in 2013. He also presented papers at the annual conference of the Medieval Academy of America, the Mediterranean Seminar, and the International Congress on Medieval Studies.

The summer to spring of 2013-2014 was another busy stretch for George Dehner and his family. George used the ARCS award for the summer of 2013 to continue his research on his Legionnaires’ disease project. He twice traveled to Atlanta to visit archives at the National Archives and Records Administration and the CDC, as well as to conduct interviews with public health and industry experts who deal with legionella. Drawing upon this research, George organized a panel and presented a paper at the annual World History Association Conference held this year in San Jose, Costa Rica. In addition to his research pursuits, George had another excellent set of undergraduate and graduate students in both the fall and spring semesters. He and his wife Jodi remain quite busy shuttling their three boys—Brendan, Patrick, and Sean—to their various academic and athletic activities and the whole crew is looking forward to another exciting year in the Wichita community.

Modern Europeanist John Dreifort has gladly turned over to Robert Owens the responsibility of advising the department’s graduate students as Graduate Coordinator. He is looking forward to using the time to further his research on a variety of topics that have stacked up on him. He continues to teach a full load of courses in the modern European field, as well as his popular courses in the History of World War II and in the History of Baseball. He especially welcomes new colleague Jeff Hayton, who will offer an array of additional European courses, especially central European history. He also enjoys teaching an adult education course for senior citizens, who certainly are willing to challenge him in class discussion. He continues to serve the Wichita community as Executive Secretary of the Wichita Committee on Foreign Relations, which brings high level speakers for monthly meetings on matters of U.S. foreign policy, world crises, and national security.

Dr. Robin Henry had another busy year. In addition to publishing and teaching she served on the Tenure and Promotion Committee and as a humanities consultant for the Ulrich Museum of Art. She presented a paper at the Organization of American Historians annual meeting in April, and gave several talks to local and regional organizations in Wichita and Kansas City, to the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C., and to the College of Law and the Institute for the American Constitutional Heritage at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Henry also continued to head the department lecture series, welcoming Dr. Norman E. Saul in the fall and Dr. Sarah Tracy in the spring to campus. Finally, Dr. Henry participates in the local public radio series, Past and Present, as a commentator and contributes to the blog Notches: (re)marks on the history of sexuality. She looks forward to another busy year.

Professor Willard Carl Klunder continues to teach both American surveys as well as upper division courses in antebellum, military, and diplomatic history. He remains an active participant in University governance. He is an at-large member of the Faculty Senate and a member of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee; and serves on numerous faculty committees, including Planning and Budget and Honors. He also is a faculty representative on the WSU ICAA Board of Directors.

In the fall of 2013, Robert M. Owens enjoyed teaching History 131 and the Survey of the American Indian (501), and was particularly pleased with a fine crop of History 300 (Introduction to Research and Writing) students. In January 2014 Owens began his first semester-long sabbatical to support his third book-length research project. He flew to Philadelphia in January – massive snowstorms be damned – to work in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s archives. In April he traveled through Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, New York, and Ontario, Canada, on a research/‘photo-journalism’ tour, and in June spent two weeks in New York City working at the New York Historical Society and New York Public Library (for further details, see the “In the Archives…” feature below). In May, Owens submitted an article on murder and mediation in Cherokee Country to a national journal, and also served as a manuscript reader for the University of Oklahoma Press. Owens’ second book, Red Dreams, White Nightmares: Indian Alliances in the Anglo-American Mind, 1763-1815, is forthcoming from the University of Oklahoma Press in early 2015.

Jay M. Price remains chair of the department, continuing to learn the ropes of the position. Even so, these responsibilities have not kept him from being active in research and local public history efforts. The academic year began with the release of his article, “Family, Ethnic Entrepreneurship, and the Lebanese of Kansas” in Great Plains Quarterly. He wrote this co-authored piece with Sue Abdinnour in the Barton School of Business as a part of a larger project documenting local ethnic entrepreneurship traditions. He is currently in the process of working with Robert Weems, Gretchen Eick, and the Kansas African American Museum to create a photo history of Wichita’s African American legacy. One of the largest activities of the year involved serving as president of the Kansas Association of Historians, which meant organizing the annual meeting held at Old Cowtown Museum. Moreover, he has been active in organizing a regional public history organization, is a regular contributor in the KMUW “Past and Present” series, was a speaker at the Symphony in the Flint Hills, worked closely with Exploration Place on several projects, and guided a walking tour of Jewish businesses on Douglas. Although he completed his term on the board of the Kansas Humanities Council, he remains active with the board of the University Press of Kansas and the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum.

