Celebrating the life of Jack Chatfield
“Hartford, Conn. — After a long and spirited battle with prostate cancer and Parkinson’s disease, Jack died peacefully at home on Sept. 18, 2014 surrounded by a continuing stream of family and friends, comforted by the music and companionship he so adored. He never complained about his fate. His strong will to live, sense of humor, and generosity of spirit gave him incredible strength throughout his final journey.
Jack was born in Baltimore, Md. on July 20,1942, son of Dr. Paul Oakes Chatfield and Helen Taylor Chatfield. He graduated from Randolph Macon Academy in Front Royal, Va. in 1960 and from Trinity College in 1964. It was during his freshman year that his attention became riveted on the growing black student movement in the South. He became increasingly absorbed through news reports, speakers, and conversations with fellow students and when he learned that Trinity friend Ralph Allen had joined the movement and was badly beaten in Dawson, Ga., he left immediately for southwest Georgia. On his first night in Dawson he was injured by shotgun blasts fired by night riders into the house where he was staying. Jack’s involvement in the civil rights movement was passionate, inspirational, and lifelong.
Jack received his M.A. and PhD from Columbia University. From 1970-1978 he taught at the Watkinson School in West Hartford, Conn. In 1987 he began his teaching career at Trinity College which spanned 25 years until his retirement in 2012. Highlights at Trinity include the Hughes Award for Teaching Achievement in 1992, The Brownell Prize for Teaching Excellence in 2002 and organization of the SNCC conference – “We Shall Not Be Moved – The Life and Times of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee” in 1988, the first major reunion of SNCC members since the group disbanded in the 1960’s.
Jack leaves his wife of 45 years, Barbara; son, Jonathan of West Hartford; daughter and son in law Julia and Nir Levy of West Granby; grandchildren Zoe and Anya Chatfield and Mason Levy; his sister Lora from Bradford, VT who has been present for weeks providing priceless nursing and moral support; brother in law Alan Schneider in San Francisco Calif. and several nieces, nephews and cousins. Special thanks to VNA HealthCare and Jack’s wonderful hospice team.
Jack’s body will be donated for research and his ashes buried at Trinity. There will be a Celebration of Jack’s life at Trinity in the next few weeks. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to Watkinson School or the Professor John H. Chatfield ’64 Scholarship Fund at Trinity College.”
Source: http://www.vnews.com/home/13640613-95/john-jack-h-chatfield
Lecture: Education and Civil Rights in the 21st Century
On Tuesday, Sept. 23rd, Trinity College’s Office of Multicultural Affairs and La Voz Latina hosted Pedro Noguera, the Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education at New York University, who in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month spoke on Education and Civil Rights in the 21st Century. This event, which is co-sponsored by the History, Educational Studies, Political Science, Sociology, American Studies and International Studies departments.
Here are some reflections from first year students who attended this eye-opening talk:
“Professor Noguera highlighted and brought to my attention many key points and issues pertaining to our education system that I myself have struggled through in my experience as a student in the American system. There key generalized revisions in the professor suggested that our leaders and lawmakers make, but also specific advice for teachers and principals at the local level. Perhaps the most important point in the entire conversation, however, was that education for everyone benefits us all in greater ways than education solely for a privileged few” — Theo Pesiridis, Class of 2018
“Before hearing Professor Noguera talk, I had imagined him speaking in regards to the “wrong” about education and the ruthless results in education. In a way, I imagined him talking about that failures in the education system, but in actuality, Noguera mentioned successes throughout the country…In the end, he challenged the audience into going out into the community and being that small token of difference. He stated in his closing arguments: “It’s all about will”. This shows us that if we want the change in the education system, we must be willing to make the transformation.” — Giselle Galan, Class 2018
“Racial segregation does exist in the United States of America and can’t be ignored.” — Abdi Noor, Class of 2018
“While the civil rights movement is no longer the proprietor of headline news come the 21st century, education has taken over as the civil rights issue of our time…Professor Noguera, who has been studying how to improve schools for many years, pointed out how, for many of the school systems that were failing, there were schools populated by mostly white students, which received far more funding. This idea of providing schools that are the most well off with further funds is not only backwards, but is the driving the problem farther from its solution.” — Jonah Meltzer, Class 2018
Student Profile: Gaia Cloutier
Another student picked for profiling was Gaia Cloutier, a graduate of Trinity’s Guided Studies program. I recorded her responses to the questionnaire I sent her here.
