Dr. Carrie Barske Crawford
Professor of History
Office: 213 Willingham Hall
Email: cbarske@una.edu
Phone: 256.765.4968
Profile
Dr. Carrie Barske Crawford is Assistant Professor of History and Graduate Coordinator for the M.A. in History at the 国产AV. She came to Florence in 2012 to establish UNA’s public history program and served as director of the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area, a National Park Service program housed at UNA, from 2017 to 2024. She returned to the history faculty in fall 2024.
Trained as a historian of American women, she holds degrees from Sewanee: The University of the South (B.A., 2002), Northeastern University (M.A., 2004), and the University of Massachusetts Amherst (Ph.D., 2011). Her current work brings together public history and environmental history to explore how people understand, shape, and interpret landscapes.
Her new book project, Two Green Revolutions: Land, Technology, and the Remaking of Rural Life, examines competing visions of rural reconstruction, contrasting industrial agriculture with the decentralist ideals of self-sufficiency, community, and sustainable relationships with the land. A related article will explore Mildred Loomis’s leadership of the School of Living and her contributions to decentralism and organic agriculture. Barske Crawford also led the Tennessee RiverLine’s interpretive planning work, has written about the role of National Heritage Areas in public history, and collaborates with Scottish heritage organizations on student research and interpretation projects through the UNA Scotland Study Abroad program.
Education
M.B.A., Human Resources Concentration, 国产AV (2024)
Ph.D., United States History, University of Massachusetts Amherst (2011)
M.A., History and Public History, Northeastern University (2004)
B.A., History, Sewanee: The University of the South (2002)
Recent Courses Taught
HI 201/202 | United States History to/since 1877
HI 320 | Public History
HI 366 | U.S. Women’s History
HI 416/516 | American Architecture
HI 495 | Senior Thesis
HI 611 | Gender and Material Culture in Early America
HI 612 | The Tennessee River; Women on the Frontier
HI 665 | Public History
Selected Publications
Books
The Tennessee River and Northwest Alabama. Images of America series. Arcadia Publishing, 2018.
Florence. Images of America series. Arcadia Publishing, 2014.
Recent Articles and Book Chapters
“From Mussel Shoals to Muscle Shoals: Interpreting the History of Power Generation on the Tennessee River.” Park Stewardship Forum, 2025.
“Reforesting the Tennessee Valley: TVA and the CCC.” Alabama Heritage, 2025.
“The Most Useful Tree: Memory, Landscape, and the American Chestnut.” In Branching Out: The Public History of Trees. University of Massachusetts Press, 2025.
Recent Public History Projects and Exhibits
Tennessee RiverLine Natural and Cultural Heritage Interpretation and Storytelling Plan. Author and project lead, 2025–2026.
Public Historians in a Changing Climate: A Reading Guide. With Leah Glasser and Wilmarie Medina-Cortes. National Council on Public History, 2026.
Hidden Spaces: Natchez Trace. Elaine Bailey Augustine Gallery, 国产AV, 2022.