Craig Torbenson was on sabbatical for spring 2014. During this time he completed a local history of his high school titled Tornado Magic: A History of Anoka High School Sports. This eight-year project was enthusiastically embraced by the local sports community with all proceeds going to a memorial fund to help students pay for activity fees at the high school. He also started a project examining Norwegian-American migration from Telemark with plans to submit an article this fall. He continues as undergraduate advisor for the department. During the past year he picked up a new hobby of running in races and has competed in several 5K and 10K events.

Robert E. Weems, Jr. The 2013-2014 academic year was a busy one for Professor Weems. On campus, besides teaching his courses, he engaged in a variety of educationally-oriented service activities. In February, he gave a well-received Black History Month presentation entitled “Putting 1970s ‘Blaxploitation’ Films In Historical Perspective.” In April, he gave his third Garvey lecture, “What Goes Up Must Come Down: Anthony Overton and the Great Depression” (related to his major research project on Anthony Overton, a prominent early 20th century African American entrepreneur). As president of the WSU African American Faculty & Staff Association, he coordinated two important events during the 2013-2014 academic year. The first was a November panel discussion (co-sponsored with the WSU Tilford Commission) with the theme “Recruiting and Retaining Faculty of African Descent.” The second was a December “open mic” event honoring the legacy of the recently deceased Nelson Mandela. This was the only memorial program in Wichita that recognized and celebrated Mandela’s life and legacy. Professor Weems continued his active engagement with a variety of organizations in the broader Wichita community. In August, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Kansas African American Museum (TKAAM). Besides serving on the Museum’s “Collections Committee,” Weems also participated in public forums sponsored by TKAAM in September and November. Finally, in June, Weems discussed the history of black business in Wichita at TKAAM’s Summer Enrichment program for middle-school students.

Weems, during 2013-2014, continued gathering material related to his Wichita Black Business History Project. He also gave two Black History Month presentations associated with this initiative. One was delivered at the central branch of the Wichita Public Library; the other was for the Wichita Genealogical Society (at the Lionel branch of the Wichita Public Library). Another of Weems’ community-engagement activities during 2013-2014 was his involvement with the Kansas Leadership Center’s (KLC) “Growing Kansas” initiative that seeks to develop workable strategies to increase the number of minority-owned businesses in the state. His participation has included participating in various “think tank” sessions related to this issue.

Professor Weems, along with colleagues Jay Price and Robin Henry, continued serving as a commentator for KMUW (Wichita Public Radio) in its “Past and Present” series. During 2013-2014 he spoke on a variety of topics related to African American and business/economic issues. Finally, Weems, during 2013-2014, made progress on his two current publication projects (a co-edited book and a single authored monograph/biography). Along with Professor Jason Chambers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dr. Weems is working on a manuscript examining black business enterprise in Chicago (to be published by the University of Illinois Press). Weems and Chambers anticipate submitting a completed draft of this manuscript during Fall 2014. He is also nearing completion of a draft of the Anthony Overton biography (that he will submit to Columbia University Press which has expressed interest in the project).

Monta (Howland) Ballard (BA, 1968) is now retired from her career as a commercial property and casualty underwriter in excess and surplus lines insurance.

Jarrell B. Blair (BA, 1973), has spent the past five years compiling a directory and soldier history of the Kansas veterans who served in the Civil War. Comprising over 12 CDs worth of information, the directory contains 38,995 names. For the past three years, he has been giving a program about Kansas participation in the Civil War to civic and military groups. Since 2006, he has been retired from the City of Augusta where he served as city inspector for over twenty-five years, and is also retired after over twenty-two years from the Kansas Army National Guard with the rank of Sergeant First Class. He also served in the United States Air Force and the Kansas Air National Guard. He founded and served as the director of the Augusta Air Museum / Kansas Museum of Military History for over twenty years, watching the museum group from one display case in the Augusta Municipal Airport to a 22,000 square foot building containing over 10,000 military artifacts.

Lawrence P. Buck (BA, 1966) is retired from Widener University where he taught in the Department of History and served for 20 years as provost of the university. Recently he has published The Roman Monster: An Icon of the Papal Antichrist in Reformation Polemics with Truman State University Press, 2014.

Andrea Schniepp Burgardt escaped the police department in December after 10 years and 2 months and 1 week. Now she is in the Debt Management office of the COW Finance Department. She is trying to streamline a lot of our processes and make things more efficient. She is also the treasurer for The Wichita Birth Alliance, which is a grassroots organization created and maintained to inform, educate, and advocate for a woman's right to a safe and satisfying birth and to aid in the expansion of birth options in the area and is in the beginning stages of becoming a leader for La Leche League.

