The Seminar is co-sponsored with Lord Fairfax Community College. Meetings begin at 3:35 p.m. in Jackson Hall Room 107 at James Madison University , unless otherwise announced.  Most take place on the third Friday of the month, and there are typically six or seven seminars during the school year. For directions, see http://www.jmu.edu/jmuweb/directions/ 

Call for Papers 2013-14

Call for Papers: The Shenandoah Valley Regional Studies Seminar seeks papers on topics of regional interest. Papers are encouraged on a wide variety of subjects relative to the Shenandoah Valley and related regions. The seminar is multidisciplinary and intended for historians, anthropologists, geographers, and other social scientists as well as botanists, geologists, environmentalists, writers, students of literature, and independent scholars. The seminar meets at 3:35 PM the third Friday of every month during the academic year at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA.

Submission Deadline for the 2013-2014 academic year is 15 April 2013.

For more information contact:

2012-13 Program

• 21 September — Robert Calhoon, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, "The Twentieth-Century Persistence of Political Moderation in the Southern Backcountry."

• 19 October — Dan McDermott, Montgomery College, “Land Patents in the Great Valley of Maryland”

• 16 November — Clarence Geier, James Madison University, “With Sheridan in the Shenandoah”

• 18 January — Andrew Witmer, James Madison University, “The James Madison University History Harvest”

• 15 February — Nathan Ryalls, James Madison University, "’For Dixie Children’: Confederate Textbooks and the Creation of Confederate Nationalism”

• 15 March — Carole Nash, James Madison University, “’Solid Comfort at Stony Man Camp’: An Archaeological Study of Late 19th Century Recreation in the Virginia Blue Ridge”

Speakers in 2011-12

• 16 September — Patrick Farris, “History of the Creation of Warren County”
• 21 October — Dan McDermott, “Gustavaus Sohon: Artist of the Pacific Northwest 1853-1855”
• 11 November — Christopher Eads, "Elder John Kline, Physician, and Antebellum Brethren Medicine"
• 20 January — Charity Derrow, “A Simple Kitchen Garden: It’s Life Giving Role for the Nineteenth Century Family”
• 17 February — Olivia Good, “Paved Over with Good Intentions:  The Impact of National Municipal Planning Trends and Perceptions of Ideal Communities on Historic and Modern Urban Renewal Efforts in Harrisonburg, Virginia”
• 29-31 March — Virginia Forum, Harrisonburg, Virginia
• 20 April — Derick Stackpole, “From the American Civil War to the First World War: A Comparative Study of Trench Warfare at the Battle of Petersburg and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive”

Speakers in 2010-11

• Dan McDermott, (emeritus), Montgomery College, “Eye of the Explorer: Isaac Stevens and the Pacific Railroad Expeditions, 1853-54."

• Luther Roadcap, Bridgewater College, "Unforgiving Times: The Depression-Era Eviction of the Mountain Residents in Shenandoah National Park" at the October meeting.

• Paul Belmont, United States Military Academy,  "The Advent of Universal Public Education in Virginia and its Valley: Reconstruction through the Progressive Era, 1865-1920."

• Patrick Farris, Warren Heritage Society, Front Royal, Virginia, “Front Royal’s Civil War Hospital: Fluctuation of Mid-Nineteenth Century Racial and Gendered Identities during Wartime in the Shenandoah.”

• Eric Bryan, Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia "West Africa West of the Blue Ridge: Challenges and Opportunities at the Frontier Culture Museum's West African Farm." 

• Steven J. Peach, Northern Illinois University, "A 'mingled effect' of American Indian and European Cultures: A Material Culture Approach to Intercultural Exchange in the Eastern Ohio Country, 1740-1770."

Speakers in 2009-10

• Kevin Borg, Department of History, James Madison University, "The Community as Classroom: exploring Enterprise and Society in New South Harrisonburg"

• Dan McDermott, Historical Geographer, Department of Applied Technologies (emeritus), Montgomery College, “Settling the Backcountry: The Case of Western Maryland and the Cumberland Valley”

• Sarah Thomas, School of Architecture, University of Virginia,  "Slavery in Shenandoah County: Buildings and Landscapes"

• Christina Wulf, Department of History, James Madison University, “From the Birth of an Industry to the End of an Era: What Avtex Fibers Front Royal, Inc. can tell us about 20th century America” 

• Hannah Kelley, Department of History, Clark University, "Education for Eternity: Religion and Morality in Virginia Women's Education, 1861-1920." 

• Tiffany Cole, Department of History, James Madison University, “Moonshining in Rockingham County, Virginia:  A Case Study on Oral Traditions and Folkways” 

• Scott Jost, Department of Art, Bridgewater College, “Source and Confluence: Photographing the Chesapeake Bay Watershed"