Peter Knupfer
Robert Alan Harris (BB05196@BINGVMB.BITNET)
Tue, 26 Apr 1994 02:12:12 ECT
I have agreed to join with Robert Harris and Richard Lowe in comoderating
H-Civwar. Herewith a bit about myself: I am an associate professor of
history at Kansas State University. I received all of my degrees at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison, finishing in 1988, studying under Richard
Sewell. In 1991 I published my dissertation, _The Union As It Is_, a study
of compromise and political culture from the drafting of the constitution
to the onset of the Civil War. I have published spinoffs of that work,
including pieces in the _Register_ of the Kentucky Historical Society and
_Journal of the Early Republic_. I am continuing my studies of political
culture and behavior in the 1850s, with special emphasis on Union movements
and third parties in the late part of the decade. A recent essay, forth-
coming in an anthology edited by Paul Finkelman (_His Soul Goes Marching On:
Responses to John Brown_), looks at northern conservatives and the irrepres-
sible conflict. I have also developed a special interest in generational
themes during this period. This stems in part from the discovery, of
the letters of my great, great Uncle Eugene Anderson, Co. K, 6th Wis. Vols.
(age 16 yrs), in my basement. Those letters, incl. one written the day
after Antietam, sparked an abiding interest in the story of the Civil War
generation.
I became interested in History Online quite recently -- I signed on as co-
moderator of H-POL, H-Net's US politics list, back in January. This medium
offers tremendous rewards for working historians -- especially in the ways
that it breaks down isolating barriers of distance, time, and money. I hope
that my work on H-Civwar will continue to assist working scholars in develop-
their awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of telecommunications, and
that it will help them to locate and use the rapidly-expanding resources of
the internet (esp. electronic texts, online public-access catalogs, and
archival contacts).
Peter Knupfer
History Department
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506-1002
913 532 5824
pknupfer@ksuvm.ksu.edu