Professor Theodore J. Karamanski Retires after 45 Years of Distinguished Service to ÎçÒ¹AV
Dr. Theodore Karamanski toasting ÎçÒ¹AV graduates, May 2023
By Anna Wilmhoff
This December, Professor Theodore (Ted) J. Karamanski is retiring from the Department of History after an extraordinary, award-winning 45-year career at ÎçÒ¹AV.
Through his leadership, scholarship, and teaching, Professor Karamanski helped launch, define, and grow the field of public history, both at ÎçÒ¹AV and nationally. He was present at the creation of the National Council on Public History in 1980 and became its president in 1989. He started ÎçÒ¹AV’s graduate program in 1980, the first of its kind in the Midwest, and he pursued public history projects in the Chicago region and across the nation. Each project sought to use historical research and interpretations to make history accessible to a broader public in settings like museums, historic sites, national parks, and (eventually) digital platforms.
ÎçÒ¹AV’s graduate program in public history is now nationally recognized and thriving. It has grown considerably through the efforts of Drs. Karamanski and Patricia Mooney-Melvin, who arrived at ÎçÒ¹AV in 1991. Together, they created the joint PhD Program in Public History and American History.
Among his many awards, Dr. Karamanski was named ÎçÒ¹AV’s “Professor of the Year” in 2003. More recently, he has received prestigious national awards, including the from the National Council on Public History in 2021; the American Historical Association’s , also in 2021; and the Midwestern History Association’s for Lifetime Achievement in Midwestern History in 2018. Each recognizes the exceptional contributions of Dr. Karamanski to the field of public history.
Early Years at ÎçÒ¹AV, Building Public History
Dr. Karamanski has been a member of the ÎçÒ¹AV community for over fifty years. He transferred to ÎçÒ¹AV from a local community college in 1972, graduated with a BA in History in 1975, and went on to earn a PhD in History in 1979.
As an undergraduate, Dr. Karamanski pursued a history degree with the aim of becoming a history teacher. But he gravitated towards broader approaches to history thanks to a job working in security and visitor services at the Field Museum. The position introduced him to the field of historical archaeology, and he learned “a different way of doing history,” as he described in an interview.
Dr. Karamanski in 1979.
While finishing his dissertation at ÎçÒ¹AV, Dr. Karamanski worked for an architectural firm as a consultant in historical archaeology and historic preservation. Soon after winning a grant to do an archeological survey for the Cook County Forest Preserve, Dr. Robert McCluggage, then Chair of the History Department, offered Dr. Karamanski a one-year teaching position in 1979 and the chance to establish a public history program at ÎçÒ¹AV. He modeled his proposal on his work at the architectural firm, which consisted of consulting, archeology projects, and historic preservation projects. Soon after, he launched the MA program in Public History and, with Dr. David J. Keene in the Anthropology Department, created the Mid-American Research Center, through which contracts for public history projects could be managed. Six years later, Dr. Karamanski had a more permanent position at ÎçÒ¹AV, earning tenure in 1987.
In this same period, Dr. Karamanski became a leader in the National Council on Public History. Present at NPCH’s first conference in Pittsburgh, Dr. Karamanski remembers being “the youngest person there.” He met Drs. Robert Kelley and G. Wesley Johnson, founders of the public history program at the University of California Santa Barbara, who advised on the ÎçÒ¹AV curriculum. Dr. Johnson invited Dr. Karamanski to serve on the first Board of Directors of NCPH, and he was later elected President in 1989.
Shaping the Field of Public History Through Scholarship and Projects
As a scholar, Dr. Karamanski has published eleven books on a broad range of subjects in 19th and 20th century American history. While researching his first book, Fur Trade and Exploration: The Opening of the Far Northwest (1983), he paddled a canoe through parts of Canada to get a feel for his subject. Ethics and Public History: An Anthology (1990) was the first such book addressing critical ethical questions in the field. Civil War Chicago: Eyewitness to History (2014) was co-authored with his wife, historian Eileen M. McMahon, Professor of History at Lewis University, and won the award for best book of the year from the Illinois State Historical Society. His latest book, Mastering the Inland Seas: How Lighthouses, Navigational Aids, and Harbors Transformed the Great Lakes and America (2020), brings together considerable scholarship from his long-time work with the Chicago Maritime Society.
Dr. Karamanski has also written 35 articles for various journals and produced 29 technical reports on historical topics for government agencies ranging from the City of Chicago to the National Park Service. He has been a consultant on numerous museum exhibitions and served as an expert witness in court cases ranging from Montana to Michigan. He has been featured in two-dozen media productions, including National Geographic, the BBC, and the History Channel. In 2015, he went international, traveling to the People’s Republic of China to train local historians in public history methods.
Dr. Karamanski is most proud of his many public history projects, which he often translated into academic publications. Through these projects, he secured well over $1 million in external funding for ÎçÒ¹AV, much of which went to support graduate research assistantships in public history.
Supporting ÎçÒ¹AV Students
After over fifty years in classrooms at ÎçÒ¹AV, Dr. Karamanski found that one of the most rewarding aspects of his job is working with students. He especially enjoyed teaching undergraduate courses in American Indian history, the Civil War, and the Vietnam War. For forty years, he taught Management of Historic Resources at the graduate level, with students producing countless nominations to add to the National Register of Historic Places. And Dr. Karamanski has mentored hundreds of students in both the MA and PhD public history programs, helping them find internships and employment in local, state, and national historical organizations, ranging from the Chicago History Museum to the National Park Service.
Indeed, Dr. Karamanski’s colleagues recognize his commitment to his students as one of his greatest strengths. Dr. Elizabeth Fraterrigo, Associate Professor of History and public history colleague, explained: “Dr. Karamanski has always demonstrated a commitment to helping students develop the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind that will allow them to succeed as public historians…Especially striking are the efforts he has made to help students build professional networks as well as community here at ÎçÒ¹AV.”
Dr. Patricia Mooney-Melvin said of her longtime colleague that “He has been unwavering in his commitment to students and his sense of obligation to them. On campus, he created a welcoming space for students, hosted an annual get together at his house for students and their partners, and participated in student conferences. He challenged his students to see themselves as historians while in graduate school and valued their contributions…I can’t imagine a better colleague with whom to spend 35 years.”
Dr. Karamanski, on his annual historic preservation field trip in 2019, stands with students in front of the entrance to Pullman National Historical Park.
In his retirement, Dr. Karamanski plans to travel more. He has recently begun giving historical lectures on various cruise lines around the world, allowing travel to new locales and new historical adventures. He will also continue to serve as a historian for the Chicago Maritime Museum, a pet project since 1982.
Known by his students and colleagues as “TK,” Dr. Ted Karamanski displayed throughout his years a down to earth quality, dogged work ethic, and a desire to make history relevant to broader audiences. The History Department will miss him greatly.
