John Briggs
Associate Professor of History and Education

362 Huntington Hall / Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY 13244-1020
Tel. 315-443-3343/Fax. 315-443-9218
email:jbriggs@syr.edu
Homepage

Academic Specialization

American immigration history, history of education.

Education 

  1. University of Minnesota, Ph.D., 1972, History
  2. The Johns Hopkins University, M.A.T., 1961 Education and History 
  3. Hobart College, B.A., 1960 History and Psychology

Teaching, Administrative, and Professional Appointments
  1. Associate Professor of Education and History, Syracuse University (1978-   ),   Coordinator -  Social Studies         Education Program (1992 -   ),  Acting Department Chair, Cultural Foundations of Education (2002 -  )
  2. Fellow, The National Endowment for the Humanities (1977-78).
  3. Visiting Associate Professor, University of Manitoba (summer, 1977).
  4. Assistant Professor of Education and History, University of Rochester (1970-77).
  5. Associate Director of the Master of Arts in Teaching Program and Visiting Instructor, The Johns Hopkins University (1969-70).
  6. Personal research grant from the Fund for the Advancement of Education (1967-69).
  7. Research Specialist, U.S. Office of Education Research Project, "Immigration, Education and Social Change"       (1967-69).
  8. Research Assistant at the Center for Immigration Studies, University of Minnesota (1965-66).
  9. Teacher of high school history and social studies (1961-63).

Selected and Recent Publications

Books 
  1. An Italian Passage: Immigrants to Three American Cities, 1890-1930, (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1978).

Other Publications
  1. “Strategies for Success: The Tirocchis, Immigration, and the Italian American Experience” in Susan Hay, ed. From Paris to Providence: Fashion, Art, and the Tirocchi Dressmakers’ Shop, (Providence, RI. Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, 2000).
  2. "Rural School Consolidation - Implementations and Implications" - final report to U. S. Department of Education, "published" in ERIC system, 1991.
  3. "Fertility and Cultural Change among Families in Italy and America," The American Historical Review(December, 1986).
  4. With Gerald Grant, "Today's Children Are Different,"  Educational Leadership (March, 1983).
  5. "Italian American Catholics," in George Marsden ed.,  Eerdman"s Handbook to the History of Christianity in       America (Grand Rapids, 1983).
  6. "Family Structure, Education and Mobility: A Cross-Generational Approach".  A paper given in the College     of Education, University of Rochester Research Colloquium Series, 1974, and published in The Generator (newsletter of Division G of the American Educational Research Association) 4, no.3, May 1974.  
  7. "Return the Immigrant to Immigrant Studies: A New Appeal for an Old Approach."  Delivered at the 1972 conference of the Canadian Association for American Studies and published in Robert Adolph and Fred H. Matthews, eds., The Immigrant Experience in North America, (Toronto, McDonald House).
  8. "Education and Americanization of Immigrants," with Josef Barton, The Encyclopedia of Education, vol.        4, pp.542-547.

Lectures and Presentations 
  1. “Anna Tirocchi and the Italian American Experience” Symposium at the Rhode Island School of Design, March 10, 2001.
  2. "The Chazy School: A Case Study" presented at the Symposium, "Education and the Professions" sponsored by the School of Education and the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, April 1984.
  3. "A Crazy Quilt: Patterns of Schooling in the 19th Century" presented at an "Upstate Forum: Present and Future" sponsored by the Regional Conference of Historical Agencies at East Bloomfield, N.Y., May, 1982.
  4. "Emigration from Southern Italy to Rochester" a lecture given in the Italian-American Legacy Series at La Casa Italiana - Nazareth College, May, 1981.
  5. Panelist, Conference "The American Crisis of Authority in Teaching and Learning" at the Center for the Study of the American Experience, University of Southern California, January, 1981.
  6. "Another Look at the Significance of Immigrant `Cultural Baggage': The Italian Experience" presented at the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians, April, 1980.
  7. "Lower Class Italian Organizational Life in Italy and America: Perspectives on Continuity and Change" presented to a conference comparing the Italian and Jewish ethnic experience sponsored by the American Jewish Historical Society and the American Italian Historical Association, March, 1977.
  8. "Church Building in America: Divergent and Convergent Interests of Priests and Lay People in Italian-American Communities" presented to the Harwich Port - Johns Hopkins Seminar in American Religious History, 1974 and as an invited paper at the 1974 University of Notre Dame Conference on the Reinterpretation of American Catholic History.
  9. "The Great Need for Micro and Macro Comparative Approaches in Immigrant Studies", comments made at "The Immigrant Experience: Comparative Approaches" a panel held at the Duquesne History Forum, October, 1973.
  10. "Reconstructing the Old World Backgrounds of American Ethnic Leaders" delivered at the 1970 meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Book Reviews  

