Robert Smith

About Robert Smith

Mr. Smith joined the History Faculty at PSU in 2015. He teaches courses in US and World History.

Education

• MA, History, Pittsburg State University, May 2014. Thesis, Types of Mankind - Scientific Racism in the United States Scientific Community in the 19th Century
• BA, Librarianship + Russian, Brighton Polytechnic,  June 1980

Courses Taught

• HIST 101 - World History to 1500
• HIST 202 - American History from 1865

Current Research Projects

• History of Joplin Jalopy - a B-24 Liberator "purchased" by the City of Joplin, MO during WWII and briefly exhibited in Joplin After the War
• Montague Reaney Chidson - A British Army officer. The first man to engage in aerial combat over the United Kingdom (during World War i, on Christmas Day 1914),  later still a member of the British Secret Service (SOE, MI5 and MI6) before, during and after the Second World War.

Interests 

• Early World History
• History of Military Aviation
• Black History and the History of Scientific Racism in the United States
• History of the United States Eugenics movement

Publications and Presentations

• Rambles in the Air (Blog) https://airbornerambler.wordpress.com
• Joplin's Bomber (Blog)  https://joplinjalopyblog.wordpress.com/
• "Of One Being with the Father: Scientific Racism in the United States Scentific Community in the 19th Century" Phi Alpha Theta Annual Conference, March 2014.
• "Cousin America: British Attitudes to the American Revolution" Joplin Kiwanis, July 2018
• "The Meopham Air Crash, 90 years on"  BBC TV South East News interview,  July 2020

Memberships

• Organization of American Historians