August 2020 Meeting: Brent J. Ruswick on Distant Voices

When: Saturday, August 1, 2020, 10 am to 12 noon EDT
Where: Virtual meeting using Zoom (members only)
Subject: Researching Institutionalized Individuals
Title:

Distant Voices: Recovering the Histories of Impoverished and Institutionalized Americans
  We talk about “inmates running the asylum” as a pejorative, as if it were the least-capable people being put in the positions of responsibility that they are not fit to handle. But for decades, persons incarcerated for their poverty, or their disability, did in fact perform the daily responsibilities that kept the institutions housing them operational. This talk stiches together diverse instances of Americans who found themselves working for the institutions incarcerating them, and the historical methods we can use to better uncover and understand their lives. The talk also considers the amateur and professional genealogical investigators who compiled family histories of poverty and social upheaval and how, for a time, these genealogies became one of the most important forces driving American politics.
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DURAN Eric photo

 

 

Brent J. Ruswick

 
 

Professor Brent Ruswick, a historian of science and medicine, is Associate Professor at West Chester University. He received his Ph.D. in History of Science at the University of Wisconsin in 2006. He has won numerous teaching awards and honors and is the author of Almost Worthy: The Poor, Paupers, and the Science of Charity in America in addition to numerous historical and pedagogical articles. His current research focuses on issues of scientific and medical authority and their influence in culture and politics. His undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Science in secondary education and his favorite professional pursuit is sharing conversations about good teaching practices.