Working Historians

Buster Ratliff is the Director of Operations for the Cultural Foundation of the Texas Panhandle & Panhandle-Plains Museum on the campus of West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas. In this episode, Buster talks with Southern New Hampshire University’s Callie Cook about the value of building your network and understanding company values. This episode was originally broadcast on Southern New Hampshire University’s Passion and Practicality podcast feed.

Bonnie Barnes is the Executive Director for Keys History and Discovery Center in Florida. In this episode, Bonnie talks to Southern New Hampshire University’s Callie Cook about informational interviewing, company research, and the different career paths one can explore with a history degree. This episode was originally broadcast on Southern New Hampshire University’s Passion and Practicality podcast feed.

Tim Garrity has served as a hospital administrator and the director of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society, from which he recently retired. We have talked to Tim before about his organization, but this time we discuss his view of the liberal arts in general, what liberal arts degree holders bring to various industries, and what liberal arts students should learn to market themselves better for different career paths. For more information on Tim and the Mount Desert Island Historical Society, listen to our earlier conversation here and learn more about the Society here.   This episode was originally broadcast on Southern New Hampshire University’s Passion and Practicality podcast feed.

Rob keeps the gang together to answer the question often posed by history majors: Should I go to graduate school in history? Eric Greisinger, Allison Millward, CB Repass, Matt Schandler, Ryan Tripp, and Rob discuss the magnitude and consequences of the decision to pursue master’s or doctoral degrees in history, share some of their grad school experiences, and muse about whether or not their degrees were worth the time and energy.   Speaker timeline: 01:16 - Matt Schandler 12:21 - Rob Denning 29:49 - CB Repass 31:21 - Ryan Tripp 33:36 - Allison Millward 36:02 - Eric Greisinger 37:26 - Allison Millward 39:49 - Eric Greisinger 40:12 - Rob Denning 41:10 - CB Repass 42:16 - Ryan Tripp 44:11 - Rob Denning 47:00 - Allison Millward 47:41 - Eric Greisinger 48:39 - Allison Millward 49:30 - Ryan Tripp 49:53 - Rob Denning 50:42 - Eric Greisinger 51:08 - Ryan Tripp 51:53 - Allison Millward 52:27 - Rob Denning

In this final episode of our series on how historians research and write on historical topics, the panel tackles the writing process: How do you organize your thoughts and get past that dreaded blank page?   Speaker timeline: 00:54 - Matt Schandler  06:36 - CB Repass 07:55 - Ryan Tripp 10:03 - Allison Millward 12:42 - Eric Greisinger 14:22 - Rob Denning 17:49 - Ryan Tripp 18:59 - CB Repass 20:14 - Matt Schandler 21:43 - Rob Denning

In this fifth episode of our series on how historians research and write on historical topics, the panel tackles thesis statements: What are they, why they are important, and how do you develop them?  Speaker timeline: 00:51 - Matt Schandler 04:56 - Eric Greisinger 05:17 - Rob Denning 06:05 - CB Repass 06:15 - Rob Denning 06:38 - Eric Greisinger 06:44 - Rob Denning 07:26 - Ryan Tripp 08:15 - CB Repass 08:49 - Allison Millward 09:46 - Rob Denning 11:07 - Eric Greisinger 11:39 - Rob Denning

In this fourth episode of our series on how historians research and write on historical topics, the panel explains how they identify relevant primary sources that will help them go beyond the existing secondary source literature. We will discuss different ways to search for relevant and useful primary sources, how to determine which primary sources might be more useful or important than others, and the historian’s ethical responsibility to be familiar with as much of the primary source base as possible. Speaker timeline: 02:15 - CB Repass 04:14 - Eric Greisinger 05:11 - Ryan Tripp 06:00 - Matt Schandler 10:40 - Rob Denning 13:23 - Matt Schandler 15:20 - Allison Millward 17:18 - Eric Greisinger 17:32 - Rob Denning 19:08 - CB Repass 21:11 - Ryan Tripp 21:34 - Rob Denning 22:28 - Eric Greisinger

In this third episode of our series on how historians research and write on historical topics, the panel explains how they tackle the potentially vast body of existing secondary sources that will help them provide context on the research project. We discuss different ways to search for secondary sources, how to determine which secondary sources might be more useful or important than others, and the historian’s ethical responsibility to be familiar with the entire existing literature on the topic.    Speaker timeline: 02:42 - CB Repass 03:20 - Matt Schandler 07:31 - Allison Millward 08:14 - Eric Greisinger 09:11 - Matt Schandler 11:08 - Allison Millward 11:45 - CB Repass 13:07 - Allison Millward 14:14 - Ryan Tripp 15:02 - Eric Greisinger 15:21 - CB Repass 15:34 - Rob Denning 18:13 - Matt Schandler 20:27 - Ryan Tripp 21:35 - Rob Denning

