Events

Fall 2026 Colloquium - Jennifer Alexander

Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and in the Program for History of Science, Technology and Medicine at the University of Minnesota

Title: Channeling the divine? Technology and the cultural chasm between evangelical/conservative and liberal Christianity

Abstract: With AI we have “slipped into the language and habits of mind we normally reserve for deities,” wrote NYT reporter Joseph Bernstein. Society turning technologies into gods is not new; it happened with the telegraph long before AI. This talk draws from my book manuscript Two Worlds, One God, and shows how the history of the relationship between technology and religion can contribute to current assessments of technological power. It examines the historical role of technology in the international and often acrimonious religious divide between liberal/mainline and conservative Protestants that developed after the Second World War. Read more.

Fall 2026 Colloquium - James Lin

School of International Studies, University of Washington

Title: In the Global Vanguard: Agrarian Development and the Making of Modern Taiwan

Abstract: In just half a century, Taiwan transformed from an agricultural colony into an economic power, spurred by efforts of the authoritarian Republic of China government in land reform, farmers associations, and improved crop varieties. Yet overlooked is how Taiwan brought these practices to the developing world. In the Global Vanguard elucidates the history and impact of the “Taiwan model” of agrarian development by incorporating how Taiwanese experts took the country’s agrarian success and exported it throughout rural communities across Africa and Southeast Asia.

Driven by the global Cold War and challenges to the Republic of China’s legitimacy, Taiwanese agricultural technicians and scientists shared their practices, which they claimed were better suited for poor, tropical societies in the developing world. These development missions were portrayed in Taiwan as proof of the Republic of China’s modernity and were crucial to how the ruling government sought to hold onto its contested position in the international system and its rule by martial law at home. This talk will draw primarily upon chapters 3 and 7 of the book, exploring the history of agricultural science and technology in Taiwan and abroad, and their co-construction with authoritarianism, military power, and Cold War politics.

MOSAICS Symposium

Join CBI for two days of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary dialogue on artificial intelligence, featuring more than thirty scholars exploring diverse topics in AI and the social sciences, humanities, and arts.

The MOSAICS Symposium brings together scholars from the humanities, social sciences, information science, and the arts for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary dialogue on AI and mind, mentalité, data ontologies, postcolonialism, social hierarchies, power imbalances, inequality and intersections (race, class, caste, gender, disability), cultural meanings, infrastructures, landscapes, work, users, human and machine interaction, reappropriations, resistances, and adjacent topics and themes.

Fall 2026 Colloquium - Susan Burns

Professor, History, University of Chicago

Title: Becoming a Doctor in Early Nineteenth Century Japan: Medical Education on the Eve of Modernity

Abstract: In the 1870s, the recently established government of Japan began an aggressive campaign to institutionalize what was then known as “Western medicine.” This involved not only the establishment of modern medical schools (many staffed by European physicians) and the creation of a licensing system but also efforts to discredit Sino-Japanese medicine and its practitioners as backward and ineffective. In this talk, I want to explore the nature of medical knowledge before the intervention of the modern state by examining the education of a physician named Nanayama Jundō, who lived and worked in the far northwest of Japan. In his early 20 Nanayama traveled to Kyoto, the imperial capital and the epicenter of medical education, to study with some of the famous physicians of his day. His extant case notes, compiled at the suggestion of one of his teachers, offer a window into what he learned and how he made use of that knowledge.

Fall 2026 Colloquium - Julia Cummiskey

Johns Hopkins University

Title: Burkitt’s Lymphoma Research in Uganda (1961-1979) and the Origins of a Modern Paradigm for Global Health Science

Abstract:: In the 1960s and 1970s, researchers based at the East African Virus Research Institute in Entebbe, Uganda joined the race to discover the first human oncovirus at the same time that they navigated the transition from colonial to independent government, a reconfiguration of research funding, and an uncertain future. In this talk, I will describe how the search for a viral cause of Burkitt’s lymphoma, a newly-discovered syndrome characterized by aggressive facial tumors, shaped knowledge of viruses, cancer, and epidemiological methods while also launching a new paradigm for global health research. I argue that the EAVRI was one of the first places to become what is now called a “local partner”, a critical component of late 20th-century global health research and category that requires greater critical analysis. This talk will describe how researchers at the EAVRI leveraged their previous experience investigating yellow fever in Uganda, how they approached the “puzzle” of Burkitt’s lymphoma, and how the cancer research established patterns that shaped later HIV/AIDS research.

