David Zonderman

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Bio

David A. Zonderman is an Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor and Department Head in History at North Carolina State University (NCSU).  Professor Zonderman teaches introductory, advanced, and graduate courses in U.S. History, American Labor History, History of Nonprofits, and Public History (Museums). From 2013-15, Dr. Zonderman served as Chair of the Faculty at NCSU.

Dr. Zonderman received his BA from Amherst College, and his MA and PhD from Yale University.  He is the author of two books–Aspirations and Anxieties: New England Workers and the Mechanized Factory System, 1815-1850 (Oxford University Press); and Uneasy Allies: Working For Labor Reform in Nineteenth-Century Boston (University of Massachusetts Press). He is currently working on another book project, Fighting on the Homefront: Workers and the Civil War, which is under contract with Praeger. He has also published articles and reviews in the American Historical Review, Journal of American History, Reviews in American History, Labor History, and The Public Historian.  Dr. Zonderman’s research has been funded by the American Council of Learned Societies, American Historical Association, American Philosophical Society, National Endowment for the Humanities, and other institutions.

Professor Zonderman has worked with museums across the country.  He has served on the Board of Curators, Long Range Planning Committee, and Collections Committee at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin; the Education Advisory Board at the North Carolina Museum of History; the Advisory Board and Operations Committee at the Raleigh City Museum; and the North Carolina Maritime Museum Review Committee.  Dr. Zonderman has also been a consultant and evaluator for museum exhibit projects funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Institute for Museum and Library Services; he has also served on several national grants review panels at the NEH.

Professor Zonderman also has extensive experience teaching public school and adult audiences.  He has offered numerous programs through the Humanities Extension Program. He has been a visiting scholar for film discussion series at public libraries sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Teaching American History projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Teaching Literacy through History workshops funded by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and the North Carolina Humanities Council’s Teachers Institute.  In 2001 and 2013, Dr. Zonderman received an Outstanding Extension Service Award from NCSU; and in 2010 he was given the Faculty Award by the NCSU Libraries.

Professor Zonderman is an elected member of the Historical Society of North Carolina, and the Board of Directors for the Friends of the State Archives of North Carolina. He also served on the Advisory Editorial Committee for the North Carolina Historical Review, and he recently completed a term as Vice-President of the Southern Labor Studies Association.

David A. Zonderman
Department of History
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-8108
919-513-2222
david_zonderman@ncsu.edu

Office Hours

• Wed: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Projects

Fighting on the Homefront: Workers and the American Civil War

(Praeger Press, under contract)

Extension and Community Engagement

Museum Consulting

2010 – Consultant, NEH Grant Project, “Interpreting Ohio’s Little Cities of the Black Diamonds Microregion: The Untold Story of the Hocking Valley Coal Era,” Ohio University

2010 – Review Panelist, National Endowment for the Humanities, America’s Cultural and Historical Organizations, Planning and Implementation Grants

2008 – Member, Academic Advisory Committee, Museum Exhibit—“High Point’s Furniture Heritage,” High Point Museum

2007-2008: Member, Development Committee, North Carolina 4H Museum

2007-2008: Member, Review Committee, North Carolina Maritime Museum, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources

2003-2007: Member, Exhibit Design Committee, Yates Mill County Park, Raleigh, North Carolina

2003 – Member, Exhibition Committee, “Augustus Saint-Gaudens: American Sculptor of the Gilded Age,” North Carolina Museum of Art

2002-2004: Member, Advisory Board, Raleigh City Museum

2002-2007: Member, Planning Board, “Down Home: Jewish Life in North Carolina,” Jewish Heritage Foundation of North Carolina

1999-2004: Member, Operations Committee, Raleigh City Museum

Teaching Workshops

2010 – Scholar, Professional Development Seminar for High School Teachers, Durham County School System, North Carolina, Teaching American History Grant, U.S Department of Education

2010 – Teacher Workshop, “Labor and the Civil War,” North Carolina Museum of History, July 21, 2010

2009 – Reviewer, Social Studies Essential Standards, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

2007-2010: Scholar, Professional Development Seminar for High School Teachers, Guilford County School System, North Carolina, Teaching American History Grant, U.S Department of Education

2006-2007: Scholar, Course Development Project, “Turning Points in American History,” Roanoke Rapids (NC) Graded School District, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

2006-2007: Scholar, Professional Development Seminar for Elementary School Teachers, Roanoke Rapids (NC) Graded School District, Teaching American History Grant, U.S. Department of Education

2002-2006: Scholar, National Humanities Center, Professional Development Seminar, Northeastern North Carolina Regional High Schools, Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina

Research Publications

Books 

Fighting on the Homefront: Workers and the American Civil War (Praeger Press, under contract)

Uneasy Allies: Working For Labor Reform in Nineteenth-Century Boston

(Amherst, Mass: University of Massachusetts Press, 2011).

Aspirations and Anxieties: New England Workers and the Mechanized Factory System, 1815‑1850

(New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).

 Articles and Review Essays

“Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, National Civil Rights Museum,” Journal of American History, 91:1 (June 2004): 174-183.

“Surveying the Survey Texts: Recent Works in American Labor History,” Labor History, 43:3 (August 2002): 335-342.

“North Carolina and the Civil War; ‘Duty Called Me Here:’ The Common Soldiers’ Experience in the American Civil War; Turning Point: The American Civil War,” Journal of American History, 88:1 (June 2001): 162-166.

Presentations

“Exhibiting the American Civil War at Southern Museums,” Creating the Past: Early American Museums Between History and Edutainment, University of Milan, Italy, November 18, 2011

“Fighting on the Homefront, “Workers and the American Civil War,” The Future of Civil War History: New Methods and Frameworks of Understanding, Drew University (New Jersey), March 31, 2012

Area(s) of Expertise

American Labor History, Public History — Museums, History of Nonprofits