What in particular attracted you to history?:
I initially became interested in history through fiction. I would read historical fiction and end up being more interested in the worlds the authors were describing than the plot or the characters. I started reading about Revolutionary France or the Tudor family or Egyptian Pharaohs, and I realized that what actually happened and the different cultures throughout time were more interesting than any of the historical novels I was reading. Then I started to learn about how the events in one place or one time period impacted events that initially seemed completely unrelated, and I just found all the connections to be so interesting. I wanted to learn more about them, so I decided to study history.
And why did you choose to study at Trinity College?:
I was looking for a small liberal arts school in New England because I was coming from a high school with 500 students. My father went to Bates, so I already knew about the NESCAC schools, and they seemed to fit with what I wanted. I knew that I wanted to study history with a focus on Europe, so I looked at the history programs at all the NESCAC schools. Looking through the course catalog I saw that Trinity had a lot of courses dealing with European history, but it also had a lot of courses about topics that I never even thought about studying but instantly intrigued me. I was also invited to the Guided Studies Program which combined a lot of the things that I wanted to study including history, religion, and literature. Guided Studies made up my mind for me.
What elements of history are appealing to you?:
My favorite part about history is learning the stories of individuals and how they were influenced by larger societal and historical factors. The larger patterns are important and interesting, but I am most interested in grounding those overarching patters in the lives and stories of individuals and communities. It’s amazing how much you can learn about larger patters by studying the life of a single person. During the summer I work at a local historical society in Maine researching in the archives, and by reading one person’s letters or diaries you can find out so much about them as individuals as well get an idea about how broader topics (like the War of 1812, how a community’s economy developed, gender roles, and how colonists and Native Americans interacted) influenced real people on a day to day basis. They act as good touchstones to see how the world today is both similar and different than in the past.
What particular subjects within history do you find appealing/do you find especially relevant to the world/you? Why?:
I personally prefer European history. I think that the political history has a lot of interesting factors at play. Ideologically and culturally a large portion of western culture comes from Europe, so you can see how what you’re studying directly and indirectly impacted the formation of the world we know today. One of the most fun courses that I have taken was on the history and development of the book, specifically the Bible. As a person who loves books, especially old ones, it was fun handling them and learning to see more than just the object. It’s also nice to not learn about war in at least one history course. A large part of studying history is using what you learn to better understand the modern world and the background of current events. Right now one of the more relevant things is understanding how and why the aftermath of the World Wars literally changed the map.
Patrick Kane: IDP Student Profile
Patrick Kane is an IDP student here at Trinity, about to start the fifth of his six years here at trinity. I recently talked with Mr. Kane about his life and his experiences as a history major here at Trinity College. Mr. Kane, a retired print advertiser, came to Trinity College when he was retired to fuel his life-long love of learning. I learned that he has been interested in history his whole life, and something of a family tradition. Both his sister and his brother are history majors, and his father, who was a physician, loves history as well. This love of history, as Mr. Kane tells me, was and still is a shared experience between him and his family. Mr. Kane goes on to explain that one of the reasons the study of history is important to him is that he wants to make sure that the past is preserved.. He showed me this quote from the book, “The Fiery Trial” by Eric Foner, which read, “History, it has been said, is what the present chooses to remember about the past.” Through his study of history here at Trinity, he has learned that much of what he has learned about the past is wrong, that the popular conceptions of history and historical events are sometimes misconceptions. And though Mr. Kane doesn’t precisely know what he is going to do when he is done with Trinity, he does know that he wants to give back at least some of what he has learned to the world, perhaps through teaching.
