Tobias Harper, PhD INFORMATION tobias.harper@gmail.com, tharper1@providence.edu 917-453-6877, 401-865-2151 ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT HISTORY Assistant Professor of History, Providence College, 2014-present. EDUCATION PhD, history, Columbia University, May 2014 Dissertation: Orders of Merit? Hierarchy, Distinction and the British Honours System, 1917-2004. Sponsor: Susan Pedersen. Committee members: Christopher Brown, Deborah Valenze, Timothy Alborn, Guy Ortolano MPhil, history, Columbia University, 2010 Exam fields: modern British history (Susan Pedersen), early modern British history (Christopher Brown), Victorian lifewriting (Sharon Marcus), European cultural and intellectual history (Samuel Moyn) MA, history, Columbia University, 2008 Thesis: This Freedom : The British Abolition Centenary of 1933/34 and the Structure of Anti-Slavery Thought MA, history, first class honours, University of Auckland, 2007 Thesis: Keeping the Faith: Religious Belief in 1920s New Zealand. Adviser: Caroline Daley BA (hons), history, first class honours, University of Auckland, 2004 BA/BSc, history and biological science, University of Auckland, New Zealand, 2003 ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS Book manuscript in progress, Everyday Heroes. The British Honours System in the Twentieth Century The Order of the British Empire after the British Empire, Canadian Journal of History, 52, 3 (December 2017), 509-532. Voluntary Service and State Honours in Twentieth-Century Britain, The Historical Journal, 48, 2 (June 2015), 641-61. Amen, Amen! Christianity, Society and Visions of the Future in 1920s New Zealand, New Zealand Journal of History, 42, 2, (2008) 133-53. 1
BOOK REVIEWS Review of: Samuel Clark, Distributing Status, in Journal of Military History, 81, 2, April 2017, 549-51. Review of: Angela Thompsell, Hunting Africa: British Sport, African Knowledge and the Nature of Empire, in H-Empire, 31 May 2016. Review of: Dane Kennedy, The Last Blank Spaces: Exploring Africa and Australia, in H-Empire, 6 November 2014. Review of: Donald A. Yerxa, ed., British Abolitionism and the Question of Moral Progress in History, in H- Empire, 22 July 2013. Review of: Tom Brooking and Eric Pawson, eds, Seeds of Empire: The Environmental Transformation of New Zealand, in H-Empire, 23 January 2012. Review of: John Stenhouse with G.A. Wood, ed., Christianity, Modernity and Culture: New Perspectives on New Zealand History, in: New Zealand Journal of History, 40, 2, 2006, 283-4. TEACHING EXPERIENCE Assistant Professor of History, Providence College Instructor in courses on British history, imperial history (MA-level and undergraduate), historical method, and the college s core program. Member of oral exam committees for MA students in modern European history Teaching Scholar, Columbia University, Graduate School of Arts Sciences, fall 2013 Instructor of lecture course: Victorian Worlds: British Society, 1837-1901 Adjunct Instructor, Barnard College, fall 2013 Instructor of seminar course: London: From Great Wen to World City Contemporary Civilization Preceptor, Columbia University, 2012-2013 Instructor in Columbia College s core course on moral and political thought Teaching Assistant, Columbia University, 2008-2012 Courses on topics including modern South Asian history and modern European history Tutor (Teaching Assistant), University of Auckland History Department, 2005-2007 NON-ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS AND ENGAGEMENT Interview with Frank Coletta of WJAR Providence (NBC affiliate) about Brexit, 22 July 2016. A Two-tier System, History and Policy Opinion Article, 2 July 2015, online at: http://www.historyandpolicy.org/opinion-articles/articles/two-tier-system 2
Interview on Scottish Independence Referendum with WPRO News Talk Providence, 19 September 2014. Interview on Scottish Independence Referendum with WLNE-TV Rhode Island (ABC affiliate), 18 September 2014. The BBC s Alternative Honours List, History News Network, 20 February 2012, online at: http://hnn.us/articles/144615.html. FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS Providence College Committee for Aid of Faculty Research (CAFR) fellowship, 2017-2018 Providence College Interdisciplinary Faculty Seminar, Systems Spring 2016 Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Teaching Fellow, Columbia University, 2013-2014 Teagle Foundation Summer Teaching Institute, Columbia University, summer 2013 Howard and Nathalie Shawn Fellowship, Columbia University, 2013 