Rebekah M. K. Mergenthal

Department Chair of History

Rebekah M. K. Mergenthal

Office Location: Xavier Hall - 109

  • Professional
  • Biography

Additional Titles/Roles

  • Associate Professor of History

Education

  • Ph.D., University of Chicago, 2008
  • M.A., University of Chicago, 1997
  • B.A., Columbia University, 1992

Areas of Emphasis or Expertise

  • 19th U.S. History
  • Westward Expansion
  • Frontiers and Borderlands
  • Environmental History

Biography

Rebekah M.K. Mergenthal defended her dissertation at the University of Chicago in 2008. Her teaching interests include 19th U.S. history, Westward Expansion, Frontiers and Borderlands, and Environmental History. Her research explores the accommodations and exclusions among the variety of racial and ethnic groups in the lower Missouri River valley during the first half of the 19th century. She has presented her research at a number of conferences including the Organization of American Historians, the Filson Institute, and the Western History Association. A former fellow at the Newberry Library, she has received research funding from that institution, the St. Louis Mercantile Library, and the University of Chicago. She has published several book reviews and encyclopedia entries and is revising her dissertation into a book-length manuscript and completing two articles.