History Faculty at SUNY Plattsburgh - Dr. James M. Lindgren

History Faculty — Dr. James M. Lindgren

Professor

Come visit my office and you’ll see a phenomenon that was once called “a cabinet of curiosities.” Call it "clutter" or call it "culture," it's the makings of a museum. Yet, I do believe that everything, including me, has some purpose in life. That's why I study, teach, and write about the preservation and interpretation of old buildings, ships, curios, and "historic" places.

For the last fifteen years I've been afloat in maritime history. As I write more about America's maritime heritage and its preservation, my courses on "US Historic Sites," "US History Museums," and "Historic Preservation" have all changed course too. Three books are now in the making. Two are actually getting close to port. A draft of "'Salvation on the East River': The Dream and Reality of South Street Seaport?" is finished and will be going to a publisher. In its wake, a second book will be a collection of my essays on the origins of the nation’s major maritime museums. That’s titled “Preserving Maritime America: Politics, Culture, and Memory in the Making of the Nation’s Great Marine Museums.” After those two books are published, I’ll be able to complete “Making San Francisco Seaworthy: How a Decrepit Waterfront Became a National Park.” Google me to see when I reach my home port, or if I’ve been lost at sea!

Education

• Ph.D., College of William and Mary, 1984.
• M.A., University of Dayton, 1977.
• B.A., University of Dayton, 1972.

Teaching Areas

• Public history.
• U.S. foreign policy.
• Late 19th/early 20th century U.S.

Research Areas

• U.S. historic preservation.
• Historic sites.
• History museums.

Recent Publications

• "'Preserving the Illusion of Being Transported Back into the Past': Remaking Landscapes through Historic Preservation," in History of the New England Landscape, Blake Harrison and Richard Judd, eds. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2011).
• Preserving Historic New England: Preservation, Progressivism and the Remaking of Memory (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995).
• Preserving the Old Dominion: Historic Preservation and Virginia Traditionalism (Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia, 1993).
• "'A Spirit That Fires the Imagination:' Historic Preservation and Cultural Regeneration in Virginia and New England, 1850-1950," in Giving Preservation a History: Histories of Historic Preservation in the United States, Randy Mason and Max Page, eds. (New York and London: Routledge, 2004).
• "'Let Us Idealize Old Types of Manhood': The New Bedford Whaling Museum, 1903-1941," The New England Quarterly (June 1999).
• "'The Blow Which Civilization Has Suffered': American Preservationists and the Great War, 1914-1919," The Public Historian (2005).
• "'The Survival of Truly Mediaeval Mannerisms in Construction and Detail': Cultural Politics and New England Antiquities in the Early Twentieth Century," in From William Morris: Building Conservation and the Arts and Crafts Cult of Authenticity, 877-1939, Chris Miele, ed., in Studies in British Art: Volume 10 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press for the Paul Mellon Centre, 2005).

Honors

• SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities, 2005.

Contact James Lindgren

Office: Champlain Valley Hall, 322
Phone: (518) 564-5219
Email: lindgrjm@plattsburgh.edu