Robert McJimsey Prize, Western Conference on British Studies, 2011 Stern Travel Grant, North American Conference on British Studies, 2011 Mellon British History Summer Seminar, 2010 British History Fellowship, Columbia University, 2008-2009 Hofstadter Fellowship, Columbia University, History Department, 2007-2012 Fowlds Memorial Prize for best MA thesis in Faculty of Arts, Auckland, 2006 Masters/Honours Scholarship, University of Auckland, 2004-2006 Annual Prize in History, University of Auckland, 2003 Senior Prize in History, University of Auckland, 2002 Tony Cotton Prize in British History, University of Auckland, 2002 PRESENTATIONS The Everyman and the Baronet, Historians at Work Seminar, Rhodes College, Memphis, 13 October 2017. Economies of Duty: Honours, Monarchy and Society, 1993 to the Present, British Studies in a Broken World, University of Birmingham, 6 July 2017. Charity, the Queen and the OBE: Philanthrocapitalism and its Rewards, Empires of Charity Workshop, Poverty Research Network, University of Warwick, 3 March 2017. The Order of the British Empire after the British Empire, Making History Lecture Series, Providence College, 18 October 2016. The Call of the Medieval: Inventing Rituals for Honours in the Twentieth Century, North American Conference of British Studies, Little Rock, Arkansas, 14 November 2015. The Imperial Origins of the Modern British Honours System, Rethinking Modern British Studies, University of Birmingham, 3 July 2015. 3
Panel Chair and Commentator: Forging identity in isolation? Technology, privacy, and public space in Modern Britain, North American Conference on British Studies, Minneapolis, 7 November 2014. Imperial Service and Imperial Honours in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, North Eastern Conference on British Studies, Bates College, 18 October 2014. Who Received What Honours in the Twentieth-century British Empire?, Mid-Atlantic Conference on British Studies, Lehman College, 5 April 2014. Harold Wilson s Lavender List of 1976 and the Idea of Corruption in Twentieth-Century British Politics, Shawn Symposium, Columbia University History Department, 16 October 2013. The Order of the British Empire at the End of Empire, Britain and the World Conference, University of Texas, Austin, 30 March 2013. The Honours System and Treasury Control in Interwar Britain, Mid-Atlantic Conference on British Studies, Lehman College, 23 March 2013. From Inappropriate to Indispensable: The Honours System in the Second World War, Columbia University Seminars: British History Seminar, Columbia University, 29 November 2012. An Audience with the Queen: Royal Investitures and the Democratization of British Honours Since 1948, The Royal Body Conference, Royal Holloway, London, 3 April 2012. Bringing Together, Falling Apart: The Post-War British Honours System, 1945-1980, North American Conference on British Studies, Denver, 20 November 2011 [Panel Organizer]. This Freedom : The British Abolition Centenary of 1933/34 and the Structure of Anti-Slavery Thought, North American Conference on British Studies, Louisville, 6 November 2009. The Creed of the Strong: Massey, Christianity and Reform Party Culture in the 1920s, Massey@Massey conference, Massey University, Palmerston North, 1 December 2006. Ghosts, God and Sherlock Holmes: Spiritualism and the Supernatural in 1920s New Zealand, New Zealand Historical Association Conference, University of Auckland, Auckland, 25 November 2005. PROFESSIONAL SERVICE Reviews editor, H-ANZAU, 2016-present Member, Providence College History Department Committee on Research, 2015-present Member, Providence College Academic Integrity board, 2015-present Manuscript reviewer for Alabama University Press, spring 2015 Journal article reviewer for New Zealand Journal of History Co-chair, Modern British History Seminar, Columbia University Seminars, 2013-2014 Research Assistant, Fritz Stern, Columbia University, 2012-2014 Columbia Graduate Historical Association co-chair, 2009-2010 4
Rapporteur, Modern British History Seminar, Columbia University Seminars, 2008-2010 Research Assistant, Susan Pedersen, Columbia University, 2008-2009 PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS American Historical Association North American Conference on British Studies New Zealand Historical Association LANGUAGES Reading knowledge of French and German REFEREES Professor Susan Pedersen, Columbia University Professor Christopher Brown, Columbia University Professor Timothy Alborn, City University of New York/Lehmann College 5