Tag: academy

Causal Theories for the Great Depression

By: Jonathan Wanzer ORCiD 0009-0004-9275-7410
Submitted on: February 19, 2026
Submitted to: Dr. Cervantez – Liberty University
Course: HIUS 713 American Entrepreneurship Since 1900
Chicago Citation:
Wanzer, Jonathan. “Causal Theories for the Great Depression.” Historical Interpretations (blog). February 19, 2026. http://wanzer.org/2026/02/causal-theories-for-the-great-depression/.

Abstract
This article opens a discussion on the causes of the Great Depression. It opens with the two most recognizable precipitating events often thought of as causes. It places them rightly as the visible symptoms of the existing conditions. In a discussion of contributing factors, it looks at several causal theories and the ways they are connected. It ends with several factors present in the recovery period and a statement on the complexity of the economics involved.

Introduction

The prompt for this assignment is to “produce a cohesive narrative and analysis using primary and secondary sources applying one economic theory to the causes of the Great Depression and its ultimate demise.” (emphasis added) Applying one economic theory as the cause of of the Great Depression is like asking “what was the cause of World War II?” The only single answer that makes any sense is World War I was the cause of World War II. There are to many factors, and it depends on the perspective of the observer. With that in mind, the only rational answer to the question posed would be the economics of the Gilded Age. This takes a lot factors into consideration, many of those factors are tangled in the events that unfolded, both in the precipitating events and the contributing factors. For the sake of presentation in this article, the primary factors involved will fall into one of three categories, Precipitating Events, Contributing Factors, and Recovery.

Precipitating Events

The Stock Market Crash of October 24-29, 1929 is most frequently considered one of the two precipitating events that pushed the United States into the Great Depression, the second being the runs on the banks from 1929 to 1933. While these may have been the outward symptoms, brought on by the massive loss of wealth of the rich and the middle class. They were just symptoms of a fragile economy that developed through the Gilded Age. The middle class was relatively new to market investing and more easily spooked by fluctuations. The panic of these new participants destabilized the typical oscillations of the market creating wider swings up and down inducing further panic. Not helping matters, the general population was aware of how the typical bank operates internally, or how the money stock is utilized locally or nationally.

Contributing Factors

Over investment theories place responsibility on capital over investment by business created a bubble that was unsustainable. Business needed fewer workers as it improved production mechanically by taking on more debt. Fewer jobs and a surplus of workers lowered wages. The country was new to the mass consumer economy, as the job market shrank and incomes dropped, consumers had to reduce personal spending. This let to lower than expected sales for businesses which let to businesses having to contract further to keep up with their debt. This also led to a rapid decline in consumer confidence which contracted consumer spending. So the downward spiral went. Keynesian Theory puts the responsibility on consumer confidence and contracted spending for the contraction of production and the resultant unemployment. Some theorists place responsibility on income disparity, with wealth pooling at the upper class, claiming their contraction as they saw considerable losses in the markets as the cause of further losses. The Product Surplus theory places responsibility on the advancements in technology and capital investments that led to over production, citing the glut as cause for declining prices and profits, leading to lay-offs and contraction. These theories all tie together creating a business-consumer view of what was occurring, but even this was only part of the picture. Much of the remaining picture has to do with the economic controls, or the lack their of.

Monetarist theory places responsibility with poor federal monetary policies and the Federal Reserves failures to act or acting inappropriately by not maintaining the money supply and raising interest rates respectively. Protectionism also played a role, the federal government’s institution of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff in 1930. At the depressions peek, the U.S. economy had shrunk 30%, the global economy had shrunk 60% due to Smoot-Hawley. Some theories include the labor pool that had grown through various mechanisms. The labor pool was fare to large with unemployment growing to over 25% at its peek in 1933 and diminishing wages.

Unemployment Rate for the United States
National Bureau of Economic Research

The 1920s saw increases in the cost of goods during the boom before the bust, also with little government engagement. Prices would not drop significantly until 1930.

Index of the General Price Level of the United States
National Bureau of Economic Research

Recovery

Several things brought about the recovery period, one was the influx of foreign money being transferred to the United States, specifically, foreign gold. As the global economy sank lower than the U.S. economy, assets of overseas wealthy people was transferred to reduce the overall loss. This had a positive effect on the U.S. economy. Prices were beginning to recover, clinched purses were opening, banks still in business began to make loans again. It is important to remember that over 7,000 banks went under from 1929 to 1933. As spending and lending rose, so did employment. A significant portion of this is due to the Works Progress Administration (WPA), part of the New Deal. Many cities still have monuments to the success of the WPA in the form of buildings funded by the WPA. Many of these buildings are in the Art Deco/WPA style. World War II closed out the era with mass employment and government war contracts.

Conclusion

This article is a gross simplification of the complex nature of the Great Depression. Its causes are rooted in the boom of the Gilded Age and poor government over site, planning, and a slow response to the economic crises as they occurred. There are also many other smaller contributing factors not mentioned here.

Sources

McElvaine, Robert S. The Great Depression: America, 1929-1941. Times Books, 1993.

National Bureau of Economic Research, Unemployment Rate for United States [M0892AUSM156SNBR], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M0892AUSM156SNBR, February 17, 2026.

