LIGHT TOWNSEND CUMMINS
Vita

I. Specialization

Publishing Specialty: Anglo-Spanish rivalry in the eighteenth Century Gulf Coast and lower Mississippi valley. United States expansion into the Spanish Borderlands during the late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Centuries.

Teaching Specialty: Spanish Borderlands, Spanish/Mexican Texas and Louisiana, United States colonial and Revolution. Historiography and research methods.

II. Employment

Austin College, 1978-Present.
Guy M. Bryan, Jr. Professor of History at Austin College, 1986-present.
Tulane University, Summer, 1982. Visiting Asst. Professor.
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, 1976-1978.

III. Education

Ph.D. in History, Tulane University, 1977.
M.A. in History, Texas State University (Southwest Texas State University,) 1972.
B.S. in Ed., Texas State University (Southwest Texas State University,) 1968.

IV. Scholarly Publications

Books

Emily Austin of Texas: Sister to an Empire. Book manuscript currently under contract to the Texas Christian University Press. Anticipated publication spring 2008.

United States History to 1977. (With John A Krout) New York: Harper Collins, 9th Edition, 2006.

Austin College: A Sesquicentennial History, 1849-1999. Austin, Tex.: Eakin Press, 1999.

Spanish Observers and the American Revolution, 1775-1783 Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1992.

Louisiana: A History 4th Ed. Chicago: Harlan Davidson, 2001. (With Bennett H. Wall, et. al.)

Texas: A Political History (Boston, MA: American Press, 1990).

A Guide to the History of Texas. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1988. Co-edited with Alvin Bailey.

A Guide to the History of Louisiana. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982. Co-edited with Glen Jeansonne.

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

“Oliver Pollock and the Formation of an Anglo-American Identity in Spanish Louisiana and Texas, 1763-1821,” forthcoming coming in Gene Smith, ed., Identity in the Southeastern Spanish Borderlands, Gainesville, Fl: University Presses of Florida, 2007.

“The Gálvez Family and the American Revolution,” forthcoming in the Revista de Historia Moderna, Published by the Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain, 2007.

"The Children's Lottery: The Fantastic Mississippi River Journey of Anne McMeans Jamison, 1779-1783." Louisiana History 32 (Fall 2006), Num 1, 1-36.

"The Louisiana Purchase and Anglo-American Expansion into the Lower Mississippi Valley and Texas," North Louisiana History, 34 (Winter 2004), p. 3-16.

"In Territories So Vast and Fertile: Spanish and English Speaking Peoples Before the Louisiana Purchase" in The Louisiana Purchase and its Peoples " Ed. by Paul Hoffman, Lafayette: Louisiana Historical Association, 2004.

"Building on Bolton: The Spanish Borderlands Seventy-Five Years Later" Latin American Research Review, 35 (Spring 2000), p. 145-152.

"Getting Beyond Bolton: Columbian Consequences and the Spanish Borderlands, Review Essay," New Mexico Historical Review 70 (April 1995),  203-217.

"Keeping Score: Winners and Losers in the Atlantic Slave Trade." Reviews in American History, 21 (Fall 1993), pp 379-384.

"The Governors of Spanish Colonial Louisiana and Espionage in the Southeastern Borderlands, 1766-1795." Locus: An Historical Journal of Regional Perspectives, 6 (Fall 1993), pp.23-37.

"An Enduring Community: British Settlers at Colonial Natchez and in the Spanish Felicianas." Journal of Mississippi History, 55 (May 1993), PP. 133-154.

"Church Courts, Marriage Breakdown, and Separation in Spanish Louisiana, West Florida, and Texas, 1763-1836. Journal of Texas Catholic History and Culture. 4 (1993), pp. 97-114.

"The Hispanic Heritage of the Southern United States of America." Revista de Historia de America . (Enero-Junio, 1988), num. 105, pp. 89-110.

"Oliver Pollock's Plantations: An Early Anglo Land Owner on the Lower Mississippi, 1769-1824." Louisiana History. (Winter 1988), Vol. 24, Num. 1. pp. 35-48.

"Anglo-Merchants and Capital Migration in Colonial New Orleans, 1763- 1803," Gulf Coast Historical Review. (Fall 1988), Vol. 4, Num. 1, pp. 39-59.

"Oliver Pollock and George Rogers Clark's Service of Supply: A Case Study in Financial Disaster." in Papers from the George Rogers Clark Trans-Appalachian Frontier History Conference . Ed. by Robert Holden, Vincennes University Press, 1988, pp. 1-17.

"Texas Under Spain and Mexico," in A Guide to the History of Texas. Cummins and Bailey, eds. Greenwood Press, 1988..

"Spanish Louisiana," in A Guide to the History of Louisiana. Cummins and Jeansonne, eds., Greenwood Press, 1982.

