Katherine Jellison leaves her own imprint on history at OHIO

White House reporters have Dr. Katherine Jellison on speed dial. But her life’s work lies far afield of the nation’s bustling seat of power. In Appalachian Ohio, her leadership has touched generations of students and colleagues.

Professor Jellison joined the History Department faculty in 1993 and went on to chair the department of nationally recognized scholars for eight years, retiring next month after 32 years at Ohio University. In addition to regularly teaching Women’s History, Jellison has taught on an array of topics in United States history, ranging from Ohio History to Native American History to modern U.S. political, social and cultural history.

While Jellison authored more than her fair share of journal articles and books, she was also a feet-on-the-ground historian.

Always ready to share history with others

You might find her standing on the Kennedy Museum portico at The Ridges sharing ghost stories with middle school students. Or at the Sherman House Museum in Lancaster talking with alumni about the Civil War era. Or welcoming Chief Glenna J. Wallace , the first women elected as the Chief of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe, to campus for a keynote at a conference on the early settlement of Ohio. Or designing the Women’s History Tour of Athens.

You might also find her standing solemnly under the Richmond Avenue Bridge with her graduate student Jordan Zdinak, whose research brought to light the 1881 lynching of Albany resident Christopher Davis. More than 100 community members came together in 2020 to dedicate a marker on Mulberry Street and gather a jar of soil from the site to be sent to the Legacy Museum in Alabama.

Most recently, Jellison balanced restarting the Central Region Humanities Center at OHIO while analyzing Depression-era records on consumer purchases along with diaries, memoirs and newspaper accounts of the Old Order Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. At the time, the order was the most economically and culturally stable agricultural community in the nation, thanks to the integral role of women.

A pioneering scholar on women’s role in U.S. history

Jellison is one of the most-quoted historians when it comes to gender and power and first ladies in the White House. But her pioneering scholarship dives deep into the rural women and their role in American history.

Jellison has a research portfolio developed around rural residents, particularly women, who helped build the U.S. consumer culture during the 20th century. Her first book, " Entitled to Power: Farm Women and Technology, 1913-1963 ," focuses on farm-based consumers. She has published numerous journal articles and book chapters on rural consumers of farm equipment, household appliances, commercialized entertainment and recreation, wartime propaganda, mass-produced clothing, and products and services of medical practitioners.

In her second book, " It's Our Day: America's Love Affair with the White Wedding, 1945-2005 ," Jellison shifts to a largely urban perspective to examine the nation's transition from home-based to big-business weddings.

Her latest book, " Amish Women and the Great Depression ," goes back to Jellison's rural roots. She collaborates with co-author Steven Reschly of Truman State University to examine how Depression-era Amish women struck a balance between production and consumption to retain their family farms despite the economic crisis. The quantitative framework for their book involved a massive New Deal consumer study and interviews with 300,000 wives and mothers conducted by Works Progress Administration employees in 1935-36.

A continuing OHIO legacy

Jellison’s generosity and commitment to Ohio University has been most recently evidenced in her creation of the Margaret B. Jellison Scholarly Award . This fund, named after her mother, will support the research and teaching of women’s history at Ohio University. It is a wonderful tribute that will keep both Jellison and her mother's legacy alive for future generations. Anyone who wishes to contribute may do so through the university giving page .

“There are few people who have given more of their time and considerable talent to the Athens community and Ohio University than Katherine has,” said outgoing Department History Chair, Brian Schoen. “I am but one of many fortunate enough to be touched by the depth and breadth of her knowledge, her compassion, her wise counsel, and her scrumptious baked goods.”   

“I’ve seen what she’s done as scholar, teacher, leader, and mentor,” said Professor of History Chester Pach, who came to Ohio two years before Jellison. “But I’m still discovering things she did that I didn’t know about—a community project, a student she inspired, a campus initiative. It seems Katherine’s presence is everywhere.”

Jellison’s retirement party will take place on April 25 beginning at 4:30 p.m. View details on the university event calendar.