National Bureau of Economic Research, Index of the General Price Level for United States [M04051USM324NNBR], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M04051USM324NNBR, February 17, 2026.

Wheelock, David. “Why Do We Still Study the Great Depression?.” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, (video, 5:55). Accessed February 17, 2026, https://www.stlouisfed.org/the-great-depression/curriculum/economic-episodes-in-american-history-part-1

Wheelock, David. “Key Economic Terms.” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, (video, 7:03). Accessed February 17, 2026, https://www.stlouisfed.org/the-great-depression/curriculum/economic-episodes-in-american-history-part-2.

Wheelock, David. “How Bad Was the Great Depression? Economic Impact.” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, (video, 3:06). Accessed February 17, 2026, https://www.stlouisfed.org/the-great-depression/curriculum/economic-episodes-in-american-history-part-3.

Wheelock, David. “The Great Recession vs. the Great Depression.” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, (video, 6:25). Accessed February 17, 2026, https://www.stlouisfed.org/the-great-depression/curriculum/economic-episodes-in-american-history-part-4.

Wheelock, David. “What Caused the Great Depression.” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, (video, 9:59). Accessed February 17, 2026, https://www.stlouisfed.org/the-great-depression/curriculum/economic-episodes-in-american-history-part-5.

Wheelock, David. “The Role of Bank Failures and Panics.” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, (video, 11:33). Accessed February 17, 2026, https://www.stlouisfed.org/the-great-depression/curriculum/economic-episodes-in-american-history-part-6.

Wheelock, David. “Where Was the Fed?.” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, (video, 6:48). Accessed February 17, 2026, https://www.stlouisfed.org/the-great-depression/curriculum/economic-episodes-in-american-history-part-7.

Wheelock, David. “What Caused the Recovery?.” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, (video, 3:47). Accessed February 17, 2026, https://www.stlouisfed.org/the-great-depression/curriculum/economic-episodes-in-american-history-part-8.

Wheelock, David. “Lessons Learned and Concluding Remarks.” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, (video, 3:01). Accessed February 17, 2026, https://www.stlouisfed.org/the-great-depression/curriculum/economic-episodes-in-american-history-part-9.

Robert McCormick and the Chicago Tribune

By: Jonathan Wanzer ORCiD 0009-0004-9275-7410
Submitted on: February 11, 2026
Submitted to: Dr. Cervantez – Liberty University
Course: HIUS 713 American Entrepreneurship Since 1900
Chicago Citation:
Wanzer, Jonathan. “Robert McCormick and the Chicago Tribune.” Historical Interpretations (blog). February 11, 2026. http://wanzer.org/2026/02/robert-mccormick-and-the-chicago-tribune/.

Abstract
This post discusses the life of Robert Rutherford McCormick and his ascendance to President of the Chicago Tribune. It includes his youth and major life events. It provides some insight into his military service. It outlines his newspaper industry experience. The article concludes with his legacy in the newspaper and media industry.

Robert Rutherford McCormick, also known as The Colonel or Colonel McCormick, a rank he earned in the U.S. Army, was born in Chicago, IL, on July 30, 1880, the second son of US Ambassador Robert Sanderson McCormick and Katherine Medill McCormick, daughter of Joseph Medill, who, with five partners, bought the Chicago Tribune in 1855. When he was 9, his father was serving in the diplomatic corps in London. It is in this period that he taught himself to sail and developed his strong sense of self and self-confidence. He had a strong will and exhibited an adventurous spirit. Back in the States, he attended the Groton prep school, where he was described as above average but lacking in motivation. Despite the apparent lack of motivation, he did well enough to get into Yale, where he found his motivation. He was also able to exercise his adventurous nature in hunting in the Hudson Bay area with Inuit guides. Back in Chicago after graduating from Yale in 1903, he decided to go to law school at Northwestern.

This was also a period of political exploration for Robert. Elected as an Alderman and president of the Chicago Sanitary District. He was known for his platform of honest government and willingness to dig in and do the difficult work and not tolerating political hacks on his staff. His conservative views would continue throughout his life, generally opposed to progressives, the New Deal, and the U.S. entry into WWII.

In 1906, his future was on shifting sands. His older brother, Medill, had a nervous breakdown. Medill had been groomed to take over the Tribune at some point. In 1910, Medill and Robert’s uncle, Robert Patterson, editor-in-chief and president of the Tribune, died. The uncertainty of the newspaper’s management put the future of the Tribune in jeopardy. The board was even considering selling the Tribune. In 1911, Robert Rutherford McCormick took the reins of the Tribune, calming the board and stabilizing the business.

Now in his thirties, Robert married Amy Irwin Adams in 1915. True to his adventurous spirit and patriotism, the young couple’s honeymoon would not be a typical one. The couple toured war-torn Europe with Robert writing about the experience along the way. Later that year, home from Europe, Robert felt he needed to do more for his country and enlisted in the Illinois National Guard. He was deployed to protect the southern border to protect the country from Pancho Villa’s raids. In 1917, he signed up for the American Expeditionary Forces and served in France. He earned his Colonel rank in 1918 and a Distinguished Service Medal in 1923, staying a reservist until 1929.

