Helena M. Wall

Emerita Professor of History
With Pomona Since: 1984
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  • Expertise

    Expertise

    Helena M. Wall specializes in the history of early America and American social history. She teaches courses on colonial and revolutionary America, captivity and enslavement in early America, the American political tradition, history and biography and the craft of writing history.

    Research Interests

    • Social history of early America
    • Responses to the precariousness of life in early America
    • History of colonial New England

    Areas of Expertise

    • Colonial and Revolutionary America
    • American Social History
    • Early Modern European History
    • History of Family and Community
  • Work

    Work

    "'In These Meane Spaces:' Becoming Colonial in the British Atlantic," Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History (Winter, 2014)

    "Founding Fathers and Revolutionary Heirs: Review Article," Itinerario, XXXI, 3 (2007), 98-103. "Notes on Life Since A Little Commonwealth: Family and Gender History Since 1970," William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., LVII , 809-825, October 2000

    "Confessions of a British North Americanist: Borderlands Historiography and Early American History," Reviews in American History, 25. 1-12, March 1997

    "'Religion and Profit Jump Together': Review Essay," Reviews in American History, 23, 195-201, June 1995

    Fierce Communion: Family and Community in Early America (Harvard University Press, 1990; pb. 1995)

    "'My Constant Attention on My Sick Child': The Fragility of Family Life in the World of Elizabeth Drinker," in Childhood in Colonial North America (J. Marten, ed., New York University Press, 2006)

    "Domestic Life, 1750-1830," Encyclopedia of the New American Nation (P. Finkelman, ed., 3 vols., Scribners, 2005)

    "All Things Considered: Review Essay: Digital Archive of Evans' Early American Imprints," American Quarterly, 57, 475-483, June 2005

    "Individual Rights and Responsibilities in Tocqueville's America" in Democracy in America: A Tocqueville Reader (S. Gordon ed., California Council on the Humanities, 1994)

    "Feminism and the New England Hospital, 1949-1961," American Quarterly, XXXII, 435-452, 1980

  • Education

    Education

    Ph.D.
    Harvard University

    Master of Arts
    Harvard University

    Bachelor of Arts
    Brandeis University

    Recent Courses Taught

    • Culture of Early America
    • Doing History
    • History/Biography/Autobiography
    • Revolutionary America, 1750-1800
    • Senior Comprehensives in History
    • Summer Reading & Research in History
    • The American Political Tradition
    • US Colonial Era to Gilded Age
    • Critical Inquiry Seminar
  • Awards & Honors

    Awards & Honors

    Pomona College Wig Distinguished Professorship Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2008; Pomona College, Graves Award, 1988-1989

    National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Fellowship, 1985

    National Endowment for the Humanities, Fellowship, 1988-1989

    Harvard University, Charles Warren Center, Fellow, 1988-1989

    Huntington Library, Mayer Fellow/Short-Term Fellowship, 2003-2004

    Pomona College, Sontag Research Fellowship, 2003-2004

    John Randolph and Dora Haynes Foundation, Faculty Fellowship, 1986 & 1990-1991