Pandemic affects history profession in multitude of ways

By Chris Mackowski · Originally published July 2020 · pp. 12–13

Pandemic affects history profession in multitude of ways by Chris Mackowski Canceled talks, postponed tours, lost book sales, closed facilities, Civil War historians have dealt with an array of problems since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. “I’ve had to wave off travel plans, conferences and speaking engagements have been put off or cancelled, publication schedules are up in the air, and I’m doing much more over video and Zoom than I had before,” says Chris Kolakowski, chief historian for Emerging Civil War. “My colleagues and I have found ourselves looking to historical examples for perspective and strength during these days.” “It is truly a historic event,” says Kevin Pawlak, site manager at the Bristoe Station Battlefield and Ben Lomond Historic Site in Prince William County, Va. “As historians, it is stunning to live in a time sure to be studied by humans decades and centuries from now.” Pawlak and Kolakowski are two of nearly three-dozen Emerging Civil War historians, representing a broad cross-section of the profession: historic site supervisors, tour guides, authors, academics, National Park Service rangers, museum employees, volunteers, and independent historians. Their stories offer a glimpse into the ways the virus has impacted the way historians do history. “It has changed how we share history with others,” Pawlak says. “I empathize with anyone who’s trying to scratch out a job in history right now,” says Edward Alexander, a historical cartographer who owns Make Me a Map (makemeamapllc.com). A former park ranger, he now describes history as “a hobby that also provides freelancing opportunities.” “That being said, the ways in which I still interact with the public history world is being impacted,” Alexander explains. “One tour I had scheduled for the summer has been postponed already and another might follow. Map work has also slowed down. A few projects that I’m involved with are seeing delays, and new jobs are not coming in as fast. I am trying to use the extra time I have at home to tinker with new design styles and work on the business side of mapmaking.” Historians have lost speaking gigs at conferences, Civil War Roundtables, and historical societies, and tours have been cancelled. This, in turn, has led to lost revenue, in the thousands of dollars for some people, as well as lost book sales. “Historic sites and battlefields are closed for programming and public interaction,” Pawlak adds.