Robert R. McCormick became the sole editor-in-chief in 1925 and would lead the Tribune for five decades, building a media empire including three major papers, the Chicago Tribune, Washington Times-Herald, and New York Daily News, a radio station WGN (1924), and a TV station, also with the WGN callsign (1948). The callsigns stood for World’s Greatest Newspaper, showing his enthusiasm and dedication. The Tribune was a paragon of an institution. Its employees were among the highest paid. They respected the Colonel, and he, in return, respected them. McCormick went to great lengths to ensure the success of the Tribune Company, the parent company that ran the various media outlets, engaging in forestry, buying paper mills, investing in hydroelectric, and shipping companies to provide support services and distribution.

Robert R. McCormick was a leader in the field of journalism, and under his direction, the Tribune would have the largest circulation of all American standard-sized newspapers. It would also lead the world in newspaper advertising revenue. His editorials were known for expressing his conservative journalistic integrity. He was an adamant defender of the First Amendment and Freedom of the Press. One of his primary goals as a journalist was to lay the foundation for journalism to become a bona fide profession. To that end, he introduced the concept of higher education in journalism and helped establish Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism and provided initial and ongoing funding for the school.

In 1939, the Colonel’s wife, Amy, died. He remarried in 1944 to a close friend of Amy’s, Maryland Mathison Hooper. The Colonel died on April 1, 1955, in Wheaton, Illinois, at the age of 74, survived by his second wife, Mary. Robert Rutherford McCormick was a publisher, editor, media pioneer, war hero, explorer, public servant, civic leader, attorney, and a true philanthropist. He established the Robert R. McCormick Charitable Trust, which turned his 500-acre estate, Cantigny, named after the village, where he served in France in WWI, into a funded public park. The trust also funds early childhood education programs in Chicago and community programs in the South and West sides of Chicago.

Robert R. McCormick was a privileged man. Born into a generationally wealthy family, well-traveled, and well-educated, he held conservative values and a strong work ethic, a sense of duty and responsibility to his family, his country, and his community.

Sources

Gies, Joseph. The Colonel of Chicago: A Biography of the Chicago Tribune’s Legendary Publisher, Colonel Robert McCormick. Dutton Adult. 1979

Olmsted, Kathryn S. The Newspaper Axis: Six Press Barons Who Enabled Hitler. Yale University Press. 2022.

“Our Benefactor.” Robert R. McCormick Foundation, website. Accessed February 10, 2026, https://www.mccormickfoundation.org/about-us/our-benefactor/.

“Robert R. McCormick.” Britannica, website. Accessed February 10, 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-R-McCormick.

Robert R. McCormick. Personal Correspondence, 1920-1955, I-63. Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections. https://findingaids.library.northwestern.edu/repositories/7/resources/1474 Accessed February 10, 2026.

“Robert R. McCormick Biography.” First Division Museum at Cantigny, website. Accessed February 10, 2026, https://www.fdmuseum.org/researchers/robert-r-mccormick-biography/.

Smith, Richard Norton. The Colonel: The Life and Legend of Robert R. McCormick. C-SPAN video, 1:05:06. https://www.c-span.org/program/public-affairs-event/life-and-legend-of-robert-r-mccormick/65204.

Spring Term 2026

Last academic class! The B-subterm is about to start, and I am taking my last academic class before venturing into a doctoral dissertation. The class is HIUS 713 American Entrepreneurship Since 1900. It’s not a class that, on the outset, ‘sparks joy.’ Thank you, Marie Kondo. While I do have an interest in economics and how it impacts historical events, it is essentially always involved in historical events in some way. It is not a topic I want to burn a lot of cycles on. I generally acknowledge its position as a factor and how/why it is important to acknowledge, but that’s about it. I am not an economist and have no desire to become one. I am also not in business in a way. When it comes to business and economic theory, I am only interested in the micro level with small businesses and local community economics. I hold great disdain for ‘big business’ and the centralization of business sectors, especially when it comes to finance, the food system, and infrastructure. From my perspective, centralization and the scale of ‘big business’ are the causes of many, if not most, of the problems America faces today. Especially things revolving around the topics of wealth disparity, poverty, inequity, and ignorance.

All of that having been said, I have some thoughts on how I might link entrepreneurialism to my research in propaganda and extremism. Anyone with ideas similar to those expressed in the first paragraph is likely thinking, ‘yeah, no duh. Big business linked to propaganda and extremism, there’s a stretch.’ I could point to Public Relations, Marketing, and Advertising as they are, and cite article after article on market and consumer manipulation, but that’s not interesting for me, and I don’t want to spend my time boring myself. To get the creative juices flowing, I am thinking mass media, its commercial interests, and the conflict of interest between shareholders and journalistic responsibility and integrity. I don’t know just yet if this is the path I will take, but it is a frontrunner.

The D-subterm class is HIST 901 Doctoral History Research. The course summary says “instruction on methodological and interpretive approaches appropriate for doctoral research in the discipline of History.” It is the first class in the dissertation process. I still need to complete my comprehensive reading and examination classes, but this is where the formal discussion on dissertation topics begins. I believe this is also where the dissertation advisor is assigned, and the reading selections for comps are conformed to complement the dissertation topic.

After the three comps classes, and before the formal dissertation classes, there is HIST 890 Historiographic Research, which is also a part of the dissertation phase, and focuses on the bibliography and historiography for the dissertation. After HIST 890, I will be considered ABD and officially a Doctoral Candidate.

