Humanities and Social Studies Center, A3238
1226 Park Street
Grinnell, IA 50112
United States
Sarah Purcell
L.F. Parker Professor of History
Sarah Purcell, L.F. Parker Professor of History, graduated from Grinnell with a B.A. in history in 1992. She went on to earn an A.M. (1993) and a Ph.D. (1997) from Brown University. She joined the faculty of Grinnell in 2000 after teaching at Central Michigan University. Ms. Purcell's research interests include: the Early National, Antebellum, and Civil War periods; popular culture and political culture; gender history; and military history. She is author of Sealed with Blood: War, Sacrifice, and Memory in Revolutionary America, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press, and Eyewitness History: The Early American Republic. She is co-author of The Encyclopedia of Battles in North America, 1517-1915 (which won a 2000 Best of Reference award from the New York Public Library) and Critical Lives: The Life and Work of Eleanor Roosevelt. Her latest book, Spectacle of Grief: Public Funerals and Memory in the Civil War Era, was published in April 2022 by UNC Press.
Education and Degrees
B.A. in History (1992), Grinnell College A.M. (1993) and Ph.D. (1997), Brown University