MU awards first-ever Goodrich Graduate Research Assistantship
Friday morning at the State Historical Society of Missouri, the James W. Goodrich Graduate Research Assistantship in Missouri History was awarded for the first time. A memorial tribute to the Society’s director of 20 years (1985-2004), the fund supports a research assistantship at the society for a graduate student whose work focuses on Missouri history.
Goodrich worked as a historian, writer and preservationist and also served on the Columbia City Council. The memorial was created when he retired, and it recently has been built with gifts. The tribute is a fitting one; Goodrich began his career as a graduate research assistant in the Western Historical Manuscript Collection, a partner institution of the society.
During his time at the society, Goodrich expanded the collection, preservation and publication of historical records. He edited four books and 37 volumes of the Missouri Historical Review. In addition to starting an oral-history program, Goodrich strengthened the nationally significant art collection. Throughout his time, he wrote dozens of articles and gave hundreds of talks, mostly based on primary sources from the society’s holdings.
The recipient of the first assistantship is Roger E. Robinson, a first-year doctoral student in history at Mizzou. Robinson, from Little Rock, Ark., recently retired as a major in the U.S. Air Force and wants to pursue a career as a historian and teacher. Robinson’s work centers on research for a book of the artist George Caleb Bingham’s letters and writings. The society plans to publish it in 2011, the bicentennial of Bingham’s birth. During his career, Goodrich was responsible for procuring several Bingham portraits, making the assistantship a special match.
For more information, please visit the State Historical Society’s Web site.
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