OU History Department

10/01/2026

Congratulations to Postdoctoral Research and Teaching Fellow Dr. Ed Green, who was named winner of the Robyn Lily Davis Dissertation Prize by the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic. His dissertation from Penn State University was titled “Captains and Community Interdependence, Diplomacy, and Experiences of ‘Quotidian Power’ in the Choctaw Nation, 1720-1850.” The prize comes with an advance book contract with University of Virginia Press. The prize is named after Dr. Robyn Lily Davis, a 2009 OU PhD alumna. She was advised by Dr. Paul Gilje (since retired). She now serves as chair of the Department of History at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. Read more on the prize here: https://shear.org/shear-book-pri…

The Society for Historians of the Early American Republic awards book prizes to original monographs that deal with the period 1776-1861 in America. Certainly, some books that we consider cover a slightly broader time frame than this. But in order to qualify, the book must make its primary scholarly....

09/22/2026

Tomorrow!

09/01/2026

Professor Emerita Judith Lewis has a blog post and an upcoming online seminar relating to her recently published book, The Country House at War: A Story of Loss, Reinvention, and the Birth of a New Britain! See comments for links.

08/27/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Judy Lewis, Emerita Professor of British History, who has published her third book, The Country House at War: A Story of Loss, Reinvention, and the Birth of a New Britain, with Yale University Press. Per historian Amy Helen Bell, “Lewis describes how England’s country houses — once symbols of tradition and tranquillity — became unlikely front lines in the People’s War. This compelling account gives voice to the people who lived and worked behind their walls … “

08/25/2026

The Department of History at the University of Oklahoma is pleased to announce Dr. Julie Reed as the new Merrick Chair in Western History:

Julie L. Reed received her PhD in American History from UNC Chapel Hill in 2011. She spent the first eight years of her career at the University of Tennessee, the next six years at Penn State, and then joined the faculty at the University of Tulsa before coming to OU. She is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Her second book, Land, Language, and Women: A Cherokee and American Educational History, published in 2026 by UNC Press, examines 400 years of Cherokee educational history through the lives of Cherokee girls studying and learning in very different classroom spaces.

She has been the recipient of a Mellon Foundation New Directions Award and an NEH Collaborative Award. With the Mellon Foundation New Directions Award, she spent two years at summer field schools and enrolled in coursework through Western Carolina University retraining in southeastern archaeology, geophysics, and enhancing her Cherokee language skills. With the support of the NEH Collaborative Award, she is currently working on a co-authored book, Sovereign Kin: A History of the Cherokee Nation, with Davidson College historian Rose Stremlau.

Reed is no stranger to Norman or to Oklahoma. Her grandmother lived two blocks from campus her entire childhood. Her father and paternal aunts graduated from Norman High School. Her aunt and cousins are OU alumni. Her father entered the military after high school but remained a die-hard Sooner fan his entire life. Her extended family continues to reside across Oklahoma.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Reed to OU!

08/20/2026

Attention fellow Normaniacs and other Oklahomies! Early voting starts TODAY for the Aug. 25 elections. We’ve got primary runoffs for Democrats and Republicans, as well as a couple of significant state questions. Get informed on the choices and go vote!

Register to Vote Request an Absentee Ballot Next Election Info August 25th Sample Ballots In-Person Absentee Voting (Early Voting) Dates and Deadlines Frequently Asked Questions Primary Elections, Address Confirmation Notices, Proof of Identity for Voting, Write-in Voting, and More.Go Here for the F...

08/12/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Lauren Duval, whose book The Home Front: Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence, recently received two prizes from the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic. It was awarded the Mary Kelley Prize in Gender and Women’s History, which recognizes the best book published on women, gender, and sexuality. And it was a co-winner of the SHEAR Book Prize, which recognizes the best primary scholarly contribution to the history of the early American republic. Dr. Duval’s book was previously recognized by the Society for Military History and the Fort Plain Museum, bringing its prize total to four. Great work, Dr. Duval!

07/15/2026

OU History PhD alum Taylor Cozzens recently received two prestigious awards from the Agricultural History Society. First is the Gilbert C. Fire Dissertation Award for his dissertation, “Andean Laboratories: Agrarian Reform, Agricultural Innovation, and Armed Conflict in Peru, 1950-2005.” This study traces Peru’s localized green revolutions in the second half of the twentieth century. He also received the Wayne D. Rasmussen Award for the best article on agricultural history not published in Agricultural History. This recognized “Workers in the Field and Lawyers in the Court: Encironmental Justice, Poverty Law, and the California Rural Legal Assistance.” This article discusses the role of Mexican farmworkers in shaping California agrochemical law. Dr. Cozzens is currently Visiting Instructor of World and Latin American History at Arkansas Tech University.

07/14/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Lewis Eliot, who has just published his first book, Voices of Liberty: Black Radical Revolution and Diplomatic Abolitionism in Britain’s Atlantic World, with the University of California Press. The book argues that Black revolutionaries’ fight for freedom directly challenged the ideological architects of British imperialism, whose narratives of liberty endeavored to silence Black people by defining abolitionism as a white enterprise. Congratulations Dr. Eliot for this major accomplishment and important contribution!

07/08/2026

Congratulations again to Dr. Lauren Duval, who recently published her article “Reconsidering the Place of Domesticity in the Early Republic” in the Journal of the Early Republic’s “Engaging Historiography Forum: Women at the Center.”