News

Joshua Gates will graduate from Minnesota State University Moorhead with cum laude honors, a summer internship at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and a scholarship and stipend that put him on track for a master’s degree. Dave Wallis / The Forum

By: Helmut Schmidt, INFORUM

MOORHEAD – In just a few short years, the arc of Joshua Gates’ academic life has gone from meh to marvelous.

Gates’ identity at Mayville (N.D.) High School was as a football, basketball, track and baseball standout. But that didn’t transfer to the classroom.

He had a 2.5 grade-point average and was 47th out of a graduating class of 54 in 2009, he said. His college placement test scores were borderline.

Most subjects were tedious to Gates, but he loved history and has wanted to work in museums since he was a child – perhaps even the Smithsonian Institution, he told people. Read the rest of this entry →

Need a LASC 5 course? The History Department is offering H-121: History of the United States to 1877 as an asynchronous on-line course this summer. But you have to hurry as space is limited-one section is almost filled and the second section needs more people to run– and summer course cancellation happens on tomorrow, April 26th. If you were considering H-121 you need to sign up today or you will loose your chance! Hurry, don’t hesitate, the time is now!

Dr. Annette Kleinkauf Morrow will present a lecture entitled “Searching for Perpetua: A Research Topic and Travelogue” April 25 at 7 p.m. in CB 109. This lecture is part of the Tri-College History Lecture Series. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Historian and Pulitzer prize-winning author T. J. Stiles tells the story of Cornelius Vanderbilt in a lecture in the Science Lab Lecture Hall on the MSUM campus Wednesday, Feb. 6, at 7 p.m. The lecture is titled “One Man’s Empire in Every Man’s Republic: How Cornelius Vanderbilt Helped Create Big Business—and Start an Argument We’re Still Having Today.”

Vanderbilt, whose many legacies include the founding of Vanderbilt University, was the richest man in America in 1877, according to Stiles, author of the award-winning biography The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt. The book received the National Book Award in 2009 and the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 2010.

The First Tycoon portrays Vanderbilt as a force who helped launch the transportation revolution, advance the Gold Rush, shape Manhattan, and invent American capitalism and modern corporations.  Read the rest of this entry →

The Journal of American History recently published a review by Paul Harris, History. Harris covered “An Unpredictable Gospel: American Evangelicals and World Christianity, 1812-1920″ by Jay Riley Case. Harris also spoke on Martin Luther King Day at the Plains Art Museum’s celebration on King’s Life and Legacy and appeared as a guest on the KXJB show “Point of View.” Earlier this month, he attended the meetings of the American Society of Church History in New Orleans.

The Pearl Harbor Attack, Dec. 7, 1941, and Its Legacies is presented by Lake Agassiz Regional Library at Moorhead Library Dec. 6 at 7 p.m.

Join Dr. Steve Hoffbeck, History, for a history of the Pearl Harbor attack. His talk will include the impact of the attack and how Minnesotans responded to the onset of World War II, sending soldiers to the battlefronts and enduring shortages and rationing of vital materials. Read the rest of this entry →

Colonial Lima, the mysterious Nazca Lines, and mythical Machu Picchu highlight the spring break trip to Peru, part of HIST 337: Peru and the World. A LASC 8 class, HIST 337 students will spend spring break experiencing 8,000 years of the Peruvian past by visiting archaeological and historical sites. Peru is one of the world’s most fascinating countries, a mixture of Andean, European, Asian, and African cultures; it’s also a foodie’s paradise. Read the rest of this entry →

Sean Taylor, History, returns to Norway as a presenter at a conference on American studies held jointly by the American Studies Association of Norway and the Fulbright Foundation Oct. 19-21 at Østfold University College in Halden, Norway. Taylor is a member of a panel addressing tools of education, and will talk about role playing in the classroom. As a Fulbright scholar, Taylor taught American history to Norwegian college students at the University of Agder in Kristiansand last year. He also used the time in Norway to research medicine, health, and healthcare among Norwegian immigrants to the United States.

The History Club Film Series presents Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” (1950) tonight at 7 p.m. in King Hall 110. An introduction to the film and discussion will be led by Nathan Clarke of the History Department. Refreshments will be served and all are invited!

Constitution Day commemorates the formation and signing of the U.S. Constitution by thirty-nine brave men on September 17, 1787, recognizing all who, are born in the U.S. or by naturalization, have become citizens.

