Participant Info
- First Name
- Elyssa
- Last Name
- Ford
- Country
- United States
- State
- MO Missouri
- ebford@nwmissouri.edu
- Affiliation
- Northwest Missouri State University
- Website URL
- Keywords
- sports, American West, memory, identity, cultural history, 20th century, gender, race, sexuality, public history, museums, oral history
- Availability
- Media Contact
- Additional Contact Information
- PhD
- PhD
Personal Info
- Photo
- About Me
My research focuses on women’s history, specifically looking at gender, race, sexuality, identity, and memory. My current work looks at these issues in the American rodeo, and I am working on several book projects on this topic. I also have published on teaching strategies, local museums, and public history, and I have an on-going project on the access women have to education and leadership opportunities in Cambodia.
As a public historian, I serve on the board of the Nodaway County Historical Society and work closely with them and with my students on internships and exhibit projects. Recent exhibit topics have included folk music, rural life, and military history. I also run the Region 1 National History Day competition in Missouri. I have spoken about the practice and training of public history at the University of South Dakota, serve on the board for the Missouri Association for Museums and Archives, hold a committee position with the National Council on Public History, and act as the public history liaison for the Coordinating Council for Women in History.
Through my work as a public historian and a sports historian, I am serving as the state scholar for the Missouri Humanities Council and the Smithsonian travelling exhibit Hometown Teams: How Sports Shape America (2017-2018).
- Recent Publications
“Becoming the West: Cowboys as Icons of Masculine Style for Gay Men,” Special Issue: Fashion and Style Icons, Critical Studies in Men’s Fashion 5:1/2 (May 2018): pp.41-53.
“Bringing Town and Gown Together: Using Local History to Engage Students and Create Collaborative Partnerships,” Journal of Museum Education 41:4 (Oct. 2016): pp.262-274.
“The Performance of Pa’u Riding in the Hawaiian Islands,” Pacific Historical Review 84:3 (Aug. 2015): pp.277-306.
- Media Coverage
- Social Media
- Country Focus
- United States
- Expertise by Geography
- United States
- Expertise by Chronology
- 20th century, 21st century
- Expertise by Topic
- Gender, Local & Regional, Museums, Public History, Race, Rural & Agrarian History, Sexuality, Sports, Women
