Spring Break in Iceland
Written by: James Barrett (IDP, History, Class of 2017)
Spring Break trips take many forms. Many Trinity students opt to escape the dreary March weather for a tropical paradise. Some head North to Vermont or West to Colorado to find snowy mountains for a ski vacation. In recent years, the small island nation of Iceland has seen a massive tourism increase, and not just in Spring Breakers. While Iceland certainly does not fall into the category of tropical paradise, especially in March, the totally unique landscape can make a person feel like they’re walking on a different planet. During Spring Break 2016, my girlfriend Elyssa, and I were fortunate enough to go to Iceland for a very brief trip. We flew out of Boston on a Monday night and returned Friday afternoon. Since Iceland’s tourism increase began, roughly in 2008, Icelandic citizens seem to have become used to discussing much of the history of the country.
Guten Tag, Wein! Studying Abroad in Vienna
Written by: Callie Prince (History, Class of 2017)
I was in High School when I decided that I wanted to study abroad. I had just returned from a Holocaust Study Tour, a trip that still inspires me today when I knew I had to travel again when I finally got to college. I wanted to climb to the top of the Acropolis, to walk around the Colosseum, and to even take a picture on the garden in front of the Eifel Tower. It was not until I arrived in Vienna International Airport, however, with my life fit into three bags, that I suddenly realized I had not thought about what it would be like to really live in Vienna for five months. I had taken the biggest leap of my life and that I didn’t even know how to say leap in German. I had chosen Vienna for my study abroad because of its culture, the size of the Trinity program and the history of the city. I had pictured myself sitting at cafés with international friends discussing art, culture, and politics. I planned to travel every weekend if I could, believing that constantly moving would really make the experience worthwhile. Yet, I had not predicted how much getting to know Vienna would be the best adventure from the classroom to the city.
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My European Experience
Written by: Tyler Wren (History, Class of 2019)
I am ever so grateful to the history department for the opportunity to travel to and study in Europe. Their sponsoring of my attendance in the new J-term course offered in Paris, POLS-209, and also providing an additional $1,000 for travel expenses, this allowed me to not only travel to Paris but also enabled me to travel more broadly within Europe itself. For example, giving me a cheaper and faster route to also visit London. Going to both London and Paris were crucial experiences for my upcoming research paper on Brexit and its implications on Europe that I will be writing with Professor Regan-Lefebvre.
Beginning with Professor Lefebvre’s class provided the perfect precursor for me on Brexit. What I learned from the primary source analyses and big-picture observances will definitely be relevant in the paper. Meeting with the media coordinator of the Delegation of the European Union was a crucial experience, providing insight into the national inner workings of the EU in France.
Project 1917
Written by: Dylan Hebert (History, Class of 2017)
“1917. Free History” is a project that presents the events of 1917 in the form of social media. The stated goal of the project is to “enable participants to find out about the history of 1917 from those who lived during this defining moment of twentieth century history.” A Russian project, the site is focused mostly on Russian history. The year of both the February and October Revolutions as well as a major year in World War I, 1917 is a landmark year in Russian history.
Highway Problems?: A Brief History of The I-84 Project
Written by: James Barrett (History, IDP, Class of 2017)
It is a difficult task to imagine a world without highways. Every city, big and small, has multiple routes in and out. This is nothing new of course, most people have experience with highways whether they commute everyday to go to work or just drive on them once or twice a year. But it is also possible to view highways as a recent development, especially in the United States. The 1939 New York World’s Fair had a great deal to do with the development of the highways. General Motors, in a mission to sell more cars, presented their “Futurama” exhibit which depicted “modernized expressways speeding traffic through great skyscraper cities at one hundred miles per hour.” Looking back, it is easy to see how this display impressed attendees of the World’s Fair. With that said however, it is also easy to see that the relationship between highways, cars, and cities did not exactly pan out the way General Motors thought it would.
