Aaron W. Marrs’s C.V.

ORCID

Professional Appointments

  • Historian, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, Office of the Historian, Policy Studies Division; research and write historical studies on U.S. relations with Sub-Saharan Africa (March 2012-present)

  • Historian, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, Office of the Historian, Declassification and Publishing Division; reviewed 20 Foreign Relations of the United States manuscripts for content and substance; advised historians to resolve queries and inconsistencies in manuscripts; performed technical editing of complex documentary material for style and accuracy (June 2006-March 2012)

  • Associate managing editor, University of South Carolina, Institute for Southern Studies, South Carolina Encyclopedia; recruited authors for entries on specific topics; proofread entire text of encyclopedia; coordinated delivery of final text to University of South Carolina Press (August-December 2004)

Education

  • Ph.D. in History, University of South Carolina (May 2006)

  • M.A. in Public History, University of South Carolina (May 2002)

  • M.A. in Library and Information Science, University of South Carolina (May 2002)

  • B.A. cum laude in History, Lawrence University (June 1999)

Publications

Books

Articles

  • “Fulfilling ‘The President’s Duty to Communicate’: The Civil War and the Creation of the Foreign Relations of the United States Series,” in David T. Gleeson and Simon Lewis, eds., The Civil War as Global Conflict: Transnational Meanings of the Global Civil War (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2014), pages 190-210

  • Railroads and Time Consciousness in the Antebellum South,” Enterprise and Society 9 (September 2008): 433-456

  • “Desertion and Loyalty in the South Carolina Infantry, 1861-1865,” Civil War History 50 (March 2004): 47-65

  • “Desertion and Dissatisfaction in Greenville District, South Carolina: 1860-1865,” Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical Association (2001): 39-50. Reprinted in Michael Brem Bonner and Fritz Hamer, eds. South Carolina in the Civil War and Reconstruction Eras (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2016), 114-25

Reference Essays

Book Reviews

  • David Schley, Steam City: Railroads, Urban Space, and Corporate Capitalism in Nineteenth-Century Baltimore (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020), reviewed in Journal of the Civil War Era 11 (December 2021): 573-576

  • “Public Historians: Histories, Communities, and Controversies,” review of Denise Meringolo, Museums, Monuments, and National Parks: Toward a New Genealogy of Public History (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2012) and Amy Lonetree, Decolonizing Museums: Representing Native American National and Tribal Museums (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012), reviewed in Reviews in American History 41 (December 2013): 680-686

  • Randal L. Hall, Mountains on the Market: Industry, the Environment, and the South (Lexington: University Press of Virginia, 2012), reviewed in Journal of American History 100 (June 2013): 224

  • William G. Thomas, The Iron Way: Railroads, the Civil War and the Making of Modern America (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011), reviewed in Common-place (July 2012)

  • Craig Miner, The Most Magnificent Machine: America Adopts the Railroad, 1825-1862 (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2010), reviewed in Journal of Southern History 78 (May 2012): 452-453

  • Robert J. Kapsch, Historic Canals and Waterways of South Carolina (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2010), reviewed in South Carolina Historical Magazine 112 (July-October 2011): 180-181

  • Brian Schoen, The Fragile Fabric of Union: Cotton, Federal Politics, and the Global Origins of the Civil War (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009), reviewed in Technology and Culture 52 (January 2011): 201-202

  • Steven Hahn et al., eds., Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867, series 3, volume 1, Land and Labor, 1865 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008), reviewed in Journal of Southern History 76 (May 2010): 468-469

  • Bruce W. Eelman, Entrepreneurs in the Southern Upcountry: Commercial Culture in Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1845-1880 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2008), reviewed in Technology and Culture 50 (October 2009): 929-930

  • Paul Paskoff, Troubled Waters: Steamboat Disasters, River Improvements, and American Public Policy, 1821-1860 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2007), reviewed in Business History Review 83 (summer 2009): 394-395

  • Frank Byrne, Becoming Bourgeois: Merchant Culture in the South, 1820-1865 (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2006), reviewed in Civil War Book Review (spring 2008)

  • W. Scott Poole, South Carolina’s Civil War: A Narrative History (Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 2005), reviewed in South Carolina Historical Magazine 108 (April 2007): 166-167

  • Richard Follett, The Sugar Masters: Planters and Slaves in Louisiana’s Cane World, 1820-1860 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2005), reviewed in American Nineteenth Century History 8 (March 2007): 113-115

  • John C. Inscoe, ed., Appalachians and Race: The Mountain South from Slavery to Segregation (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001), reviewed in Ohio Valley History 6 (summer 2006): 71-72

  • Sean Patrick Adams, Old Dominion, Industrial Commonwealth: Coal, Politics, and Economy in Antebellum America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004), reviewed in H-Southern-Industry (August 2006)