  1. Review of Donna R. Gabaccia, Italy’s Many Diasporas (Seattle, 2000) in The Journal of American History (December 20010.
  2. Review of Salvatore J. LaGumina, New York at Mid-Century: the Impellitteri Years (Westport, 1992) in The       `Journal of American Ethnic History (forthcoming).
  3. Review of Mark Wyman's Round-Trip to America: the Immigrants Return to Europe, 1880-1930. (Ithaca, 1993) in The American Historical Review (April, 1995).
  1. Review of John E. Zucchi, The Little Slaves of the Harp: Italian Child Street Musicians in Nineteenth-Century Paris, London and New York, (Montreal, 1992) in The Journal of American Ethnic History (Winter, 1995).
  2. Review of Bruno Ramirez, On the Move: French-Canadian and Italian Migrants in the North Atlantic     Economy, 1860-1914, (Toronto, 1991) in The American Historical Review (April 1993) .
  3. Review of Rita Cominolli, The Story of Solvay, a Remarkable Industrial/Immigrant Village (1880-1920), (Staten Island, 1990) in New York History (April, 1993).
  4. Review of Robert A. Carlson, The Americanization Syndrome: A Quest for Conformity (New York, 1987) in History of Education Quarterly (Winter, 1988).
  5. Review of Anthony L. LaRuffa, Monte Carmelo: An Italian-American Community in the Bronx (New York, 1988) in International Migration Review (Spring, 1991).
  6. Review of Gary Ross Mormino, Immigrants on the Hill:  Italian-Americans in St. Louis, 1882-1982, (Urbana, 1986) in The Journal American Ethnic History, (Spring, 1988).
  7. Review of Anthony Orsi, The Madonna of 115th Street: Faith and Community in Italian Harlem, 1880-1950, (New Haven,1985) in The American Historical Review, (December, 1986).
  8. Review of Judith Smith, Family Connections: A History of Italian and Jewish Immigrant Lives in Providence, Rhode Island, 1900-1940, (Albany, 1986) in the International Migration Review (Summer, 1987).
  9. Review of Michael LaSorte, La Marcia: Images of Italian Greenhorn Experience (Philadelphia, 1985) in The   Journal of American History (March, 1986).
  10. Review of Micaela di Leonardo, The Varieties of Ethnic Experience: Kinship, Class and Gender Among California Italian-Americans (Ithaca, 1984) in The Journal of American Ethnic History (Fall, 1985).
  11. Review of Donna R. Gabaccia, From Sicily to Elizabeth Street Housing and Social Change Among Italian Immigrants, 1880-1930 (Albany, 1984) in The American Historical Review (April, 1985).
  12. Review of Humbert S. Nelli, From Immigrants to Ethnics: The Italian Americans (New York, 1983) in The American Historical Review  (April, 1984).
  13. Review of William M.  DeMarco, Ethnics and Enclaves: Boston's Italian North End (Ann Arbor, 1981) in the Journal of American Ethnic History (Fall, 1983).
  14. Review of Dino Cinel, From Italy to San Francisco: The Immigrant Experience (Stanford, 1982) in The American Historical Review (October, 1983).
  1. Review of Patrick J. Gallo, Old Bread: New Wine: A Portrait of the Italian-Americans (Chicago, 1981) in The American Historical Review (April, 1982).
  2. Review of Virginia Yans-McLaughlin, Family and Community: Italian Immigrants in Buffalo, 1880-1930 (Ithaca, 1977) in International Migration Review (Winter, 1978).

Research Grants and Awards
  1. Institute Associate, “The 2002 Media and American Democracy Institute” (June 26-28, 2002; Syracuse University).
  2.  U.S. Department of Education Research Grant for project "Rural School Consolidation -- Implementations and Implications"  (10/01/88 - 01/31/90).
  3. Invited participant in the Harwich Port - Johns Hopkins Seminars in American Religious History, 1973, 1974,       1975, 1982.
  4. Advisor to the National Endowment for the Humanities (Reviewer of proposals for the Division of Public Programs  1978-1979).
  5. Fellowship for Independent Study and Research, National Endowment for the Humanities (1977-1978).
  6. Member of the National Advisory Council for the Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups (1975-   1977).
  7. Predoctoral fellowship, Fund for the Advancement of Education, Ford Foundation (1967-1969).