Historian
Kristine Gunnell
Gender and Religion in the American West
Research Focus
As a voracious reader, I have always loved a good story. For me, history maintains an advantage in the world of storytelling because it is about real people, in a real place, separated from readers by time, distance, or both. Newspapers, letters, diaries, photographs, and other archival material provide clues as historians reconstruct the setting, seek to understand the characters, and explain the storylines of the past. Some narratives are familiar, but I’m a historian because I want others to have the opportunity to connect with stories they might not otherwise see. Since all voices have not carried equal weight in American society, I feel a responsibility to uncover and recover stories, so that more people’s voices can be heard.
Through my research and teaching, I developed a broad understanding of U.S. history. However, I specialize in the history of gender and religion in the American West, particularly the roles of religious women in public and private life.
Extending compassion, working for social justice, and offering relief as often as their human and financial resources allowed, Catholic sisters contributed to the processes of community-building in the nineteenth-century West. Through their hospitals, schools, orphanages, and social services, these women alleviated some of the consequences of scarcity, discrimination and exploitation that overshadowed the lives of vulnerable men, women, and children in the region.
Sisters consistently adapted their services to meet emerging needs throughout the twentieth century, and they continue to embrace faith as a tool to advocate for, and serve, under-resourced and marginalized populations in the West. Rarely in the limelight, few people know their stories. Yet, sisters’ activities demonstrate women’s sustained engagement in the region’s social and economic justice efforts. By examining the social, political, economic, and philanthropic relationships they built, scholars can gain a better understanding of the processes religious actors used to extend the influence of their ideals and the impact of their efforts in the region.
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