"Spanish Historians and the Gulf Coast Campaigns," in William S. Coker and Robert R. Rea, eds., Anglo-Spanish Confrontation on the Gulf Coast During the American Revolution. Gainesville: University Presses of Florida, 1982.

"Spanish Administration in the Southeastern Borderlands, 1763-1800," in Matt S. Meier, ed., Studies on the Frontier: Proceedings of he PCCLAS. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1981.

"Spanish Espionage in the South During the American Revolution," Southern Studies, XX, no. 1 (Spring, 1980), 39-49.

"Luciano de Herrera and Spanish Espionage in British St. Augustine," El Escribano, XVI, (Fall, 1979), 43-57.

"Spanish Imperial Policy in the Lower Mississippi Valley During the American Revolution," Louisiana Review, X, no. 1 (Winter, 1979), 3-16.

"John Quincy Adams and Latin American Nationalism," Revista de Historia de America LV, no. 2 (December, 1978), 293-305.

V. Selected Reference Publications

"Robert Potter" and "Oliver Pollock" in American National Biography ed. by John A. Garraty. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

"Sam Houston" in The Dictionary of the West. eds. Allan Axlerod and Charles Phillips. New York: Macmillan, 1994.

"The Battle of Baton Rouge," in The Encyclopedia of Latin American History, edited by Barbara A. Tennenbaun. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1993.

"Spain in the American Revolution," along with fifteen individual entries in the Dictionary of the American Revolution. ed. by Richard Blanco. New York: Garland Publishing Company, 1993.

"Luis de Unzaga y Amezaga," in The Governors of Louisiana. ed. by Joseph G. Dawson, LSU Press, 1990.

"Bernardo de Galvez," "Oliver Pollock," and "James Wilkinson" in The Dictionary of Louisiana Biography . ed. by Glenn Conrad, L.H.A., 1989.

"John Jay," "Sam Houston," and "Sieur de la Salle," in Great Lives from History ed. Ralph McCall. Salem Press, 1987.

"Stephen F. Austin," in The Book of Days. Pergamon Press, 1987.

"Louisiana," in The Book of Days. Pergamon Press, 1986.

"The Neches of Texas," in Richard Bartlett, ed. Rolling Rivers, New York: Macmillan, 1984.

Series Editor. "Reference Guides to State History and Research." Greenwood Press, 1982-present.

I have been a member of the Board of Editors of the Colonial Latin American Historical Review.

VI. Book Reviews

From 1977 to the present, I have reviewed a total of approximately three dozen books in the following publications:

American Historical Review CLAHR
The Journal of American History           Choice
Journal of Southern History The Americas
Louisiana History Louisiana Review
Florida Historical Quarterly                    Public Historian
Southwestern Historical Quarterly
New Mexico Historical Quarterly
Military History of Texas
West Indian Review

VII. College History Publications

"Pierre Shamba Menenga -- A Black Pioneer," Acknowledge, (Spring 1991), 38.

"Hands on History for Students: A Campus History Project at Austin College," Touchstone, X (1991), 56-63.

Sociable Scholars: Informal Essays on the History of Student Life at Austin College. Austin College Press, 1990.

Footsteps to the Past: An Historical Walking Tour of the Austin College Campus. Austin College Press, 1988.

VIII. Selected Scholarly Papers Presented

“The Spanish Caribbean as an Influence on the Settlement of the Colonial Gulf Coast,” Historic New Orleans Conference, New Orleans, January 2006.

“José de Gálvez and the American Revolution,” Southern Historical Association, Atlanta, Georgia, November, 2005.

“Spanish Leadership in the Southeastern Borderlands during the American Revolution,” Society of Southeastern Borderland Historians, Ruston, Louisiana, April 2005.

“The Market Economy, Consumerism, and the Creation of an American Elite Identity in Spanish Colonial Louisiana,” American Historical Association, Washington, D.C., January 2005.

"Natchez: America's First Frontier," Historical Natchez Conference, Natchez, Mississippi, March 1998.

"The American Revolution," AHA Conference on the Teaching of History. University of North Texas, Denton. September, 1997.

"Myth and Reality in Louisiana History," Phi Alpha Theta Address, Louisiana Historical Association, Shreveport, March 1997.

"Built in Texas by Texans: Myth and Reality in Telling the Story of Old-Time Texas." Presented to North Texas Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference, TCU, Ft. Worth, May 1993.

"Spanish Land Policy as a Factor in the Colonization of Louisiana and Texas, 1769-1821." Presented to the Southwest Social Science Association, New Orleans, April, 1993.

"Precursors to the Louisiana Purchase: Anglo-Americans in Colonial Louisiana." Presented to the Southern Historical Association, Atlanta, November 1992.

"Bernardo de Galvez and Spain's Involvement in the American Revolution, 1776-1783." Conference on Spain and America, University of Houston, May 1992.

