Grinspan, 1
Jon Grinspan
Curator of Political History
National Museum of American History
Smithsonian Institution
202-633-3788
Education
Ph.D.University of Virginia, History, 2013 (Advisor: Gary W. Gallagher).
M.A.University of Virginia, History, 2008 (Advisor: Michael F. Holt).
B.A.Sarah Lawrence College, 2006 (Advisor: LydeSizer)
Publications
Books
The Virgin Vote: How Young Americans Made Democracy Social, Politics Personal, and Voting Popular in the Nineteenth Century, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2016).
Awarded the Smithsonian Institution Secretary’s Research Prize, 2017.
Scholarly Articles and Book Chapters
Chapters in The New York Times Disunion: A History of the Civil War, Ed. Edward L. Widmer, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016).
“A Birthday like None Before: Turning Twenty-One in the Age of Popular Politics,” Age in America: The Colonial Era to the Present, Ed. Corinne Field (New York: New York University Press, 2015), 86-102.
“Sorrowfully Amusing: The Popular Comedy of the Civil War,”
Journal of the Civil War Era, (September, 2011), 313-338.
“Young Men for War: The Wide Awakes and Lincoln’s 1860 Campaign,”
Journal of American History, (September, 2009), 357-378.
General History Articles
“Can Teenagers Save America? They’ve Done it Before,” New York Times, March 26, 2018.
“The Right to Vote is Never Safe,” New York Times, November 5, 2017.
“The High Price of Presidential Impeachment,” The Atlantic, May 30, 2017.
General History Articles continued
“Democracy Could Use a Drink,” New York Times, November 27, 2016.
“Closely Watched Ballots, New York Times, August 24, 2016.
“How Generational Divisions Have Driven Down Voter Turnout,” The Atlantic, July 30, 2016.
“Sex and Politics in the 19th Century,” The Daily Beast, May 28, 2016.
“America’s Violent Little Partisans,” The Atlantic, May 5, 2016.
“Virgins, Booze, and American Elections,” New York Times, April 8, 2016.
“When Anger Trumped Progress,” New York Times, January 16, 2016.
“The KKK’s Failed Comeback,” What it Means to Be American, November 24, 2015.
“To Stop an Endless Cycle of Corruption, History Says Fix the System, Not the Politician,”Smithsonian, October 27, 2015.
“D.I.Y. Education Before YouTube,” New York Times, June 11, 2015.
“Was Abolitionism A Failure?” New York Times, January 30, 2015.
“The Voter Indicators of the Past,” Smithsonian, November 4, 2014.
“Don’t Throw the Bums Out,” New York Times, September 12, 2014.
“How Coffee Fueled the Civil War,” New York Times, July 10, 2014.
“The Wild Children of Yesteryear,” New York Times, May 31, 2014.
“The First (Disastrous) March on Washington,”Smithsonian, May 1, 2014.
“The American Lecture Circuit before SXSW and TED,” Smithsonian, March 19, 2014.
“Anxious Youth, Then and Now,” New York Times, January 1, 2014.
“When the Civil War Came to New York,” New York Times, July 14, 2013.
“Riling Up the ‘Shrewd, Wild Boys,’” New York Times, August 10, 2012.
“The Stephen Colbert of the Civil War,” New York Times, June 11, 2012.
“Laugh During Wartime,” New York Times, January 10, 2012.
“Miscellaneous Foods in a Feverish Haste,” Gastronomica, August, 2011, 84-87.
“The Inebriated Election of 1840,” The American Spectator, October, 2008, 42-43.
“The Jeep, the Humvee, and How War Has Changed,” American Heritage, Aug 1, 2007.
“Jerusalem’s American Landmark,” American Heritage Magazine, 1 June 2007.
“The Woman Who Won the West,” American Heritage, May 27, 2007.
“Did Aaron Burr Try to Take Over Half of America?” American Heritage. May 22, 2007.
General History Articles continued
“Pearl Harbor Avenged,” American Heritage, April 18, 2007.
