E-mail: cmcwhirter@papersofabrahamlincoln.org
Ph.D., U. S. History, University of Alabama,
2009 (Dissertation: “Liberty’s Great Auxiliary: Music and the American Civil
War”).
M. A., History, University of Alabama, 2003.
B. A., English & History, University of Toronto at Mississauga, 2000, Cum Laude.
Assistant Editor, The Papers of Abraham Lincoln,
2010-present.
Instructor, History Department, The University of Alabama, 2005-2008.
Historian in Residence, Teaching American History Program, The University of
Alabama, 2006-2007.
Editor, Southern Historian, 2001-2006.
Teaching Assistant, History Department, The University of Alabama, 2001-2004.
Publications
Books
Battle Hymns: The Power and Popularity of Music in the Civil War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012.
Articles
“Conversation: William W. Freehling,” Southern Historian 28 (2007): 7-31.
Essays & Reviews
Encyclopedia of the Early Republic and Antebellum America. M.E. Sharpe, forthcoming. S.vv. “Embargo Act,” “John Tyler,” “Manifest Destiny,” and “Stephen Foster.”
Review of Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues, by Elijah Wald. In Southern Historian 27 (2006): 109-110.
Review of Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War, by T. J. Stiles. In Southern Historian 25 (2004): 116-118.
Review of Lee & His Army in Confederate History, by Gary Gallagher. In Southern Historian 24 (2003): 73-74.
Review of Music and the Making of a New South, by Gavin James Campbell. In Southern Historian 26 (2005): 126-127.
Review of The Myth of the Lost Cause in Civil War History, by Gary Gallagher and Alan T. Nolan, eds. In Southern Historian 23 (2002): 101-103.
Review of Southern Music/American Music, by Bill C. Malone and David Stricklin. In Southern Historian 26 (2005): 138-140.
Review of Uncle Tom Mania: Slavery, Minstrelsy & Transatlantic Culture in the 1850s, by Sarah Meer. In Southern Historian 28 (2007): 107-109.
Review of Where the South Lost the War: An Analysis of the Fort Henry – Fort Donelson Campaign, February 1862, by Kendall D. Gott. In West Tennessee Historical Society Papers 58 (2004), 125-127.
Presentations
“A New and Quaint Species of Literature: White Interpretations of Black Music in the Civil War,” paper presented at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History annual meeting, Richmond, Virginia, October, 2011.
“The War’s Other Victor: The Civil War and American Popular Music,” paper presented at the International Association for the Study of Popular Music - US Chapter annual meeting, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 2011.
“The Confederacy’s Troubled Anthem: The Inauguration of Jefferson Davis, ‘Dixie,’ and Confederate Nationalism,” paper presented at Alabama Association of Historians annual meeting, Gulf Shores, Alabama, February 2011.
“‘The Choked Voice of a Race, at Last Unloosed’: Black Music and the American Civil War.” Southern Historical Association annual meeting, Charlotte, North Carolina, November 2010.
“The Union ‘Marseillaise’: ‘John Brown’s Body,’ The Northern War Effort, and Civil War Music.” Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association National Conference, St. Louis, Missouri, March-April 2010.
“‘Let Us Unite in the Selection of One ‘Dixie’ and upon this Be a Solid South:’ The Alabama United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Movement to Change the Words of ‘Dixie.’” Alabama Association of Historians annual meeting, Livingston, Alabama, February 2009.
Awards
David Warren Bowen Award (co-winner), Best Paper Presented at the 2011 Meeting of the Alabama Association of Historians, (2011).
Nominated for The University of Alabama Outstanding Dissertation Prize (2010).
The University of Alabama
Graduate Council Fellowship (2008).
Graduate Student Research and Travel Support Award, The University of Alabama
(2008, 2007).
Mark C. Stevens Researcher Travel Fellowship, Bentley Historical Library,
University of Michigan (2007).
Research Fellowship, Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky (2007).
Johnson Dissertation Research Fellowship, The University of Alabama (2007).
Andrew W. Mellon Research Fellowship, Virginia Historical Society (2007).
Student Government Association Research Grant, The University of Alabama (2006).
Service and Dedication Award, Southern Historian, The University of
Alabama (2006, 2005).
James E. Jacobson Award, The University of Alabama Office of Student Media
(2005).
National Golden Key Honor Society (1997).
Ontario Scholarship Award (1996).