Kimberly Schmidt

Kimberly D. Schmidt is professor of history and director of the Washington Community Scholars’ Center. She received her Ph.D. in American history from Binghamton University in 1995. Publications include Magpie’s Blanket, a Women Writing the West WILLA Literary Awards Finalist, historical fiction category and Strangers at Home: Amish and Mennonite Women in History, from the Johns Hopkins University Press. Kimberly divides her research interests between Amish and Mennonite women’s social history and women’s histories of the Southern Cheyenne. She teaches local multicultural history in Washington, DC and is particularly interested in accessing the histories of social movements and poor people’s experiences through various visual and performing arts media. She has lived in the Washington area since 1989 and has two children.

• Cheyenne Women’s History and the 1868 Washita Massacre
• Washita National Battlefield, Cheyenne, OK, March 2018.
• First Mennonite Church, Bluffton, OH, February 2018.
• Second Saturday Lecture Series, University Park, MD, January 2018.
• Kauffman Museum, N. Newton, KS, October 2016.
• Busboys and Poets, Hyattsville, MD, March 2016.

• The Circle and the Cross: Oral History and the Peace Theologies of the Southern Cheyenne. Mennonite/s Writing VII: Movement, Transformation, Place. Fresno Pacific University, March 2015.

• Arguing into the Wind: Mennonite Missionary Bertha Kinsinger Petter’s Lifelong Advocacy for Cheyenne Women, 1896-1967. Histories on the Edge, The 16th Berkshire Conference of Women’s Historians. University of Toronto, Canada. May 2014.

• Step-Mothering on the Mennonite Mission Field: The Letters of Olga Petter Schroeder and Bertha Kinsinger Petter. at Mothering Mennonite, Bethel College, October 2013.

• Invited paper, Fabricating Culture: Changes in Twentieth Century Amish Women’s Work and Identity. The Textile Museum, Washington, DC. January 2009.

• Invited paper, A Women’s History of the Cheyenne Mennonite Mission. Cheyenne, Arapaho, Mennonite: Journey from Darlington. Clinton, Okla. April, 2006.

• Invited paper, Center Women: A Theory of Mennonite Women’s Leadership. Philadelphia Stories: Kingdom Building in the City, Philadelphia, PA. April 2003

• With Steven D. Reschly, The Production and Consumption of Discourse Systems: Amish Women’s History in Dialogue with American Women’s Historians. Crossroads Conference, Finland, June 28, 1998.

• The Church’s One Foundation’: History, Identity and Faith Formation Among Mennonite Historians. Invited paper presented at Mennonites and Jews: Religious Minorities and the Search for Identity in America. April 1997, University of Maryland at College Park.

• Invited comment. Community, Identity, and State Building: Mennonite and Amish Examples, Social Science History Association Annual Convention, New Orleans, October 12, 1996.

• Keynote address with Steven D. Reschly, A Women’s History for Anabaptist Traditions: A Framework of Possibilities, Possibly Changing the Framework at The Quiet in the Land? Women of Anabaptist Traditions in Historical Perspective.” Millersville University, Millersville, PA, June 8-11, 1995.

• The Cape Dress Controversy: Amish Mennonite Women during the Depression presented at Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, March 30-April 2, 1995.

• “Led by the Lord”: Reconstructing Mennonite Women’s Work Experiences During the Farm Crisis. The Fifth Conference on Rural/Farm Women in Historical Perspective, Washington, DC, December 1-4, 1994.

• Keynote address, Gender Theory and Mennonite Congregational History . The Experience of Mennonite Women, Harleysville, PA, October 20-22, 1994.

• Invited response to New Directions for Anabaptist Feminism Women Doing Theology, Bluffton College, Bluffton, OH, June 23-25, 1994.

• Substantial Subsistence: Religious Ideology and Economic Circumstance in the Work Lives of Amish Mennonite Women presented at Works in Progress, Washington/Chesapeake Area Women’s Historians, American University, Washington, DC, March 12, 1994.

• Feminist Theory and Amish Women’s History presented at Amish Society, 1693-1993, Celebrating Three Hundred Years of Persistence and Change, The Young Center for the Study of Anabaptist and Pietist Groups, Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA, July 22-25, 1993.

• Challenging Separate Spheres Ideology: A Mennonite Case Study presented at Re-weaving Women’s Colors: Scholarship, Curriculum, and our Lives, National Women’s Studies Conference, Washington, DC, June 16-20, 1993.

