Student Publications
University of Houston
151C Communications Bldg
Houston, TX 77204-4015
713.743.5350

©1991-2007
Student Publications,
All rights reserved.

Last modified:

Contact:
ktruitt@uh.edu

News

Prof furthers colonial studies

Fellowship and MHS help UH history professor with research 
on New England, American Indians

by DEBORAH ARANDA
The Daily Cougar

A UH professor received $1,500 from the Benjamin F. Stevens fellowship to continue his research on colonial America.

Assistant history professor Todd Romero will use the money to further his work over the summer with the Massachusetts Historical Society.

"The MHS started in the 1790s and has amazing collections of early American manuscripts and books," Romero said. 

Romero, who received his undergraduate at the University of Colorado in Boulder and his Ph.D. at Boston College, plans to offer undergraduate and graduate courses on colonial American, and American Indian history at UH. 

Romero is working on two projects that focus on the history of colonial New England.

"It looks at the connections between missionary efforts, warfare and gender," Romero said.

To further his research, Romero said he will transform his dissertation, Making War and Minting Christians, into a book. The book will include Natives of the Northeast: Culture, History and the Contemporary, to be published by the University of Massachusetts Press. 

Romero's love affair with history began at an early age, even consuming his leisure time. 

"My dad would quiz me on history when we took trips in the car," he said. "I was constantly made aware of our past."

Romero has always demonstrated a strong interest in his own family history, he said, which has carried him to a successful career in academic study and research.

Through his childhood in western Colorado to his graduate studies at Boston College and finally to his research at UH, Romero discovered that in some ways colonial New England was not too different from the history of his own world. 

"These were all connections that have only been made after the fact," Romero said. "Sometimes you live questions and you were not smart enough to ask — I'm not that clever."

Romero's interest in colonization slowly grew as he became more aware of American Indian children's experiences. 

"As I read colonial records, I became more and more interested in the experience of Indian children and this interest turned into (the article) ‘Colonizing Childhood,' which MHS was nice enough to support," Romero said.

For Romero, it was surprising to learn of the treatment American Indian children endured while maintaining an Indian identity in a hostile world.

Romero said there were missionaries who put great effort into coercing native boys and girls into accepting European culture and religion. 

At the same time, these children were working as indentured servants in Anglo American homes and farms. 

"I think it is a terribly important and often overlooked topic." Romero said.

Suzanne Carroll, production assistant of the Massachusetts Historical Society, said the organization was delighted to have Romero participate as a member of its scholarly community. 

"The MHS hopes that professor Romero will be able to utilize our collections to help further his research." Carroll said.

Send comments to dcnews@mail.uh.edu