Bio: Julia Cummiskey is an assistant professor of the history of medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. She earned a BA in history from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, a masters degree in public health from Columbia University in 2007 and a PhD in the History of Medicine from Johns Hopkins University in 2017. She has taught at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she was the interim director of the Africana Studies program and she is now on the faculty of the Department of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins where she also co-directs the Online Program in the History of Medicine.

Dr. Cummiskey’s research interrogates the history of global health—what it is, how it came to be, its limitations, and its potential. Her first book, Virus Research in Twentieth-Century Uganda: Between Local and Global was published in 2024 by Ohio University Press in the series “Perspectives on Global Health”. Her current project, tentatively titled “Selling the Good Life: A History of Public Health Communication and Marketing in Uganda” explores the rise of expertise in health communication and its growing profile within the broader sector of global health.

November 2026 First Fridays - ‘Unburied’ and ‘A Plain Pine Box’

First Fridays: Archivist’s Choice!

First Fridays is a series of intellectually stimulating talks from the Archives and Special Collections at the UMN Libraries. This year’s theme is “Archivist’s Choice!” All of our collections have extensive depth and breadth — and some random things too. Not every remarkable story can fit into a theme. This year we’re throwing out a theme in favor of the archivist’s choice. Anything under the sun is fitting for this smorgasbord of presentations!

Light lunch at 11:30 a.m. Presentations begin at noon. A tour of the archival caverns will take place after the event concludes. ASL interpreters will be present for all First Fridays events.

Register

PRESENTATIONS

“Unburied: Death and Mourning in the Archives”

Presented by Caitlin Marineau, Assistant Curator, Children’s Literature Research Collections; Aiden Bettine, Curator, Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies; Erin McBrien, Curator, Upper Midwest Literary Archives; and Darren Terpstra, Exhibit Designer, Archives and Special Collections.

A new exhibit in Andersen Library showcases materials related to death and mourning pulled from across all of Archives and Special Collections. From burial and mourning practices across communities and cultures, to popular conceptions of death in folklore and literature, learn more about this new exhibit from the curators and exhibit designer.

“A Plain Pine Box: Jewish Burial Practices”

Presented by Kate Dietrick, Archivist, Upper Midwest Jewish Archives.

Traditional Jewish laws have imbued Jewish funerals and burial not only with strong significance but also with practices that deviate from other religions. But these laws weren’t always observed. In 1976, a group of concerned yet motivated congregants from Adath Jeshurun synagogue founded the Chevra Kavod Hamet (the Society to Give Honor to the Dead). Their return to traditional Jewish practices – including constructing pine box coffins, sewing shrouds, and preparing the body for burial – sparked a national interest in returning to these simple Jewish rituals. A 1977 ABC-TV documentary called “A Plain Pine Box” brought their work to a wider audience. Learn more about the Chevra’s influence, and what it means to mourn in accordance with Jewish traditions.

Event details

What: November First Fridays: ‘Unburied’ and ‘A Plain Pine Box’

When: Friday, November 6, 2026 | Lunch at 11:30 a.m. | Presentations begin at noon

Where: Elmer L. Andersen Library, room 120 and ONLINE | Parking and directions

Fall 2026 Colloquium - Kate McDonald

History, UC Santa Barbara

Title: The Rickshaw in Twentieth-Century Japan: A User’s Manual

Abstract: The rickshaw was invented in Japan in 1869. Rickshaw pulling flourished as an occupation and rickshaws dominated cultural representations of Japan’s urban modernity. Though it declined in popularity in the 1930s and 1940s, the rickshaw was quickly reinvented as a popular – and flexible – cultural symbol. Drawing from my current book project, The Rickshaw and the Railroad: Transportation, Labor, and Technology in Modern Japan, I share my favorite rickshaw stories from twentieth-century Japan. Along the way, I show how the multi-faceted history of the rickshaw raises important questions about how historians conceptualize the “user” of transportation technologies.

First Fridays, February: ‘Play It Again, Watson!’ and ‘African American History 101’

First Fridays: Archivist’s Choice!

Erin McBrien presents, “Play It Again, Watson!” and Davu Underwood Seru presents, “African American History 101.”

Light lunch at 11:30 a.m. Presentations begin at noon. A tour of the archival caverns will take place after the event concludes. ASL interpreters will be present for all First Fridays events.

Register will open in January.

PRESENTATIONS

“Play It Again, Watson!”