• Transforming Tradition: Some Changes in Mennonite Women’s Work, 1930-1990 . Presented at Celebrating Feminist Research Across the Disciplines, Women’s Studies Program Annual Research Forum, University of Maryland at College Park, February 5, 1993.

• Sixteenth-Century Anabaptist Women in Austria Public Lecture, Vienna Community Church. May 31, 2016, Vienna, Austria.
• Sixteenth-Century Anabaptist Women in Austria Mennonitische Freikirche. Public Lecture, June 6, 2016, Vienna, Austria.
• Convener, Planning Committee, “Crossing the Line: Women of Anabaptist Traditions Encounter Borders and Boundaries,” slated for June 22-25, 2017 at EMU.
• Board Member, Jeremiah Nonviolence Network, Washington, DC, 2006-2015.
• Host & Planning Committee: “From the Steppes to the Stoops, a Young, Urban Artist’s Showcase, Mennonite, Mennonot, Menno-ish.” April 19, 2015. A Fundraiser for Kauffman Museum.
• Planning Committee and Moderator, “Pulled Over: How Police Stops Define Race and Citizenship with author, Dr. Charles Epp.” JNN event. Feb. 17, 2015.
• Host & Planning Committee, “An Evening in the Garden.” Fundraiser for Eco City Farms. June 22, 2014.
• Host & Planning Committee, “Menno Valentino: Mennonite Courtship Stories.” Fundraiser for Kauffman Museum. Feb. 23, 2014.
• Planning Committee and Moderator: “Mourn our Loss, Claim our Future, Responses to Gun Violence,” JNN event. June 4, 2014.
• Planning Committee: “A Community Forum on Gun Violence,” JNN event. May 22, 2013.

• Planning Committee and Moderator, “Fleeing War, Waging Peace: An Iraqi woman shares her Struggle.” JNN event. November 7, 2012.

• Board Member, Hyattsville Preservation Association, 2011-12. Lead Writer for Historic Hyattsville: A Walking Tour and numerous articles in the Hyattsville Life and Times on topics of local historical significance.

• President, Hyattsville Preservation Association, 2009-2011

• Consultant, The Faith & Politics Institute, Congressional Pilgrimage to Commemorate the 140th Anniversary of the Washita Massacre.

Member of the Organization of American Historians, The Berkshire Conference of Women’s Historians, The Washington, DC Historical Society.

• EMU, Sabbatical, Spring 2016
• EMU, Summer Research Grant, 2013
• EMU, Sabbatical, Fall 2009
• EMU, Summer Research Grant, 2007
• EMU, Summer Research Grant, 2005
• EMU, Faculty Mini-Grant, 2002
• Rosenberger Family Foundation Grant, 1995 & 1997
• Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grant, 1994
• American Association of University Women, Educational Foundation Fellowship, 1993-94
• George and Catherine Peacock Grant, 1993
• Dissertation Year Fellowship, Binghamton University 1988-89
• Tuition Scholarships, Binghamton University, 1985-89
• Teaching Assistantships, Binghamton University, 1986-88

*Crossing the Line: Women of Anabaptist Traditions Encounter Borders and Boundaries,” June 22-25, 2017.
*Mennonite/s Writing VII: Movement, Transformation, Place, March 2015.
*Berkshire Conference of Women’s Historians, May 2014.
*Mothering Mennonite, Bethel College, October 2013.
*Berkshire Conference of Women’s Historians, June 2011.
*Annual Meeting of the Organization of American Historians, March, 2010.
*Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage, March 2009.
*Bridging Divides: Uniting the Church for Peacemaking, Anabaptist Peace Center of Washington, DC, April 11-12, 2008.

• Co-Chair, Planning Committee Crossing the Line: Women of Anabaptist Traditions Encounter Borders and Boundaries, June 22-25, 2017.

• Leader, Radical Europe: Reformation Austria, Switzerland and German. Six week Summer cross-cultural, 2017.

• Co-Chair, Gender Studies Minor Committee, EMU, current.

• Pre-Law Minor Committee, EMU, current.

• Chair, Washington Community Scholars’ Center Advisory Council, current.

• Radical Europe: Reformation Switzerland and Renaissance Italy. EMU Semester Cross-Cultural, Fall 2004 & Fall 2006.