  • Robert Angevine, The Railroad and the State: War, Politics, and Technology in Nineteenth-century America (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004), reviewed in Enterprise and Society 7 (March 2006): 210-212

  • Maury Klein, A History of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (2d ed., Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2003), reviewed in H-Tennessee (March 2005)

  • Bessie Martin, A Rich Man’s War, A Poor Man’s Fight: Desertion of Alabama Troops from the Confederate Army (1932; reprint, Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2003), reviewed in H-CivWar (August 2003)

Professional Issues

  • Co-author, with Constance B. Schulz, Page Putnam Miller, and Kevin M. Allen) of Careers for Students of History, published by the National Council on Public History and the American Historical Association (2002)

Honors and Awards

  • George Pendleton Prize, Society for History in the Federal Government; awarded to Toward Thorough, Accurate, and Reliable”: A History of the Foreign Relations of the United States Series as an outstanding major publication on the federal government’s history produced by or for a federal history program (2016)

  • Mary Elizabeth Newton Graduate Award, College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Carolina; three-year fellowship presented every other year to one Ph.D. candidate in history (2003-2006)

  • Hollis Prize, South Carolina Historical Association; awarded to the best article published by a graduate student in the Proceedings over a two-year period (2002)

Fellowships

  • Short-term fellowship, Huntington Library (2016)

  • Kate B. and Hall J. Peterson Fellowship, American Antiquarian Society (2011)

  • Program in Early American Economy and Society Short-Term Fellow, Library Company of Philadelphia (2011)

  • One-year postdoctoral fellowship, Institute for Southern Studies, University of South Carolina (2006-2007, declined)

  • Mellon Fellowship, Virginia Historical Society (2005)

  • Chandler Traveling Fellowship, Baker Library, Harvard Business School (2004)

Conference Participation - Scholarship

Papers Presented

  • “ ‘The Men of the Church Must Go by Steam’: Religion and Business in Antebellum America,” Business History Conference (Charlotte, NC; March 2020; panel met remotely due to coronavirus outbreak)

  • “Letting off Steam: American Humor and the Transportation Revolution, 1825-1860,” Popular Culture Association annual meeting (Washington, DC; April 2019)

  • “Images of Steam Transportation in Popular Culture,” Nineteenth Century Studies Association annual meeting (Fresno, CA; March 2013)

  • What Norman Saw in the West: Children and Technology during the Transportation Revolution,” Society for Historians of the Early American Republic annual meeting (Baltimore; July 2012)

  • “Publicizing Foreign Relations in Time of War: The Foundation of the Foreign Relations of the United States Series,” Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations annual meeting (Washington, DC; June 2011)

  • “Congress and the Development of the Foreign Relations of the United States Series,” Society for History in the Federal Government annual meeting (Washington, DC; March 2011)

  • “Bringing Foreign Relations to a Domestic Audience: The Civil War and the Creation of the Foreign Relations of the United States Series,” Civil War—Global Conflict conference (Charleston, SC; March 2011)

  • “ ‘This is the Way to Build Railroads’: Slavery and Railroads in Antebellum America,” American Historical Association annual meeting (New York; January 2009)

  • “Towards a Social History of the Transportation Revolution,” Organization of American Historians annual meeting (New York; March 2008)

  • “The Iron Horse Turns South: A History of Antebellum Southern Railroads,” Krooss Dissertation Prize session, Business History Conference annual meeting (Cleveland; June 2007)

  • “Railroads and the Antebellum South: Southern Exceptionalism?" Business History Conference annual meeting (Cleveland; June 2007)

  • “Slave Labor and Southern Railroads,” Southern Historical Association annual meeting (Atlanta; November 2005)

  • “Operating Early American Railroads: A Comparative Approach,” Business History Conference annual meeting (Minneapolis; May 2005; paper read in my absence due to illness)

  • “Community Relations on an Early United States Railroad,” Third International Early Railways Conference (York, England; September 2004)

  • “Filing Cabinets and the Growth of American Business,” Southeastern Museums Conference annual meeting (Mobile, AL; October 2003)

  • “Railroads and Time Consciousness in Antebellum South Carolina,” Society for the History of Technology annual meeting (Atlanta; October 2003)

  • “Time Management and Antebellum Railroads,” Southern Industrialization Project annual meeting (Nashville; September 2003)

  • “The Limits of Service in the South Carolina Infantry,” Social Science History Association annual meeting; also served as session chair (Chicago; November 2001)

  • “Desertion and Dissatisfaction in Greenville District, South Carolina: 1860-1865,” South Carolina Historical Association annual meeting (Greer, SC; March 2000)

