Rory T. Cornish

Professor of History

Bancroft 354

(803) 323-4692

cornishr@winthrop.edu

American Colonial History, American Revolution, Native American, Ireland

Background:

Born in London, Dr. Cornish was educated at the University of East Anglia, Davidson College, and at University College London where he was a graduate research student under Professor Ian R. Christie, F.B.A. Appointed Chair of the Winthrop History Department in 2002, a post he held until 2007, Dr. Cornish was previously the Director of the American Heritage Associates (London), and had taught at Gonzaga University, Whitman College and the University of Louisiana at Monroe where he had been Interim Head of the Department of History and Government, 1999-2002.  Dr. Cornish is presently working on a book on Lord Shelburne and America, 1763-1783.  He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, London.

Resume

Recent and Representative Publications and Presentations:

• "Lord Shelburne and His Peace: British Public Opinion and the Peace of Paris, 1780-1783, Revisited." Southern Conference on British Studies, Richmond, Virginia, 2007

• "The Irish Brigade and the Preservation of the American Union: Thomas Francs Meagher, Republicanism, Romanticism, and Modern Memory Revisited."  American Conference for Irish Studies, 45th National Conference, CUNY Graduate Center, New York City, 2007

• "The Voice of Eighteenth Century Unionism Revisited: William Knox and Irish Politics, 1774-1792." Southern Regional American Conference for Irish Studies, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, South Carolina, 2007

• "John Strype (1543-1737)," in Ellen J. Jenkins (ed) Eighteenth-Century British Historians (D.L.B.) Bruccoli, Clark, Laymen: Columbia, South Carolina, 2007

• Contributor (14 entries), G. Fremont-Barnes and R. Ryerson (eds.), The Encyclopedia of the American Revolution.  A Political, Social and Military History, 5 vols. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2006

• J. Martin Hearne and Rory T. Cornish (eds.), Thomas Francis Meagher: The Making of an Irish American. Dublin, Ireland: Irish Academic Press, 2006

• "An Irish Republican Abroad: Thomas Francis Meagher in the United States, 1852-1867." Invited keynote address on occasion of the dedication of a new equestrian statue to Meagher in Waterford, Republic of Ireland, September 2004

• Contributor (15 entries), B. Harrison and H. C. G. Matthew (eds.), The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 60 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004

Classes taught:

• 211, United States History to 1877 (3).
  A survey of political, diplomatic, economic, social, intellectual and ethnic developments through     
  Reconstruction with attention  to development of the Federal Constitution. Notes: Offered in fall.

• 212, United States History since 1877 (3).
  A survey of political, diplomatic, economic, social, intellectual and ethnic developments since
  Reconstruction with attention  to development of the Federal Constitution. Notes: Offered in spring.
  313 Native American History (3).
  Survey of Native American History from ancient American to the present. Notes: Offered variable times.

• 314, Colonial North America (3).
  History of North America from initial contact between European and Indian peoples through the eve

  of the Revolutionary War. Particular attention will be devoted to examining the changing relationships

  among European, Indian, and African peoples as well as to the internal evolution of these diverse societies.
  Notes: Offered variable times.

• 347, History of England from 1603 to the Present (3).
  A study of the history of modern England, with emphasis on her emergence as a great imperial power, from the accession of James I to the present.  Offered variable times.

• 350, Modern Ireland, 1607-1955 (3)                                                                                                                        
  A special topics class which reviews the development of modern Irish history with a special emphasis on
  constitutional versus revolutionary nationalism and  the present "Troubles" in Northern Ireland. Notes:
  Offered every two years.

• 517, American Revolution (3).  
  Explores the origins, substance, and outcome of the American Revolution from the French and Indian War

  through the Federalist Era. Particular attention will be devoted to examining the different expectations that 

  different segments of colonial society brought to the Revolution and the extent to which these hopes were 
  realized by the creation of a New Nation. Notes: Offered variable times.

• 550, Northern Ireland, 1960 - 2000 (3).
  A special topics seminar which discusses the origins of sectarian violence, political terrorism and the recent peace process in Northern Ireland.  Notes:  Offered Maymester every two years.

• 614, Colonial and Revolutionary America (3).
  A survey of U.S. History from cultural contact between Indians and Europeans through the era of the
  American Revolution.

Personal Web Page.

Last revised 25 June 2007