  • HIUS 713 American Entrepreneurship Since 1900 (Spring 2026 B)
  • HIST 901 Doctoral History Research (Spring 2026 D)
  • HIUS 911 Early America (Summer 2026)
  • HIUS 912 Modern America (Fall 2026)
  • HIEU 914 Early Modern Europe (Fall 2026)
  • HIST 890 Historiographic Research (Spring 2027)
  • HIST 987 Dissertation I (Spring 2027*)
  • HIST 988 Dissertation II (Summer 2027*)
  • HIST 989 Dissertation III (Fall 2027*)
  • HIST 990 Dissertation Defense (Winter 2027*)

* Dissertation classes are considered J-Term, and the dissertation advisor/committee decides when the candidate moves from one dissertation class to the next. They are not tied to the calendar like other classes.

I am excited to be moving forward. It feels really close to the end of the process, and at the same time, two more years seems an interminably long time. History, like life, is full of dicotomies such as these. I am still a touch timorous about the comprehensives. The idea of having a huge chunk of reading followed by an essay exam and an oral exam is daunting. I am not a fast reader, and while I have a high comprehension rate, my recall of dates and names can be spotty. I remember stories and concepts well, even intricate ones, and I can convey them well. Specifics, on the other hand, are more difficult. That’s why I take copious notes.

To close this entry, I wanted to share a little about my goals for the year. These are not resolutions, I am not placing any pressure on myself to complete them. They are things I would like to do, as time permits:

  • Family: Find ways to spend more downtime or shared-time with family
  • School: Hold a steady pace moving forward, and take weekends off
  • Work: Keep work as-is, no additional responsibilities or obligations
  • Hobbies: Spend time woodworking every week
  • Linguistics: Learn Old English

I recognise that learning Old English to the level I would like will be time-consuming and take more than one year. My goal for this year is to be able to start reading Bēowulf without having to look up every other word. I do have a long-term linguistics plan in mind: Old English followed by Old Norse to begin with. If I do well with OE and make good headway with ON, I may expand on this list. If I don’t, well, that’s okay too. Even though I am long in the tooth, I would like to learn more languages, most of which are ancient too. We will see how it goes.

AI generated with Adobe Firefly. Prompt: In the style of Dutch masters, an old man, white hair and beard, a professor, writing in a journal with fountain pen, 1914 American cloths, sitting at large oak desk. Desk illuminated by Tiffany desk lamp, 3/4 full bottle of burbon, rocks-glass of burbon on desk. Room is a dimmly lit study with bookcases, lots of old books, a large floor stand globe, low stacks of books on desk and floor, a tall window with the image of thomas aquinas in stained glass. Entire room is visibal.

Intentionality II

I applied to Johns Hopkins on July 7th and was accepted on the 17th. My digital presence at the university was processed at a rapid pace, and I had been engrossed in all the preparatory university informational and program-specific reading. I was also focused on completing all of the policy-related training for new students. This occupied the better portion of the week after I was accepted. Then they started to creep into my thoughts, questions.

  • What am I doing?
  • Why am I doing this?
  • Do I need to do this?
  • Does this get me any closer to my goals?
  • How will this affect me in ways I haven’t considered?
  • Why didn’t I consider these questions before now?

This all put me into a contemplative state of mind. I wanted answers to these questions, and more kept coming, so I stopped the new student reading and training and took the afternoon to dig into these questions and assess where this was going. I’ll answer the last question above first because it affects all of the others. I wanted a reputable, secular school on my academic record. It was in many ways a mia culpa for supporting an institution as long as I had. Understanding that motivation and accepting it as truth made it much easier to see the other truths that were to come from this self-reflection.

Truth One. I’m not in my 20s or 30s anymore. That may seem obvious, but honestly, despite the constantly aching knees and restless sleep, I usually feel much younger than I am. I believe that is what has carried me through my academic pursuits of the last seven years.

Truth Two. I don’t want to retire in my 80s. Yikes. At best, I have maybe 20-25 years of useful “work” in me. I would like most of that time to be in a hand tool woodshop or on the water, not worrying about pleasing my 30-year-old boss. Yes, it sounds like a grumpy old guy, and in many ways it is, but it is founded in a lifetime of diverse experience.

Truth Three. I don’t want to be a teacher. It is not that I dislike teaching. On the contrary, I love teaching. I don’t want to teach in the environment created by the current administration. I am also not a fan of the internal politics of the academy. I could see myself teaching part-time as an adjunct, but I would be more fulfilled working on educational programs at a museum. This is where it sunk in that I didn’t want to be a professor.

ETA I have since reconsidered this position to some extent, I do want to teach.

Truth Four. If I am not teaching at the university level, I don’t need a Ph.D. When I started the Ph.D. path, I wanted to teach at the university level. I have to admit, though, that part of the attraction was vanity. To deny that would be untruthful, and this exercise is about truth.

ETA Again, I have reconsidered this position. I do want to teach at the university level; thus, I have reengaged with the doctoral program, taking only one semester off.

Truth Five. I have two master’s degrees. Will a third get me closer to my goals? The short answer is, no, it won’t. In many ways, this answer sucks. I am truly interested in the Cultural Heritage Management program and would rather not withdraw from it. I am so grateful and feel truly blessed that I got into the program. If things were not as they are, I would likely stay in the program just for the edification and enjoyment. Things as they are, I am withdrawing.