“How Ayatollah Khomeini Changed the World,” American Heritage, February 1, 2007.
“Israeli Military History,” Military History Magazine, January/February 2007.
“Trying to Assassinate President Jackson,” American Heritage, January 30, 2007.
“The Humiliation of Joseph McCarthy,” American Heritage, December 2, 2006.
“America’s Worst Immigration War,” American Heritage, November 4, 2006.
“International Terrorism, 1985,” American Heritage, 7 October 2006.
“Fast-Food Nation or Gourmet Nation?” American Heritage, September 12, 2006.
“The Last Gold Rush,” American Heritage, August 17, 2006.
“The Bomb: First Impressions,” American Heritage, August 7, 2006.
“Enter George McClellan – Hero,” American Heritage, July 26, 2006.
“The Fourth of July versus Bastille Day,” American Heritage, July 4, 2006.
“Attack on Iraq’s Nuclear Plant,” American Heritage, June 7, 2006.
Book Reviews
ComicDemocracies:From Ancient Athens to the American Republic, by Angus Fletcher, Journal of American History, (September, 2017).
Museum Exhibitions, Public Programs, and Collecting
Consulting Curator, “American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith” exhibition, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, (2015 – Present).
Curator, American Experiments, Social interactives attached to “The Nation We Build Together” wing, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, (2016 – Present).
Collaborator, Food History Program, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, 2016 to Present.
Collaborator, American Now, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, 2016 – Present.
Contemporary Collecting of Political Objects, 2016 Presidential Campaign and 2017 political events, (February 2016 – Present).
Awards and Fellowships
Smithsonian Secretary Research Prize, 2017, for The Virgin Vote.
Smithsonian Institution Jefferson Fellow, National Museum of American History,
May 2015 – July 2015.
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, Massachusetts Historical Society, 2014.
Smithsonian Institution Postdoctoral Fellow, National Museum of American History, 2013 – 2014.
Jefferson Scholars Foundation, Dissertation Year Fellow, 2012-2013.
Lynde and Harry Bradley Fellow, 2012
Lynde and Harry Bradley Fellow, 2010-2011.
University of Virginia Corcoran Department of History Fellows, 2009-2010.
Archibald Craige Fellow for the Study of the American Civil War, 2007-2008.
Invited Talks
Speaker, “New Perspectives on the Civil War,” Virginia Festival of the Book,
University of Virginia, March 23, 2017.
Speaker, “The Virgin Vote: When Young People Used to Vote,"
Sweet Briar College, March 21, 2017.
Speaker, “When Young People Participated,” Smithsonian University Inauguration Weekend, National Museum of American History, January 20, 2017.
Speaker, “The 19th Century Political Saloon,” The Great History of American Brewing, National Museum of American History, October 29, 2016.
Speaker, “Who’s Choosing the President? Politics as Performance,”
C.V. Starr Center, Washington College, October 26, 2016.
Speaker, “Youth Vote: Past, Present, and Future,”
Rutgers University, Camden NJ, October 13, 2016.
Speaker, “The Virgin Vote,”
Cornell University, September 22, 2016.
Speaker, “The Virgin Vote,”
Massachusetts Historical Society, September 21, 2016.
Invited Talks continued
Speaker, “The 2016 Election: Present Observations, Historical Perspectives,”
Sarah Lawrence College, September 19, 2016.
Speaker, “Young People Just Don’t Vote,” American Now Event,
National Museum of American History, June 18, 2016.
Speaker, “Young People’s Political Clubs and 19th Century Material Culture,”
National Museum of American History Colloquium, August 4, 2015.
Speaker, “Youth Voting,” Smithsonian Institution Youth Advisory Council,
National Museum of American History, July 24, 2015.
Speaker, “The Virgin Vote: Young Americans in the Age of Popular Politics,” Massachusetts Historical Society, July 23, 2014.
Featured Speaker, “Campaigning in the Age of Popular Politics,” at “Political Machines” Smithsonian Institution Symposium, November 3, 2012.
