Patrick Folk, Ph.D.

Professor of History

Occupant: The Samuel Hedding Deneen and Charles Samuel Deneen Memorial Chair in Early American History.

Office: Carnegie Hall 102

Phone: (618) 537-6888

Education

Ph.D., U.S. Urban History, U.S. History to 1865, U.S. History since 1865, Russian History, University of Toledo (1978)

M.A., U.S. History, University of Toledo (1968)

B.A., History, Tulane University (1966)

Personal Quote

"Who we were determines who we are and who we can become."

Teaching Interest

I love history, basically that of any period or any culture, but I especially love to study and teach American History. As a people and a culture, we are the sum total of our past. If we want to know who we are, and what we can become, we must try to objectively understand who we have been. History is therefore the most important and significant subject we can teach or learn.

Research Interest

I have concentrated my recent research in two areas: 
1. Hostility to immigration and immigrants in America,
2. Comparative origins and founders of the American and Turkish Republics

Publications

“McKendree College: The First 100 Years.” First Chapter of McKendree College History: 1928-1978. Paducah, Turner Publishing Company, 1996. 

“A Profession in Caricature: Three Decades of Cartoons about Nursing, in the American Medical News, 1960-1989.” Co-Author with Judith A. Chaney. Nursing History Review, I, January 1993. 

“The Queen City of Mobs”: Riots and Community Reactions in Cincinnati, 1788-1848. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Toledo, January, 1978. 

“‘Our Frank’: The Congressional Career of Frank H. Hurd, 1872-1886.” A series of seven articles published in the Northwest Ohio Quarterly, 1969-1977.

Part I Spring, 1969 , (XLI, No. 2)
Part II Summer, 1970, (XLII, No. 3)
Part III Fall, 1975, (XLVII, No. 4)
Part IV Winter, 1975-76, XLVIII, No. 1)
Part V Spring, 1976, (XLVIII, No. 2)
Part VI Fall, 1976, (XLVIII, No. 4)
Part VII Spring, 1977, (XLIX, No. 2)

Presentations

Keynote Address. 226th Anniversary of the Battle of Fort San Carlos, sponsored by the Preservation Committee for the Battle of Fort San Carlos at St. Louis, 1780, Jefferson National Expansion Park and Old Cathedral, St. Louis, Missouri. (May 28, 2006). 

“Visual Vicissitude: Graphic Images of a Profession in Transition.” Paper co-authored with Judith A. Chaney. Presented at 1992 International Nursing Research Conference sponsored by Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honorary Society, Columbus, Ohio (May 20, 1992). 

“McKendree College Heritage.” Talks on McKendree College history and contributions given at McKendree College and at area church and civic groups, 1979-1997. 

“A Profession in Caricature: Three Decades of AMA News Cartoons Looking at Nursing.” Paper co-authored with Judith A. Chaney. Presented at 8th Annual Conference of American Association for the History of Nursing, San Francisco, California (September 30, 1991).

Teaching Philosophy

I believe that understanding history is vital to understanding ourselves, but I recognize that many students are less than enthusiastic about the subject. I try to make my classes interesting, and I will do almost anything in class to convey to students the excitement and vitality of history.

Awards

The Samuel Hedding Deneen and Charles Samuel Deneen Memorial Professor of Early American History, McKendree College, Lebanon, IL, 1978-Present 

Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award, St. Louis, November 19, 2006 

William Norman Grandy Faculty Award (For Excellence in Teaching), McKendree College, May, 1985 

Selected to participate in workshop sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities on “Classic Texts in Early American History” at University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, June, 1989

Memberships

American Historical Association

Organization of American Historians

Phi Alpha Theta

Pi Gamma Mu

Illinois State Historical Society

Lebanon Historical Society

American Association of University Professors

Society for the History of the Early American Republic

Additional Information

Fulbright Senior Lecturer in American History and Culture at Ege University in Izmir, Turkey, 2007-2008