Mr. Kane has a wide and eclectic love of history, taking classes from areas of history from all places and time periods, such as the American Civil War, early Islamic history, and Jewish Studies. However, his major interest is in United States history. Mr. Kane is most interested in United States history because as a citizen of the United States of America, he wants to know the story of where he and his family came from. Mr. Kane’s ancestors where Irish and German immigrants and he is interested in American History as a setting to begin to understand his family and others came to America as a new frontier. Mr. Kane believes that the understanding of the pursuit of new frontiers of the past are still relevant to the new societal frontiers that modern society faces today, and that the mistakes and triumphs of the past can help us in the present deal with these new frontiers.
Mr. Kane came to Trinity because the college gave an older student a chance to return and finish his studies. While trying to apply to other colleges, he found that the programs offered by other similar schools aren’t as open, offering only a few spots to IDP students. Trinity, by contrast, has around 80-100 IDP students. After going through an application process involving a test and interviews with Trinity professors, Mr. Kane was accepted s one of the first IDP students accepted for 2010. He came to Trinity because it was one of the few colleges that supported both his passion for learning and his desire to return to school.
Colin A. Leroy Research Fund
The Colin A. Leroy Research Fund, established in 2013 after the unfortunate death of Colin Leroy, is a research grant that exists to provide funding for History Majors at Trinity to engage in research outside of the college related to their thesis. As a history major myself, I was naturally interested in learning more about the Colin A. Leroy Research Fund, and how it could benefit me when it came time for me to do my senior thesis research. I sat down with Professor Dario Euraque. Professor Euraque is a professor of Latin American History and International Studies here at Trinity College, as well as the current Chair of the History Department. Professor Euraque shared with me the general ideas of the Colin A. Leroy fund, as well as providing me with his own thoughts and opinions about the fund and how it benefits history majors here at Trinity.
Two students who have benefitted from the Colin A. Leroy Fund are Michael Mclean and Mollie Scheerer, two recent graduates from Trinity College, both History Majors. During my discussion with Professor Euraque, he brought up both of their Senior Thesis works as examples of the benefits of the Colin A. Leroy Research Fund. The Fund offers scholars from Trinity the opportunity to travel across the country or to different countries to access materials that these scholars would normally never be able to access. The inclusion of these unique manuscripts and other primary sources that can be found only in particular locations around the world only enhances the thesis. In addition, traveling to the sites gives the scholars a unique sense of place, as they have visited and seen what they are writing about, lending their subject a weight beyond what they could read in books. Professor Euraque gave Mollie Scheerer as a prime example of gaining a sense of place in regards to her subject. Mollie Scheerer’s thesis dealt with the appropriation of artifacts for museums and the removal of said artifacts from their home country. Traveling to Honduras and actually visiting an ancient Mayan ruin helped her to more fully grasp the importance of the staircase to Hondurans and the national imagination of Honduras.
Beyond the academic benefits of the research, the Colin A. Leroy Fund helps students in other ways. Professor Euraque highlighted some of these benefits. One part of it outside of Trinity is a unique intellectual archive that wouldn’t happen on campus. Prior to writing the proposal they have to be in touch with the archive and determine the relevance of the materials, addressing the materials. In addition, proposal must have budget, a series of line items, food, materials, travel, lodging, miscellaneous fees. Budgeting practice for a research trip is not a common lesson that students learn during the course of class. Students realize that research is only not an intellectual process, but also involves estimating a budget as well as other exercises that they aren’t familiar with. Doing any budget is useful and offers the chance to realistically plan goals and practice getting funding for the process, step planning.
