The University Archives<\/a> are not only available to students for institutional research, but History majors can <\/strong>work under the tutelage of the university archivist<\/strong> on projects to receive credit toward graduation.<\/p>\n Our budding historians at work in the university archives, pictured here with former University Archivist Mary Kinahan-Ockay.<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n During their four years, students will participate in the Platt research seminar<\/strong> which introduces them to primary and secondary sources, as well as historical research methods. In the first semester of senior year, majors must take part in the Tuleja capstone seminar<\/strong>, during which students are expected to produce a significant research paper.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Open to History majors matriculated in Saint Peter\u2019s University Caulfield School of Education, the History Teaching Practicum offers students an opportunity to gain practical classroom experience teaching a history course at SPU. Student responsibilities involve locating appropriate primary source materials for core history courses.\u00a0 In the fall semester the materials will relate to the Western Tradition course. In the spring semester the materials will relate to the modern world history course. Students will develop lesson plans to accompany their sources and, when appropriate, will lead class periods based on their lesson plans. A member of the History Department will guide and assess the student\u2019s work in this area. This allows experience in developing appropriate lesson plans, historical research skills, and how to effectively utilize teaching strategies and techniques. Students taking part in the History Teaching Practicum register for a tutorial for 3 course credits.<\/p>\n Anthony Rivera, \u201925 \u201cHilter Jugend<\/em>: The Story of German Youths under the Nazi Regime\u201d with Dr. David W. Gerlach<\/span><\/p>\n Patrick W. Farrell ’19, “Colonial Structures & Post-Independence Authoritarianism in Zimbabwe,” with Dr. John W. Johnson, Jr.<\/p>\n Aminata Hughes ’16, “Strange Fruit and Southern Horrors: Ida B. Wells’ Crusade Against Lynch Law,” with Dr. Michael deGruccio<\/p>\n Lauren Squillante ’16, “Christine de Pizan, Dame d’Eloquence,” with Dr. Sheila J. Rabin<\/p>\n Shadman Hassan ’14, “An Analysis of American and Russian Involvements and Dynamics in the Middle East: From the Cold War to the Present,” with Dr. David W. Gerlach<\/p>\n Vanessa Vogel ’14, “1968 Convention Riots Radicalize the Streets,” with Dr. Jerome Gillen<\/p>\n Michele Lynn DeVries ’13, “Not All Smoke and Mirrors: The Growth and Development of Magic During the Renaissance in Europe,” with Sheila J. Rabin<\/p>\n Nicholas Paoletti Lynch ’12, “The Land that Weeps: The Roots and Causes of Instability in Modern-Day Zimbabwe,” with Dr. Eugenia Palmegiano<\/p>\n Chris Giorlando ’11, “The Great Revival: The Rise of the Universities in the Middle Ages,” with Dr. Sheila J. Rabin<\/p>\n Christopher Frakes ’11, “From the Negro Leagues to the Minor Leagues: How and Why Major League Baseball Integrated and the Impact of Racial Integration on Three Negro League Teams,” with Dr. Jerome Gillen<\/p>\n Maria Anna “Peaches” Dela Paz ’10, “Charlotte Perkins Gilman and ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’: Contemporary and Modern Receptions,” with Dr. Jerome Gillen<\/p>\n John Massey ’08, “Machiavelli: The Man Who Could Not Be Courtier,” with Dr. Sheila Rabin<\/p>\n Matthew Abatemarco ’01, “Person or Property: Locke’s Effect on the Abolitionist Writings of the 1800s,” with Dr. Hermann Platt<\/p>\n Dr. Michael deGruccio, Associate Professor and Chair<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr. John Johnson, Jr., Associate Professor<\/strong><\/p>\n Dr. Maria Americo, Assistant Professor<\/strong><\/p>\n Maria Americo, Ph.D. recently contributed two object histories to the upcoming second edition of the\u00a0Encyclopedia of the Global Middle Ages<\/em><\/a> (Bloomsbury). Her entries on two works of art from the medievals period will help tell the story of the interconnected, global Middle Ages. Dr. Americo often uses visual art in her courses to teach students about reading artifacts to glean information about the past. Her interests expand from the Greco-Roman history of science, to the medievals world of Islam. She is currently working on a manuscript proposal for a historical biography of Kadijah, first wife of the prophet Muhammad.<\/p>\n![\"Students](\"https:\/\/huangshizhaopin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/blogs.dir\/37\/files\/2012\/06\/IMG_3443-350x233.jpg\")
Student Research<\/h3>\n
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History Teaching Practicum for Credit<\/h4>\n
Honors Theses<\/h4>\n
Faculty Research<\/h3>\n
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Out now!<\/a> Michael deGruccio, The Strange and Tragic Wounds of George Cole’s America: A Tale of Manhood, Sex, and Ambition in the Civil War Era<\/em> (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2025). In his review of Dr. deGruccio\u2019s text, historian Edward L. Ayers, author of The Thin Light of Freedom: The Civil War and Emancipation in the Heart of America<\/em>, winner of the Lincoln Prize, says, \u201cMichael deGruccio has written a haunting story of ambition, injury, jealousy, and violence in the crucible of the American Civil War. Here, with ingenious research and understated but powerful prose, is the ‘real war’ that Walt Whitman worried would ‘never get into the books.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/huangshizhaopin.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/37\/files\/2025\/04\/JJohnson_philiprotherlecture_advertisement-165x260.png\")
John Johnson, Jr., Ph.D. presented the 2023 Philip Roth Lecture at the Newark Public Library. With his lecture, Dr. Johnson joins the ranks of prestigious Philip Roth Lecture alumni including international bestseller and Booker Prize-winning author of Midnight\u2019s <\/em><\/span>Children<\/em><\/span>, Sir Salman Rushdie; Princeton professor, Pulitzer Prize finalist, and Grammy Award-nominee, Sean Wilentz; and New York Times<\/em><\/span> journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The 1619 Project<\/em><\/span>, Nicole Hannah-Jones. His talk titled, \u201cHistory, Memory, and the Weequahic Section of Newark,\u201d offered an erudite and empathic meditation on the entangled physical histories of the Jewish and African American populations which call Weequahic home. Dr. Johnson is currently working on a monograph on the history of the Weequahic Section of Newark.<\/p>\n
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