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Volume 14, Number 1 Spring 2003
A NOTE FROM THE CHAIR By Owen S. Ireland
President Yu has granted me a full year sabbatical leave to pursue a number of scholarly projects. For the next 15 months Dr. Lynn Parsons, as acting chair, and Dr. Kathy Kutolowski, as associate chair, will lead the department, at least as much as one can lead this extraordinary assemblage of talented teacher-scholars. Good luck to both Lynn and Kathy.
My wife, Susan, and I will travel a fair amount in the next 15 months. We now plan about two months in New York City, some additional time in Philadelphia and Washington, DC, and then some research in London and Berlin. We hope also to visit a number of Irish universities to begin to develop my understanding of Irish women in the 18th^ century world, and to explore the possibilities for scholarly-teaching links between Ireland and Brockport. Dr. Leslie, who has spent the past year at the University of Cambridge in the UK, has laid the groundwork for this with his own traveling in Ireland. If you are in any of these wonderful places, from New York City to Berlin, let us know, and maybe we can renew some old acquaintances. [oireland@brockport.edu].
In June of this year I will join Mary Kay Bishop, vice president for Institutional Advancement, in visiting with some alumni, first in New York City and then here in the upstate area. In the next newsletter, I will let you know how that worked out.
Incidentally, for those of you with long memories, let me know if you find any passive voice constructions here.
HISTORY FORUM TO MEMPHIS
On Wednesday, April 2, the History Forum sent a delegation of six SUNY Brockport students to the Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting in Memphis, TN. On this trip, Eric Sterling, James Wallington, Catherine Cavicchio, Ian Linenfelser, Emily Root and Melinda Cater had the opportunity to interact with professional historians and see their original research. During the conference sessions, historians from all over the country presented work to their colleagues. The theme of this year's convention was Social Justice and American History - a fitting topic considering the fact that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis 35 years ago on April 4, 1968.
The History Forum is a student-based organization that promotes interest in history through a number of extracurricular activities. This year's programming has included movie nights, guest lecturers, a history-themed Halloween party, and our annual Christmas and graduation parties. We also traveled to Seneca Falls, the Royal Ontario Museum and Medieval Times.
REMINDER FOR STUDENTS INTENDING TO TEACH
The next application deadline for secondary certification programs is September 15. If you intend to begin your education courses in the spring '04 semester, you must apply this September. The requirements for both secondary (now adolescent) and elementary (now childhood and early childhood) certification, as well as the content of the programs, have changed, so be sure to consult with the Department of Education and Human Development as early as possible.
HAIL AND FAREWELL, PROFESSOR HERLAN!
Dr. Ronald Herlan retires this year after 33 years of service to SUNY College at Brockport, though fortunately for all, he will return to teach two courses in the fall term. The Department’s annual graduation festivities allowed faculty and students to bid a fond farewell to Herlan, but this newsletter gives us a chance to share highlights of his productive career with the Department’s extended community.
Herlan took his bachelor’s degree from Houghton College and his PhD from the University at Buffalo (aka SUNY Buffalo). He came to Brockport in 1970, along with 12 other new history faculty. Herlan’s research and publication focused on early modern British history, particularly the application of the English Poor Law in 17th century London parishes. In recent years Herlan turned his attention to local history, directing an Institute of Local Studies at Brockport from 1986 to 1991 and contributing his grant-writing, research and writing expertise to the Orleans County Historical Society’s programs and publications.
Brockport students benefited from a wide range of courses taught by Herlan, including Ancient and Modern World, British History, Renaissance and Reformation, and the History Seminar. In the seminar, Herlan utilized family history and genealogy to hone research skills, introducing scores of Brockport students to their own place in time. Herlan twice served as associate chair of the Department, for seven years filled the post of summer chair, and represented the Faculty Senate as observer in numerous searches. Twice, he traveled to England as resident co- director of the London Social Science Program.
Herlan has donated countless hours to the larger community as a board member of the Albion-Eastern Orleans County Red Cross, as a member of the Free Methodist Church, and in helping local historical societies with their preservation and interpretation efforts. He and his wife, Shirley, enjoy buying and selling collectibles and memorabilia—a hobby they will continue in retirement.