The application’s process for a grant from the Colin A. Leroy Is a fairly easy one. Obviously, prospective applicants must be history majors and working on their senior thesis. What needs to be included in the application process are an estimated budget, an itinerary, a summary of the thesis and its goals, and the specifics of what you are planning on gaining from this expedition. Before applying for the grant, it is necessary that contact has been made with the archives to assure that such a trip is necessary and profitable.
Special thanks to Professor Euraque for agreeing to answer my questions.
Mollie Scheerer: A History Thesis
I traveled to Honduras from January 13th to 18th to do research for my senior thesis, “Mayan Copàn, the Hieroglyphic Stairway, and Museum Collecting: Issues of National Identity in Honduras”. I did so after applying to and receiving a generous grant from the Colin Leroy ’10 Research Fund. In doing so, I was fortunate enough to be the first Trinity student to travel abroad for thesis research.
In my thesis I explore the controversial nature of museums and their practice of collecting cultural artifacts from other countries through examining a magnificent hieroglyphic staircase in the ancient Maya city of Copán, Honduras that dates to that Civilization’s classic period, that is from 300-900 AD. Pieces of the stairway currently are found in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. They were brought from their original site in Honduras in 1893 after Harvard funded expeditions to Copán in the late nineteenth century. At the time, there was a legal agreement between Harvard and the Honduran government that half of the stairway findings were to remain at the original site and half could go back to Cambridge. This agreement, however, continues to create problems as many of the pieces of the stairway under Honduran jurisdiction are missing. A large part of my research is dedicated to how the removal of these pieces continues to affect Honduran national identity today.
My father accompanied me on my trip to Honduras and we traveled first to the city of San Pedro Sula, where we met the former Minister of Culture, Dr. Rodolfo Pastor Fasquelle, and his anthropologist wife, Teresa Campos. She is the director of the first museum in San Pedro Sula, Museo de Antropología e Historia. Three hours west of the city lay the remains of the Maya city of Copán, as well as several institutes and museums that we visited. I was able to do a great deal of research at the archives of the Centro Regional de Investigaciones Arqueológicas (CRIA) and there I found documents I probably would not have gotten my hands on otherwise in my research at Harvard or elsewhere. For example, I found legislative texts concerning the collection of movable cultural property specific to Honduras created by United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1984. This organization also declared Copan a World Heritage Site because of the Hieroglyphic Stairway, a great point of cultural and national pride for Honduras as it is recognized as a site of “outstanding international importance and therefore as deserving special protection” defined by UNESCO. The stairway itself is part of the main Acropolis of Copan, was completed in 755 AD, and is the longest inscribed text in the Maya region. It details the reigns of the rulers of Copan and links them to their ancestor, the first ruler Yax’ K’uk Mo’ with many of the inscriptions depicting warfare. Five large sculptures were originally seated ascending the stairway, but one is currently in the Peabody. Today, the stairway is covered with a canvas to prevent further erosion and damage to the soft volcanic rock from which it is carved.
I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to the Trinity College History Department and to the family of Colin Leroy for the opportunity to go to such an extraordinary place and conduct research.
Michael McLean: Senior Honors Thesis
Trinity senior Michael McLean has always been fascinated by Native American history. Particularly, he sees its underrepresentation in mainstream United States history as a striking opportunity for research. A visit to the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota last winter and related coursework at Trinity motivated him to pursue a senior thesis on the impact of the Civil War on Indian territory.
McLean is also a recipient of the Colin Leroy ’10 Research Fund, which assists history majors with research-based travel and other projects.
[Editor’s Note: History@Trinity will publish soon an article describing the Colin Leroy ’10 Research Fund program, which was established in 2012 to help seniors and rising seniors conduct research for their senior theses.]
Following a recent visit to Oklahoma sponsored by the fund, he has kindly provided History@Trinity with the following statement on his trip:
“From October 23-27, I traveled to the Oklahoma Historical Society in Oklahoma City, in large part due to a grant from the history department set aside for thesis research.
