ASU History Professors Win $1,200 Grant

A press release from Angelo State University announced that Dr. Christine Lamberson and Dr. Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai from ASU’s history faculty have been awarded a $1,200 grant by the Library of America. This grant will help to support a new series of public programs associated with the Library of America’s “World War I and America” initiative. 

The grant is also supported by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The award includes funds to support public programs on World War I, the loan of a World War I and America traveling panel exhibit and related resources.  

Lamberson and Wongsrichanalai will partner with San Angelo’s Fort Concho National Historic Landmark and the Tom Green County Library to host public programs on World War I, starting in the spring of 2017. The events will be based on the themes of soldiers, citizens, culture and innovation. 

One event will include an assembly of local military veterans for a roundtable discussion on whether the U.S. should aim to make the world safe for democracy, how the mission of U.S. wars influences soldiers’ experiences, and what the nation owes its veterans after their wartime service. This event will be hosted by the Stephens Central Library in downtown San Angelo. 

Another event will feature invited scholars who have written about minority groups’ experiences in World War I. It will take place at the Fort Concho National Historic Landmark and will coincide with the arrival of the World War I and America traveling panel exhibit. 

Programs will continue in the fall of 2017 on the themes of culture and innovation. Specific dates and times for all the events will be announced at a later date. 

The Library of America grant is the third national grant received by ASU in the last two years to support public history and humanities programs.

In December 2014, Lamberson and Wongsrichanalai were awarded a three-year, $99,982 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for their project “West Texans and the Experience of War: World War I to the Present.” A component of that project is the ongoing “Great War Centennial Commemoration Lecture Series” that will continue with three presentations this fall.

In June 2015, Wongsrichanalai and Kim Wirth of the ASU library staff received a grant from the American Library Association and National Endowment for the Humanities that funded the recently concluded “Latino Americans: 500 Years of History” lecture series.