Month: September 2015

Huping Ling, Professor of History and Changjiang Scholar Chair Professor of the Chinese Ministry of education, has been selected as a Visiting Research Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2016.

The Hoover Institution offered the fellowship to assist “(Dr. Ling’s) research at the Hoover Institution of Libraries and Archives regarding her research project ‘Sward Blue: A Chiang-Kai-shek’s Man’,” according to the appointment letter from the Hoover Institution. Professor Ling’s research aspires to explore the currently under-explored areas of the Nationalist history in China from the 1930s to 1949, utilizing the newly unclassified records of Diaries of Chiang Kai-shek, T. V. Soong Papers, Kuomintang Project, etc. at the Hoover Institution Archives.

History and Anthropology students had a great time helping a crew from St. Louis on 11 September 2015. The archaeological survey was coordinated by Dr. Douglas Scott, Tom Thiessen, and archaeologist Dr. Steve Dasovich of Missouri’s Civil War Heritage Foundation.

The goal of the survey is to see if any surviving artifacts can be linked to the Battle of Kirksville (1862) and Truman students Steve Emmons, Sarah Lamkin, Mike McCoy, Andrew Milhous, and Mara Stewart assisted in Memorial Park where the Union army camped.

The use of metal detectors helped uncover a number of small pieces including fragments of lamps, a wagon, and a sterling silver thimble (pictured below). Though these pieces cannot be tied to the Civil War battle, excavating them was fun anyway.

Thanks for Professor Amber Johnson (Society and Environment) and Professor Jeff Gall (History) for helping coordinate participation of Truman students in this event.

 

The History Department is commemorating the beginning of World War 1 by hosting several upcoming events.

The first event will be a movie “Oh, What a Lovely War,” a 1969 musical film which summarizes and comments on the events of World War I using popular songs of the time, many of which were parodies of older popular songs, and using allegorical settings such as Brighton’s West Pier to criticize the manner in which the eventual victory was won.

The movie can be seen on Thursday, September 10, at 7:00 p.m. in Baldwin Hall 176 (the Little Theatre). The movie is free and open for all to attend.