Mary C. Kelly Ph.D.

History Department; Humanities Division

Teaching Areas:

• Modern United States: Cultural/Intellectual, Women’s, Immigrant, Irish-American, Religion and Politics
• Modern Ireland

Professor Kelly pictured in August 2003 at one of the original Famine villages near Knockmore, Clare Island, County Mayo, Ireland.

“My teaching interests include a variety of Modern American surveys and upper-level courses in Cultural, Intellectual, Women’s, Immigration and Ethnic History. As students are introduced to the personalities and events shaping American history, they are drawn to the interplay of diversity, gender, race, politics and ethnicity. They start to think in new and exciting ways about the influence of history and its lessons for us today. Offering a Women's History upper-level course dovetails with my involvement in the Women in Leadership program, and I have lately begun to explore connections between politics and religion in the classroom. The history of Ireland also finds its way into our curricular offerings from time to time.”

Dr. Kelly was honored with Faculty Appreciation Awards from the Franklin Pierce University Class of 2012, Class of 2011 and Class of 2009; and the Faculty of the Year award in 2002. Beyond her History Departmental course offerings, her pedagogical interests include the First Year Experience, curricular assessment, and FPU’s New England Center for Civic Life.

Professional Memberships

• American Conference for Irish Studies
• American Historical Association
• American Irish Historical Society
• Canadian Association for Irish Studies
• New Hampshire Women in Higher Education Leadership Network
• Phi Alpha Theta

Professor Kelly pictured beside the Ancient Order of Hibernians and Ladies Auxiliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians memorial to Famine Irish emigrants lost when the brig St. John went down off Cohasset, Mass. in 1849; less than a day's sail out from Boston."

Research Interests

• Ireland’s Great Famine: History, Memory and Legacy
• 19th Century Irish New York and Archbishop John Hughes
• 19th Century and Modern Irish-America

Current Research and Recent Publications

 Outside the classroom, Dr. Kelly is researching Irish Famine memory in the U.S. and 19th Century ethnic Irish leadership and intellectual progress.

Books:

• Accursed Memory: Ireland's Great Famine and the Course of Irish-American Identity (working title). In process, 2012.
• The Shamrock and the Lily: The New York Irish and the Creation of a Transatlantic Identity, 1845-1921. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2005.

Book Chapters/Articles: Select List 

• "Mass Imperatives and Fateful Decisions: The Boston Irish in the Famine Decade." Working title. Article in process (2013).
• “’A Sentinel of Our Liberties’: Archbishop John Hughes and Irish-American Intellectual Negotiation in the Civil War Era”. Irish Studies Review 18, no. 2, Summer 2010.
• “The Great Famine, Irish-American Transition, and a Century of Intellectual and Cultural History.” Ireland’s Great Hunger: Vol. II, ed. David A. Valone. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, November 2009.

Reviews: Select List

• The Journal of American History. Fall 2012, forthcoming.
• The Irish Literary Supplement: A Review of Irish Books. Fall 2012, forthcoming.
• John Patrick Montaño. The Roots of English Colonialism in Ireland. The Irish Literary Supplement: A Review of Irish Books; forthcoming, Fall 2012.
• David Emmons. The Irish in the West. Spring 2011: The American Historical Review
• Angela F. Murphy. American Slavery, Irish Freedom: Abolition, Immigrant Citizenship, and the Transatlantic Movement for Irish Repeal. Spring 2011: The Journal of American History
• Eileen Moore-Quinn. New England Folklore. Irish Literary Supplement: A Review of Irish Books. Spring 2011
• Article manuscript reviews; American history journal, Fall 2010
• American history text proposal review for a university press, October 2010
• American history text review for an academic publisher, Dec. 2009-Jan. 2010
• Barry Vann. In Search of Ulster-Scots Land: the Birth and Geotheological Imagings of a Transatlantic People. H-Albion -H-Net. British and Irish History, July 2009

Professional Development, Presentations and Conference Attendance

Prof. Kelly pictured harbor side in Halifax, Nova Scotia, at the Canadian Association for Irish Studies Conference in May 2010

“Regular conference presentations enliven the academic year and allow me to connect with colleagues engaged in research projects similar to mine. American Conference for Irish Studies meetings are particularly beneficial, and I enjoy visiting favorite archives such as New York's American Irish Historical Society. Serving as a consultant and textbook reviewer and attending New Hampshire Women in Higher Education Leadership meetings expand my professional interests in interesting directions.”

Recent Conferences:

• Invited Panel Commentator.  Southern History Association, Mobile, AL; November 2012
• Invited Panelist, “Texts and Textualities in Irish-America.” New England Regional ACIS, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT; October 20, 2012
• Invited Panel Commentator: Session 7: “Relief and Charity.” New England Historical Association Conference, Rivier College, NH, April 21, 2012
• Presenter, “Mass Imperatives: The Hierarchy, the Press, and the Boston Irish in the 1840s.” ACIS International Conference, New Orleans, March 15, 2012
• New English Historical Association Fall Conference. Panel Commentator: "Memory and Memorials." Emmanuel College, Boston, Oct. 29, 2011.
• American Conference for Irish Studies-International Meeting. “’The Church has no politics’: Archbishop John Hughes and his Irish-American Intellectual Agenda.” University of Wisconsin-Madison, April 1, 2011
• ACIS New England. “Founding Father: Archbishop John Hughes and the Making of Irish-America.” Framingham State University, November 13, 2010
• Canadian Association for Irish Studies. “A Century of Discontent: Great Famine Memory and the Evolution of Modern Irish-American Identity.” Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 21, 2010
• NEEAN. “ Closing the Assessment Loop.” College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Mass., Nov. 5, 2010
• Remarkable Irish Women: Radicals, Republicans and Writers Conference. “Gendering the Famine Agenda: Irish-American (and Irish) Women, Famine Memory, and the Reconfiguration of Irish-American Identity.” Drew University, June 19, 2009
• New Hampshire Women in Higher Education Leadership Network; Conference, “Leading Alone, Leading Together: Navigating through Tough Economic Times,” Plymouth State University, NH, April 17, 2009
  
  Service: (select listing)
  
  
• Strategic Plan Goal 1 Action Team Member 2011-
• Faculty Affairs Committee Elected Member, 2011-2014
• Academic Standards Governance Committee; 2002-2010. Chair: March 30, 2009-August 2010
• Trust and Transparency Committee; April-May 2009
• Chair, Standard. 3: Organization & Governance, NEASC Accreditation Self-Study: 2007-2008
• Women in Leadership Steering Committee; 2004-
• American Studies Faculty; 1998-
• IC210 American Experience Course Coordinator; 2005-2010

Professor Kelly lives with husband Mike and daughter Eileen in nearby Keene, N.H. They continue to enjoy the occasional sojourn in the West of Ireland.