From Wartime to Water Closets: UC'S 13th Queen City Colloquium Showcases UC's Historic Research

What do Native American boarding schools, historic water closets and the Thirty Years’ War have in common? They’ll all be talked about in the thirteenth Queen City Colloquium, an annual event hosted by the Department of History, which is a part of the University of Cincinnati’s McMicken College of Arts and Sciences. 

The conference — which also includes presentations from members of other UC departments as well as universities from across the region — provides a fascinating opportunity to discover more about not only history, but the human experience. 

Graduate students will share research that explores identity, war, urban spaces, religion and other aspects of culture — from 17th-century Europe to modern-day Cincinnati. 

Evan Johnson, a history graduate student who serves as co-president of UC’s History Graduate Student Association, said that the event is unique for being put together entirely by students. 

“We aim to have topical diversity on each panel, and unify the presentations with a broader theme,” Johnson said, adding that recent colloquia have welcomed more and more participants from universities from the region and beyond. 

While much of the event is focused on letting UC’s history scholars receive feedback on their original research, the event is open to anyone interested in learning more about the ways history intersects with everyday life. 

“One of the great things about the history discipline is how wide-reaching it is,” Johnson said. “It touches most of us to some degree.” 

Johnson’s own research explores the rare instances of peace between soldiers and civilians in Germany during the Thirty Years’ War. “So often when you’re looking at diaries, chronicles and other firsthand accounts, the primary point of interest is how violent and harmful the experience was,” he said. “I’m looking at the moments when soldiers and civilians bridged that gap and found the common points of humanity amid 30 years of war.” 

Another panel includes research from History doctoral student Peter Niehoff (who earned his masters in ’09) on the relationship between the church, the government and movies in 1930s England. While commercial cinema was abolished on Sundays so as not to conflict with observance of the Sabbath, some societies that screened their own films were exempt from government censorship. Niehoff’s research considers the effect this has had on culture, class and film in England. 

Graduate student Leah Wicket will present research that examines the roles little people undertook in aircraft manufacturing during World War II. Dwarfs, who were able to access areas of planes unreachable to other workers, helped build aircraft in innovative ways. Wicket’s panel discussion will also explore how differently-abled people were treated during the war period. 

A tradition of the colloquium, which is sponsored by the Charles Phelps Taft Research Center, is to feature a guest lecture from a prominent historian. This year’s speaker is UC alumnus William Bergmann, who earned his history PhD in 2005 and is now associate professor of history at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. Bergmann, who wrote “The American National State and the Early West,” will give a talk titled “To Render Safe the Great Credit System: Masculinity and Risk in Antebellum Credit Reporting.” 

Johnson encourages not only History majors, but students and faculty from across different disciplines to attend the event, emphasizing the importance historians place on diverse outlooks. “It enhances the experience for everyone when we have questions being asked by people with very different perspectives,” Johnson said. 

The colloquium will be held on April 15, from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. in Edwards One. 

To learn more about the University’s Department of History, visit their webpage.