About Austin
The study of history is not only the study of past events; it is also the
study of how humans have interpreted and explained past events. Therefore,
in the interest of full disclosure, I've included some information about my
educational and personal background.
I grew up in west Tennessee, in the towns of Martin and Jackson. After
high school I headed off to Lyon College, a liberal arts college in Batesville,
Arkansas. There I majored in history, minored in philosophy, helped create
an honor system, played some bad soccer, and met my wife LaGina (not in order
of importance).
Then I used a Rotary International Scholarship to study cultural and social
history for the 1994-1995 academic year at an ancient British university,
the University of Aberdeen.
When I returned to the United States I enrolled in the
master's program in history at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. There
I was a graduate assistant for American and European history classes. After
two years in Knoxville, LaGina and I migrated to Columbus. She worked
for a couple of years as an editor at the Antique Review and then
went to work for Garth's Auctions. There,
she was responsible for running the Eclectic Auction division of the company.
Generally, I am an "Americanist," focusing on the formation and functioning
of modern America. Specifically, I examine the values people attached
to men's and women's sports during the Great Depression. My work has
won awards from the North American Society for Sport History and the East
Tennessee Historical Society. I have published articles in the Journal
of East Tennessee History and the Journal of Sport History. I've
presented my research in American sport history and the scholarship of teaching
and at local, regional, and national conferences. I also served as
an historical consultant for a History Channel documentary on the history
of college football.
LaGina now serves as the Associate Director of American Furniture and
Decorative Arts at Skinner, one of the
nation's leading auction houses.