Truth Six. My academic career has come to its conclusion. This sounds rather final, almost dark. However, the fact is, I will not be in the academe in a formal sense. I will surely engage with it and may even actively participate in the academe in the future. For now, at least, I am not a student, an instructor, or affiliated with a university. While I am a little sad about that, it is what it is, and I am okay with that.

ETA when I posted this, by academic career, I meant formal academics. However, this too has changed as I return to the doctoral program.

Truth Seven. It’s time to put all of this training to good use. Having taken instruction out of the mix, that leaves public history. There are a lot of directions a historian or public historian can go. Most often, we think of museums and parks, and I had hoped to go in the museum direction. Where we are, geographically, this isn’t a viable direction. Engaging as an independent contractor with governments, businesses, and organizations is the most viable path.

ETA my conciderations here remain. In light of some recent events, I am even more inclined to look for non-local alternatives.

Truth Eight. If I am going to find traditional, institutional employment, it won’t be where we are geographically. There are many parts of the country where a public historian can find work far more easily than in Oregon.

Truth Nine. Doing history and or public history independently is going to require strong self-motivation skills. Like any independent contractor, it’s all on you to make things happen. Fortunately, I have a lot of experience in this.

Truth Ten. Assuming I pursue doing history/public history as an independent contractor, I have a lot of planning and development work to do.

These realizations are split into two tenses, past and present. I needed to see and acknowledge the first six for what they are, so I could process seven on. There is still a lot to do, an understatement to be sure, but it is time to move forward.

ETA I chose to take the fall term off to reflect more on these truths. Very little has changed in the bigger picture. The main change was the decision to return to the doctoral program and finish what I started. My decision is not based on “I’m over half done, I should finish this.” I tuely do want to earn my doctorate in history. While finishing what I started does play a small roll in my decision, it is a very small role. I am committed to this path.

updated December 11, 2025

Intentionality

by Jonathan Wanzer

This site and blog were planned to be strictly professional, with little to no personal material that wasn’t directly related to historical pursuits. This has, however, changed slightly. The blog will instead be a moderated personal reflection, which will enhance the overall site as a portfolio by providing personal context. Efforts will be made to keep the content relevant to the academe, history, genealogy, cultural heritage, and museum studies, and to avoid posts on hobby interests in aviation, maritime, and communications unless they are directly relevant to the former. Discussions in the realm of politics and religion will likewise be moderated to their relevance in the historical and cultural spaces.

One of the key elements of the previous post was the submission of an application to another educational institution. That institution was Johns Hopkins University, and the application was for entry into their M.A. Cultural Heritage Management program in the fall, which was accepted. Classes start August 15th. This promises to be an exciting program with some interesting classes, including Issues in Intangible Cultural Heritage and Culture as Catalyst for Sustainable Development, both of which will be taken in the fall term.

With teaching at the university level off the table for now, the focus will be on expanding skillsets and networking. Time will also be set aside for site work with the local, local history museum. The intention is to develop a broad range of skills centered around museology and cultural heritage. Graduate certificates in fields like cultural anthropology, archaeology, political science, African American studies, Native American studies, and other similar subjects that can be worked on while employed in the field are a good option. JHU has a good Museum Studies program that may be an option after completing the current program. Doing history, public or otherwise, requires a continuous broadening of context. Continuing education and community engagement are the best ways to do this.

Confessions

by Jonathan W. Wanzer
July 16, 2025

The first half of 2025 has been quite the year, hasn’t it?

The division among Americans continues to grow deeper. Factions continue to isolate themselves within their narrow information bubbles, willfully ignorant of what is happening outside their limited perspective. We are all developing mental and emotional stress injuries from just trying to get through the next day. Traumas continue to accumulate, exaggerating emotions, shortening attention spans, and fuses alike, which adds to the division and isolation. Many of us have opted to avoid inevitable conflicts by refusing to talk or write about what we were thinking and feeling out of fear, fear of losing or not getting a job, fear of getting kicked out of school, fear of reprisals, vandalism, or worse, violence. Many of us feared the possibility of isolation from families, rejection from the communities we participate in, and some have feared excommunication from their religious communities for being dissenters and conscientious objectors.

I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted from all of it.

White supremacists and Christian nationalists, under the cover of MAGA, have generated so much hate and fear across the entire nation and beyond, just to further the avarice and ambitions of dominance of a handful of despicable, hateful people who literally couldn’t care less for the people they have persuaded to support them. Lying to their faces and stealing from them, committing their unethical and illicit actions in plain sight without fear of consequences. Their only concerns are self-aggrandizement and profit. Nothing they do is in the country’s best interest, nor the interests of their constituents. Most certainly, none of their actions are remotely Christian in nature. Their actions, and the fear and hate their actions generate, are indeed the antithesis of Christianity. They exist and thrive on fear and hate, there is no love in their actions or their hearts.

Until now, I have been complicit through my silence.

The school I have been attending contributed significantly to the development of Project 2025, and they continue to contribute to the destruction of the United States Constitution and government through their support of MAGA extremists. My complicity was with a heavy heart, but knowing what I was doing, justifying my complicity with the fear of appearing critical of the institution’s politics, prompting retaliation. Late though it is, my limits have been reached; I can no longer bear the shame of silence and inaction. I have applied to another university and a different program. I am hopeful that at some point in the future, I will be able to continue the path of a terminal degree.

