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Karen L. Cox
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Department of History
119 Garinger Hall
Charlotte, NC 28223
Phone: 704.687-6231
Email: kcox@email.uncc.edu
EDUCATION
Ph.D., U.S. History, University of Southern Mississippi, May 1997
Master of Arts, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, U.S. History, May
1988
Bachelor of Arts, History, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, May 1986
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Assistant Professor and Director of Public History, University of North Carolina
at Charlotte, (Fall 2002- )
Visiting Assistant Professor, Mississippi University for Women (Fall 2000)
Adjunct Professor, George Mason University (Spring 2000)
Assistant Professor, Murray State University (1997-1998)
Teaching Assistant, University of Southern Mississippi (1991-1995)
Teaching Assistant, University of North Carolina at Greensboro (1986-1987)
Instructor, Randolph Community College, Asheboro, NC (Summer 1987)
GRADUATE COURSES
History in the Digital Age
History Museums/Historic Sites
Old South
Seminar: Southern Women's History
UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
19th Century U.S. Social/Cultural
Southern Women’s History
Southerners
Introduction to Public History
Intro to Museums and Historic Sites
U.S. History surveys I & II
World History surveys I & II
TEACHING WEBSITES
University of North Carolina at Charlotte, http://www.history.uncc.edu/kcox
George Mason University, http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/cox/s2000/hist121
Murray State University, http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/karen.cox/homepage.htm
PUBLIC HISTORY EXPERIENCE
Senior Writer, The History Factory, Chantilly, VA (January 2001 to July 2002)
Responsible for writing, editing, and proofing proposals, master plans, executive
summaries, exhibit narratives, photo captions, and web timelines for corporate
clients. Also, ghostwriter of a CEO's autobiography. Additional responsibilities
included conducting research and oral histories to assist in the development
of client projects, including anniversary programs and digital archives.
Development and Public Relations Coordinator, National
History Day, College Park, MD (1998-1999) Responded to requests from donors,
conducted background research on prospective donors, wrote grant and foundation
proposals, worked with the Publicity and Development Committees of the organization,
prepared publicity for state and national programs and contests, wrote articles
and edited quarterly newsletter.
Researcher/Historian, Museum of the Cape Fear, Fayetteville, NC (1988-1990)
Historical research and writing for exhibits and brochures; developed adult
and student educational programs and materials; curator of an exhibit on African-American
women; researched and wrote text for exhibits on the U.S. Constitution, archaeology
and history, Civil War uniforms and flags, country stores, and transportation.
Worked with student interns, and gave numerous talks on local history to area
community groups. Also wrote grants for public humanities programs, scripts
for educational videos, and authored the volunteer manual.
Assistant to the Director, University of North Carolina-Greensboro,
Special Collections, (1990-1991)
Catalogued and created database for the women’s detective fiction collection,
processed manuscript collections including one on the Equal Rights Amendment
in North Carolina. Compiled and wrote the guide to the manuscripts in the women’s
collection.
Research/Intern, North Carolina Women’s History Project
(Spring 1988)
Documented women’s education and identified artifacts for an exhibit on
women’s history at the North Carolina Museum of History.
Part-time Interpreter, Greensboro Historical Museum (1986-1987)
Intern, Alamance County Historical Museum, Burlington,
NC (1985-1986)
Curated an exhibit on textile conservation at this Victorian house museum. Prior
to the internship, I served as a volunteer docent for more than a year.
PUBLICATIONS
Book
Dixie’s Daughters: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the
Preservation of Confederate Culture
(University Press of Florida, 2003) *Winner of the 2004 Julia Cherry Spruill
Prize from the Southern Association for Women Historians for the best work published
in southern women's history.
