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Russell E. Martin

Russell E. Martin

Professor/Chair

History Faculty


martinre@westminster.edu

(724) 946-6254


Campus Location:
   Patterson Hall
   Office - 337
Mailbox: 169

 

About Me


I arrived in New Wilmington from Cambridge, Mass. in July 1996 as a freshly-minted PhD and a visiting assistant professor of History.  Now, I am a tenured full professor, and loving every minute of it.

I took my BA from the University of Pittsburgh (summa cum laude) in 1986.  I stayed an extra year at Pitt under a FLAS fellowship, then moved to Harvard University, where I took my AM (1989) and PhD (1996).  I was privileged to work with Edward Keenan, Omelian Pritsak, Horace Lunt, Richard Pipes, and Michael Flier, among others.  I also was a research assistant during those years in the Milman Parry Collection of South Slavic Oral Literature, working for Albert Lord, the famed author of The Singer of Tales and a truly wonderful man and exceptional scholar. 

I am the author, editor, or translator of ten books, including (author) The Tsar's Happy Occasion: Ritual and Dynasty in the Weddings of Russia's Rulers, 1495-1745; (co-author) Konstantin Makovsky:  The Tsar's Painter in America and Paris; (author:) A Bride for the Tsar:  Bride-Shows and Marriage Politics in Early Modern Russia (2012), which won the 2014 W. Bruce Lincoln Book Award; (co-editor:) Dubitando:  Studies in History and Culture in Honor of Donald Ostrowski (2012); (translator:) Bozhieu Milostiiu/By the Grace of God:  The 400-th Anniverary of the End of the Time of Troubles, the Reestablishment of the Russian State, and the Ascension of the House of Romanoff, 1613-2013 (2012); (co-editor:) Culture and Identity in Eastern Christian History (2009); and (co-editor:) The Rude and Barbarous Kingdom Revisited:  Essays in Russian History and Culture in Honor of Robert O. Crummey (2008). I have also published more than 90 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, encyclopedia articles and book reviews.

I have for more than twenty years been an advisor to the Russian Imperial House--the Romanov Dynasty--on various legal and historical issues.  Since 2006, I have been the lead translator for dynasty's official webpage (www.imperialhouse.ru) and since January 2012, a member of Her Imperial Highness's Own Chancellery.  I was honored to be awarded the the Imperial Order of St. Vladimir twice (third and fourth classes) and the Imperial Order of St. Anna twice (second and third classes) for my work for the Head of the dynasty, Her Imperial Highness The Grand Duchess Maria of Russia.

My CV and some of my publications are available here: https://westminsterpa.academia.edu/RussellMartin. 

I teach courses on Russian History (medieval, early modern, and modern), early modern European history, and medieval European history, as well as courses on the history of Eastern Orthodoxy.  In addition, I teach advanced seminars on the history of power and dynasty, the family, and history and film.  I also teach the department's seminars on Historical Methods, Historiography, and Capstone.  I frequently also direct Honors theses in History.  I take teaching very seriously, and am very gratified that my efforts in the classroom has been recognized at both Harvard and Westminster.

I am the very content and proud father of three, happily married to the love of my life, and a founding and continuing member of the Edwardians.