The Department will miss Ron Herlan’s conscientiousness, his calm demeanor, his searching questions—and his unfailing archive of important departmental documents. We wish him all the best in retirement!
Student Research
Opportunity: "The Voice of Betty Crocker"
Graduate students interested in doing preliminary research on a project in women, the history of American radio and business history should contact Dr. Arden Bucholz. This exciting opportunity stems from the remarkable career of Betty Bucholz, a pioneer and popular 20th^ century American radio broadcaster as “the voice of Betty Crocker.”
Born Agnes Barbara Lutz on May 4, 1903, in Princeton, NJ, Betty Bucholz was the eldest child of Anne and Jacob Lutz who had emigrated from Bodelshausen, Germany, in
- When she went to kindergarten she reportedly knew only German, and her earliest memories were of delivering bread to Princeton professional families in her father's horse drawn wagon. Later, she worked as a babysitter in several of these families, and this proved to be her education in middle class manners, dress codes and speech patterns.
In 1923 Betty Lutz moved to Greenwich Village in New York City to become the greeting hostess at newly opened radio station WEAF. Her boss Margaret Cuthbert's main job was to book famous pianists, singers and lecturers to talk on the newfangled machine. One day, when a Speaker's Bureau guest failed to show up because the East River tunnel had flooded, Betty herself gave several readings between musical interludes. She was an instant success, projecting a personality and speech pattern, elocution and sound resonance that in time made her one of the most famous radio voices of the first half of the 20th century. As WEAF's regular morning announcer and later hostess of the Women's Hour, her resonant and welcoming "Good Morning, Everyone" galvanized and held listeners with its charming and crisp coloratura soprano voice, perfect diction and poised manner.
Meanwhile, in Minneapolis, Marjorie Child Husted, director of home services for General Mills, was creating "Betty Crocker," the first national American "homemaker" media figure. Husted set out to raise social consciousness about the value of women working at home. She introduced the General Mills Test Kitchens in Minneapolis, which allowed the advertising slogan "Kitchen Tested" to be prominently displayed on various General Mills products, and brought out the best-selling Betty Crocker Cook Book, arguably the first illustrated (continued page 10)
2003 DEPARTMENTAL AWARD WINNERS
The Chair and Governance Committee of the Department of History take great pleasure in announcing the 2003 recipients of departmental honors, presented at the College’s annual Spring Honors and Awards Ceremony on April 2. We congratulate the following students on their fine academic records, and we thank them for their contributions to the department and the College.
JACK CRANDALL AWARD
JACOB A. PIORKOWSKI
W. WAYNE DEDMAN AWARD
LISA GURNSEY & JANE OAKES
KEMPES SCHNELL AWARD
MARY KAY MASLANKA
DEPARTMENTAL SCHOLAR
DEANNA M. HALQUIST
GEORGE S. QUEEN AWARD
JAMES CASWELL
ROBERT GRISWOLD HISTORY AWARD
KERRY A. BLOCKER
ARTHUR LEE HISTORY AWARD
ADRIENNE LATTIN
SYNNESTVEDT LECTURE
The Department’s annual Sig Synnestvedt Memorial Lecture attracted a large crowd of students, faculty and community members to the New York Room of Cooper Hall on April 17 to hear Dr. Maureen Elgersman Lee speak on "Production, Reproduction, and Resistance: Black Slave Women in British Canada and Jamaica.” Professor Lee is director of the African American Archives and a member of the Department of History at the University of Southern Maine. She is the author of Unyielding Spirits: Black Women and Slavery in Early Canada and Jamaica (Garland, 1999), among other publications. Lee attended a number of classes earlier in the day, and her talk sparked a spirited question and answer session.
Dr. Alison Parker organized the lecture and preceding reception, at which the Department was pleased to welcome Mrs. Nadine Synnestvedt, widow of Dr. Sig Synnestvedt. The late Dr. Synnestvedt chaired the Department of History from 1969 through 1974.
