- Visit Knox :
- Give to Knox :
- Library :
- Directories |
 |
| Contact 309-341-7158 rdavis@knox.edu |
Years at Knox: 1963 to present
Education
Ph.D., History, 1966, University of Iowa.
M.A., History, 1959, University of Kansas.
B.S., Journalism, 1954, University of Kansas.
Honors/Grants
Huntington Library Fellowships, 1991, 1992, 1999.
Co-Recipient, First Annual Abraham Lincoln Institute Book Award, 1998.
Caterpillar Faculty Achievement Award, Knox College, 1996.
First Annual Emma Lou and Gayle Thornbrough Award for the Best Article to appear in the Indiana Magazine of History, 1993.
Philip Green Wright-Lombard College Prize for Excellence in Teaching for Tenured Faculty, Knox College, 1989.
Newberry Library Fellowship, 1988.
Illinois Humanities Council Program Grant, 1987.
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar Fellowship for College Teachers, 1979.
National Endowment for the Humanities Program Grant, 1970, 1973, and 1975.
American Philosophical Society Research Grant, 1970.
First Annual Philip Green Wright-Lombard College Prize for Excellence in Teaching, Knox College, 1967.
Publications
Herndon's Lincoln. Edited with Douglas L. Wilson. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2006.
"Dr. Charles Leib: Lincoln's Mole?" Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 24 (2003): 20-35.
Foreword to Nehemiah Matson, French and Indians in the Illinois River Valley Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2001.
Foreword to Carol Pirtle, Escape Betwixt Two Suns: A True Tale of the Underground Railroad in Illinois Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2000.
Introduction to reprint of Ward Hill Lamon, The Life of Abraham Lincoln Lincoln: v-xv University of Nebraska Press, 1999.
"Abraham Lincoln and the Two-Party System in Illinois," in "We Cannot Escape History: Papers from the Twelfth Annual Lincoln Colloquium Springfield (1999): 79-92.
Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews and Statements About Abraham Lincoln. Edited with Douglas L. Wilson. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998.
"Lincoln's 'Particular Friend' and Lincoln Biography," Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 19 (1998): 21-37.
"William Herndon, Memory, and Lincoln Biography," Journal of Illinois History 1 (1998): 99-112.
Ed. Thomas Ford, A History of Illinois Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995.
"I Shall Consider the Whole People of Sangamon My Constituents:' Lincoln and the Illinois General Assembly," in Abraham Lincoln and the Political Process: Papers from the Seventh Annual Lincoln Colloquium Springfield (1994): 13-23.
"William Herndon's Indiana Oral History Project, 1865," Indiana Magazine of History 89 (1993): 136-146.
"The Frontier State, 1818-1848," in John M. Hoffmann, ed. A Guide to the History of Illinois, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1991.
"A Hoosier Family Moves West, 1868-1895," Editor. Indiana Magazine of History 86 (1990): 50-94, 131-177.
"Research Sources on Mormonism," Illinois History 42 (1989): 152-153.
"Private Albert Cashier, as Regarded by His/Her Comrades," Illinois Historical Journal 82 (1989): 108-112.
Introduction to reprint of Earnest Elmo Calkins, They Broke the Prairie xi-xxi. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989.
"The People in Miniature,' The Illinois General Assembly, 1818-1848,"Illinois Historical Journal 81 (1988): 95-108.
"Lobbying and the Third House in the Early Illinois General Assembly," The Old Northwest 14 (1988): 267-284.
"Frontier Politics and Law," in Bridges and Davis, Ibid., 47-56.
Illinois: Its History and Legacy. Edited with Roger D. Bridges. St. Louis: River City Publishers, 1984.
"Judge Ford and the Regulators, 1841-42," Selected Papers in Illinois History 2 (1981): 25-36.
"Coming to Terms with County Histories," Western Illinois Regional Studies 2 (1979): 144-155.
"Mormons in Hancock County: A Reminiscence" By Eudocia Baldwin Marsh. Edited with Douglas L. Wilson. Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 64 (1971): 22-65.
"Partisanship in Jacksonian State Politics: Party Divisions in the Illinois State Legislature, 1834-41," in Robert P. Swierenga. Editor. Quantification in American History: Theory and Research New York: Atheneum (1970): 149-162.
Scholarly Papers
"Dr. Charles Leib: Lincoln's Mole?" read to the Stephen A. Douglas Association, Decatur, Illinois, April 28, 2001.
"Toward Republicanism: Lincoln and the Anti-Nebraska Editors," read to the Abraham Lincoln Institute of the Mid-Atlantic, Washington, D.C., March 28, 1998.
"Abraham Lincoln and Two-Party Politics in Illinois," read to the Abraham Lincoln Colloquium, Springfield, Illinois, October 25, 1997.
"William Herndon, Memory, and Lincoln Biography," read to the Oral History Association, Philadelphia, October 11, 1996.
"Lincoln's 'Particular Friend' and Lincoln Biography," read to the Abraham Lincoln Symposium, Springfield, Illinois, February 11, 1996.
"How Good An Oral Historian Was Billy Herndon?" Illinois History Symposium, Springfield, Illinois, December 5, 1993.
"'I Shall Consider the Whole People of Sangamon My Constituents:' Lincoln in the Illinois General Assembly," read to the Abraham Lincoln Colloquium, Springfield, Illinois, October 24, 1992, and the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia, November 17, 1992.
"One Hundred Forty Years After: Governor Ford's History Reconsidered," read before the Illinois History Symposium, Springfield, Illinois, December 1, 1990.
"Lobbying and the 'Third House' in the Early Illinois General Assembly," read before the Illinois History Symposium, Springfield, Illinois, December 1, 1989.
"The People in Miniature: The Illinois General Assembly, 1818-1848," read before the Illinois History Symposium , Springfield, Illinois, November 30, 1985.
"Judge Ford and the Regulators, 1841-42," read before the Illinois History Symposium, Springfield, Illinois, December 3, 1981.
"The Influence of Party on Political Leadership in Illinois in the Jacksonian Era," read before the Organization of American Historians at Chicago, April 13, 1973.
Current Projects and Interests
Co-Editor, with Douglas L. Wilson, of a new edition of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.
Co-editor, with Douglas L. Wilson, of an edition of William H. Herndon's letters, lectures, and interviews about Lincoln.
Campus & Community Involvement
Co-Director, Lincoln Studies Center.
Director, American Studies Program.
Szold Distinguished Service Professor.
Professor of History.
Chairman, Department of History.
Associate Professor of History.
Assistant Professor of History.
Instructor in History.
Advisory Committee, Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.
Groberg Communications, Inc., for a video production on Nauvoo, Illinois.
Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, planning for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.
"The Unknown Lincoln," a film by Triage Entertainment for the History Channel.
A few weeks after completing an international assignment to take photos of newly arrived pandas in Scotland, Knox College instructor Michael Godsil is asked to document the delivery of two more pandas in France.
Knox College introduces KnoxReads, an online book discussion. The first selection is "Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion across the Islamic World," by writer and foreign policy analyst Robin Wright, who visits Knox on February 28.
"Knox in New York students are exposed to different communities of artists and to a variety of art forms. This experience is transformative," says Professor Lynette Lombard.
