Visiting Professor of History Joshua Althoff ’19 Delivers Second Burkhardt Lecture

Knox College Visiting Assistant Professor of History Joshua Althoff ’19 is set to deliver the second lecture of the Burkhardt Lecture series. The title of the talk is "Treaty Memory: Imagining and Enacting Miami Futures in 19th-Century Indiana," and will be delivered on April 3 at 4:00 p.m. in the Alumni Room of Old Main. 

Althoff’s lecture invites listeners on a journey through the history of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, an Indigenous nation whose homelands center on the Wabash River in north-central Indiana, and highlights their pivotal treaties with the United States government. 

The subject of Althoff’s talk concerns the work he began while a student at Knox College. Althoff’s original interest lay more in the stories of the Virginia militiamen led by George Rogers Clark and tying their experiences to the Midwest's role in the American Revolution. As Althoff’s studies deepened, his interest shifted from Clark toward the Indigenous peoples with whom he interacted. 

“When we think of the Revolution Era, the Colonial era, the Midwest’s history is the history of the Indigenous people,” Althoff said. “The people, the places, rivers, and lakes are named after the Indigenous peoples in Illinois and Indiana. When I left Knox, my graduate project focused on the Miami and how they represent the history of the state of Indiana.”

The lecture is part of Althoff’s dissertation, with this subject representing the middle chapter of his book project. The lecture also focuses on how the American government tried to force assimilation on the Miami and how the Miami sought to subvert it to preserve their own identity and maintain their sovereignty.

The Burkhardt Lecture Series features work by members of the history department at Knox College. Newton’s lecture was sponsored by the Edgar S. and Ruth W. Burkhardt Fund for History, established by Knox College alumni Richard and Dorothy Burkhardt, both Class of 1939, in memory of Mr. Burkhardt's parents. The first lecture of the year was delivered by visiting assistant professor of history at Knox College Erin Newton on Tactile Healing.

Published on March 26, 2026

Scott Holland, Knox College Office of Communications