Author: Ellen C. Bush

Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey: White Jesus and the Publius Lentulus Letter

The most fascinating thing about the letter is that before the Civil War, just about everyone knew that it was a fraud. Whenever Americans discussed it, such as the President of Yale University Ezra Stiles, they admitted that it was a fake and that the Bible said nothing of what Jesus looked like. But then between the Civil War and the Great Depression, white Americans transformed it into a believed truth. Continue Reading Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey: White Jesus and the Publius Lentulus Letter

University Press Week Blog Tour: John Sherer on returning to university press after years in NY trade publishing

While there’s no doubt that the print runs and advances are smaller here, the world of university press publishing is hardly less complicated than its corporate cousins; nor is it less open to risk and reward. In fact, the challenges that university presses face are leading to a new spirit of entrepreneurship and putting a spotlight on the critical role they play in the academic and publishing ecosystems. Continue Reading University Press Week Blog Tour: John Sherer on returning to university press after years in NY trade publishing

Excerpt: Decolonizing Museums, by Amy Lonetree

One of the most vivid memories of my experience in the museum world—and one that has shaped both my understanding of collaboration and the significance of objects to Indigenous communities—took place in 1995 at the Minnesota Historical Society (MHS). As an exhibit researcher working on Families, an exhibition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities focusing on Minnesota families that opened at MHS in 1995, one of my responsibilities was to locate a Native American family to be featured in the exhibition. Continue Reading Excerpt: Decolonizing Museums, by Amy Lonetree

Celebrating the first annual University Press Week!

Welcome to the first annual University Press Week! Taking place November 11-17, 2012, University Press Week highlights the extraordinary work of university presses and their many contributions to culture, the academy, and an informed society. It is sponsored by the Association of American University Presses (AAUP). Continue Reading Celebrating the first annual University Press Week!

Video: Elizabeth Leonard talks to The Civil War Monitor

In this video, Elizabeth Leonard talks to the Civil War Monitor about Joseph Holt. She says Joseph Holt is “a very much forgotten personage from our historical past, and he’s someone who I think is probably the most important people from Lincoln’s administration who has been forgotten about.” Continue Reading Video: Elizabeth Leonard talks to The Civil War Monitor

Interview: Nicole Fabricant on Mobilizing Bolivia’s Displaced

Mobility is a central trope in the book because it informed my thinking about indigeneity and movement building in Bolivia. I realized that in order to effectively capture the Landless Peasant Movement’s ( Movimiento Sin Tierra/MST) organizational strategies, I would have to be in constant motion. I traveled with MST activists on the back of agricultural trucks for nearly 20 hours from the city to their communities, lived in two MST agro-ecological communities, traversed regional spaces, as well as national and international spaces of organizing. The life of an organizer is in constant motion and, as an ethnographer, I too had to be constantly traveling. Continue Reading Interview: Nicole Fabricant on Mobilizing Bolivia’s Displaced

Video: Sallie Ann Robinson on being Pat Conroy’s student on Daufuskie Island

In this video, Sallie Ann Robinson is interviewed about her experience as Pat Conroy’s student on Daufuskie Island and how her life has been changed since then. She says, “I got up every morning just wanting to go to school because this man was here with all this fun stuff to offer.” Continue Reading Video: Sallie Ann Robinson on being Pat Conroy’s student on Daufuskie Island

William A. Link: Remembering Bill Friday

It’s not easy to write a biography of a living person, for a variety of reasons. Bill made it easy. I spent more than 40 hours interviewing him. He was unfailingly generous in offering his time, including a last round of interviews after I had written a draft of the book. We got to know each other well. I developed a habit of drinking Diet Cokes because that was what he always offered, and only recently have I shaken the habit. Continue Reading William A. Link: Remembering Bill Friday

Jean Dennison: Osage Nation Reform: From Colonial Entanglement to Citizen Engagement

Vann Bighorse, the director of the Osage Cultural Center, expressed the opinion that Congress could take a lesson from the Osage In-lon-shka dances. He had explained that during the dances, everything (especially political fighting) was put aside for those three weeks in June and everyone from the drum keeper to the cooks focused on making the whole thing run smoothly. Continue Reading Jean Dennison: Osage Nation Reform: From Colonial Entanglement to Citizen Engagement

Video: Glenn David Brasher talks to The Civil War Monitor

Glenn David Brasher, author of “The Peninsula Campaign & the Necessity of Emancipation,” talks to the Civil War Monitor about the important role of African Americans in the strategy and tactics of the Civil War. Continue Reading Video: Glenn David Brasher talks to The Civil War Monitor

Interview: Christopher Teuton on Cherokee Storytelling and the Turtle Island Liars’ Club

I was learning from my elders. This book is shaped by the questions I asked and by what the Liars’ Club wanted to teach me. My methodology in recording and writing the book was guided by a Cherokee way of sharing knowledge, which is that the one with something to learn should watch, listen, and ask questions when it’s appropriate. I think for me and the Liars’ Club the book represents a Cherokee way of doing research in the community and sharing knowledge with the wider community. We hope it provides a model that will inspire others. Continue Reading Interview: Christopher Teuton on Cherokee Storytelling and the Turtle Island Liars’ Club

Video: Brett Rushforth on Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France

Bonds of Alliance: Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France, by Brett Rushforth”On the one hand I knew that the French were known in North America for their success at forming Indian alliances and learning Native languages, intermarrying with Native women, and fairly successfully integrating themselves into the Native communities for the purposes of the fur trade. But on the other hand, I also knew that there were households in the St. Lawrence Valley and the French colonies that held Native Americans as slaves. And I was interested in how these two things worked together.”—Brett Rushforth Continue Reading Video: Brett Rushforth on Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France

Gordon M. Sayre: The Founding of New Orleans: A City of Floods

A large portion of New Orleans lies below sea level, although the historic and touristic French Quarter, the part of the city that dates to the French period in the mid-eighteenth century, is just barely above sea level and suffered the least from Katrina. The reasons for New Orleans’ vulnerability, and the reasons why the city was established where it is, are revealed in the narrative of Jean-François Benjamin Dumont de Montigny. Continue Reading Gordon M. Sayre: The Founding of New Orleans: A City of Floods