My opinions and beliefs will undoubtedly cause some friction, as will my complicity.

Among my ancestors, several lines came to North America in the seventeenth century. They were immigrants. Whether 300 years ago or 3 days ago, they all made a journey of faith, vision, and hope. Immigrants built, and continue to build, this country. Without immigrants, the country would shrivel and die like an inbred genetic experiment. Likewise, the diverse cultures in America should be celebrated, not restricted, regulated, and whitewashed down to a colorless caricature of an America that never was. I am an ally to all the diverse communities that bring so much to the tapestry of American culture, First Peoples, immigrants, LGBTQIA+, and the displaced and forgotten. I support equality in all aspects of life for all communities. We are all siblings in the human family.

My heart breaks thinking about all those who have been alienated, endangered, and those who will die, because of willful ignorance and hate, in service of greed and authoritarian power.

There is no “us” and “them.” The construct of “the other” is a construct of ignorance, borne of fear, that breeds hate. “The other” is a tool of authoritarianism used to divide and alienate people. To dehumanize segments of the population, making it easier to hate and treat people with cruelty. The enemies of America, and indeed all humanity, are not people, the enemies are ignorance, fear, and hate.

The evils among us can be defeated, ignorance can be defeated, face your fears of “the other,” learn about different cultures, get to know people you don’t agree with, participate in your community, and the communities around you.

In love and hope,
~ Jon

Slavery in America: A sampling

By: Jonathan Wanzer ORCiD 0009-0004-9275-7410
Submitted on: April 5, 2025
Submitted to: Dr. Schultz – Liberty University
Course: HIST 701 Historical Professions
Chicago Citation:
Wanzer, Jonathan. “Slavery in America: A Sampling.” Historical Interpretations (blog). April 5, 2025. http://wanzer.org/2025/04/slavery-in-america-a-sampling/.

Abstract
This blog post takes a look at slavery from the narrow perspective of the New Hampshire Methodist Episcopal Church through its conference minutes of 1844-1845. It looks at the church’s Committee on Slavery’s position paper and resolutions in its report to the conference. The committee states its abolitionist views clearly and in strong, unequivocal terms. It also addresses the north-south schism forming within the church. The post’s conclusion places the conference minutes in context with the Civil War, and in its analysis, it asserts that the underpinning concepts of slavery are with us to this day.

Preface

The topic of slavery in America is a topic charged with emotions, regardless of the perspective from which you view it. As an older guy, a descendant of Northern and Western European ancestry, I find this a complex topic to approach. However, it is a topic I have been paying more attention to in recent years. In a class on the Civil War a book by Charles B. Dew came to my attention, Apostles of Disunion.1 Dew’s book fanned the flames of inquiry urging me to look below the surface when researching subjects that have racial or ethnic discriminatory elements, be it aboriginal peoples, the enslaved, or any other opposing people groups. This post, aside from being a class assignment,2 addresses an important topic that should be better understood by every American, slavery in the American context. This post is only one narrow look at a complex topic.

Methodist Episcopal Church,
New Hampshire Conference 1844-45

The Minutes of the New Hampshire Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church for the year of 1844-45 provides a lot of information about the church at this time in a short 22 pages. It addresses topics from membership to finances, appointments, and obituaries. It also contains two position papers with resolutions on topics that would become very important to the country in the coming decades. The minutes contain position papers on Temperance and Slavery.

Division over the topic of slavery has been a part of political discourse in America since the debate over independence in the Second Continental Congress. Despite participation in the slave trade and many of the founding fathers owning slaves themselves, the north-south division on the subject has manifested in many ways ever since. One has been through the publishing of position papers, often by civic groups including those specifically focused on abolition, and in position papers and resolutions published by organizations in their charters and minutes from various organization-wide meetings, conventions, congresses, and conferences.

The Methodist Episcopal Church had, according to its 1844-45 Conference minutes, a Committee on Slavery that had “for several successive years past presented” their sentiments on slavery as “the great evil and sin of American Slavery.” Having restated their position several times already, but recognizing the importance of the matter they felt “duty bound” to again address slavery and make sure the church and world knew that “the slave in his bonds and deprivations has not lost our sympathy.”3 Following this with a commitment to abolishing the practice.

New Hampshire Methodists were not alone in this sentiment finding slavery a moral evil, offensive to God, and ruinous “to the best interests of the church and nation.” They further pronounced that the destiny of slavery was fixed, that the practice must die. Acknowledging that a schism was forming within the larger church, they were sure that Providence was on their side. The committee also predicted that a change was coming, that they would be “free from all connection” with the practice of slavery. To further state their position and to address the succession of southern churches they concluded the committee report with nine resolutions summarized here:

The committee resolved that the practice of slavery was a great evil. Traveling lecturers should denounce the practice of defending slavery through the pretext that it benefitted the slave. Through the secession of dissenting churches, they would be “ecclesiastically free from connection with this great evil.” If southern churches chose slavery over their alienation from the greater church, they should be pitied rather than deplored. Those in dissenting churches not holding slaves should join the northern churches in “spreading scriptural holiness.” The resolutions also included thanks to leadership supporting abolition and rebuking those dissenting and in favor of secession.