GRADUATE PROGRAM
Dr. Jenny Lloyd has taken over as director of the history graduate program on the retirement of Dr. Robert Strayer. Dr. Alison Parker and Dr. John Daly join her on the graduate committee, with Parker taking responsibility for supervising graduate assistants, and Daly working with students interested in public history.
The graduate program is flourishing, with 35 active graduate students, including seven full-time. Altogether graduate students are taking 235 credit hours in history courses, and almost all seats are taken.
Extra-Departmental Kudos for our Students!
KERRY BLOCKER BA '03 was named the 2003 Senior Scholar in the Educational Opportunity Program. Blocker has taken a full-time teaching position with the Rochester City School District.
JESSICA BOWMAN BA '03 received national recognition as a 2002-03 NCGA (National Collegiate Gymnastics Association) All-American for her performance in the vault. Bowman and teammates brought Brockport an eighth place finish in the national championships in March.
JAMES CASWELL BA '03 earned third place honors for non-fiction in the College’s first annual “Celebration of Writing” contest. His paper, written for Dr. Wanda Wakefield’s 390 seminar, was on Sammy Urzetta, Rochester's premier pro golfer in the early 1950s.
MICHAEL CONDELLO BA '03 has been named Brockport’s male athlete of the year after leading the College’s football team to its most successful season ever, culminating in the NCAA Division III quarterfinals. Condello, a consensus All-American, was named to every existing All-American team, including the Associated Press and Football Gazette teams. His play earned him a place in the Aztec Bowl, the DIII all-star game. Condello currently plays for the Rochester Brigade arena football team.
JESSE DOTY BA '03 won All-American recognition (NCAA Division III) in outdoor track for his performance in the hammer throw. Doty captured the state championship in the event in May, along with several SUNYAC first place finishes during the season.
LEIGH-ANNE FRANCIS MA '
has been awarded a full fellowship in the doctoral program at Rutgers University, where she will major in United States History with a secondary focus on the African Diaspora. Francis won second place in the campus-wide "Celebration of Writing” contest for her paper “Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil: The Suppression of Political Speech During World War I,” which she wrote for Dr. Alison Parker’s course. As an undergraduate at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Francis majored in Fine Arts Illustration. Artmaking served as an introspective tool and activist arena for Francis, and ultimately inspired her to pursue a career in social services. Her work as a youth violence prevention program coordinator in the South Bronx's most violent community sparked an interest in a teaching career. Francis views United States' history as the field in which she can most effectively raise awareness concerning race, gender and class oppression with the goal of eradicating these problems.
KRISTOPHER HARRINGTON BA '03 also won All- American honors at the 141-pound weight class in wrestling (NCAA Division III). Harrington was designated the Most Outstanding Athlete at the Empire Conference Championships.
MARY KAY MASLANKA BA '03 earned a statewide Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence, one of seven Brockport students selected for the prestigious designation. Maslanka also was named to the All- SUNYAC team in women’s soccer and to the Horizon District I All-Academic team in soccer.
JANE OAKES MA ‘03 has been asked by Oxford University Press to write an entry on the history of cakes in America for its Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America to be published in 2004.
FACULTY NEWS
ARDEN BUCHOLZ was an invited presenter at the 25th anniversary meeting of the Royal Military College of Canada's Military History Symposium, March 19-23, in Kingston, Ontario. His paper, "Lessons Learned or Not Learned: Germany after 1871," will be published along with the other conference papers in London by Brassey. Bucholz also read manuscripts for The Journal of Military History and The Journal of Strategic Studies and completed two book reviews apiece for The Journal of Modern History, The German Studies Review and Central European History. His sabbatical project, a biography of Helmuth von Moltke (1800-1891), has been solicited by Yale University Press.
THOMAS CRIMANDO participated in the "Cabinets of Curiosity: Brockport Collects" exhibition at the Tower Fine Arts gallery. The exhibition focused on collections of faculty and staff members. Crimando's collection consisted of Roman Imperial coins from the first to the fifth centuries A.D. Crimando provided background commentary for two movie nights with the History Forum, showing Zulu in the fall and Alexander Nevsky in the spring.