Roundtable Discussion, “The History of Misunderstanding,” University of Virginia History Graduate Student Conference, 2008.
Presenter, Eastern Sociological Society conference, Philadelphia, February 2003.
Interviews
Interviews for Smithsonian Channel documentary “Drinks, Crime and Prohibition,” June 11-12, 2018.
Interview with Backstoryradio show, “Teen Activists: A History of Youth Politics and Protest” episode, April 13, 2018.
Interview with Backstory radio show, “Call to Arms: Enlistment in America” episode,” May 26, 2017.
Interviewed by Kevin Coyne, for “Public, Partisan, and Passionate” profile in Sarah Lawrence Magazine, Spring 2018.
Interview with Evan Osnos for The New Yorker, “The Political Artifacts of 2016,” August 22, 2016.
Interview with SiriusXM Stand Up with Pete Dominick, “History of Youth Politics and Generational Identity,” August 3, 2016
Interviews continued
Interview with CNN, Collecting Material Political Culture at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, July 27, 2016.
Interview for Public Radio Program “Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane,” Collecting Material Political Culture at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, July 27, 2016.
Interview with PBS, Collecting Material Political Culture at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, July 27, 2016.
Interview with the Kitchen Sisters Radio Producers, aired on Morning Edition, “If War Is Hell, Then Coffee Has Offered U.S. Soldiers Some Salvation,” July 25, 2016.
Interview with C-SPAN, Collecting Material Political Culture at the 2016 Republican National Convention, July 20, 2016.
Interview with NBC, Collecting Material Political Culture at the 2016 Republican National Convention, July 20, 2016.
Interview for Wisconsin Public Radio Program The Kathleen Dunn Show, “Virgin Voters: The History of Voting Among America’s Youth,” June 14, 2016.
Interview with The Mike Slater Radio Show, “The Virgin Vote,” May 26, 2016.
Interview with NBC Meet the Press, “History of Youth Politics,” May 11, 2016.
Interview with Art of Manliness Podcast, “The Virgin Vote,” April 28, 2016.
Interview for Public Radio Program “Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane,” The Youth Vote,” April 21, 2016.
Interview with Alexander Heffner’s The Open Mind, PBS, “The Virgin Vote,” April 9, 2016.
Interview for Public Radio Program “Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane,” aired June 30, 2014.
Interview for Public Radio Program “Here & Now,” aired January 9, 2014.
Interview for Christian Post, January 7, 2014.
Interview for Newsday, July 17, 2013.
Teaching
University of Virginia, HIUS 4501: Barbecue, Beer, and Ballots: The Culture of American Political Campaigns, Capstone Seminar for History Majors, Instructor, Fall 2011.
University of Virginia, HIEU 2102: Modern Jewish History, Teaching Assistant, Spring 2012.
University of Virginia, HIUS 2002: History of the United States 1865 to the Present, Teaching Assistant(led three large discussion sections), Spring, 2010.
University of Virginia, HIUS 2051: American Military History to 1900, Teaching Assistant (led three large discussion sections),Fall 2009.
University of Virginia, HIUS 307: The Coming of the Civil War, Teaching Assistant, Fall 2007.
University of Virginia, HIUS 309: Civil War and Reconstruction, Teaching Assistant, 2007 –2008.
Sarah Lawrence College, Middle Eastern History, Teaching Assistant, 2004.
Research and Editing
Research for Elizabeth Varon, Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013).
Research for James Loeffler, Rooted Cosmopolitans: Human Rights and Jewish Politics in the Twentieth Century, (New Haven, Yale, Forthcoming), 2011-2012.
Research for Stephen Cushman, Belligerent Muse: Five Northern Writers and How they Shaped Our Understanding of the Civil War, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2014).
Assistant Editor, The Saddam Tapes(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011).
Research Associate, Miller Center of Public Affairs, Charlottesville VA, 2009.
Research Associate, Institute for Defense Analyses, Alexandria VA, 2008.