Why History?

Picture of a university building

This website features the work of undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Missouri enrolled in History 4910, History in the Public. The course introduces students to the history, theory and practice of public history. Each student works on a local history topic of his or her choice, spending a good portion of the term working through the materials in local and state archives. The individual research is the basis for these collaborative history websites. History in the Public is a required course for all MU history majors choosing to graduate with an emphasis in public history.

Contact Us

Linda Reeder

Picture of Professor Linda Reeder

Associate Professor Ph.D., Rutgers University

Linda Reeder specializes in Italian women's history. Her research interests focus on gender, sexuality, transnational migration, national belonging and most recently, female insanity. Her first book, Widows in White: Migration and the Transformation of Rural Italian Women, published in 2003 by the University of Toronto Press, examines the role of Sicilian women in the process of transnational migration. In this work, she explores the role women who remained at home played in shaping migration networks and the impact emigration had on women's private and public lives. She has expanded her interest in mobility to examine the ways migration altered the meaning and practice of gender and sexuality in Italy between 1880 and 1922. Her work on gender and migration has led her to focus on the gendered nature of citizenship and national belonging. Her current book project, Disordered Houses examines the relationship between gender, sexuality and national belonging through notions of female insanity in late nineteenth century Italy. She is an affiliate faculty member of the Women's and Gender Studies Program at MU. Professor Reeder teaches courses on 19th and 20th century European women's history, the history of modern Italy and contemporary Europe.

Office: 208 Read Hall

Phone number: 573-882-2481

Email: reederls@missouri.edu

Enroll in course

HIST 4910: History in the Public: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Public History