Elisabeth Moore, PhD

"If our parents have sent us to Oxford, if our country allows us to remain there, this is prima facie evidence that the life which we, at any rate, can best lead to the glory of God at present is the learned life" - C.S. Lewis

• Expertise
  My PhD research centered on Appalachian and Southern History from the late 19th century through the 20th century, with a minor in Public History, World History, and 20th century American History. My dissertation research analyzed the complex economic, social, cultural, and political forces unleashed by tourism boosters within the region during the decades after the Second World War. This study worked to thoroughly integrate the growth of regional tourism into the broader history of economic development in Appalachia and the broader New South. I also have considerable experience in Public History, a subfield dedicated to bringing academic historical research to public audiences. I have been involved in several collaborative Oral History and Public History projects, including a summer at the Southern Oral History Project at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I also had the gift of working as a field research for the Women Coal Miners Oral History Project at the West Virginia and Regional History Center. My experience also includes internships at various historic sites and museums across North Carolina, such as the North Carolina Museum of History and the Mountain Gateway Museum.
• Teaching & Education

  Doctorate of Arts in American History
  West Virginia University
  Morgantown, WV
  2022

  Master of Arts in American History
  West Virginia University
  Morgantown, WV
  2018

  Bachelor of Arts in History
  Gardner-Webb University
  Boiling Springs, NC
  2016

• Selected Publications

  Moore, E. A. (2017). The Contingency of Appalachia on Our Mind: An Exploration of the Self-Perception of Bourgeois Mountain Print Culture, 1870-1890. Journal of Appalachian Studies, 23 (2), 181-205.

• Selected Awards Received

  Rebecca Donnelly and Henry E. Thornburg Doctoral Award
  (2021)
  West Virginia University.

  Stuart and Joyce Robbins Fellowship in History
  (2021, 2017)
  West Virginia University.

  Archie K. Davis Fellowship
  (2019)
  North Caroliniana Society
  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

  Ronald L. Lewis Doctoral Fellowship
  (2019)
  West Virginia University.

  William D. Barns Outstanding Graduate Student Award
  (2018)
  West Virginia University

  J.O. Terrell Award for Excellence in History
  (2016)
  Gardner-Webb University.

• My Story

  A native of the western North Carolina mountains, my scholarship and teaching is rooted in the region that raised me. I first became interested in this region’s history through the stories that my grandparents told me about their lives and the lives of their friends and family members. These interests grew more pronounced during my undergraduate and graduate studies. I focused my research on Appalachian and Southern History and became ever more fascinated with the complexity of this region and its past. I also developed a passion for collaborative oral and public history projects that aimed to invest in the strength of this region and her communities. I also benefitted, at both of my previous institutions, from gifted mentors who invested in me as a whole person. As an undergraduate professor I hope to continue that legacy by investing wholistically in the mentorship of our students. I am devoted to facilitating dynamic classrooms that usher students in to the process of thinking critically and historically while investing in them wholistically.