VITA
of Thomas D. (Tom) Isern
Professor of History &
University Distinguished Professor
Director, Center for Heritage Renewal
PO Box 1390, Fargo ND 58107-1390
Telephone
701-799-2942 / Email isern@plainsfolk.com
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Fields of |
History and folklore of the North American plains; history of agriculture. Scholarly research and writing deals mainly with agricultural life in the plains environment, including comparative work in grassland regions of other nations. |
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Education |
BA Bethany College, |
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Major |
Following graduate education and two short-term appointments, served
from 1979 to 1991 on faculty of Beginning 1992, commenced service
at |
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Honors & |
Grants and fellowships from the American Philosophical Society, the Beveridge Fund of the American Historical Association, the Kansas Committee for the Humanities, the Canadian Embassy, the Bush Foundation, the North Dakota Humanities Council, the North Dakota Department of Transportation, the State Historical Society of North Dakota, and the National Endowment for the Humanities Office-holder in Western Social Science Association (currently Vice President), Agricultural History Society, Western History Association, and other scholarly associations Roe R. Cross Distinguished Professor, 1987-88, Senior Fulbright Scholar, Alexander Phi Alpha Theta Book Award, best subsequent book, for Bull Threshers and Bindlestiffs, 1991 Peltier Award for Innovative Teaching, Dale Hogoboom Presidential Professor, NDSU, 2007-09 University Distinguished Professor, NDSU, 2007- |
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Publications |
Custom Combining on the (With Jim Hoy) Plains Folk: A Commonplace of the (With Raymond Wilson) Bull Threshers and Bindlestiffs: Harvesting and Threshing on the
North American Plains. (With Jim Hoy) Plains Folk II: The Romance of the Landscape. Some forty articles in historical and literary journals. Recent ones include: "Thorfinnson Rides Again: A Sense of Place on the Northern Plains," North Dakota History 67 (2000): 2-9; "Wheat Explorer the World Over: Mark Carleton of Kansas," Kansas History 23 (Spring-Summer 2000): 12-25; "Reflections on Dog Kennel Corner: Fencing and Fence Law in New Zealand," Heritage of the Great Plains 33 (Spring-Summer 2000): 40-50; "Nowhere Spelled Backwards: The Quest for Region in the Tussock Grasslands of New Zealand," Western Historical Quarterly 31 (Winter 2000): 477-85; "The Comedy of the Commons, or, My Life on the Post-Colonial Plains," South Dakota History 33 (Spring 2003): 64-79; "The Matador Pasture: A Pastoral Vision for Prairie Life," Prairie Forum 29 (Spring 2004): 117-128; (with Tricia Velure Nissen) "How to Read a Farm: Stories from the Material Culture of Bowman County, North Dakota," Heritage of the Great Plains 38 (Fall-Winter-2005): 22-39; "Confessions of an Agrarian Conservative," South Dakota History 36 (Summer 2006): 218-23; "A Good Servant but a Tyrannous Master: Gorse in New Zealand," Social Science Journal 44 (Spring 2007): 179-86; (with Jessica Clark) Presenter of papers at more than sixty professional meetings, including the Western History Association, the Western Social Science Association, the Canadian Historical Association, the International Council for Canadian Studies, the New Zealand Historical Association, and the Agricultural History Society. 2009 keynote presenter, New Zealand Historical Association. About a hundred published reviews in scholarly journals; articles in a variety of popular and agricultural magazines; and (since 1983, with Jim Hoy), the weekly syndicated newspaper and radio feature, Plains Folk. Public lectures—hundreds, in a variety of forums ranging from full university convocations to afternoon study clubs; mostly historical societies, educational organizations, and agricultural associations. |