Rev. Patrick Broz (BA, 1992; MA, 1996), finished his first year as the pastor of Kingman United Methodist Church in Kingman, KS. He is married to Rev. Abby Caseman, who is pastor at Cunningham and Penalosa United Methodist Churches in Kingman County, KS. Patrick recently completed a resource guide for churches to use to increase their worship attendance among younger families called Guest Quest. To date, more than one hundred churches have received either in-person or DVD-based training.

Richard Cooley was just promoted to full professor and continues to work as assistant chair for the Department of History at Grand Valley State University. Additionally, he continues to be on the boards for the Michigan Council for History Education and the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District.

Christy Davis (MA, 1999) went on the work for the Kansas State Historical Society’s historic preservation office and in 2006, founded her own consulting company Davis Preservation. Since 2013, she has served as Executive Director of Symphony in the Flint Hills, Inc., whose mission is to enhance appreciation for the Flint Hills.

Don Fisk is the Vice President of a non-profit historical organization, The Fort Phil Kearny/Bozeman Trail Association. He volunteers at the fort twice per week and is working closely with the superintendent to create activities and publicity for the 150th anniversary. Of the opening of the Bozeman Trail, the creation of forts to guard it, the bloody conflicts with the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Northern Arapaho, and the closing of the trail and abandonment of the forts. He completed two volunteer ranger tours at The Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument. During his latest tour, he helped to move some George Custer artifacts from a display case because its glass was accidentally shattered. He has visited the Medicine Wheel, the T A ranch (famous for its part in the Johnson County War), toured Hole-in-the-Wall, the Dull Knife battlefield and the Crazy Woman battlefield. He also helps the Northern Cheyenne raise funds for the monument being constructed in memory of their ancestors who were killed near Ft. Robinson, NE in 1879.

Angie Gumm (MA, 2006) received her Ph.D. in history from Iowa State University in 2010 with a dissertation on the history of the resource recovery of garbage. She is currently the Curriculum Enrichment Advisor at St. Mary Parish Catholic School in Derby, KS.

Kathleen Epps Hankins (BA, 1967), is on the Vision Ministry (committee) at Hillside Christian Church, and also participates in Visitation/Home Communion. She researches family history, and retains memberships in Alpha Chi Omega Sorority Alumnae, the Junior League Sustainers (incl. Wit & Wisdom), & the local Historic Preservation Alliance.

Doug Harvey (MA, 2000), continues to teach history courses online and face to face in the Kansas City area. His first book was published by Pickering and Chatto in 2010, The Theatre of Empire: Frontier Performance in North America, 1750-1860, volume 13 in their series, "Empires in Perspective." He is working on his second book, a biography of frontier revolutionary figure Herman Husband, as well as a collaboration with artist Michael Lee Heron to publish a graphic history of "The Whiskey Rebellion." He also continues to wear his musical hat, available to perform his program "Songs of Revolution" in schools, libraries, etc., and is recording a song cycle dedicated to the Great Plains. Most recently, he and his wife purchased a house in Kansas City and are "crossing over" to the Missouri side.

Benjamin Hruska (MA, 2004), completed a Ph.D. in public history in the spring of 2012 at Arizona State University. He is currently revising his dissertation into a monograph on the history of two aircraft carriers which served in World War II (USS Block Island, CVE-21 & CVE-106). After ASU, Hruska served as the Court Historian for the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C. Currently, he is working as a historical reporter for the award winning Block Island Times on Block Island, Rhode Island and writing a number of academic articles related to memory and the ocean.

Theodore Roosevelt Jamison (MA, 1966), a veteran of the Korean conflict and a historian for the Air Force for eight years, went on to teach in a small college in Iowa. From 1969 through 1972, he was a fellow at Texas Christian University, where he received his Ph.D. While there, he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa and during that time, realized how important his studies at WSU had been, for they were the foundation of his advanced education. After graduation, he published five books and a number of refereed articles. He retired in 1998, after teaching for forty years. Since retirement, he has published two articles for the American Aviation Historical Society. Five years ago, Del Mar college in Corpus Christi, Texas, invited him to teach European and American history courses. The department considers him to be the only professor who has extensive education and teaching experience in European history.

Bob Keckeisen (BA, 1977; MA, 1982), director of the Kansas Museum of History and a long-time community activist in Topeka, retired June 28, 2013, after 31 years with the Kansas State Historical Society, the last 22 of them as director of the museum – the longest-serving person to hold that office. During Bob's tenure as director, the museum won several national awards of excellence for its exhibits, and in 2005, the museum achieved national accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums. Upon his retirement from state service, Bob accepted the position of Assistant General Manager for the Topeka Symphony Orchestra. He has served as principal percussionist for the TSO for the past 25 seasons. Bob continues to teach graduate courses in museum administration at The University of Kansas and Wichita State University.