In this second episode of our series on how historians research and write on historical topics, the panel tackles the importance and selection of a good research question, which will guide the historian throughout the research process.    Speaker timeline: 01:00 - CB Repass 01:48 - Eric Greisinger 02:13 - CB Repass 02:28 - Matt Schandler 03:09 - Allison Millward 04:48 - Rob Denning 05:55 - CB Repass 06:15 - Ryan Tripp 06:51 - Rob Denning 08:14 - Matt Schandler 11:53 - CB Repass 12:00 - Rob Denning

With this episode we are launching a new series on how historians research and write on historical topics, starting with the selection of a research topic and ending with the writing process. In this first episode, a panel of historians discuss the initial selection of a research topic.   Speaker timeline: 00:58 and 06:10 - CB Repass 01:58 and 07:10 - Ryan Tripp 02:48 and 05:31 - Allison Millward 04:31 and 06:47 - Eric Greisinger 05:36, 11:05, and 15:10 - Rob Denning 07:51, 13:24, and 16:05 - Matthew Schandler

Mathew Merz earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Southern New Hampshire University in 2020 and works as Conflicts Analyst at Akerman LLP. In this episode, Mathew discusses the research, writing, and analytical skills that he learned as a history major which have been particularly useful to his job as a researcher for a law firm.   Recommendations and Links: Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Random House, 2014) - recommended by Mathew Merz Derry Girls, created by Lisa McGee, Netflix - recommended by Jimmy “American Historical Association Action Alert Concerning Proposed History Standards for Virginia (February 2023)” - recommended by Rob David Gilbert, “Inside a US Neo-Nazi Homeschool Network With Thousands of Members,” Vice News, January 29, 2023 Nilanjana Roy, “How Teen Vogue Got Political,” Financial Times, January 24, 2017

Nina Thomas is the manager of the Westerville History Museum, which is part of the public library system in Westerville, Ohio. In this episode, Nina discusses her academic and professional background, life as a museum manager, the nature of the museum’s public outreach efforts, and what a museum manager might look for in job applicants.   Recommendations: Westerville History Museum Clint Smith, How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America (Little, Brown, 2021) - recommended by Nina Philomena Cunk - recommended by Nina Jennifer Schuessler, “As Historians Gather, No Truce in the History Wars,” New York Times, January 8, 2023 - recommended by Rob

In this episode, Rob talks to Deb Gogliettino, Associate Dean for online Business Academics at Southern New Hampshire University, about the ways that her undergraduate degree in history has helped her business-oriented career, which included positions in human resources, business administration, and academics. We also discuss how history students can market themselves to non-academic employers.

In this episode, Jimmy and Rob talk to Paul Witcover, Associate Dean for the online Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at Southern New Hampshire University, about his recent novel, Lincolnstein, and the skills and responsibilities required of authors writing historical fiction.    Recommendations: Paul Witcover, Lincolnstein (PS Publishing, 2021) - recommended by Rob Victor Klemperer, I Will Bear Witness (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998) - recommended by Paul Witcover Meet Me in the Bathroom, Will Lovelance, Dylan Southern, and Andrew Cross, dirs., (2022) - recommended by Jimmy The Civil War, Ken Burns, dir. (1990) - recommended by Rob

In this second episode on the Black Death, the Spanish Flu, and Covid-19, Rob Denning, James Fennessy, and Scotty Edler discuss the long-term political, social, economic, and cultural consequences of the plague and the flu, and they attempt to use those precedents to predict the long-term effects of Covid-19 on our own future lives.

During the next two episodes, Rob and James talk to Scotty Edler about his research into the causes and consequences of three major disease epidemics: the Black Death, the Spanish Flu, and Covid-19. Here we discuss the historical contexts of each disease and the lessons learned from each outbreak.

In this episode, Rob presents his research into quick questions from his employer's communications office regarding the history of the Juneteenth Holiday. He does not provide quick answers.

On the fiftieth anniversary of the Watergate break-in, Rob and six fellow historians discuss the international and domestic political contexts leading up to the event, the break-in and subsequent investigations, and the short- and long-term consequences of Watergate on American political and constitutional history.

In this episode, re-broadcast from the Passion and Practicality podcast series, Rob discusses the skills that students learn while in pursuit of a history degree that will be valuable on the job market after graduation (even in fields that don't include the word "history"). He also describes some of the ways that students can prepare for the job market before graduation. Special bonus feature: To see Rob present this on camera, click here!

John Bertland is the Digital Librarian and Content Specialist for the Presidio Trust in San Francisco, California. In this episode, we discuss John’s academic and professional background, his work at the Presidio Trust, and we end with a story about mules.   Recommendations Harwood P. Hinton and Jerry Thompson, Courage Above All Things: General John Ellis Wool and the U.S. Military, 1812-1863 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2020) - recommended by John Bertland “Exclusion: The Presidio’s Role in World War II Japanese American Internment” at the Presidio Officers’ Club, recommended by Jimmy Lizzie Johnson, Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire (New York: Penguin Random House, 2021), recommended by Rob