Dr. Kevin Borg 

Director of Public History Program

Education

Ph.D., University of Delaware

Fields and specialties

U.S. history since the 1870s; history of technology and society, US automobile cultures

Teaching Areas

U.S. history, American automobile cultures, social history of American technology, History Internship Coordinator
 

Research interests

Historical nexuses of businesses, workers, environments, and transportation systems; georeferenced display applications for historic maps; tools, cultures, and skills of repair work

Selected Service

• Co-director of the Histories Along the Blue Ridge online archive project
• Executive Board Member, Shenandoah Valley Black Heritage Project [link to: https://valleyblackheritage.org/about.html]
• Board Member, Rocktown History Museum, 2016-2022
• Co-founder and Member, Science, Technology & Society Minor

Board Member, Madison Automotive Apprentices Program

Professional Affiliations

• Society for the History of Technology
• Organization of American Historians
• National Council for Public History
• American Association for State and Local History
   

Selected publications

“Waiting for Work in the ‘Friendly City’: Picturing Harrisonburg Between Depression and War,” chapter in Picturing Harrisonburg: Visions of a Shenandoah Valley City since 1828, David Ehrenpreis (George Thompson Books, September 2017).

“Constructing Sociotechnical Environments: Aurality, Air Quality, and Automobiles,” Technology and Culture, 55: 2 (April 2014): 287-298.

"Aggravating Autos, Gyp Mechanics, and the Limits of Consumer Advocacy" in A Destiny of Choice? New Directions in American Consumer History, edited by David Blanke and David Steigerwald (Lexington, 2013), pp. 99-119.

“Les sens perdus du garagiste. Comment le savoir-faire a été disqualifié dans l’univers automobile américain” [“The mechanic’s lost senses. Designing away deep-handiness in the U.S. automobile marketplace”] in Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine (59:3, 2012, pp. 19-47)

Auto Mechanics: Technology and Expertise in Twentieth Century America. Studies in Industry and Society (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007; paperback edition June 2010).

Selected public-facing projects

Co-director Histories Along the Blue Ridge, a collaborative project that makes local historical records available online to community and academic researchers while providing educational opportunities to students in handling, processing, digitizing, and describing archival records.

Curator, Inventors & Innovators of Harrisonburg and Rockingham, Rocktown History Museum, Dayton, VA, November 28th 2018 – March 30th 2019. https://www.rocktownhistory.org/exhibits/highlighted/inventors-and-innovators-patent-art/ 

Co-curator, JMU Duke Hall Gallery, Picturing Harrisonburg: Visions of a Shenandoah Valley City since 1828, Fall 2017, https://www.jmu.edu/news/arts/2017/08-15-picturing-harrisonburg.shtml

Pastmapr, a free, open-source community historical mapping application and instructional video package. Currently under development with generous grant support from the Madison Trust. https://pastmapr.lib.jmu.edu/

“Spatial History in the Public Square: Maps, Images, & Archives in the Community,” Virginia Foundation for the Humanities Open Grant with Bradley Andrick, GIS Coordinator, JMU Facilities Management, June 2015-April 2016. Unveiled at the National Council for Public History Conference, Baltimore, MD, March 18, 2016. https://maps.cise.jmu.edu/public/shps/map/