Eleanor Congdon

Dr. Eleanor Congdon

Associate Professor

Humanities & Social Sciences

DeBartolo Hall 545

phone: (330) 941-3454

eacongdon@ysu.edu

Bio

Originally from Western Massachusetts, Dr. Congdon lived in Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Cambridge England, Florence Italy, Venice Italy, and Plymouth New Hampshire before making her career at Youngstown State University. Her research specialty is centered on the Medieval period, although she has done extensive work in other periods, particularly ancient history and late nineteenth-century America. Her subjects are within political, economic, and social topics. She still prefers subjects about agriculture (especially textiles), but she has broadened to look at industrial history (such as paper making), technological change (such as ships and gun-powder weapons), and even gender distinctions (including child-raising.) While she loves research, her primary reason for working at YSU is to teach students how to think, particularly to interpret documents about historical events.

Research Interests

Medieval Mediterranean History; the merchant of Prato, Francesco di Marco Datini; Venetian merchants in Syria in the 1480s; American Church Architecture from Civil War to WWI through the work of Henry Martyn Congdon; History of textiles and paper; researching MIA American crew and craft.

Teaching Interests

Medieval History: Europe in General; Great Britain specifically; Medieval Mediterranean; Medieval Middle East including Islamic regimes; Greek and Roman History; Pharonic Egypt; World History: World History in General; European specifically; Asia to 1500 including the Silk Road; economic history; maritime history; agricultural history, history of technology.
American History: Church architecture between 1850 and 1922; Airforce History