Panel Commentator

  • “Laboring Others,” Society for Historians of the Early American Republic annual meeting (Philadelphia; July 2011)

  • “Identity, Economic Progress, and Exceptionalism in the Twentieth-Century South,” Southern Historical Association annual meeting (Baltimore; October 2011)

Conference Participation - Professional Issues

Papers Presented

  • Roundtable participant, “Finding and Loving a Government Job,” American Historical Association annual meeting (New Orleans; January 2013)

  • “Annotation, Editing and Declassification,” Association for Documentary Editing annual meeting (Philadelphia; October 2010)

  • Roundtable participant, “Putting Historical Skills to Work: Careers beyond Academe,” American Historical Association annual meeting (New York; January 2009)

  • Roundtable participant and chair, “The Education of Historians for the Twenty-First Century: What Does It Mean for Graduate Students?” American Historical Association annual meeting (Seattle; January 2005)

Panel Chair

  • “Professional Development: Turning Your Dissertation into a Book,” American Historical Association annual meeting (Chicago; January 2012)

  • “Careers in History: The Variety of the Profession,” American Historical Association annual meeting (Boston; January 2011)

  • “The Art of the Article: Advice on Publishing in Journals in the Twenty-First Century,” American Historical Association annual meeting (San Diego; January 2010)

  • “From Teaching Assistant to Tenure: The Transition from Graduate Student to Professional,” American Historical Association annual meeting (Washington, DC; January 2008)

  • “Graduate Mentoring: Issues and Perspectives,” American Historical Association annual meeting (Atlanta; January 2007)

  • “What is the Meaning of the Master’s Degree?” American Historical Association annual meeting (Philadelphia; January 2006)

Public Talks

  • Panel participant, “Historical Roots of U.S. Public Diplomacy,” USC Center on Public Diplomacy and Public Diplomacy Council, Washington, DC (April 6, 2015)

  • “What is the Meaning of the Transportation Revolution?” Georgetown University Nineteenth Century U.S. History Workshop, Washington, DC (October 22, 2012)

  • Panel participant, “Diplomatic Secrecy in the 19th Century,” Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC (December 8, 2011)

  • “Celebrating 150 Years of FRUS at Lincoln’s Cottage,” President Lincoln’s Cottage at the Soldier’s Home, Washington, DC (December 1, 2011) Part I and Part II

Editorial and Research Experience

Teaching Experience

  • Adjunct instructor, Newberry College, Newberry, SC (spring 2006)

    • United States history survey, 1865-present

  • Adjunct instructor, University of South Carolina (fall 2005-spring 2006)

    • United States history survey, 1865-present

  • Teaching assistant, University of South Carolina (fall 1999-spring 2000, fall 2003-spring 2004)

    • United States history survey, to 1865

    • United States history survey, 1865-present

    • Western civilization survey, 4000 BCE-1500 CE

Archival Experience

  • Archival intern, Wisconsin Veterans Museum, Madison, WI; cataloged visual items, answered reference requests, preserved historical posters (summer 2001)

  • Archival processing assistant, Modern Political Collections, South Caroliniana Library, Columbia, SC; cataloged visual items, composed one finding aid, and performed preliminary processing on new collections (fall 2000-spring 2001)

  • Archival processing intern, Manuscripts Division, South Caroliniana Library, Columbia, SC; assisted processing the papers and composing the finding aid for the Benjamin L. Abney collection, 40 linear feet (spring 2000)

Professional Service

  • Peer reviewer for Journal of Southern History, Enterprise and Society, Technology and Culture, Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Florida Historical Quarterly, West Virginia History, University of Virginia Press, and Liverpool University Press

  • Member, Roger R. Trask Award Committee, Society for History in the Federal Government (2014)

  • Member, Book Award Committee, National Council on Public History (2010-2013; chair, 2011-2013)

  • Member, Graduate and Early Career Committee, American Historical Association (2009-2012; chair, 2010-2012)

  • Alumni representative, Darrick Hart Award Committee, Department of History, University of South Carolina (2009)

  • Judge, National Finals, National History Day competition, College Park, MD (annually, 2007-2016, 2019-2021)

  • Invited participant, “Competencies and Credentials for Training History Professionals” conference hosted by the American Historical Association and the Johnson Foundation (May 2005, declined)

  • Member, Committee for Graduate Students, American Historical Association (2004-2007)

  • Member, Scholarship Committee, South Carolina Archival Association (2001-2002)

  • Member, Local Arrangements Committee, “Historians with an Edge” conference commemorating the 25th anniversary of the University of South Carolina Public History program (2001)

Certifications/Workshops

  • Advanced Summer Institute at the Oral History Center, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (2016)

  • Certificate of Accomplishment in Editorial Practices, Graduate School USA, Washington, DC (2010)

Professional Affiliations