Kurt Konda (BA, 2003; MA, 2005, Sociology) moved onto the graduate program in Sociology at Wichita State after completing his undergraduate degree in the History department and has worked in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health and KUSM-Wichita since 2005, where he has been able to apply his knowledge and skills acquired at WSU to such diverse topics as assisting with the development of the Sedgwick County Pandemic Influenza Response plan, disaster preparedness, medical stigmatization, food deserts, diabetes, and rural health. Kurt is also an adjunct instructor who has taught classes in the KUSM-W MPH program as well as sociology classes at several area college and universities, including Friends, Southwestern, Hutchinson Community College, and Cowley County Community College.

David Lawrence (MA, 1971), continued to work with Dr. Sowards as his doctoral adviser until he received his Ph.D. from KU in 1984. He taught history and literature at Wichita Collegiate School for fifteen years (1971-1986) and moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1986 to accept a position in the history department of Lipscomb University, then David Lipscomb College. He began as associate professor and was later promoted to full professor with tenure. His retirement came in 2011. He has had the opportunity to sponsor study abroad programs for the last forty years, first for Collegiate and then for Lipscomb. He and his wife were sponsors, and he a teacher, in Lipscomb's semester in Vienna four times, thus allowing us to live in that cultural city for over a year. Since retirement he has continued to travel extensively in Europe. In 2008, he published a biography of the reformer Martin Bucer, based on comments Dr. Sowards made in his class about Bucer's role in promoting unity. He continues to teach some classes for Life-Long Learning at Lipscomb, with one scheduled for this fall on the history of Christian architecture.

Tony Lubbers (BA, 1998), served as president of the Kansas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators for the 2013-14 year. This organization represents Financial Aid Administrators in higher education in the state of Kansas and focuses primarily on training (keeping up with the Federal Government and their regulations). He also traveled to Washington DC and advocated for our students on Capitol Hill (on two separate occasions) meeting with staffers of several Senators and Congressmen in the process. He was also recently elected Vice-President of the Rocky Mountain Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, which is represented in an 8 state region. He became a recipient of the 2013-14 Adjunct Faculty of the Year Award for Friends University as well. Finally, he was promoted to Interim Financial Aid Director last month (May) after serving as Assistant Director for 16 years.

Marshall McKee (BA 67; MEd 73), is a retired USAF 1987, middle school educator 2006 and Associate Professor of Education McKendree University 2013. He is enjoying grandkids and teaching senior adult lifegroup at church.

Robert Meeker (BA, 1968; M.Ed., 1969) retired from District 87 of the Bloomington Public Schools. He had served as Supervisor of Bloomington-Normal Adult Education, and in that role, lead District 87’s implementation of instructional computer technology in the 1970s. He also served as the Director of the Bloomington Area Vocational Center, Assistant Principal at Bloomington High School, and Department Head for both the Business and the Vocational schools budget planning activity. Robert was the recipient of the Madison County Teacher of the Year award, the Illinois State Board of Education’s “Those Who Excel” award, and was inducted into the Bloomington Public Schools, District 87, Hall of Fame in 2010. He lives in Bloomington, Illinois, with his wife, Lynn, and volunteers his services to his son’s painting business. He recently completed a historical review of the Bloomington City Directories.

Tim Myers has been teaching at Butler Community College now for 25 years and is still department chair (Lead Instructor). He is in his second year of working on a D. Ed. Min. from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Jordan Poland (MA, 2013), was hired as the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame Director in Wichita in February 2014. He will be a speaker for the Kansas Humanities Council's 2015 Speaker's Bureau on topics relating to the Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street traveling exhibit, "Hometown Teams."

Melissa Seiwert (BA, 2013) is currently a Career Tech Teacher for Wichita Public Schools (Unified School District 259) where she teaches classes in the Law Enforcement Pathway.

Richard Welch (MA, 1970). Still teaching American and US Military history at Farmingdale State College on Long Island. I've had a couple of small articles published in the NY Times' "Disunion" blog which has been commemorating the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. My latest book, Washington's Commando. Benjamin Tallmadge in the Revolutionary War, came out in March. Apologies for the overwrought title: not my original, but the publisher liked it.

On a personal level I enjoy visiting my son and daughter in Richmond, Virginia and White Plains NY respectively, and will be up in Maine for July and bit of August. One of these days I'll make a trip back to Kansas.

