Mount St. Mary's University Dept. of History

04/08/2025

Mount History is excited about One Mount One Day, which is today. Please consider supporting the Dean's Fund for Excellence for the College of Mount St. Mary's University-College of Liberal Arts, which supports our students and faculty in their study, research, and writing. Thank you for supporting the Department of History.

02/01/2025

Dr. Teresa Rupp may have retired from teaching at the Mount, but she continues to educate through her blog, The Scholarly Dilettante. Check out this recent post on connections between Castiglione’s _Courtier_ and Miss America. Dr. Rupp explains, "It’s based on a student insight from a class discussion many years ago."

Portrait of Castiglione by Raphael One of my favorite teaching moments of all time occurred several years ago. Our current topic was the Renaissance, and we were reading Baldesar Castiglione’s Book…

01/24/2025

Earlier this week, Dr. Charles Strauss provided historical context for a special lecture next week by Rev. Naomi Nontombi Tutu, the daughter of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1931-2021) of South Africa. Special thanks to Dr. Bryan Zygmont, Dean of Mount St. Mary's University-College of Liberal Arts for taking this photo and to all who attended the talk. It was a packed house.

Rev. Tutu will speak on Wed, Jan 29 at 6:30 PM in Knott Auditorium. Her topic is: “Our Shared Humanity: Creating Understanding through the Principles of MLK." The lecture is free and open to the public.

05/13/2024

In 1780, John Adams in the Massachusetts Constitution declared, ‘The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a state: it ought not, therefore, to be restrained in this Commonwealth.’ Yet 250 years earlier in the republican tradition, with the writings of influential political theorists like Machiavelli, it was unthinkable to promote free speech and a free press as central to a free state. How did this radical change happen? Associate Professor Jamie Gianoutsos’s article locates the earliest arguments for freedom of speech in the newly invented printed English newspapers from the 1640s, when England fought through its bloody civil wars. The Mount's History Department is proud to recommend this latest work by one of our outstanding scholar-teachers, Dr. Jamie Gianoutsos. Click on the OUP link below to read the full article.

Abstract. This article examines how printed newsbooks shaped conceptions of freedom of speech and the classical republican tradition in Britain. After expl

05/11/2024

The Department of History congratulates the graduates of the mighty Mount Class of 2024. Remember President Trainor's words to "Call Home," and stay in touch with us. We are proud of you!

04/10/2024

Mount History Faculty, including Dr. Gianoutsos, Dr. Bonura, and Dr. Strauss, joined in the campus-wide festivities on Echo Field to watch the solar eclipse earlier this week. More posts coming on the recent happenings in the Dept. of History, as well as exciting new projects ahead. It is a great time to study History at the Mount!

12/02/2023

Senior History Majors are approaching the finish line in their semester-long work on original theses as part of History Senior Seminar with Dr. Charles Strauss. Today, they took a well-deserved break by visiting the Adams County Historical Society at Gettysburg, where they toured the archives led by the great Adams County, PA historian, Tim Smith, and then made their way through the Gettysburg Beyond the Battle Museum, before retreating for a final discussion at the The Garryowen Irish Pub. An unexpected highlight was running into History Majors from Gettysburg College who were finishing their archival research as part of Dr. Michael Birkner's Historical Methods course.

11/19/2023

We celebrated a favorite tradition this afternoon as our seniors participated in the annual History Senior Seminar Conference. Dr. Charles Strauss, as instructor of Senior Seminar this semester, moderated this day of sharing historical research and enjoying the good food and company that comes with the Department of History at the Mount.

09/21/2023

Dr. Charles Strauss and Fr. Jim Donohue are leading a trip to Tanzania this summer!

09/20/2023

Having retired, Dr. Rupp isn't making as many PowerPoints as she used to. Instead, she wrote a blog entry about it.

Posted on September 20, 2023 by Teresa RuppFrom Slides to Slides: Thoughts on Teaching with Images I recently read an obituary of Dennis Austin, the inventor of PowerPoint. I must admit, that although I’ve used PowerPoint for years, I never thought about it having an inventor. If I’d thought abo...

05/15/2023