JOHN DALY was one of five professors selected nationwide to write and perform a CD-ROM, internet and film course for the second half of the US history survey, 1877-2002. The project was for the Global Education Network in cooperation with SUNY and state universities across the country. He wrote 16 lectures (1/5th of the course) assembled the course materials, and spent a week filming in New York last summer at the Carnegie Hall Building. Daly loved having his own makeup artist follow him around everywhere. He also found time to write two book reviews: The Transformation of American Abolitionism: Fighting Slavery in the Early Republic by Richard S. Newman for the Georgia Historical Quarterly and Noah’s Curse: The Biblical Justification of American Slavery by Stephen R. Haynes for the Journal of Southern History. If that was not enough, Daly was also acting summer chair and taught two summer courses at Brockport. His History 401/501, "Slavery in the South," gave him a chance to work with excellent local teachers taking graduate courses and a great group of undergraduates. He also taught a 390 on the "Cultural Causes of the Civil War," which was the subject of his recently published book.
RONALD HERLAN retires this spring after 33 years of
teaching at the College. See accompanying story.
PAUL MOYER received a scholarly incentive grant to conduct research at the Tioga Point Museum in Athens, PA, this summer. He also completed a NEH Fellowship proposal for 2003-04 to support work on his book (tentatively entitled) Wild Yankees: The Struggle for Independence along Pennsylvania's Revolutionary Frontier. He contributed an essay, “The Wyoming Dispute and the Transformation of the Pennsylvania Frontier," to be included in Daniel Richter and William Pencak, eds., From Native America to Penn's Woods: Colonists, Indians, and the Racial Construction of Pennsylvania (Penn State University Press, forthcoming 2003).
KENNETH O'BRIEN served the first year of a two- year term as Faculty Senate President and won recognition as Honors Program Teacher of the Year for his section of HST 212 in the fall. He co-wrote, with Professor Leslie, entries on “SUNY” for the Dictionary of American History and on “SUNY Brockport” for The Encyclopedia of New York State. O’Brien’s review of At the Picture Show by Kathryn Fuller was published in New York History. He continues to serve on the New York State Historical Records Advisory Board.
ALISON PARKER published an article entitled "The Case for Reform Antecedents to the Woman Suffrage Movement," in Votes for Women: A Concise History of the Suffrage Movement edited by Jean H. Baker (Oxford University Press, 2002). This book is aimed at a general history audience and has been advertised in the New York Review of Books and the Book of the Month Club. Parker spent the summer at a National Endowment of the Humanities Summer Seminar on "Motherhood and the Nation-State in Western Societies" at Stanford University. She attended the seminar for six weeks (and lived in the dorms with other professors and a smattering of very loud undergraduates!). While there she completed a lengthy chapter entitled "Women Activists and the United States Congress, 1870s-1920s" to be published in The Reader's Companion to the American Congress, edited by Julian Zelizer. This NEH funded summer seminar was not just directed at research. It was also designed to provide college teachers with in-depth training in a particular field. She returned to SUNY Brockport in the fall ready to teach a new course in family history (HST 358) that utilized much of the material and insights that she learned from the seminar on motherhood. Parker has also finished a short essay on "Pornography and Masculinity," for the Encyclopedia of Masculinity which helped her prepare for her new undergraduate/graduate swing course (401/501) on "Censorship and Pornography." While in California, Parker presented a paper entitled "Sarah Grimke's Theory of Women's Political Co-Equality," at the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic (SHEAR) held
in Berkeley. Parker was promoted and awarded tenure this year.
LYNN PARSONS finished the second act of "The Tye More Binding," a two-act dramatic reading based on the letters of Abigail and John Adams. A public performance was a huge success in February, with a full house and lots of laughter. Two weeks later, Act One was presented professionally (with paid actors) to the Harvard-Radcliffe Club of Rochester. Parsons also contributed two chapters on the presidential elections of 1824 and 1828 to History of American Presidential Elections and Campaigns, edited by William G. Shade and published by M.E. Sharpe in March.