My honors thesis, “We Thought We Had Some Trouble Last Year: Destruction, Survival, and Community during the Civil War on Indian Territory,” is focused on what is today Oklahoma. I am also approaching this subject from the bottom-up. Therefore, the archives in Oklahoma were extremely useful. I was able to use letters, diaries, ledgers, rosters, and war claims to better understand the everyday experiences of regular civilians and soldiers in the area, especially with regards to food, communication and seasonality.
I will specifically be looking at the surprising adaptations that were used during this tumultuous period and how people were able (or forced) to create and maintain communities for their survival.
I am sincerely grateful towards the History Department and the parents of Colin Leroy ’10, who created the research fund, for affording me this opportunity.”
The History Department commends McLean and all other senior thesis students on their hard work.
We also encourage current juniors to consider writing a thesis next year. Please contact your academic advisor and visit the application procedure page available on this website through the menu that appears at the top for more information.
Procedures for 2014–2015 Senior Theses
Students writing senior theses in the History Department enroll in History 498-01 during the Fall semester. This course is a senior thesis research seminar taught by Prof. Darío Euraque, Chair of the Department. In the spring, students work independently to complete the researching and writing of an historical paper of up to 150 pages. A public presentation of the theses will take place in Seabury 215 on Thursday, May 1, 2014.
Senior Thesis Application Procedure
All juniors who would like to write a full-year senior thesis during the senior year must submit a thesis proposal. Applicants will be notified in writing of acceptance by the Department Chair by the end of the Spring semester. (more…)
New Book on the African Diaspora by Prof. Euraque
Professor Dario A. Euraque, History Department Chair and Professor of History and International Studies, published his fifth book in Spanish this past August. He co-authored the book with Honduran historian Yesenia Martínez, former Director of the Historical Research Division of the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History, and former Director of the Honduran Center for Research and Documentation at the National Archive of Honduras.
The book is titled La Diáspora Africana en los Programas Educativos de Centroamérica (Tegucigalpa: Editorial Guaymuras, 2013); in English, The African Diaspora in Educational Programs in Central America.
The photo on the book’s cover is by Professor Pablo Delano, of Trinity College’s Studio Arts Program. Trinity International Studies and English major Carolina Galdiz ’14 is currently translating the Spanish edition into English thanks to a Trinity College Faculty Research Completion Grant. The book features several additional photos from Professor Delano’s collection, which he took during his last trip to Honduras in April of 2009.
During the last ten years, the historiography of Central America has registered new contributions to the study of colonialism and the presence and ethnohistory of Africans and people of African descent in this region of the Americas. This has been especially the case in Costa Rica and Panama, followed by Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and lastly El Salvador.
Some of the most interesting studies have articulated their arguments and problematics with questions and debates associated with the literature on the African Diaspora in the Americas, in general, and with the older traditions of studying slavery in the region, including comparative perspectives with the United States.
Lecture: Looking for War in the Landscape
On October 23, Trinity welcomed Megan Kate Nelson, a cultural and environmental historian with two published books who currently teaches at Brown University. She led a discussion entitled “Looking for War in the Landscape/Looking for Landscapes in the War” in which she analyzed the Civil War’s impact on the land of the United States and vice versa.
Nelson conducted extensive research in Virginia guided by a fascinating question: how can we access the experiences of the Civil War? The answer, she concluded, lies right beneath our feet: the land. In her research, Nelson studied “earthworks” and other physical remains of war. Some of these lay unnoticed on the outskirts of suburbs and others were formally preserved, and still others are missing. She found that the experience evoked by these earthworks was a reflection of their location and the landscape itself.
Nelson’s current research involves a narrative history of the Civil War in the Southwest, where the diverse eco-regions of New Mexico were the site of biological warfare. Whether concerning natural or built landscapes, Nelson’s insight into the diverse connections between land and warfare is compelling for historians and non-historians alike.