Ph.D. Hood awarded, Industrial Heritage and Archaeology

Cameron Hartnell received his Ph.D.  hood in today's mid-winter graduation ceremony at Michigan Technological University.  Dr. Hartnell is the second person to earn his Ph.D. in Industrial Heritage and Archaeology, finishing right after Bode Morin.  Drs. Hartnell and Morin began their doctoral studies four years ago as the first cohort to enter the new degree program.

(Left to right: Jackie Huntoon, dean of the Graduate School; Dr. Cameron Hartnell; Dr. Elizabeth Norris, Dr. Patrick Martin.  Photo courtesy of Erik Nordberg, University Archivist, Michigan Tech Archives and Copper Country Historical Collection, J. R. Van Pelt and Opie Library.)

Patrick Martin's hooding of Cameron Hartnell included symbols that went far beyond the normal significance of academic regalia.  Dr. Martin is the chair of the Department of Social Sciences and was Dr. Hartnell's dissertation advisor.  He led a group of students from Michigan Technological University on a study of coal mining on the arctic island of Svalbard, as part of a international team of researchers.  Cameron wrote his dissertation about the Arctic Coal Company's mine at Spitsbergen and one of the primary characters in his research was Scott Turner, the mine engineer and a Michigan Tech alumnus.  

While digging through 60 boxes of Scott Turner's papers and Arctic Coal Company records at the Michigan Technological University archives, Dr. Hartnell found that Turner's descendants had included the engineer's hood from when MTU awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1932.  Cameron asked the university to honor Turner by allowing Dr. Martin use Turner's hood during the graduation ceremony.

The Daily Mining Gazette featured a nice story and photo about Dr. Hartnell.  Michigan Tech all issued a press release about the planned event.

Dr. Hartnell's hooding today was a wonderful event.  Congratulations to him and kudos for including such an elegant and tangible example of the power of heritage!

MTU IA Thesis Defense: Christopher Nelson

Christopher Nelson defended his MS Thesis today.  His study, titled The C. R. Patterson and Sons Company of Greenfield, Ohio: Survival and Adaptation of a Black-Owned Company in the Vehicle Building Industry, 1865-1939.

Chris completed a tremendous search for primary and secondary documents and oral histories about the C. R. Patterson company.  In his thesis, he tied those scattered documents together to build a narrative about the company's leaders and the Patterson family.  He did a good job with his presentation and passed his defense.  I'm sure his committee asked him for a list of revisions in the document, but kudos to Chris on a job well done!

Stony Brook Grist Mill

Marc Henshaw used some of his Thanksgiving Holiday to visit industrial history sites near his family in New York State.  He posted some fine photos and links to the Stony Brook Grist Mill website.  Marc is a Ph.D. student in MTU's IA program.  He also runs Nemacolin Archaeological Services in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, amid the beautiful Appalachian Mountains.