ELYSSA FORD
Gender & Sexuality Scholar * Local Historian * Public Historian
MY PUBLICATIONS
Edited Collection
under review
Women on the Edge: American Women in Extreme Sports, Past and Present (proposal under review).
Co-Authored Book
2023
With Rebecca Scofield, Slapping Leather: Queer Cowfolx at the Gay Rodeo (2023, University of Washington Press).
Monograph
2020
Rodeo as Refuge, Rodeo as Rebellion: Gender, Race, and Identity in the American Rodeo (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2020).
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
Journal of American History
Her sensitivity to the overlapping and contradictory elements of identity, even as she makes a case for a widespread and shared affinity with the history of the American West, should recommend Ford’s study to a wide audience.
Journal of Arizona History
Ford's work is a masterclass in interdisciplinarity, as she blends western history and cultural history, all the while asking careful questions about race, colonialism, gender, sexuality, and power.
Western Historical Review
Ford's work should draw the attention of anyone with an interest in processes of group identity formation and the creation, maintenance, and celebration of a shared history by marginalized groups, especially in the American West.
Article
2023
“‘For Women Only!’: A Radical Message of the Black Middle Class in Kansas City,” Middle West Review, special edition: Midwestern Women’s History, 9:2 (Spring 2023): 77-89.
Article
2022
“‘Fine Herds of Cattle’: Rural Nuns and Farmwork at a Missouri Convent, 1874–1963,” Missouri Historical Review 116:4 (July 2022): 275-287.
Article
2019
“’We Sure Led the Parade’: Alma Nash, the Missouri Ladies Military Band, and the Push for Women’s Suffrage from Rural Missouri to the Nation’s Capital,” Missouri Historical Review 113:3 (April 2019): 145-165.
Article
2018
“Becoming the West: Cowboys as Icons of Masculine Style for Gay Men,” Special Issue:
Fashion and Style Icons, Critical Studies in Men’s Fashion 5:1-2 (May 2018): 41-53.
Article
2016
“Bringing Town and Gown Together: Using Local History to Engage Students and Create Collaborative Partnerships,” Journal of Museum Education 41:4 (Oct. 2016): 262-274.
Article
2015
“Pa‛u Riding in Hawai‛i: Memory, Race, and Community on Parade,” Pacific Historical Review 84:3 (Aug. 2015): 277-306.
Article
2013
“Students as Curators at Northwest Missouri State University,” Missouri Association for Museums and Archives Newsletter 4:1 (Spring 2013): 5.
Book Chapter
2020
“Profession-Based Learning and Collaborative Community Projects with the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street Program,” Leading Professional Development: Growing Librarians for the Digital Age, ABC-Clio, 2020.
Book Chapter
“Barbara Jordan,” Icons of Black America. Matthew Whitaker, ed. Greenwood Press, 2011.
2011
Book Chapter
2011
“Madame C.J. Walker,” Icons of Black America. Matthew Whitaker, ed. Greenwood Press, 2011.
Book Chapter
2008
“Bill Pickett,” Icons in African American Sports. Matthew Whitaker, ed. Greenwood Press, 2008.
Blog Entries & Media
2022
With Rebecca Scofield, "How gay rodeos upend assumptions about life in rural America," The Conversation, 18 August, 2022.
Blog Entries & Media
2017
“Rural Women on Display,” Rural Women’s Studies Blog, Cynthia Prescott, ed., 25 October 2017.
Blog Entries & Media
2017
“Pedagogy in Public: Academic Programs and Community Partners,” Rural Women’s Studies Blog, Cynthia Prescott, ed., 19 July 2017.
Blog Entries & Media
2015
“A Meditation on Rural America,” Rural Women’s Studies Blog, Cynthia Prescott, ed., 7 October 2015.
Encyclopedia Entries
Forthcoming
Entries for Nodaway County Topics, editor of 8 student entries, Missouri Encyclopedia Online (forthcoming State Historical Society of Missouri ).
Encyclopedia Entries
2019
“Alma Nash” and “Laura Runyon” (author) and editor of 19 student biographies, Women and Social Movements: Online Biographical Dictionary of the Woman Suffrage Movement in the United States, editors Thomas Dublin and Jill Zahniser (Alexander Street, ProQuest), 2019.
Encyclopedia Entries
2010-2011
Entries on "Bra-Burning" The Encyclopedia of American Reform (forthcoming from Facts on File). “Rodeo” and “Cowgirls,” SAGE: The Multimedia Encyclopedia of Women in Today’s World. Golson Media, 2011. “Yellow Fever,” Encyc. of American Environmental History. Facts on File, 2010.
Book Reviews
2015-Current
CURRENT PROJECTS
Gay Rodeo in the Midwest
A study of gay rodeo in the Plains Midwest: MO, IA, NE, KS
Article Project
Promoting States
Co-authored project on state welcome centers & self-promotion
Book Project
Locating Lesbians in Gay Rodeo
An examination of lesbians in gay rodeo, past and present
Article Project
Women on the Edge
An edited collection of histories and stories of women in extreme sports
Book Project
Teaching to Fight
Missouri’s 5th District Normal School during the First World War
Article Project
More to Come
Additional projects are always in the works and more will be added to this list