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Studying History in Cape Town, South Africa
Written by: Chelsey Crabbe (History, Class of 2017)
I never thought that I could come to love a place as much as Cape Town, South Africa. Having arrived back home over a year ago, the memories I made in South Africa are still fresh in my mind. I spent the fall semester of 2015 participating in the Trinity-in-Cape Town program with eight other Trinity students. In terms of my academic experience, I attended the University of Cape Town, a school beautifully set into a mountain face, a setting that would greatly juxtapose the political turmoil boiling on campus. The #FeesMustFall campaign became the movement at school as the university’s students began protesting the rising student fees that barred a number of individuals from attending school. Their efforts are still at the heart of the greater goal of decolonizing the school system and continue today. Coming from Trinity, I had never seen mass student protests before especially with my own eyes. I became entranced by the students’ active political participation, a symbol of their deep value of education. As a history major, I realized that history was occurring before my very eyes, a strong reminder that Apartheid still remained a key component of the nation’s collective memory.
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Celebrating Black History Month at Trinity College
Written by: Callie Prince (History, Class of 2017)
As students return from long winter breaks, the end of January seems a bleak and uncelebrated time. While walking through unplowed snow to eat at Mather once again, many students will wish to return to lazy days at home. For those of us involved with Multi-Cultural organizations or clubs on campus, the return to school also means extensive planning for Black History Month. February not only marks Valentine’s Day and President’s Day, but also an entire month dedicated to the celebration of African American History. The entire month is a time to dedicate oneself and effort to creating events that tie into this certain part of American history. For the Black Student Union groups this is an opportunity to work together towards a common goal on campus. However for many of us the stories of Madam C.J. Walker, W.E.B. Dubois, Martin Luther Kind Jr., and many more are repeatedly heard from kindergarten through High school. Everyone should know that George Washington Carver was a inventor and “The Peanut Man”, but also that Thurgood Marshall was the first African American Supreme Court Justice. However, this creates an interesting dilemma for planning Black History Month at Trinity. As members of the Black Student Organizations, it is our job to both lead the celebrating and sharing of African American history, while keeping the events relevant and engaging.
Trekking the Tamang Heritage Trail: A J-Term Course
Written by: Michael Lestz, Associate Professor of History
In January 2017 twenty-two students and faculty from Trinity College took part in an eighteen-day trek along the Tamang Heritage Trail in the northern area of Nepal close to the border with Tibet. All the trekkers were lured to Nepal by its spectacular mountains. Among the faculty leaders who joined the expedition were Professors Craig Schneider of Biology, Richard Prigodich of the Chemistry Department, and Coach Anne Parmenter who leads Trinity’s field hockey team. Schneider and Prigodich have led numerous similar expeditions in Nepal or Tibet in past years and Coach Parmenter is a supremely competent mountaineer who summited Mount Everest from the Tibetan side in 2006. Professor Christoph Geiss from Environmental Science, an experienced mountaineer and nature photographer, was also on board and created a spectacular photo record of the rugged terrain we crossed.
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Celebrating Black History Month: Connecticut’s Paul Robeson
Written by: Dylan Hebert (History, Class of 2017)
Known as the most talented man of the twentieth century, Paul Robeson is famous for his role as a prominent singer, actor, social activist, athlete, and lawyer. He was the ultimate Renaissance man. Born in Princeton, New Jersey in 1898, his mother was a teacher and his father was a Presbyterian Minister, who escaped from slavery in 1860 at the age of fifteen through the underground railroad. Robeson’s mother died when he was just five years old and his father when he was only twenty. Earning a scholarship to attend Rutgers University, he excelled both academically as the class valedictorian and in sports as an All-American athlete. By twenty-four, he had graduated from Columbia Law School, funding his studies by playing for two seasons in the National Football League.
Where Do Historians Work? A Look at the Data
“Based on the ground-breaking “The Many Careers of History PhDs,” the AHA has gathered data from more than 30 departments that grant history PhDs. Using this information, we have created the only interactive, discipline-specific, and cross-institutional database of career outcomes for PhDs. The data from each program represents a snapshot of the employment of a 10-year cohort (2004–13) of graduates. The AHA plans to continually update that underlying data to expand the number of departments included and to provide data useful to our members. Use the database to get a fine-grained sense of the range of careers open to history PhDs (using the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Standard Occupational Classification system, or SOC) and to compare program outcomes by field of study, geographic location, gender, date of graduation and more. For information about the methodology used in gathering this data, please see About the Data” For more information, go HERE.