JAMES SPILLER completed an essay on “Science in Antarctica” for David N. Livingstone and Ronald L. Numbers, eds., Modern Science in National and International Context, forthcoming in 2003 from Cambridge University Press. Spiller spent spring break in Texas doing research funded by a $650 grant from the Bush Presidential Library Foundation and also received a College Scholarly Incentive Award and a UUP Individual Development Award to further his current research. Alumni may have heard, seen or read Spiller’s analytical insights following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in February when he wrote a “Speaking Out” column for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle and was interviewed on Rochester’s WHAM radio station and on both the ABC and Fox evening television news.
WANDA WAKEFIELD wrote a chapter entitled "NASCAR: Sex, Death and the Movies" for the new book Sexual Sports Rhetoric and Violence: Teaming Gender with the Language of Sport, edited by Linda K. Fuller. Wakefield is having her students in her Modern America class collect their thoughts, memories and conclusions about September 11th. These papers, representing a follow-up to the papers done by her students last fall, will be added to the Brockport college archives. Wakefield also presented talks on her experiences at the Winter Olympics, where she served as a luge judge and continued to gather material for her current research on athletics in the Cold War, to the Department’s Brown Bag seminar series and at Scholars Day.
ALUMNI NEWS
MARY (MORISSEY) BART BA '90 writes to thank Dr. Strayer for his encouragement and advice about careers outside teaching for history majors. She has had a successful and varied career in journalism in upstate New York and Washington DC. She is now living in Boulder, CO as an account executive for a public relations firm.
ROBERT K. BRIGHAM BA '82, an associate professor of history at Vassar College, collaborated with James Blight on a series of oral history conferences about the Vietnam War held in Hanoi since 1997. These conferences put key participants from both sides of the war together in a room to discuss what actually happened. Brigham has collected numerous interviews on the Vietnam War, but sees this form of interactive oral history as more productive. Brigham is the author of Guerilla Diplomacy: The NLF's Foreign Relations and the Viet Nam War (Cornell University Press, 1998).
CHRISTINE RIDARSKY DIVERONICA MA ' presented a paper entitled "'Keep Up Good Courage’: Sub- Marginal Farming in Upstate New York, 1850-1940” at the Perspectives on Empire State History conference in Albany, November 21, 2002. Diveronica is a graduate student in history at the University of Rochester.
MARTIN DROZDOFF BA '69 has done a lot of traveling since he left Brockport. He has received two Fulbright grants to study in Japan and Turkey and is currently a special education teacher in Tucson, AZ.
ROB DUNBAR MA '01 is at the University of Indiana studying Central Eurasian history and language. He is currently learning Persian, Usbek and Russian. He can be reached at 1610 S. Dorchester Dr, No 34, Bloomington, IN 47401.
DERAL GIVENS MA '93 works in the Rochester Police Department but plans to retire and practice law in the near future.
DAVE GIVER BA '02 is teaching high school social studies at Harrisville Central School in the western Adirondacks. Harrisville is a small school with only 420 students, and Giver teaches Global, American History and Government, and AP American history.
WILLIAM M. GOLDRICK BA '82 opened his own law firm in 1996 in Wantagh, NY, specializing in plaintiffs' personal injury litigation. He and his wife, Lisa, had quadruplets in 1999, three boys and a girl!
DOUG HANSON BS '90 has been teaching social studies at Spencerport High School for the past seven years. Until this year Hanson taught tenth grade Global Studies, but he is now being asked to teach the first Advanced Placement US History course to be offered in Spencerport. It is a year of changes for Doug as he and his wife are expecting their first child.
RICHARD (RICK) M. JONES BS '74 is currently a brokerage manager at New England Financial in Jamesville, NY, as well as Vice President of the Jamesville- Dewitt Board of Education. He sends a special hello to Professors John Killigrew and John Kutolowski, two great teachers of much loved subjects, Chinese and British history.
DANIEL KACZMAREK BA '99 has been an accounts manager for a steel recycling company for the past three years. He is looking for more history-related work in the Toronto area and is engaged to be married.
