Eric Herschthal is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Utah. This interview is based on his new book The Science of Abolition: How Slaveholders Became the Enemies of Progress (Yale University Press 2021). JF: What led you to write The Science...
history of science
John Polkinghorne, RIP
A couple weeks ago I was part of a Messiah University Zoom event in which several faculty members shared their spiritual pilgrimages. (Annie Thorn of “Out of the Zoo” fame organized the event). One of my co-panelists was Ted Davis,...
Another time in American history when the people did not trust the experts
I was struck this morning by a passage from Thomas Slaughter’s The Whiskey Rebellion: Frontier Epilogue to the American Revolution: Hamilton…succeeded in getting the endorsement of the respected Philadelphia College of Physicians. These medical doctors and teachers enthusiastically supported his...
John Wesley and the Life of the Mind
“I am an evangelical Christian, so it was nice to hear a lecture about evangelicalism that was not related to contemporary politics.” This was our intern Annie Thorn‘s response to Bruce Hindmarsh’s lecture “John Wesley, Early Evangelicalism, and Science.” Hindmarsh,...
Science and Religion in the “Second Great Awakening”
A recent piece at JSTOR Daily highlights the work of historian Jeffrey Mullins, author of ” ‘Fitted to Receive the Word of God’: Emotions and Scientific Naturalism in the Religious Revivals of the 1830s.” (International Social Science Review, 2006). Here...
The Author’s Corner with Cameron Strang
Cameron B. Strang is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Nevada-Reno. This interview is based on his recently released book Frontiers of Science: Imperialism and Natural Knowledge in the Gulf South Borderlands, 1500-1850 (Omohundro Institute/University of North Carolina Press,...
The Author’s Corner with James Delbourgo
James Delbourgo is Associate Professor of History of Science and Atlantic World at Rutgers University. This interview is based on his new book, Collecting the World: Hans Sloane and the Origins of the British Museum (Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press,...
Description of Past Solar Eclipses
From the blog of the Massachusetts Historical Society: Charles Francis Adams wrote about the eclipse he witnessed in Boston on 12 February 1831. But as there must always be something or other to distract my attention, so today it was...
The Author's Corner with John Dixon
John Dixon is Assistant Professor of History at the College of Staten Island of the City University of New York. This interview is based on his new book, The Enlightenment of Cadwallader Colden: Empire, Science, and Intellectual Culture in British...
Ebenezer Kinnersley
When I was a graduate student I had a colleague named Kevin who was interested in the history of science in early America. Kevin finished his Ph.D shortly after I did. I think he had a few academic appointments and...
The Author’s Corner with Monte Hampton
Monte Hampton teaches history at the North Carolina State University. This interview is based on his book Storm of Words: Science, Religion, and Evolution in the Civil War Era (University Alabama Press, 2014). JF: What led you to write Storm of...
OAH Panel Wrap-Up: Religion and Transatlantic Print Culture in the Early Republic
Noah Webster: Anti-Jacobinist This morning I had the privilege of chairing a session on “Religion and Transatlantic Print Culture” at the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians. Actually, I was pinch hitting for Kyle Roberts of Loyola University-Chicago,...
Crowdfunding
Wardenclyffe As many of you know, the Internet is an amazing tool for fundraising. Sites like Kickstarter are growing in popularity. Worthy start-up projects are able to gain the kind of exposure that would have been unthinkable a decade or...
The New “Common-Place” is Here
For all you early American history buffs, the new issue of Common-Place went up today. The theme of the issue is “Scientific Americans” and it includes essays by Susan Branson, Victoria Cain, and Gregory Nobles. I look forward to blogging […]