The University of North Texas History Department

10/12/2026

Our 2026 Faculty Colloquium, featuring Associate Professor Dr. Chad Pearson, was a resounding success!

Professor Pearson spoke about his research findings from his upcoming book, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑊ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝐺𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐾𝑙𝑎𝑛'𝑠 𝑊𝑎𝑟 𝑜𝑛 𝐿𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑒𝑓𝑡 (2027, Verso).

The colloquium brought together faculty from the School of Philosophy and History to enjoy some sandwiches while offering a spirited discussion on the tenets of the Second Ku Klux Klan. The upcoming monograph will be Dr. Pearson’s third book! Be sure to check it out when it releases next year!

10/08/2026

Tomorrow, October 9th, is hosting the Western Conference on British Studies. Our very own Dr. Arunima Datta currently serves as the Vice-President of the WCBS and will be taking over as President of the organization this year!

Be sure to check the QR code below to see the program for the conference!

10/08/2026

Earlier this week, 's Dr. Nick Ballesteros successfully defended his dissertation! His dissertation project is titled "A Confederate Yankee in King Cotton's Court: A Case Study in Transforming Sectional Identity in the Texas Borderlands"

His committee consisted of Dr. Andrew Torget as major professor, with Drs. Todd Moye, Alex Mendoza, and Joseph Locke serving as committee members with Dr. Richard McCaslin acting as his outside committee member.

Congratulations Dr. Ballesteros on your wonderful defense and your incredible achievement!

10/02/2026

Yesterday we hosted Dr. Orquidea Morales, Assistant Professor in the School of Theatre, Film, and Television at the University of Arizona for our Hispanic Heritage Month lecture! Her lecture centered around the 1996 film 𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐷𝑢𝑠𝑘 𝑇𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝐷𝑎𝑤𝑛 directed by Robert Rodríguez, exploring themes of border violence, Latinx media, and horror.

Thank you to everyone who braves the weather yesterday to attend! Be sure to watch our socials for more events and lectures in the future!

09/30/2026

As part of Denton Halloween 2026, UNT’s School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry and Denton's Harvest House are teaming up to bring the spooky chill of medieval ghost stories here to Texas!

Join UNT students, staff, and faculty on the dark eve of Tuesday, October 20th, where, from 7-9 pm, they will regale you with tales of lost souls, menacing monks, haunted knights, and
cold Viking spirits. Fortifying spirits (hot and cold) and b**r will be on tap for those 21+, as well as a variety of non-alcoholic drinks. Come join us as the Public Humanities thrill and terrify you, the public. If you are interested in the unknown, the mysterious, the unexplainable, come… pull up a chair and a pint,
and let the shadowy medieval past fill your veins with icy terror (and history).

Harvest House, 331 E Hickory St, Denton, TX 76201

09/28/2026

Last Friday, 's Dr. Kerry Goldmann hosted her "How to Fend off Vampires" talk, the first event of this year's series! Focused around the highly acclaimed, multi-award winning 2025 horror movie Sinners, her talk discussed the "cultural armor" used by communities to vanquish metaphorical vampires through elements such as music and shared culture.

Garlicky snacks were provided to help ward off any vampires that may be around, with fun drinks like "holy water" and punch blood bags for guest to enjoy. It was a truly haunting night to usher us into the spooky season, drawing a large crowd into the space with decorations to match Club Juke from the movie.

Thank you to everyone who attended to her Dr. Goldmann's talk, making it a truly special event!

09/08/2026

Dr Chad Pearson recently posted an article in the 𝐿𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔-𝐶𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝐻𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝐴𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 journal! Titled "Scabs, Class Traitors, and Seminars: A Year at Harvard", the article discusses a recent year long seminar series hosted by the Harvard University’s Charles Warren Center focused on labor history. Dr. Pearson, who attended as part of a fellowship, uses the article to discuss the interesting ties and connections the University has to labor history.

Check it out here! https://lawcha.org/2026/09/08/scabs-class-traitors-and-seminars-a-year-at-harvard/

During the 2025-2026 academic school year, Harvard University’s Charles Warren Center hosted a fantastic, year-long seminar series focused on labor history: “Labor and Political Economy in American History.” I was part of it, and had a blast reading many papers, researching in first-class libr...

09/02/2026

One of our recent PhD graduate, Dr. Annette Becker, recently had one of her dissertation chapters published in 𝐷𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐽𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑆𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎!

Titled "Fashion Consumption as Cultural Production
American Fashion and the Neiman Marcus Award", her article discusses the Neiman Marcus Awards started by the Dallas-based department store Neiman Marcus. Awarded to designers from 1938 through the early 1970's, the award became the "Oscars of Fashion", not only increasing the national profile of the company, but also linking fashion production and designers with the consumer.

Dr. Becker is Director of the Texas Fashion Collection. Check our her article here! https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03612112.2026.2707158

09/01/2026

On September 25th, 2026 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm the Friends of the Humanities is hosting its first event of the year!

In preparation for October's spooky festivities, Dr. Kerry Goldman is hosting an event called "How to Fend off Vampires", with the event focused on the themes of 2025 horror movie 𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠. Using the celebratory atmosphere of Club Juke featured in the movie, her lecture will discuss the power of community and its ability to "vanquish vampires, whether literal or metaphorical".

The event is just the first in the annual series offered by the Friends of the Humanities. Be sure to join and register to not miss out on events like this! https://class.unt.edu/departments/leaph/friends_of_the_humanities.html
[email protected]

08/18/2026

End of summer coincided with our yearly Graduate Student Orientation last Friday! Our program has always used our orientation to not only provide information to our incoming students, but also as an opportunity for all of our graduate students to come together again in a shared space.

With this year's program, the students had opportunity during their provided lunch break to meet and converse with their fellow graduate students from the Philosophy and Religion graduate program as we combine into our new school.

This year provides many exciting challenges and opportunities for our programs, however our wonderful and bright students look forward to the possibilities in their research and scholarship!