History

During America's War of Independence against the British in the 18th century, the West Chester area featured pivotal encounters between the two opposing forces. While the British prevailed in the short run, occupying the city of Philadelphia, PA, General George Washington and his army ultimately helped secure America's freedom. WCU military historian Dr. Kodosky recently discussed this on Main Line Tonight.

Dr. Smucker hosts quilt podcast

As the host of Running Stitch, A QSOS Podcast, Professor Janneken Smucker reveals the inner thoughts, feelings, and motivations of contemporary quiltmakers by drawing on Quilters S.O.S. — Save Our Stories, the long running oral history project created by the non-profit Quilt Alliance in 1999. Thanks to a new partnership with the Louie B Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky Libraries, the interviews have been digitized. Quilts and quiltmaking serves as a lens to examine some of today’s most pressing issues, including activism, public health, politics, race, and the economy. In the podcast, Smucker digs into the QSOS archive to listen to excerpts from past interviews, and brings back interviewees to ask them about what they are working on and thinking about presently.

Dr. Ruswick edits book on poverty

Professor Brent Ruswick is completing his second book, as the editor and a contributor to The Cultural History of Poverty in the Age of Empire. The book features contributions from several distinguished historians that analyze different aspects of the history of poverty in the 19^th and early-20^th centuries, and is richly illustrated with historical photographs and images.

Dr. Kirschenbaum writes about Soviet Adventures in America

Professor Lisa Kirschenbaum’s current book project, “Il’f and Petrov’s American Road Trip: Soviet Adventures in the Land of the Capitalists” (under contract with Cambridge University Press) tells the improbable story of two Soviet humorists, Il’ia Il’f and Evgeny Petrov, who in 1935 undertook a 10,000- mile road trip from New York to Hollywood and back. To a degree unacknowledged in their published accounts, the writers relied on immigrants, communists, and fellow travelers as hosts, guides, and translators. Retracing their journey, Professor Kirschenbaum located the ordinary people who helped to construct friendly relations between the Soviet Union and the United States.

Dr. Fournier receives fellowship to study in Israel

Professor Eric Fournier received a 5-month fellowship at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies in Jerusalem, starting in September 2021, to attend a seminar on purity and pollution in late antique and early medieval culture and society. This should allow him to start a new, long-term project to work on a book tentatively called Trauma and Memory: Persecution and the History of the Christian Church in late antique North Africa.

Dr. Krulikowski shares research on suffrage

In August, Professor Anne Krulikowski contributed to four segments of KYW Radio's multi-part evaluation of the suffrage movement. The National Constitution Center sponsored the series to mark the one-hundred-year anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment, which became law on August 18, 1920. Professor Krulikowski commented on the role of race within the suffrage movement, explained reasons why Americans on both the left and right opposed women's suffrage, and provided general background on gender roles in the era. She teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses that focus on the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. This student drawing appeared in the 1916 Serpentine yearbook.