Conclusion

This division in the Methodist church over slavery took place a full fifteen years before the Secession Commissioners 4 took to the meetinghouses of the south and west to sow the seeds of secession in America. Slavery has been a part of American history since its inception. While the buying and selling of people is no longer legal, the underpinning concepts that allowed slavery to flourish are still with us. The concepts of us v. them and fear of the other, the dehumanization of the other, to refer to them as inferior, to justify abhorrent actions and inhumane treatment. This is evil.

  1. Charles B. Dew, Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War, Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2016. ↩︎
  2. Liberty University, HIST 701 Historical Professions: Module 3: Blog: American Christianity. ↩︎
  3. Methodist Episcopal Church, New Hampshire Conference, Minutes of the New Hampshire Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Vol. 1844-45, Boston, MA: D.H. Ela, 1845. Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926. Accessed April 5, 2025. 11-13. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CY0109925437/SABN?u=vic_liberty&sid=bookmark-SABN&xid=8aaaa08f&pg=1. ↩︎
  4. Dew, 2016. ↩︎

Experimental History

My current research is a historiographical pursuit to determine if Experimental History exists as a subfield of history. If it does exist, the research will seek out its methodologies and practices. If it does not already exist as a sub-field of history, the research will be to define working parameters and define appropriate methodologies. This will include acknowledging the similarities and differences between Experimental History and Experimental Archaeology.

I discovered this week that the term Experimental History has often applied to a philosophy applied to the study of Natural History in the 17th and 18th centuries by Francis Bacon who dubbed the philosophy “Natural and Experimental History.”1 Bacon’s use of this term has nothing to do with the practice and study of doing history as we think of it today. Searching for academic journal articles on JSTOR,2 the vast majority of search results for “Experimental History” refer to or relate to Bacon’s “Natural and Experimental History.”

A couple of relevant results did come up, one is an article in the journal The History Teacher, “A Pedagogical Trebuchet: A Case Study in Experimental History and History Pedagogy”3 from 2012 that utilizes Experimental History in the classroom to answer questions that would otherwise be unanswerable other than through hypothetical assertions.

My interpretation of Experimental History as a sub-field can, on the research end, help in producing improved tools and materials for Experiential Learning. Anyone who has worked with elementary school kids will likely have plenty of anecdotal experience with the potential of experiential learning. I came to my interpretation of what Experimental history could be through Experimental Archaeology, and one of the reasons I became interested in Experimental Archaeology was my own experience in experiential learning. This is how I learn best, through doing, and following that up with teaching someone else. The process of learning through experimentation and then turning around and teaching what you have learned through papers and presentations is the cornerstone and heart of Amateur Radio. The process works.

The idea behind Experimental History, in my interpretation, is for the researcher to engage in experiential learning, using experimentation along with traditional research to answer questions about the subject, and to apply the physicality of the experimentation and research contextually and physically to generate the resulting products of their research, which should include materials for pedagogical use. I am inclined toward producing products that can be applied in the public history sphere but are not limited to that environment. While the physicality of Experimental History can provide context to traditional outputs, that physicality shouldn’t be lost in the translation, Experimental History, as I interpret it, wants to bring the physicality to all interpretive environments, in the presentation, in the museum, and in the classroom.

This historiographical look at Experimental History and its applications in research and pedagogy is the foundation of my current work and is in its initial stage to understand what the literature is, if any, and to enumerate and evaluate the available sources if such sources exist. As literature emerges I will post it to a designated area of the site.

  1. Anstey, Peter R. “Locke, Bacon and Natural History.” Early Science and Medicine 7, no. 1 (2002): 65–92. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4130409. ↩︎
  2. https://www.jstor.org/ ↩︎
  3. Brice, Lee L., and Steven Catania. “A Pedagogical Trebuchet: A Case Study in Experimental History and History Pedagogy.” The History Teacher 46, no. 1 (2012): 67–84. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43264074. ↩︎

Benchmarking

I am just starting the second week of HIST 701 Historical Professions, and I am already finding the class interesting and challenging. One of this week’s assignments is a benchmarking assignment. I opted to look at graduate history programs here in Oregon, offered by institutions that report having graduate programs in history. Below is the paper submitted.

By: Jonathan Wanzer ORCiD 0009-0004-9275-7410
Submitted on: March 23, 2025
Submitted to: Dr. Schultz – Liberty University
Course: HIST 701 Historical Professions
Chicago Citation:
Wanzer, Jonathan. “Benchmarking Programs: History Programs at Universities in Oregon That Offer Graduate Degrees.” Historical Interpretations (blog). December 2, 2024. http://wanzer.org/2025/03/benchmarking/.

Benchmarking Programs: History Programs at Universities in Oregon That Offer Graduate Degrees

by Jonathan Wanzer
March 23, 2025
ORCID.org/0009-0004-9275-7410

This analysis focuses on degrees offered by colleges and universities with graduate programs in history in Oregon, the number of history degrees awarded in the 2022-2023 program year, and the percentage history degrees represent in the institution’s total degrees awarded. Data was collected from the National Center for Education Statistics, College Navigator website using the search parameters: Oregon, advanced degrees with the following Programs/Majors selected American History, General History, Public/Applied History.[1] The search results indicate that four Oregon universities offer advanced degrees in history. The Institutions indicated are; Oregon State University[2], Portland State University[3], University of Oregon[4], and Western Oregon University[5].