Nicholas Wyant (MA, 2007), received his MLS from Iowa in 2008 and is currently the Social Sciences librarian at Indiana University Bloomington.

Liping Zhu (MA, 1986), is professor of history at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington. Starting September 1, 2014, he will serve as Chair of History Department. Currently, he is a council member of the American Historical Association—Pacific Coast Branch and on editorial board of several history journals and book award committees. His latest book The Road to Chinese Exclusion: The Denver Riot, 1880 Election, and Rise of the West was published by the University Press of Kansas in 2013. In June 2014, he gave a keynote speech at the Western Writers of America annual conference in Sacramento.

Gary Zinter (BA) was a third generation Boeing engineer and worked on B-52s and was involved with 777s before he retired in 1999. While he recently lost his wife Pam Pond Zinter, he has two daughters, one on the East coast and another in mental health.

Since his graduation in 1972, Tom Zwemke has had over 40 years’ experience in International marketing including 30 years with Cessna. He currently has his own company, TZ Productions LLC, specializing in film and video production for major clients worldwide along with documentaries for Public Television.

Attention alums:

Update us on your news! Please email jay.price@wichita.edu for your updates. Be sure to check out the “alumni” link on our web page: http://history.wichita.edu and please let us know if it is okay for us to include your activities on that page!

In the past year, Thomas W. Dizerega passed away.

In Oct 2013, Wesley L. Mahannah passed away.

The Rev. Paul W. Meyer passed away several years ago.

After enjoying his 60th wedding anniversary on September 6, 2013, Wendell S. Smothermon passed on April 24, 2014 in Wichita.

Dr. C. Fred Williams passed away on November 23, 2013.

I spent a good chunk of my spring 2014 sabbatical visiting archives in the eastern U.S. in support of a future project looking at cross-cultural murders and crime resolution in Early America. My January trip to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia led me to some fine gems. They have the single largest collection of correspondence from General “Mad” Anthony Wayne, a hero of the American Revolution and the Indian wars of the 1790s – the vast majority of which have not been published – but also rare letters from the likes of William Augustus Bowles, a Maryland Loyalist who styled himself “Director General of the Creek Nation.” He later died in a Spanish dungeon.

In April, a ridiculous road trip led me from Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville, to the New York State Archives in Albany (with fun stops at Monticello and Mount Vernon en route.) The TSLA has extensive manuscript collections on microfilm, including the papers of early Tennessee leaders John Sevier and James Robertson, as well as an excellent collection of secondary books and journals on Tennessee history. In Albany I was granted access to the papers of governor George Clinton, one of the many collections heavily damaged in the infamous state library fire of 1911. They were not kidding – see the photo below. Many of Clinton’s important correspondence was reduced to a date and salutation, surrounded by ash. Still, as most of his post-1783 correspondence was never published, it is the best collection of his papers extant, and of interest to me for Clinton’s efforts to seek the capture of a New Yorker who murdered an Onondaga chief in 1792.

June found me living plainly in a “youth” hostel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, so that I might work in the New York Historical Society Library and the New York Public Library’s manuscripts room. The NYHSL has a wonderful collection of published sermons that were delivered to condemned murderers immediately preceding their executions – which today sounds like cruel and unusual punishment. The NYHSL has also ascended to the title of “Loudest library Dr. Owens has ever tried to work in” – a combination of acoustics and New Yawhk disdain for silence. The NYPL has a large collection of manuscripts, including the papers of legendary American historian George Bancroft. Reading Bancroft’s handwritten notes on colonial newspapers was a great treat. Also, I saw director Judd Apatow and comedian/actress Amy Schumer shooting a movie right outside the library.

In May, volume 15 of The Fairmount Folio was published. Once again, the signing party at Watermark Books was a great success. The topics of the seven articles ranged from focus on Medieval Europe to Colonial America to twentieth century America. The articles are based on papers written for classes. These volumes would not be possible without the Faculty Board which rotates every year and which chooses the papers to publish. Dr. Robin Henry, Dr. Travis Bruce, Dr. Robert Weems, and Dr. George Dehner served on the board for volume 15. At this fifteenth volume, it is possible to see the sweep of The Fairmount Folio. Nearly 100 student articles have been published in these fifteen volumes. Nearly ninety students have been authors, and twelve students have served as student editors. Both undergraduate and graduate students have served as editors and authors. As time has passed these students have graduated, gone on to more graduate study in history, law, and library science, and a wide range of professions. Planning for volume 16 has already begun, and promises to be another exciting volume.

Faculty Editor, Dr. Helen Hundley