Join us in celebrating Constitution Day Tuesday, September 18 from 1:30-2:30 p.m. in Center for Business Room 103. Judge Erickson will give a 45-minute presentation titled, “Mr. Madison We Have a Problem: This Constitution is Wonderful and All but We Can’t Agree on What it Means.”

He will discuss the four basic camps of constitutional interpretation: Read the rest of this entry →

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion and Dragon Entertainment Group would like to extend an invitation to attend a presentation by renowned educator, Dr. James Loewen.

“Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong”
Author: Dr. James W. Loewen
Thursday, September 13 7:00 p.m.
MSUM Weld Hall Read the rest of this entry →

MSUM grad Peter Gulsvig, right, stands with Tom Kenny, the voice of cartoon character Spongebob Squarepants, at this year’s Comic-Con.

By: Sam Benshoof, INFORUM

ATLANTA – When Peter Gulsvig talks about how he spends his days working with cartoons, even he still sounds a little surprised by it.

The Moorhead native and 2008 Minnesota State University Moorhead grad is now working as a key animator for Bento Box Atlanta, a cartoon production company.

But when he discusses what he does every day for his job, Gulsvig, 27, who majored in history in college, still can’t seem to quite believe his luck. Read the rest of this entry →

Image is from Amazon.com, accessed on September 4, 2012.

Steve Hoffbeck, History, contributed a chapter to a new book on baseball history entitled The National Pastime, 2012: Short But Wondrous Summers: Baseball in the North Star State, a June publication of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).

The book, available on Amazon.com and other online booksellers, tells the history of baseball in Minnesota from the 1870s to modern times. Hoffbeck co-wrote a chapter, “On the Wrong Side of the Color Line in Minnesota: Pitcher John Donaldson,” with Peter Gorton, a baseball writer from Minneapolis. The chapter outlines the history of black baseball in Minnesota and then focuses on John Donaldson, the best left-handed African-American barnstorming pitcher of the pre-Negro Leagues era. Donaldson was a predecessor of the legendary Hall of Famer pitcher, Satchel Paige.

Annette Morrow, History, presented a paper: ”Dragons and Breastmilk: Reading Perpetua’s Passion in the 21st Century” at the 10th Annual ATINER International Conference on History: From Ancient to Modern, in Athens, Greece on July 30, 2012.

MSUM recent graduate joins West Fargo Pioneer staff as News/Sports Editor. This article is from the West Fargo Pioneer.

Daniel Determan has joined the staff of the West Fargo Pioneer, the West Fargo News, and its subsidiary publications as News/Sports Editor.

A native of Browerville, Minn., Determan is a 2012 graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and a minor in mass communications.

Most recently, Determan served as sports editor of the MSUM Advocate and prior to that was sports coordinator for MSUM Intramurals for five years. Read the rest of this entry →

Henry Chan, History, presented a paper titled “The Marvels of Cathay: Facts and Fiction in Odoric of Pordenone’s (c. 1286-1331) Relatio on Fourteenth-century China,” at the International Conference on Ancient and Medieval History at Nankai University in Tianjin, China, June 15-18. He also chaired a panel at the conference.

Baldwin of the times: Hanson W. Baldwin, a military journalist’s life, 1903-1991 by MSUM professor of history emeritus Robert B. Davies is on the shelf in the Livingston Lord Library at PN4874.B26 D38 2011. Among Baldwin’s memorable scoops were the loss of three American cruisers at the battle of Savo Island, the real story behind the U-2 spy incident, and the clustering of Soviet ICBMs in 1962. His dispatches from Guadalcanal and the Western Pacific won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1943. Read the rest of this entry →

Sean Taylor, History, presented at a conference Oct. 29 in Dramen, Norway. His topic, “Critical thinking in the classroom, a lost art in American schools,” was presented at Contemporary Challenges in the US and the UK: The American Studies Association of Norway and British Politics Society. Taylor is in Norway this year as a Fulbright scholar, teaching American history to Norwegian college students and researching medicine, health and healthcare among Norwegian immigrants to the United States.

Women’s and Gender Studies is hosting two lectures by Dr. Judith Roy, History of Medicine Scholar. “19th Century Sexual Surgery: Silver Sutures, Cliterectomy and Beyond” is Thursday, October 13, 7:00pm in Lommen Hall, Room 203. “The History of Nursing” is Friday, October 14, 2:30pm in Hagen Hall, Room 325.

Steve Hoffbeck, History, wrote a nomination to get the Kegs Drive-In restaurant in Grand Forks, N.D., listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Read the full news release: Read the rest of this entry →