Oregon State University offers bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in history. In the program year, OSU awarded a total of 7,389 degrees, 5,829 bachelor’s, 1,140 master’s, and 420 doctorates. Of these, OSU awarded 59 bachelor’s and 4 master’s degrees in history, slightly over 1% and 0.35% respectively. A doctoral program in history is not available at OSU.

Portland State University offers bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in history. In the program year, PSU awarded a total of 5,621 degrees, 3,839 bachelor’s, 1,717 master’s, and 65 doctorates. Of these, PSU awarded 46 bachelor’s, and 4 master’s degrees in history, just under 1.2% and 0.23% respectively. A doctoral program is not available in history at PSU.

University of Oregon offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs in history. In the program year, UO awarded a total of 5,441 degrees, 4,089 bachelor’s, 968 master’s, and 65 doctorates. Of these, UO awarded 59 bachelor’s, 1 master’s, and 1 doctorate in history, just over 1.4%, 0.10%, and 0.26%, respectively. UO is the only institution offering a doctorate in history in Oregon.

Western Oregon University only offers a bachelor’s degree program in history. In the program year, WOU awarded a total of 1,031 degrees, 855 bachelor’s and 176 master’s degrees. WOU does not offer doctorates in any field. Of the degrees WOU awarded, only 8 bachelor’s degrees were awarded in history, slightly over 0.93% of bachelor’s degrees.

The cumulative total of degrees awarded, bachelor and above, awarded in Oregon by institutions offering advanced degrees in the program year was 19,482 of those, 182 were in history, 172 bachelor’s degrees, 9 master’s degrees, and 1 doctorate, less than 0.01% of degrees awarded by Oregon institutions that offer advanced degrees. Just 10 of the 19,482 degrees were graduate or doctoral degrees.[6]

Oregon universities offer many graduate programs in business, medicine, and physical sciences, both residential and online. When it comes to the history or public history fields for history majors, particularly graduate degree programs the state’s universities do not provide much of an offering. Furthermore, all the programs in this study are residential, there are no graduate-level programs in history available online from Oregon’s universities. This is surprising in one sense considering the state’s many active historical societies and important museums. While this is disappointing for anyone seeking a graduate degree in Oregon, it is not that surprising. Anecdotally, a prior nationwide search for online graduate programs in history provided limited results, and only one online doctoral program was located in the United States, Liberty University’s online doctorate.[7]

APPENDIX

History Program Completions & Program Percentage of Institutional Total Awards[8]

UniversityDegree Level Degrees AwardedHistory % of Total
Oregon State UniversityUndergradHistory591.0122%
Univ. Total5829 
GraduateHistory40.3509%
Univ. Total1140 
DoctoralHistory *00.0000%
Univ. Total420 
 
Portland State UniversityUndergradHistory461.1982%
Univ. Total3839 
GraduateHistory40.2330%
Univ. Total1717 
DoctoralHistory *00.0000%
Univ. Total65 
 
University of OregonUndergradHistory591.4429%
Univ. Total4089 
GraduateHistory10.1033%
Univ. Total968 
DoctoralHistory10.2604%
Univ. Total384 
 
Western Oregon UniversityUndergraduateHistory80.9357%
Univ. Total855 
GraduateHistory *00.0000%
Univ. Total176 
Doctoral †History00.0000%
Univ. Total0 

Table 1. Data from College Navigator

* No history degree is offered at this level
† No doctoral programs available

[1] “College Navigator,” accessed March 23, 2025,  https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?s=OR&p=54.0102+54.0105+54.0101&l=94.

[2] “Oregon State University,” accessed March 23, 2025, https://oregonstate.edu/.

[3] “Portland State University,” accessed March 23, 2025, https://www.pdx.edu/.

[4] “University of Oregon,” accessed March 23, 2025, https://www.uoregon.edu/.

[5] “Western Oregon University,” accessed March 23, 2025, https://wou.edu/

[6] See Table 1 in the appendix

[7] Author conducted a search of U.S. colleges and universities in the summer of 2024 looking for online doctoral history programs.

[8] “College Navigator”

Spring B-Term 2025 Update

It’s been a while since the last post, the fall term ended, we had a lovely winter break, and I’m at the mid-point of the Spring B-sub-term. This term’s class is Teaching History, and the project is developing a class in two forms: an 8-week online course and a 16-week residential course. I chose to design the class The Industrial Revolution in America 1790-1860. It is an undergraduate survey of the period, beginning with a brief history of the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain for background, followed by Samual Slater’s immigration to America, covering the progression of the social, economic, and technological developments of the period, and ending with a look at how the effects of the Industrial Revolution contributed to slavery leading into the Civil War. This is an overview of one of the most important periods of American history.

The Spring D-sub-term’s class, Historical Professions, starts March 17th. It is “an overview of the discipline of history, patterns of historical research, history instruction, historical organizations and careers in history.”1

The site is progressing slowely as things develop. I am looking forward to posting articles in the near future to help build the content of the site. For now the blog is more of a reflections of the academic journey as move slowly closer to a doctorate.

  1. From the course description in the Liberty Catalog. https://www.liberty.edu/online/courses/hist701/ ↩︎