The University of North Texas History Department

09/30/2026

As part of Denton Halloween 2026, UNT’s School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry and Denton's Harvest House are teaming up to bring the spooky chill of medieval ghost stories here to Texas!

Join UNT students, staff, and faculty on the dark eve of Tuesday, October 20th, where, from 7-9 pm, they will regale you with tales of lost souls, menacing monks, haunted knights, and
cold Viking spirits. Fortifying spirits (hot and cold) and b**r will be on tap for those 21+, as well as a variety of non-alcoholic drinks. Come join us as the Public Humanities thrill and terrify you, the public. If you are interested in the unknown, the mysterious, the unexplainable, come… pull up a chair and a pint,
and let the shadowy medieval past fill your veins with icy terror (and history).

Harvest House, 331 E Hickory St, Denton, TX 76201

09/28/2026

Last Friday, 's Dr. Kerry Goldmann hosted her "How to Fend off Vampires" talk, the first event of this year's series! Focused around the highly acclaimed, multi-award winning 2025 horror movie Sinners, her talk discussed the "cultural armor" used by communities to vanquish metaphorical vampires through elements such as music and shared culture.

Garlicky snacks were provided to help ward off any vampires that may be around, with fun drinks like "holy water" and punch blood bags for guest to enjoy. It was a truly haunting night to usher us into the spooky season, drawing a large crowd into the space with decorations to match Club Juke from the movie.

Thank you to everyone who attended to her Dr. Goldmann's talk, making it a truly special event!

09/08/2026

Dr Chad Pearson recently posted an article in the 𝐿𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔-𝐶𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝐻𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝐴𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 journal! Titled "Scabs, Class Traitors, and Seminars: A Year at Harvard", the article discusses a recent year long seminar series hosted by the Harvard University’s Charles Warren Center focused on labor history. Dr. Pearson, who attended as part of a fellowship, uses the article to discuss the interesting ties and connections the University has to labor history.

Check it out here! https://lawcha.org/2026/09/08/scabs-class-traitors-and-seminars-a-year-at-harvard/

During the 2025-2026 academic school year, Harvard University’s Charles Warren Center hosted a fantastic, year-long seminar series focused on labor history: “Labor and Political Economy in American History.” I was part of it, and had a blast reading many papers, researching in first-class libr...

09/02/2026

One of our recent PhD graduate, Dr. Annette Becker, recently had one of her dissertation chapters published in 𝐷𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐽𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑆𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎!

Titled "Fashion Consumption as Cultural Production
American Fashion and the Neiman Marcus Award", her article discusses the Neiman Marcus Awards started by the Dallas-based department store Neiman Marcus. Awarded to designers from 1938 through the early 1970's, the award became the "Oscars of Fashion", not only increasing the national profile of the company, but also linking fashion production and designers with the consumer.

Dr. Becker is Director of the Texas Fashion Collection. Check our her article here! https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03612112.2026.2707158

09/01/2026

On September 25th, 2026 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm the Friends of the Humanities is hosting its first event of the year!

In preparation for October's spooky festivities, Dr. Kerry Goldman is hosting an event called "How to Fend off Vampires", with the event focused on the themes of 2025 horror movie 𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠. Using the celebratory atmosphere of Club Juke featured in the movie, her lecture will discuss the power of community and its ability to "vanquish vampires, whether literal or metaphorical".

The event is just the first in the annual series offered by the Friends of the Humanities. Be sure to join and register to not miss out on events like this! https://class.unt.edu/departments/leaph/friends_of_the_humanities.html
[email protected]

08/18/2026

End of summer coincided with our yearly Graduate Student Orientation last Friday! Our program has always used our orientation to not only provide information to our incoming students, but also as an opportunity for all of our graduate students to come together again in a shared space.

With this year's program, the students had opportunity during their provided lunch break to meet and converse with their fellow graduate students from the Philosophy and Religion graduate program as we combine into our new school.

This year provides many exciting challenges and opportunities for our programs, however our wonderful and bright students look forward to the possibilities in their research and scholarship!

08/13/2026

Today we held our annual Faculty Retreat, with this year's event being a special one as we were joined by the faculty from 's Philosophy and Religion as we transition into the brand new School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry! Our retreat marks the true beginning of this exciting change to our organizational structure, allowing news ways to improve already existing forms of pedagogy, while allowing a multitude of new ways to think about the disciplines through collaboration.

The retreat allowed our two conjoining departments to share information with each other about our undergraduate and graduate programs, develop strategies to improve our strengths and provide our students with a wealth of knowledge and the skills to succeed in the job market, and have thoughtful discussion on recognition for research and public outreach for faculty.

We are all so excited for what the year holds for the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry!

08/12/2026

Today we welcome all of our new freshman and transfer History majors to for College Day! Our new future historians got to meet many of the key figures in our program that will help them on their journey to obtaining their degrees. After their initially introduction, our students were treated to some provided breakfast treats like donuts and muffins and given time to mingle with their fellow students and professors from the program.

We are all so excited for the new school year and to see our newest students grow into future historians!

08/10/2026

For the third year in a row, Prof. Nancy Stockdale and PhD candidate Lauren Jacobsen-Bridges led an exciting study abroad course to London this summer!

"Food in London: Tastes of an Empire" allows students explore the histories of British empire and decolonization, the postcolonial mass migration of millions of people from around the world to London, and the ways that British identities have changed as a result, all through the prism of food! Students visited historical sites like Hampton Court, the Cutty Sark, and the British Museum, ate at restaurants featuring food from across the planet, took walking tours throughout the city to learn how it has changed over the centuries, enjoyed street markets, took a cooking class, and experienced London as their ultimate classroom!

We will offer this course again in Summer 2028, so start planning now if you'd like to get in on this culinary and historical adventure next time! You can learn more from Prof. Stockdale or the Study Abroad office!

07/17/2026

Congratulations to our newest doctoral graduate, Dr. Micah Carlson!

On June 16th, Dr. Carlson successfully defended her dissertation, “The Resistance Archive of Ghosts,” completing her PhD in History. Her committee was chaired by Prof. Jennifer Jensen Wallach, with Profs. Todd Moye, Andrew Torget, Michael Wise, and Dr. Anthony Stanonis serving as committee members.

This fall, Dr. Carlson begins a new chapter as Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine!

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Carlson on this well-earned achievement!