Posted on Monday, September 21, 2009
Dr. Timothy Cuff, Westminster associate professor of history, presented a paper at the 69th annual meeting of the Economic History Association Sept. 11-13 in Tucson, Ariz. The Conference theme was "Human Welfare: Measurement, Analysis, and Interpretation."
Cuff's paper, "Biological Welfare Change and Variation in Mid- to Late 19th Century Pennsylvania: Preliminary Evidence from the Stature of the Pennsylvania National Guard," was co-authored by Dr. Carolyn Cuff, Westminster professor and chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.
This presentation discussed a revised edition of a paper the Cuffs presented at the Canadian Economics Association in May. Many of the enhancements to the paper were based upon research conducted at the Pennsylvania State Archives by three Westminster senior history majors who spent three weeks in Harrisburg with Cuff in May. The student interns are:
William "Billy" McCallion is a son of Mark and Eva McCallion of Erie and a graduate of Iroquois High School.
Eric Patton is a son of Thomas and Karen Patton of Edinburg and a graduate of Mohawk Area High School.
Lynn Rice is a daughter of William and Susan Rice of Monroeville and a graduate of Gateway High School.
The students searched through the military records of more than 160,000 Pennsylvanians who enlisted in the Pennsylvania National Guard between the end of the Civil War and the end of World War I to identify birthplace and weight information for men in an 8,000 observation database Cuff created. The information is being analyzed for trends in the biological well-being of Pennsylvanians over the second half of the 19th century and will help in the development of detailed geographically-based patterns in biological well-being.
Dr. Timothy Cuff, a 1978 Westminster graduate and First Year Program coordinator, joined the Westminster faculty in 2000. He earned a master's from Bowling Green State University and a master's and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.
Contact Dr. Timothy Cuff at (724) 946-6152 or e-mail cufft@westminster.edu for additional information.