New Project: "Confederate Culture: The Lost Cause in the New South"
Articles & Essays
“The Rise of the United Daughters of the Confederacy,” in John Salmond
and Bruce Clayton eds., Lives Full of Struggle and Triumph: Southern Women,
Their Organizations (University Press of Florida, 2003)
“The Confederate Monument at Arlington: A
Token of Reconciliation,” in Cynthia Mills and Pamela Simpson eds., Monuments
to the Lost Cause: Women, Art, and the Landscape of Southern Memory (University
of Tennessee Press, 2003)
“Out with the New and In with the Old: Mississippi’s United Daughters
of the Confederacy, 1890-1930”
in Martha Swain, Elizabeth Payne, and Marjorie Spruill eds., Mississippi
Women of Achievement, Volume II (forthcoming from the University of Georgia
Press)
"Confederate Holidays" in Len Travers ed., American Holidays and
National Days: A Historical Guide (forthcoming, Greenwood Press)
Entries for "United Daughters of the Confederacy,"
"Soldiers' Aid Societies," and "Ladies' Memorial Associations,"
for Women in the Civil War: An Encyclopedia (forthcoming)
Entries for “Ladies’ Memorial Associations,” and “Sons
of Confederate Veterans,” in the Encyclopedia of the American Civil
War (ABC-CLIO, 2000)
Book Reviews
Sarah Gardner, Blood & Irony: Southern Women's Narratives of the Civil
War, Journal of American History (forthcoming)
Thomas Cutrer, Oh, What a Loansome time I Had: The Civil War Letters of Major
William Morel Moxley, Eighteenth Alabama Infantry, and Emily Beck Moxley, Journal
of Southern History, (November 2003)
Michael T. Bertrand, Race, Rock, and Elvis, Journal of Mississippi History, (Fall 2003)
Paul Christopher Anderson, Blood Image: Turner
Ashby in the Civil War and the Southern Mind, H-SOUTH (2003)
Amy Thompson McCandless, The Past in the Present: Women’s Higher Education
in the Twentieth-Century American South, Alabama Review (July 2002)
Jane Stuart Woolsey, Hospital Days: Memoir of a Civil War Nurse, H-CIVWAR
(January 1998)
R.B. Rosenburg, Living Monuments: Confederate Soldiers Homes in the New South,
Southern Cultures (December 1996)
Roy L. Parker, Cumberland County: A Brief History, North Carolina
Historical Review (October 1990)
Other publications
A Guide to Women’s Resources in the Special Collections Division of
Walter Clinton Jackson Library (University of North Carolina at Greensboro,
1991)
AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS
Julia Cherry Spruill Prize from SAWH for Best Work Published in Southern
Women's History, 2004
Junior Faculty Research Grant, UNCC, 2003
API Program Grant for Public History, UNCC, 2003
CISR Faculty Research Grant, Murray State University, Spring 1998
Jay Washam Award for Outstanding Dissertation, USM Department of History, 1997
McCain Dissertation Fellowship, USM Department of History
Mellon Fellowship for Research at the Virginia Historical Society, 1995
Research grant from USM Committee on Services and Resources for Women, 1992
INVITED LECTURES
"Dixie's Daughters: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and
the Preservation of Confederate Culture," Georgia Historical Society,
September 9, 2004
"Dixie's Daughters: Southern Women and the Lessons of the Lost
Cause,"University of Southern Mississippi, October 13, 2003
"Creating Living Monuments: The United Daughters
of the Confederacy and Pro-Confederate Education," Keynote Speaker for
"History, Memory, and Confederate Memorial Hall," Vanderbilt University,
October 18, 2002.
CONFERENCE PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS
Session Chair & Comments, "Tourism and Environmental Literature,"
National Council on Public History, Victoria, BC, April 2, 2004
Session Chair & Comments, "History in the
Digital Age," UNC Charlotte Graduate History Forum, March 27, 2004
Session Chair, "Surrogate Patriarchy and Female Political Culture
in the South, 1865–1920," Southern Historical Association,
Houston, TX, November 2003
Panelist, "History Careers: On and Off the Tenure-Track," Sixth
Conference of the Southern Association for Women Historians, Athens, GA,
June 2003.
“Creation of a Martyr: Jefferson Davis in Southern Popular Culture,”
Annual Meeting of the Popular Culture Association, New Orleans, April
2003.
“Graduate Programs in Public History,” North Carolina Museums
Council, High Point, NC, November 21-22, 2002.
“Mississippi’s United Daughters of the Confederacy, 1890-1930”
Annual Meeting of the Mississippi Historical Society, March 2001.
“Careers in Public History,” workshop for students at Mississippi
University for Women, December 2001.
“Owned, Controlled, and Edited by Women”: The Lost Cause Magazine,
1898-1904, Fifth Conference of the Southern Association for Women Historians,
Richmond, VA, June 17, 2000.
“The Confederate Monument at Arlington: A Token of Reconciliation,”
Great Lakes Division of the American Studies Association, Miami University,
Miami, OH, March 6, 1998.
“Marble Apologies: Monuments to Women of the Confederacy, 1896-1912,”
Fourth Conference of the Southern Association for Women Historians,
Charleston, SC, June 5, 1997.
“Citizens of the Nation: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the
‘True’ History of the South’s Patriotism, 1894-1920,”
Organization of American Historians, San Francisco, CA, March 1997.
“Gender, Race, and the Lost Cause, 1894-1930,” Southern Historical
Association, New Orleans, LA, November 19, 1995.
“Preserving Family History,” workshop presented to the annual meeting
of the North Carolina Association of Education Office Personnel, Greensboro,
NC, March 1995.
“Preserving the Confederate Legacy: Mississippi’s United Daughters
of the Confederacy and the Children’s Auxiliary, 1900-1930,” Third
Conference of the Southern Association for Women Historians, Houston, TX,
June 6, 1994.
Presented a workshop on oral history for the spring meeting of the North
Carolina Museums Council, Beaufort, NC, April 24, 1990.
“Researching Women’s Institutions: The North Carolina Confederate
Women’s Home,” North Carolina Women’s History Symposium,
Raleigh, NC, March 26, 1990.
“’Tis a Different Place’: Scottish Highlanders Adaptation
to the Upper Cape Fear,” Scottish Heritage Symposium, Fayetteville,
NC, October 1, 1989.