That often means seasonal hiring is frozen and paid internships are not available. Such closures likewise impact book sales. For Ryan Quint, who works as a costumed interpreter at a site in Williamsburg, Va., such closures mean life is on hold. “The museum I work for has been closed for months,” he says. “There is a tentative timeline to reopen, but no one is sure.” Kolakowski, who works as director of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, had been on the job for just two and a half months when the pandemic struck. “For two solid weeks, March 11-25, I faced a daily-changing situation, while leading a team that I was still getting to know and they were getting to know me,” he says. “We successfully shifted into dispersed operations and started doing many things, including programs, online. It required tough decisions to be made quickly, similar to crisis reactions on battlefields; indeed, it was a lesson about leadership in a dynamic and uncertain environment.” Kolakowski noted an important collateral result, though. “An interesting, and quite positive, side effect is that my staff and I have bonded faster and more thoroughly than we may have in more normal times,” he says. Bert Dunkerly, who works as a historian for Richmond National Battlefield Park, faced a similar transition. “We really scrambled at first trying to transition to teleworking,” he says. “Our jobs involve working with the public, being out in the field, and being on site. With park laptops, we are doing things digitally now, research and online presentations. We are doing a series of Facebook Live talks, as well as pre-recorded videos for schools and the general public. We’re doing more with Twitter and Instagram.” Other national parks have responded in similar fashion, with programming varying from park to park as technical capabilities and employee availability have allowed. “We’re not sure what the summer will look like,” Dunkerly admits, “but I think we’ve made a good transition to keep our audiences engaged the best we can.” Academics also had to make the shift to online. “I have not seen my students in nearly two months,” says Derek Maxfield, an assistant professor at Genesee Community College in Batavia, N.Y., as the end of the semester was bearing down. He’s had to operate mostly by using software that allows him to post class lessons and materials to an online space that students can access and then post their homework there in response. Both professor and students had to make adjustments to their college experience. “I am trying to be as flexible as possible,” Maxfield adds. Maxfield also has been trying to take advantage of social media to promote his new book, Hellmira: The North’s Most Infamous Civil War Prison, Elmira, NY, part of the Emerging Civil War Series. “The book is out, thankfully, but all the presentations and signings are on hold,” he says. Zachery A. Fry, Ph.D., also had to transition his classes to an online format, “which has required an unprecedented level of administrative headache,” he admits. Fry is an assistant professor in the Department of Military History at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Ft. Belvoir, Va. He’s also author of the newly released book A Republic in the Ranks: Loyalty and Disunion in the Army of the Potomac. “The pandemic has also closed all brick-and-mortar bookstores, so the release of A Republic in the Ranks was marred by a complete absence of any actual lectures or signings,” he says. “I hope to make up for lost ground in the fall, but the Civil War publishing world is so fast-paced and dynamic that there’s really no telling how that will go. In the meantime, I’m trying to maximize the number of virtual interviews and blog entries to broaden awareness of the book.” Along with canceled talks, delays in book publications and promotions were among the most common, and, says author Dwight Hughes, “the most serious repercussion,” cited by historians. Leon Reed, a developmental editor for the Emerging Civil War Series, had a book published in December, No Greater Calamity for the Country: North-South Conflict, Secession, and the Onset of Civil War. The book, he thought, “had extraordinary potential for personal appearances, not only at the ‘traditional’ Civil War and historical society events, but also at stamp collector groups. The book makes heavy use of patriotic envelopes of the time period. I’ve had a book launch party as well as a dozen speaking engagements or book signings cancelled or delayed; sales of all my books are pretty much limited to online sources.” `Like Maxfield and Fry, Reed has tried to push the book on the internet but hasn’t “had a lot of luck goosing online sales.” He adds, though, “One consolation is that I’ve been invited to do a regular series of online ‘stamp chats’ by the American Philatelic Society.” The pandemic has also impacted historians’ research and writing time. “I had research trips scheduled to several research libraries in New York and to the Army Heritage Center in Carlisle… So these research efforts are deferred,” Reed said. Jon-Erik Gilot is one such archivist who’s been shut out of his archives. “This week marks my seventh week home from work,” he said on April 30. “My wife is considered ‘essential’ and has remained working full time, which leaves me home with our two daughters, ages 8 and 2, who have likewise been home from school for the past seven weeks. I juggle my time between the two as both a teacher and an entertainer. Needless to say by the time they go to bed I’m exhausted and my research and writing have been dragging. I’ve started to wake up early, before the girls, and do some writing then. The quarantine has forced me to find small pockets of time with which to work.” Others, like Reed, have found “PLENTY of time to write.” Quint has seen that as a major positive. “The quarantine has allowed me to finish my manuscript, which I was working on for nearly three years,” he says. Doug Crenshaw, who volunteers for Richmond National Battlefield, has also “found time to do a lot of research and writing.” “I’m also preparing for a major tour in the fall,” Crenshaw adds. “And I have ordered a bunch of books and am enjoying burning through them. On a non-historical note, there has been a lot of time to take long walks with my wife, and these have been fun.” Some historians, though, have faced more challenging personal situations. “I was supposed to visit family in Pennsylvania and New Mexico, both canceled,” reveals Dunkerly. “In fact, I don’t know when I’ll get to visit family, partially because I don’t want to expose them as they’re older and at risk. Do I just go to help them out, or wait till things are better, while they keep going to the grocery and pharmacy? No easy answer.” Quint, meanwhile, has a family thick in the COVID fight. “With both of my parents on the frontlines of public healthcare, I could not be prouder of what they have done, and will continue to do, to combat this pandemic,” he says.

“In the grand scheme of things, cancelled book talks are minuscule in the list of problems.” Many historians have embraced the pandemic as an opportunity rather than a problem. As examples, virtual tours, YouTube videos, Zoom interviews, ranger talks, and Facebook groups have exploded online since the pandemic began. Phill Greenwalt, a National Park Service historian who’s also the chief historian for Emerging Revolutionary War, says the pandemic inspired his Rev War colleagues to have an online chat they unofficially call ‘Rev War Revelry.’ The public is invited to watch and comment. “We discuss in a more informal way a topic while we drink our favorite brew,” Greenwalt explains. “It’s a kind of virtual happy hour for historians. So, that has been something positive, using technology to continue to talk and share history.” Pawlak sees such initiatives as good adaptations. “I can’t help but notice how this challenge has made history more accessible,” he says. “The abundance (perhaps over-abundance) of online talks, interviews, programs, and articles has brought history programs to people who live hundreds of miles from the hosting organizations. It seems that these efforts have met with success and a multitude of followers. While it’s been difficult to take in all of these programs, we have all been able to attend more from our homes than we could if these programs were held all across the country and not online. Historians have met the task of educating our public in this time of social distancing.” For all the problems individual historians have struggled with since the pandemic began, the profession itself has largely risen to the challenge. Chris Mackowski teaches writing in the Jandoli School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University. He is the editor-in-chief of Emerging Civil War (www.emergingcivilwar.com) and the historian-in-residence at Stevenson Ridge, a historic property on the Spotsylvania battlefield. Chris has authored or co-authored more than a dozen books on the Civil War and frequently contributes to the major Civil War magazines. Prior to his career as a professor and writer, he was an award-winning journalist.