Presented by Erin McBrien, Curator, Sherlock Holmes Collections.

What makes something a pastiche, an homage, an adaption, or fanfiction? And what is it about Sherlock Holmes that draws people to continue the story in their own way? Join the Sherlock Holmes Collections as we dive into works written by fans old and new alike.

“African American History 101”

Presented by Davu Underwood Seru, Curator, Givens Collection of African American Literature and Life.

For too many, African Americans are a nagging outlier and challenge to America’s self-esteem. To mark Black History Month (which is to say, to mark February), and the 101-year anniversary of Negro History Week, the Givens Collection makes the case that African American history is not separate from American history. If one is honest with themselves, then African American history is not to be regarded as a threat. It is, however, different from what many American students get an opportunity to learn in school. As such, the study of African American history might make you different.

Event details

What: First Fridays, February: ‘Play It Again, Watson!’ and ‘African American History 101’

When: Friday, February 5, 2027 | Lunch at 11:30 a.m. | Presentations begin at noon

Where: Elmer L. Andersen Library, room 120 and ONLINE | Parking and directions

About

First Fridays is a series of intellectually stimulating talks from the Archives and Special Collections at the UMN Libraries.

This year’s theme is “Archivist’s Choice!” All of our collections have extensive depth and breadth — and some random things too. Not every remarkable story can fit into a theme. This year we’re throwing out a theme in favor of the archivist’s choice. Anything under the sun is fitting for this smorgasbord of presentations!

These events are made possible by a generous gift from Gov. Elmer L. Andersen and Mrs. Eleanor Andersen in honor of former University Librarian Dr. Edward B. Stanford.

First Fridays, March: ‘Virginia Lee Burton’ and ‘Activism of the Target City Coalition’

First Fridays: Archivist’s Choice!

Lisa Von Drasek presents, “Virginia Lee Burton: Artist, Teacher, and Entrepreneur,” and Aiden Bettine presents, “The Activism of the Target City Coalition: Anita Bryant and the Rise of a Local Gay Politic.”

Light lunch at 11:30 a.m. Presentations begin at noon. A tour of the archival caverns will take place after the event concludes. ASL interpreters will be present for all First Fridays events.

Register will open in January.

PRESENTATIONS

“Virginia Lee Burton: Artist, Teacher, and Entrepreneur"

Presented by Lisa Von Drasek

“The Activism of the Target City Coalition: Anita Bryant and the Rise of a Local Gay Politic.”

Presented by Aiden Bettine

Event details

What: First Fridays, March: ‘Virginia Lee Burton’ and ‘Activism of the Target City Coalition’

When: Friday, March 5, 2027 | Lunch at 11:30 a.m. | Presentations begin at noon

Where: Elmer L. Andersen Library, room 120 and ONLINE | Parking and directions

About

First Fridays is a series of intellectually stimulating talks from the Archives and Special Collections at the UMN Libraries.

These events are made possible by a generous gift from Gov. Elmer L. Andersen and Mrs. Eleanor Andersen in honor of former University Librarian Dr. Edward B. Stanford.

First Fridays, April: ‘Treasures in Transit’ and ‘In Remembrance of Ann’

First Fridays: Archivist’s Choice!

Kristen Mastel presents, “Treasures in Transit: Unearthing Stories from AHL’s Rare Books,” and Rebecca Toov presents, “In Remembrance of Ann.”

Light lunch at 11:30 a.m. Presentations begin at noon. A tour of the archival caverns will take place after the event concludes. ASL interpreters will be present for all First Fridays events.

Register will open in January.

PRESENTATIONS

Treasures in Transit: Unearthing Stories from AHL’s Rare Books

Presented by Kristen Mastel

In Remembrance of Ann

Presented by Rebecca Toov

Event details

What: First Fridays, April: Kristen Mastel presents, “Treasures in Transit: Unearthing Stories from AHL’s Rare Books,” and Rebecca Toov presents, “In Remembrance of Ann.”

When: Friday, April 2, 2027 | Lunch at 11:30 a.m. | Presentations begin at noon

Where: Elmer L. Andersen Library, room 120 and ONLINE | Parking and directions

About

First Fridays is a series of intellectually stimulating talks from the Archives and Special Collections at the UMN Libraries.

These events are made possible by a generous gift from Gov. Elmer L. Andersen and Mrs. Eleanor Andersen in honor of former University Librarian Dr. Edward B. Stanford.