History Webinars

The IFLA Local History and Genealogy Section cordially invites you to a webinar on 7 March 2024, 17:30 – 19:00 CET about conducting genealogical research in South Africa with the help of tombstones and graves. In the 1990s, a project was started by the Genealogical Society of South Africa (GSSA) to document graves sites all over South Africa. Looking back at this project over a period of 25 years, with almost 1 million graves listed, we will take you on the journey documenting and creating a platform that is free and open for all to use not only in South Africa.

Join us for a journey into the heart of the Qing Dynasty’s imperial court with our upcoming webinar, featuring Dr. Daniel M. Greenberg. Our session will focus on the remarkable artwork “All Foreign Countries Bearing Tribute” (萬國來朝圖), a representation of the Lunar New Year created for the Qianlong court. Dr. Greenberg will guide us through the original context of this masterpiece, highlighting its unique blend of Chinese classical painting and European ethnography. This exploration will reveal a distinctly Chinese perspective on state ritual and the management of foreign affairs, offering a fascinating glimpse into the cultural and political dynamics of the Qing Dynasty.

In the late 19th century, simply eating food could be a genuine hazard. To increase the shelf life of their products, food manufacturers intentionally added dangerous chemicals like formaldehyde and salicylic acid to everything from milk to meat without any of the regulatory oversight that we take for granted today. Join Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times-bestselling author Deborah Blum as she reveals the dramatic true story of how food was made safer in the United States during a 30 year food safety battle for consumer protection by chemist Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley and his heroic Poison Squad.

The FCIL-SIS DEI committee's webinar series on global events continues with a webinar on last summer's coup in Niger. In this webinar, Aluko Opeyemi Idowu, a professor of political science in Ajayi Crowther University in Nigeria will present on the political situation in Niger and West Africa more broadly, providing background information on Niger's political and colonial history to help understand the underlying conflicts that led up to the coup and the larger implications for countries in West Africa. The presentation will also go over resources to help researchers learn more about the situation in Niger.

At least 27 people of African descent were enslaved in Jamaica Plain in the 1700s. Hidden Jamaica Plain will present an overview of slavery in Jamaica Plain, a history that includes land theft, enslavement first of Native Americans and then expansion to people of African descent. Massachusetts Bay was the first colony to legalize slavery in 1641. Chattel slavery existed in Massachusetts at the time of the American Revolution and several Jamaica Plain patriots were also enslavers.

Oregon Black Pioneers explore an overlooked part of Oregon’s history.

Tootie McGregor Terry left a legacy for the people of Fort Myers. She was a neighbor of Thomas and Mina Edison and generously gave of her wealth and her time. Her generosity made it possible for the first road in Fort Myers to be paved. She and her second husband were the donors of what today is known as Terry Park, the former site of spring training for many major league baseball teams. Join Program Manager Holly Shaffer for this free virtual presentation. Registration is required. Join Program Manager Holly Shaffer for this free virtual lecture.

Date & Time: Dec 9, 2023 10:00 PM in Universal Time (UTC)

America’s involvement in World War I marked its first major entry into international politics. One cost of that involvement required the U.S. to supply a force to occupy part of the German Rhineland after the war. The force, known as the U.S. Third Army, consisted of the best but overworked divisions in the American Expeditionary Forces. Join Virginia Army National Guard Command Historian Al Barnes as he explores their untold stories, including how close the “Great War” came to starting again in June 1919 and how the Americans were viewed by the Germans they “occupied.”

Lauren Morris: The dominance of the 'Silk Road' and searching for a non-elite narrative: challenges in writing the economic history of Kushan Central Asia. The Kushan Empire (ca. 50–350 CE), which once stretched from southern Central Asia to northern India, saw significant developments in the region's history but remains poorly integrated into a global perspective on the ancient world. This talk reflects on the agendas and implications of economic history-writing about Kushan Central Asia. Beginning with the 'Kushan middlemen' narrative, the counterpoint of the luxury and prestige goods excavated at Begram are presented as demonstrating exchange directed to the region rather than through it, and thus local elite agency with wide-reaching impacts. Yet, while a useful corrective, the resulting narrative (and arguably much writing on the Silk Road itself) is one disproportionately concerned with a small group of elites – a point that also characterises our current understanding of political history in the Kushan period. This was not always the case: Soviet-era historiography made attempts, with varying success, to engage with non-elite and non-urban perspectives. The agenda of a new research project at Charles University is then presented: to consider non-elite perspectives alongside issues of inequality – even when data are sparse and poor – in order to help flesh out our understanding of broader dynamics of prosperity, decline, political durability, and collapse during this period. By way of conclusion, some preliminary remarks are offered on the first field season of the Czech-Uzbek Archaeological Expedition at the antique-period rural site of Kulal Tepa in southern Uzbekistan.