Dr. Camden Burd
Assistant Professor of History Office: 2532 - Coleman HallEmail: crburd@eiu.edu
Website: http://www.camdenburd.com/
My EIU Story
Selected Works:
Education & Training
Ph.D., University of Rochester, 2019.
M.A., University of Rochester, 2015.
M.A., Central Michigan University, 2014.
B.A., University of Utah, 2011.
Publications
Peer-reviewed articles
“Introducing GIS in the History Classroom: Mapping the Legacies of the Industrial Era in Postindustrial America,” The Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, https://jitp.commons.gc.cuny.edu/introducing-gis-in-the-history-classroom-mapping-the-legacies-of-the-industrial-era-in-postindustrial-america/
“Scrolling through Nature: Reflections on the Digital Humanities and Michigan’s Environmental History,” The Michigan Historical Review: Special Issue on Environmental Histories of the Great Lakes State 45, no. 1 (2019): 109 – 119.
“A New, Historic Canal: The Making of an Erie Canal Heritage Landscape,” IA: The Journal for the Society of Industrial Archaeology 42, no. 2 (2016): 23 – 34.
“Imagining a Pure Michigan Landscape: Advertisers, Tourists, and the Making of Michigan’s Northern Vacationlands,” The Michigan Historical Review 42, no. 2 (2016): 31 – 51.
Book chapters
“Close Reading and Coding with the Seward Family Digital Archive: Digital Documentary Editing in the Undergraduate History Classroom,” in Quick Hits: Teaching with the Digital Humanities, edited by Christopher J. Young (Forthcoming, Indiana University Press).
“A New 'State of Superior': Political Fracture and Anti-environmentalism in the Upper Midwest,” in The Conservative Heartland: A Political History of the Postwar American Midwest, ed. John Lauck and Catherine McNicol Stock (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2020).
“In the Land of Hiawatha: Conservation and Literary Sociability in Michigan,” in Pieces of the Heartland: Representing Midwestern Places, edited by Andy Oler (Hastings, Nebraska: Hastings College Press, 2018), 23 – 38.
Frequently Taught Courses
HIS 1101: Introduction to Historical Studies
HIS 2010: History of the United States to 1877
HIS 2020: History of the United States from 1877
HIS 3000: Introduction to Public History
HIS 3810: History of Illinois
HIS 4935: Public History Practicum
HIS 5800: Proseminar in American History
Research & Creative Interests
As an environmental historian, I am interested in the tangled histories of humans and the natural world. My research focuses on the environmental history of late nineteenth and twentieth century America. Past publications have tracked the history of eco-tourism in the Upper Midwest, the transformation of post-industrial landscapes in New York State, and the rise of anti-environmentalism in twentieth-century politics. My current manuscript project, The Roots of Flower City: Horticulture, Empire, and the Remaking of Rochester, New York, recovers the historical significance of plant nurseries as ecological adjuncts to the American imperial project in the nineteenth century.
In addition to my work on American environmental history I also teach courses on public history. I am particularly interested in the creation of cultural landscapes and how local populations create a shared sense of meaning and heritage in everyday places. As a digital historian, I am interested in finding ways to collect, publish, and share histories across multiple platforms to better engage with the public.
Professional Affiliations
American Historical Association
American Society for Environmental History
National Council on Public History
Midwestern History Association