Johnson awarded Yale fellowship
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Tim Johnson |
Dr. Timothy Johnson was chosen by Yale's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library to receive the Archibald Hanna Jr. Fellowship in American History for study next March, said Dr. Frank M. Turner, John Hay Whitney Professor of History and director of the Beinecke library.
Johnson is professor of history and chair of Lipscomb's Department of History, Politics and Philosophy. He will conduct research in the Beinecke's Western Americana Collection for a book he is writing on the Mexico City Campaign during the Mexican War, to be published by the University Press of Kansas.
"Despite a growing interest in the Mexican War over the past decade, it remains one of the least studied conflicts in American history, and the Mexico City Campaign has never been the subject of a scholarly study," Johnson said.
Many young officers in Mexico went on to prominent roles in the American Civil War.
"Robert E. Lee played such a crucial role in several of the battles. He was Scott's eyes and ears, providing reconnaissance and scouting, and advising Scott on what to do," Johnson said.
The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library offers short-term fellowships to support visiting scholars pursuing post-doctoral or equivalent research in its collections, and includes a $3,000 stipend for living expenses.
The Beinecke Library is Yale University's principal repository for literary papers and for early manuscripts and rare books in the fields of literature, theology, history and the natural sciences, according to its website (www.library.yale.edu/beinecke/).
Johnson has been a member of the Lipscomb faculty since 1991 and was appointed department chair in 2002. He is author of Winfield Scott: A Quest for Military Glory (University Press of Kansas, 1998), and was featured last year in an installment on the Battle of Franklin for the History Channel's "Civil War Combat" series.
He co-edited, with Nathaniel Cheairs Hughes, A Fighter From Way Back: the Mexican War Diary of Lt. Daniel Harvey Hill (Kent State University Press, 2002). He is also a former declassification archivist for the U.S. Air Force Historical Research Center, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Ala.