George F. Steckley

Robert M. & Katherine Arnold Seeley Distinguished Professor of History

Contact 309-341-7335 gsteckle@knox.edu

General Interests
"My research involves sea stories told in English court rooms. I have found a fascinating mixture of history, law and the art of storytelling in Admiralty Court cases of the 17th Century. Judges in that era of overseas expansion heard thousands of disputes involving sailors, shipmasters and ship owners. I have pieced together the legal records of about 1,500 such trials from a host of manuscript sources in London. And I am now writing a book on the Court's activities in the period."

Years at Knox: 1973 to present

Education
Ph.D., History, 1972, University of Chicago.
M.A., History, 1967, University of Chicago.
B.A., Economics, 1965, Oberlin College.

Teaching Interests
European civilization, historiography, enlightenment Europe, English history from 1066, Ireland and England from 1607.

Selected Professional Accomplishments

Honors/Grants
Philip Green Wright-Lombard College Prize for Distinguished Teaching, 2002.

Publications
"Freight Law in the Seventeenth-Century Admiralty Court." The Journal of Legal History 27 (2006): 175-197.

"Bottomry Bonds in the Seventeenth-Century Admiralty Court." American Journal of Legal History, 2001.

"Collisions, Prohibitions, and the Admiralty Court in Seventeenth-Century London." Law and History Review 21 (2003).

"Litigious Mariners: Wage Cases in the Seventeenth Century Admiralty Court." Historical Journal 42 (1999).

Campus & Community Involvement
Member, Phi Beta Kappa.

What Students Say
"Professor Steckley has a talent for bringing the material to life, and for bringing so much energy to his classes. At the same time, he's an excellent advisor, always with an open door, listening ear, and kind words."
-Susie Stone, History major