Department of History

Spring 2013

(revised 4/16/2013) 

UMass Lowell History major Mary-Kate Hazel has been selected as the student speaker for the University's undergraduate commencement exercises on Saturday, May 18, 2013. Chosen from among four finalists, among whom was also Kate Di Tullio, another senior History major, Hazel was selected on the basis of her academic achievement, poise, and the subject of her speech.

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is an important new national initiative aimed at bringing together a massive amount of useful information under one virtual roof. First conceived in October 2010 at Harvard, this project aims to create a national digital library. It aims to provide books, images, and audio-visual materials on a systematic and accessible basis. The grand unveiling of this project will occur at the Boston Public Library on April 18th. UMass Lowell will be among the very first History Departments in the country to contribute new content to this project, based upon the prize-winning work on the Bread & Roses strike of Prof. Robert Forrant (on which, see below). Stay tuned for more details on this initiative.

Mary-Kate Hazel wins 2013 Gilder Lehrman History Scholar Award
UMass Lowell History major Mary-Kate Hazel has been selected as one of just fifteen Gilder Lehrman History Scholars in a nationwide competition. The award allows her to spend a weekend in New York City where she will participate in a program of special presentations, including meetings with eminent scholars and a behind-the-scenes tour of historic archives. She will also be honored at a formal dinner. The award recognizes outstanding graduating college seniors who have demonstrated academic and extracurricular excellence in American history as well as a commitment to public service and community involvement. 

Professor Robert Forrant and some of the students from his Lawrence seminar have contributed to a breathtaking series of fourteen large panels now on display in the lobby of O'Leary Library. Entitled "The Lewis Hine Project: Stories of the Lawrence Children" and curated by Joe Manning, these panels tell the story in both text and image of a dozen individual children from the Lawrence Mills in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Based upon the haunting portraits of Lewis Hine, and augmented by hundreds of hours of historical and biographical research by Joe Manning, these panels also include research by UMass Lowell History majors, professors, and archivists (see related story below). 

Five University of Massachusetts Lowell undergraduate History majors have been invited to present their research at the annual meeting of the New England Historical Association (NEHA) on Saturday, April 20, 2013 at Westfield State University. Ashley Long, Mary-Kate Hazel, and Katherine DiTullio will present papers based on research completed about Native American tribal identity under the direction of Prof. Chandler in Fall 2012. Derek Winslow and Meghan Chapman will present papers based on research completed about the history of the New England Renaissance Conference under the direction of Prof. Carlsmith. 

On Tuesday, April 9, 2013 at 3:30 p.m., the UMass Lowell chapter of Phi Alpha Theta will sponsor a History Research Symposium in Coburn Hall 307. The events is free and open to the public; please contact Prof. Abigail Chandler for more information. Five members of Phi Alpha Theta will present their current research on historical topics, including:

Mary-Kate Hazel: "Autonomy, Identity, and English-French-Native Relations in the Captivity Narrative of Eunice Williams."

Ashley Long: "Captors and Captives in the Ohio Country"

Kate DiTullio: "Warrior-Diplomats: Mohicans in the American Revolution"

Janelle Bourgeois: "'The union is the place of combat; the cooperative must be a financial and moral support': Franco-Belgian Immigrants in the Textile Industry 1900-1912"

Caitlin Pinkham: "Seeking Security and Hope in the Mill City: How Lowell, Massachusetts Experienced the First Few Years of the Great Depression"

Chad Montrie Wins Grant to Make Documentary About Lowell Textile Bridge
The Lowell Cultural Council has awarded Prof. Chad Montrie $3,000 to make a short documentary film about the history of the Textile Memorial Bridge in Lowell. Montrie was one of 26 recipients this year, and one of only 7 to receive the maximum amount. Montrie has recently completed other documentary films, including River Cycle: The Concord in Lowell (2010) and Tough Love: A Meditation on Dominance and Dogs (2012).  Tough Love is his first feature-length film and traces the  history of the "alpha dog" concept from its origins in 1940s wolf studies to its current popularity among dog owners.  He has upcoming screenings for that movie in Maine, New York City, Colorado, Bermuda, and Texas.  Montrie teaches courses in the history and production of documentary films at UMass Lowell. 

History professor Robert Forrant spearheaded an interdisciplinary initiative to consider the history of labor and of popular protest by focusing on the 1912 Bread & Roses strike in Lawrence. Recognized by the Zinn Educational Foundation for excellence, this effort involved students and faculty from multiple departments. Please read the full story in the UMass Lowell News, including some exceptional posters. For additional information about a poetry review dedicated to this same topic you can read the online journal The Bridge Review: Merrimack Valley Culture, which includes writing, art, music, video clips, and other creative and scholarly work. 

