Center for the Study of Tennesseans and War
It is our mission to research, preserve, and share the stories of all the people in Tennessee who have been involved in wars between 1700 and the present day. Researching these stories gives us a better understanding of how wars have shaped the contours of life in our region. People in our area have changed the fate of the world, as well. Preserving these stories helps us to study the past. Sharing these stories enables us to fulfill the mission of the University of Tennessee.
Overview
This is a military history center. We have an internship program that provides UTK students with job training in public history. We specialize in community engagement with local veteran organizations. We have substantial digital and physical archives of documents and materials pertaining to Tennessee’s military history. And we conduct oral histories with Tennessee veterans.
217 Hoskins Library
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Knoxville, TN 37996 – 4008
People
Christopher P. Magra
Professor and Director, Center for the Study of Tennesseans and War
Our Director is Chris Magra, a Professor of Early American history at the University of Tennessee. His prize-winning research has focused on the American Revolutionary War. Magra has also written articles for several academic journals, including the International Review of Social History and the New England Quarterly. He has been a research fellow at the David Library of the American Revolution, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Peabody Essex Museum, and the University of Tennessee’s Humanities Center. He has presented research papers at academic forums in Canada, the Netherlands, and throughout the United States, including the American Historical Association’s annual meeting and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History’s annual conference.
Programs
The Center runs an internship program for UT undergraduate students each fall semester. There is a list of past events at the bottom of our website. Most of these events are interviews with veterans and local speaking engagements. Our completed community engagement projects such as the UT Veterans Memorial and the Sharps Ridge Veterans Memorial Park project can be found on our community outreach page.
The Center will sponsor a one-day symposium on the military history of the Declaration of Independence to be held March 1, 2025. The event will take place at the University of Tennessee. In addition to presentations, there will be a catered lunch and a keynote address. We also plan to publish the proceedings in an edited collection. As the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence approaches, it is important to remember that this foundational document was written during a war.
“At the Center, it felt so good to be encouraged to discover what I was truly passionate about, instead of simply completing set assignments. I am so grateful that we were trusted enough to pick our own topics, and really make the projects our own. I feel like this semester has solidified not only my interest in becoming a historian, but also my interest in telling women’s stories that have been so long ignored.”
Sequoia Conkling
Intern for the Center for the Study of Tennesseans and War
Scholarship & Initiatives
- We provide two $500 scholarships for UT students in the Normandy Scholars Program.
- We have a travel fund for UT history graduate students: $2,000
- We sponsor the center’s annual Anderson Award for an exceptional UT history grad student: $1,000
- We sponsor an undergrad intern award for the best center intern: $500
- We provide $1500 of funding for the Fleming-Morrow African-American History Lecture in the Department of History.
- We provide $1500 of funding for the Bridge Program to fund a minority high school student’s visit to campus.