"The English and French Frontiers," Columbian Quincentennial Conference, National Park Service Southwest Region, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, February 1992.

"Families in Crisis: Domestic Violence, Desertion, and Divorce in Colonial Louisiana," Presented at the Texas State Historical Association, Dallas, March, 1991.

"Spanish Spy Masters of the Old Southwest," Presented at the Louisiana Historical Association, Alexandria, March 1990.

"Anglo Merchants and Capital Migration in Spanish New Orleans, 1763-1803," Presented at the Southern Historical Association, New Orleans, November 1988.

"Oliver Pollock's Plantations: A Case Study in Anglo Land Acquisition Patterns in Spanish Colonial Louisiana," Presented at the Louisiana Historical Association, Shreveport, Louisiana, March 1986.

"Hispanics as Ethnic Southerners," Presented at the Southwest Social Science Association, Houston, Texas, March 1985.

"Oliver Pollock and the Philadelphia Trade in Colonial Latin America," Presented at the Southwest Social Science Association, Houston, Texas, March 1983.

"Borderlands History and Historical Archaeology," Presented at the American Historical Association, Los Angeles, California, December 1981.

"Beyond Bolton: Toward a Synthetic View of the Borderlands," Presented at the Southern Historical Association, Louisville, Kentucky, November 1981.

"Spanish Historians and the American Revolution," Paper presented at the Gulf Coast Conference on History and the Humanities, Pensacola, Florida, May 1981.

"The Ethnohistorian and Historical Archaeology of the American Southeast," Presented at the Society for Eighteenth Century Studies, Austin, Texas, March 1981.

"Historical Archaeology and the Spanish Borderlands Historian," Presented at the Southwest Social Science Association, Houston, Texas, March 1980.

"Beauford Jester and the Tidelands Oil Controversy," Presented at the East Texas Historical Association, Dallas, Texas, February 1979.

"Spanish Espionage in the British Floridas, 1763-1775," Presented at the Florida Historical Society, Pensacola, Florida, May 1978.

"John Quincy Adams and Pan Americanism," Presented at the Southwestern Social Science Association, Houston, Texas, April 1978.

"Spanish Espionage and the American Revolution," Presented at the Citadel Conference on War and Diplomacy, Charleston, South Carolina, March 1978.

"Administration in the Spanish Southeast," Presented at the Pacific Coast Council of Latin American Studies, San Jose, California, October, 1977.

"Spanish Policy and American Merchants During the American Revolution," Presented at the Louisiana and Mississippi Historical Association, Biloxi, Mississippi, March 1977.

IX. Grants, Prizes, and Fellowships

Minnie Stevens Piper Professor, 2006.

Lifetime Fellow of the Texas State Historical Association.

Winner, Francisco Bouligny Prize, 1993. Awarded by the Louisiana Historical Association and the Bouligny Association for the best paper dealing with the history of colonial Louisiana.

Sid Richardson Sabbatical Grant, Austin College, June 1991-February 1992, for completion of book-length manuscript on Oliver Pollock.

NEH Summer Seminar. "The Historian as Detective." Yale University. Robin Winks, Director, Summer, 1989.

"Premio de Espana y America," Columbus Quincentennial Prize. 1986. Awarded by the Government of Spain for the best book-length manuscript dealing with the history of Spanish involvement in the history of the United States and the new world.

Sid Richardson Grants for research in London, Madrid, and Mexico City, 1980, 1982, and 1984-85.

Rice University Seminar Fellow. "The Historiography of the American South," John B. Boles, Director, Summer 1984.

Danforth Associate. Danforth Foundation. 1981-present.

NEH Summer Seminar. "Historical Archeology of the Colonial Southeast." University of Florida, Professor Charles Fairbanks, Director, Summer, 1979.

Fulbright Scholar. Two Year Dissertation Research Grant. Spain, 1974-1976.

X. Association Memberships and Boards of Directors

American Historical Association
Southern Historical Association
    Membership Committee, 1979, 1981.
    Convention Staff, 1974-1983.
Southwestern Historical Association (Affiliate of S.S.S.A.)
    President, 1989-90.
Publication Committee Social Science Quarterly. 1982-1990.
The Louisiana Historical Association
    Kemper Williams Prize Committee, 1988-90.
The Texas State Historical Association
 The Conference on Latin American History

I have served as a session chair or paper discussant at approximately four dozen different scholarly meetings of various associations over the last thirty years, including the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, the Southern Historical Association, the Louisiana Historical Association, the Texas State Historical Association, and several others.

I served from 1993 to 1999 on the Board of the Texas Council for the Humanities, today known as Humanities Texas. I have also served on the boards of the following historical associations: the Southwestern Social Science Association, the Louisiana Historical Association, and the Texas State Historical Association.