TERRY LEHR MA '95 researched and organized an exhibit on the 1902-1903 small pox outbreak for display at Rochester General Hospital. The exhibit shows the importance of the vaccination campaigns of Dr. George Goler, city public health officer, and the resistance of city officials and the public to his efforts. Lehr is an instructor of advanced writing in the Department of English at SUNY Brockport.
BOB MONTANA BS '72 guided the Union College basketball team to the 2001-2002 conference title (Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association) and into the second round of the NCAA tournament. He was also named conference coach of the year for the second time in six years as head coach.
STEVE NEESE MA '93 has just received his PhD in history from George Washington University. His dissertation, "The Last of the Heretics: Algernon S. Crapsey," examines the most famous heresy trial in Rochester's history, and his manuscript is being considered for publication by a university press. Neese has also been teaching at Houghton College and Genesee Community College.
KERRY SCHAMEL MA '01 co-authored a book entitled Threading Together the Past: Archeology at the Polly Site.
BOB SHERTZER BS '70 is a fifth grade teacher at Dickinson Elementary School in East Northport, NY. He writes to congratulate and thank Professor John Kutolowski, "the best history teacher I ever had!"
STEPHEN SICKLES BA '01 has returned to Brockport to complete a second major in communications.
Student Research Opportunity:
"The Voice of Betty Crocker"
(Cont from Page 2)
"how to do it" American cookbook written for average middle-brow women who wanted to provide healthy and
appetizing meals for their families. However, the new medium of radio proved perhaps her most powerful tool.
Husted created the “Cooking School of the Air,” a 15-minute mix of recipes and homespun philosophy broadcast
initially from half a dozen big city radio stations across the country. At the New York City station of the Red and
Blue Network, Betty Lutz became Betty Crocker in 1927; at that point, she was one of several personifications of
the General Mills icon.
In 1934, now married and named Betty Bucholz, she was chosen to be the single voice of Betty Crocker for coast-
to-coast broadcasts across the new NBC Radio Network. For the next 17 years she broadcast three times a week
from Chicago, her lilting, clear speech pattern known to women across America. They sent her up to 5,000 letters a
week, and the Betty Crocker Cooking School of the Air enrolled more than a million members. Bucholz and her
husband revised and edited each script the night before the broadcast, while Betty tried out and modified the
recipes at home. The broadcasts came from her personal experiences, and spoke directly to the main daily ritual
and responsibility of her millions of listeners. She gave practical, how-to advice and endowed the ordinary task of
cooking with significance and élan d’esprit.
During World War II the Betty Crocker Cooking School of the Air cooperated with the War Food Administration.
Bucholz hosted a radio show with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt which sought to boost American women's morale
at home and give them advice on cooking with rationed food supplies. Her daily radio scripts from these
broadcasts incorporated war-time values with specific menu suggestions, such as "Budgeting the Food Dollar"
(Black Midnight Cake) and "Food in the Modern Manner" (Bisquick-Spam combinations). Many programs quoted
specific letters from listeners, along with Betty Crocker's response, and included music from the General Mills
Choir or the playing of the wedding march from Richard Wagner's "Lohengrin."
During her Chicago years, 1934 to 1951, Betty Bucholz was part of the great NBC radio studios in the Chicago
Merchandise Mart. Among her announcers were Hugh Downs and Don Ameche, while her friends and colleagues
included the casts of Jack Armstrong: the All American Boy, Betty and Bob, and Ozzie and Harriet. In 1951 she moved to
New York and took the role of "Anne Marshall," Campbell Soup's national media voice. She worked for the
Eisenhower presidential campaign in 1952, retired from broadcasting in 1955 and then devoted herself to the
Reading for the Blind program on Long Island and in Connecticut. Her radio talents continued to serve well; when
the Connecticut State Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in Hartford evaluated her 1977 audition
tape, the report described her "rich, natural voice timbre, even cadence and clear articulation." The audition report
concluded with the words "don't lose her"!
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SUNY BROCKPORT
State University of New York
College at Brockport
350 New Campus Drive
Brockport, New York 14420-
Department of History
SUNY BROCKPORT
State University of New York College at Brockport
History Department
350 New Campus Drive
Brockport, New York 14420-
Postage Here
