In our December/January newsletter, we asked our alumni:

What is the most memorable historical site you have visited?

Here is what they had to say:

Howard A. Silverman (BA '73) wrote: "What makes a visit to a historic site memorable is the guide's knowledge and skill. What makes it extra special is when the guide was a participant in the events at the site. So, it was a very memorable 2009 visit to Detroit's Motown Museum, home of the studio where so many Motown hits were recorded, when we had the luck of having Martha Reeves ("Dancing in the Streets" and many more) as our guide. Any of the guides could have said 'this room is the office,' but only she could say 'this is the office and over there is where I sat.' It was a unique experience."

In our October/November newsletter, we asked our alumni:

How has studying history influenced your perspective on current events?

Here is what they had to say:

Sandra Beckman (BA '57) wrote: "I learned about historical cycles like the one in which the world is now spinning in!"

Mark Kreib (BA '87) wrote: "I can assess the situation using a variety of sources."

Addie Canning was one of the winners of the 2024 Nico Toscano Young Musician Competition. Addie is a junior pursuing dual degrees at the Eastman School (tuba performance) and the University of Rochester (major in International Relations and minors in French and History). She studies tuba with Justin Benavidez, who performed as a soloist with Cordancia in the 2023-2024 season.

James Kinde & Evan Gravdahl, both seniors, have received the first-place awards in the Writing, Speaking, and Argument Program's annual contest for outstanding writing in the multimodal and social sciences categories, respectively.

Jay Kinde's project was completed for HIST 197, Race and Labor in American History, taught by UR History PhD candidate, Katelyn P. Getchel.

Pablo Sierra Silva's new book, Mexico, Slavery, Freedom: A Bilingual Documentary History, 1520–1829, was selected by the American Library Association's for its 2024 Best Historical Materials listing. The book, featuring and introduction and 118 documents in English and Spanish, was curated after a decade of teaching courses on the history of Latin America and the African diaspora at the University of Rochester. This is the first bilingual source reader to be published on Mexican enslavement and freedom.

William A. Peniston (PhD '97) is pleased to announce the publication of his second book in the Acadia series, Images of America. It is entitled Newark Public Library (2025), and together with Newark Museum of Art (2023), it pays tribute to another institution that he has been professionally involved with for decades.

William is also working on his family's genealogy, especially the Penistons of Bermuda, and he is finding Michael Jarvis's books and articles extremely helpful in placing those ancestors in an historical context.

Interested in mentoring current students? Want to make connections with other history alumni? Join the History Career Connections Program!

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