Joseph Zlotnik, who received his B.A. in History in Spring 2012 from UMass Lowell, won a narrow race in the second Worcester District on November 6, 2012  and will serve in the Massachusetts State House. Zlotnik defeated incumbent Rich Bastien with 8,512 votes (51%) compared to Bastien's 8,181 votes. At just 22 years old, Zlotnik will be the youngest representative on Beacon Hill; he follows closely in the steps of another young UMass Lowell alumnus, Sean Garballey, who was elected to represent the 23rd Middlesex District in 2008 shortly after graduating in Political Science from UMass Lowell. Describing himself as a moderate progressive who campaigned in favor of increased funding for education, Zlotnik postponed attending law school in order to run for political office. He was buoyed by strong support in his hometown of Gardner, MA. 

The History Department is delighted to welcome Assistant Professor Shane Minkin-Reinhard to UMass Lowell. She earned an M.A. in Jewish history from Emory University (2000) and a Ph.D. from the Joint Program in History and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies from NYU (2009), with a dissertation about 19th and 20th century Egypt. Prior to her arrival at UMass Lowell, Prof. Minkin-Reinhard taught at Swarthmore College for several years. She will teach courses in Islamic History, Middle Eastern History, Ottoman History, Colonialism and Nationalism in the Arab World, and Historical Methods.

The History Department is also pleased to welcome back Prof. Fletcher Smith to a second year as Visiting Assistant Professor; and to welcome long-time adjunct faculty member Diane Lewis as a Visiting Lecturer in 2012-13. New adjunct faculty include Cynthia Melendy and Kenneth Strauss.

In Fall 2012 Michael Pierson will be on sabbatical; in Spring 2013 Caryn Cossé Bell will be on sabbatical.

In October 2012 Ashgate Press will publish Patrick Young’s first monograph, Enacting Brittany: Tourism and Culture in Provincial France, 1871-1939. It is a case study of some of the processes associated with the emergence of mass tourism, and the effects of this kind of tourism development on local populations. Efforts to package Breton cultural difference in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries marked a significant advance in heritage tourism, and a departure from what is commonly perceived to be a French intolerance of cultural diversity within its borders. This study explores the means by which key actors - middle class associations, businesses, governmental bodies, cultural intermediaries - pursued tourist development in the region and the effect this had on Breton cultural identification. Chapters are arranged thematically and consider the rise of rural tourism in France and the preservation, display, and enactment of Breton culture in its most visible locations: the natural landscape of Brittany, Breton dress, early heritage festivals and religious Pardons. The final chapter explores the staging of Breton culture at the Paris World's Fair of 1937 and the roots of state-sponsored mass tourism.

The History Club President in 2012-13 will be Mary-Kate Hazel. The President of Phi Alpha Theta in 2012-13 will be Lauren Merrill. Please see the respective web pages of the History Club and of Phi Alpha Theta for more details on their activities, club officers, and more.

On Saturday, October 20, 2012, UMass Lowell will host the annual meeting of the New England Renaissance Conference (NERC) at the Inn & Conference Center downtown. Approximately 70 scholars and advanced graduate students will gather to discuss the latest in scholarship about the Renaissance and to listen to a keynote speech by Prof. James Hankins of Harvard University. For more details, please consult the NERC website or contact the conference organizer, Christopher Carlsmith.

Prof. Robert Forrant has organized a series of exhibitions, lectures, and other events to mark the centenary of the Bread & Roses Strike in Lawrence, MA. He was assisted by a number of UMass Lowell students, including those in his seminar on the history of Lawrence in Fall 2011, who conducted historical research and prepared exhibition posters. One of those students was UMass Lowell alumna Emily Levine, now pursuing graduate work in History at Tufts University. For more information about the exhibit see: Bread and Roses Exhibit  For more information about the Bread & Roses centennial, please read the  August 30, 2012 article, For the Shame of Doing Right, in the Valley Advocate newspaper.

On Thursday, October 25, 2012 at 6:00 p.m. in O’Leary 222, author Ardis Cameron will speak about her book Radicals of the Worst Sort: Laboring Women in Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1860-1912. She will discuss the role that women played in the strike; in addition, her presentation will be integrated with student projects, a photo exhibition, and music.

Prof. Ethan Spanier led a three-week trip to Athens, Greece in June 2012 and taught a course on Greek history to UMass Lowell students. The group visited a series of important historical sites in Athens and elsewhere.  Prof. Spanier plans to return to Greece in summer 2013 for a five-week visit and to teach a course jointly with the American College of Greece.