1940s

Raleigh A. Wilson (1949)

Eugene M. Emme, an air force pilot for the United States in WWII, earned his PhD from the University of Iowa in 1949, specializing in Modern European history. Emme was the first historian of NASA’s aerospace program, and is considered a pioneer in oral history as a result of his interviews with British military figures and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Emme’s books, A History of Rocket Technology (1964) and A History of Spaceflight (1965), used primary source materials from NASA’s records, photographs, and descriptions of technological advancements to convey the development of rockets and the space program. Emme retired from NASA in 1978.  The American Astronautical Society has an annual Astronautical Literature Award named after Emme.

Keach D. Johnson (1949)
Donald F. Pierce (1949)
Robert B. Rockwood (1948)

Aubrey C. Land earned his PhD from the University of Iowa in 1948. He was a professor at the University of Maryland from 1960 to 1972, and worked as a research professor from 1972 until his death in 1993. Land also served as editor of the Georgia Historical Quarterly from 1980 to 1981.

William H. Seiler (1948)
Harold McCleave (1947)

Donald F. Howard earned his PhD from the University of Iowa in 1947. Over the course of his career, Howard spent 16 years as a teacher and administrator in secondary schools and taught courses at the Iowa State department of Public Instruction, the University of Iowa, and the Portland State College in Oregon. He taught at the University of Northern Iowa from 1947 to 1977 and was the first dean of the college of business and behavioral science.

Frederick G. Davies (1947)
Dwight L Agnew (1947)
Vergil Fogdall (1947)
Paul A. Knights (1947)
Maxwell O. White (1946)

Mildred Throne earned her PhD from the University of Iowa in 1946 with a dissertation about agriculture in southern Iowa, 1833-1880. She also worked as an editorial assistant at the Mississippi Valley Historical Review. After graduating, she taught U.S. and European history at Washburn Municipal University in Topeka, Kansas, until 1948. At the end of that year, she was hired by the State Historical Society of Iowa, where she worked with primary source materials related to the Civil War. She continued to do work in the field of mid-19th century agricultural and Iowa history throughout her career, writing a biography on former Iowa Governor Cyrus Clay Carpenter and serving as the editor for numerous other volumes related to those subjects.

Ryland W. Crary received his PhD from the University of Iowa in 1946. Crary was a professor of education at Columbia University Teachers College, and went on to teach at the University of Pittsburgh, where he taught education and history courses and served as chairman of the Department of Education, and was a teaching resident in London, Vancouver, and Quito, Ecuador. After 20 years with the University of Pittsburgh, Crary worked as a historian in residence and professor of history at Bethany College in West Virginia. His published works include Humanizing the Schools and Foundations of Modern Education.

Franklin A. Doty (1946)
Norbert C. Barrett (1944)

Daryl Pendergraft earned his PhD from the University of Iowa in 1943. Over the course of his career, Pendergraft taught in public schools in Adair, Griswold, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa and at the University of Kansas and Iowa State University. From 1946 to 1975, he worked at the University of Northern Iowa in a number of different roles including professor of history, Coordinator of Curriculum, Assistant Dean of Faculty, Director of Field Services and Extension, Assistant to the President and Executive Dean, Acting President, and Vice President for Student Affairs and Field Services. He also co-wrote volume II of the UNI history book A Century of Leadership and Service with William Lang.

Richard G. Lillard (1943)

John S. Galbraith earned his PhD from the University of Iowa in 1943, after which he served as an Army historical officer for the Third Air Force until 1946, before becoming a professor at UCLA in 1948. Galbraith specialized in the history of the British Empire in the nineteenth century, and was a pioneer in the field of modern African Studies, particularly those countries which had been colonized by the British. He wrote four books on imperialism focusing on Canada, Kenya, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and South Africa. Galbraith served as chancellor of the University of California San Diego from 1964 to 1968, where he advocated for the construction of a university library. At the end of his term as chancellor, Galbraith took a fellowship at Cambridge University; he later returned to UCSD as a professor of history, where he stayed until his retirement in 1986. His books include The Hudson Bay Company as an Imperial Factor (1957) and Reluctant Empire: British Policy on the South African Frontier, 1834-54 (1963).

John Jr Miller (1942)

Howard Kramer received his PhD from the University of Iowa in 1942, after which he took a position at Trinity College in Connecticut. In 1947, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio to serve as a professor of history at Western Reserve University. Throughout his career, Kramer also worked as a field director for the American Red Cross and held positions at the Office of War Information and U.S. State Department, the Air Force Personnel and Training Research Center in San Antonio Texas, and was a Fulbright Professor of American History in India.

Wilfred Black (1942)

John H. Haefner received his PhD from the University of Iowa in 1942. He taught social studies at Iowa City’s University High School and in the College of Education for 46 years, and was remembered by students as a trusted mentor and passionate educator.

Augustus C. Low (1941)

William C. Lang earned his PhD from the University of Iowa in 1941. After starting his career as a teacher, principal, and superintendent in public schools, Lang spent 1936 to 1949 at Yankton College as a history and speech instructor, Dean of Men, Acting President, and Dean of the College. Lang was hired as a professor of history at the University of Northern Iowa in 1949, where he went on to serve as Head of the Department of Social Science from 1955-1959 and as Dean of the College in 1959. He became Vice President of the University from 1967-1970, after which he returned to the history department to teach courses until his retirement in 1978. Lang co-wrote a two-volume history of UNI, A Century of Leadership and Service, with Daryl Pendergraft.

Lulu M. Johnson earned her PhD from the University of Iowa in 1941. She was one of the only African American women enrolled at the University of Iowa at the time and was the first African American woman in the state of Iowa to earn a doctorate degree, despite facing ongoing discrimination. Her dissertation was titled, “The Problem of Slavery in the Old Northwest, 1787-1858.” Johnson went on to teach history courses at Talladega College, Tougaloo College, Florida A&M University, West Virginia State College, and Cheyney State University in Pennsylvania, where she also served as dean of women’s studies. In 2020, the Johnson County Board of Supervisors renamed the county after Lulu Merle Johnson, taking the place of the original namesake, slave-owning Richard Mentor Johnson, vice president to Martin Van Buren from 1837 to 1941, who had no connections to the county or to Iowa.  See Iowa Now, “Meet the New Namesake of Johnson County,” September 25, 2020.

Harry C. Fox (1941)
Grover C. Platt (1941)
Alfred S. Martin (1941)
Everett W. Sterling (1940)
Carl Cone (1940)
Harry D. Berg (1940)
Kenneth R. Rossman (1940)