Johansson, M. Jane 1963–

PERSONAL: Born January 19, 1963, in Shawnee, OK; daughter of Lloyd Jack (a pharmacist) and Belle (a pharmacist; maiden name, Standifer) Harris; married David H. Johansson (a public library director), June 3, 1989. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Oklahoma Baptist University, B.A., 1985; University of North Texas, M.S., 1987, Ph.D., 1993. Politics: Democrat. Religion: United Methodist. Hobbies and other interests: Music, travel, astronomy.

ADDRESSES: Office—Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Rogers State University, 421 South Elliott, Pryor, OK 74361. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Tarrant County Junior College, Fort Worth, TX, adjunct instructor in history, 1993–94; Rogers State University, Pryor, OK, adjunct instructor in history, 1994–97; Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, OK, adjunct instructor in history, 1997–2000; Rogers State University, adjunct instructor, 2000–01, assistant professor of history, 2001–. Pryor Area Arts and Humanities Council, humanities project director, 1995–2001; Friends of the Pryor Public Library, secretary, 1996–99, 2001–2005.

MEMBER: Organization of American Historians, Southern Historical Association, Oklahoma Historical Society, Texas State Historical Association, P.E.O. (GL chapter; president, 2000–02)

AWARDS, HONORS: Ottis Lock Endowment Award, best book of the year on East Texas, East Texas Historical Association, 1999, for Peculiar Honor: A History of the 28th Texas Cavalry, 1862–1865.

WRITINGS:

Peculiar Honor: A History of the 28th Texas Cavalry, 1862–1865, University of Arkansas Press (Fayetteville, AR), 1998.

(Editor) Widows by the Thousand: The Civil War Letters of Theophilus and Harriet Perry, 1862–1864, University of Arkansas Press (Fayetteville, AR), 2000.

Contributor to periodicals, including Military History of the West, Civil War Regiments, Civil War History, Military History of the West, and Southwestern Historical Quarterly.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Coeditor of The Papers of Will Rogers, Volumes 4-5, for University of Oklahoma Press (Norman, OK); research on the Adams-Gibson Louisiana brigade during the American Civil War.

SIDELIGHTS: M. Jane Johansson told CA: "Since I was about ten years old, the American Civil War has fascinated me. The fact that several of my ancestors served in the Civil War enthralled me, and beginning at a young age I read many books about the war.

"The books that interested me the most were volumes about specific units during the war and books by or about common soldiers. Bruce Catton's gracefully written trilogy about the Army of the Potomac (Mr. Lincoln's Army, Glory Road, and A Stillness at Appomattox) and John J. Pullen's The 20th Maine influenced me considerably. Reading about unit 'personalities' and unit actions during the war were of utmost interest. In addition, books about the common soldiers of the war were instructive, particularly Bell Irvin Wiley's The Life of Billy Yank and The Life of Johnny Reb. Although I enjoy many different kinds of Civil War books, I am most attracted to those that deal with units or individuals because one can then understand the impact of the war on a personal level. In my writing about the war, I like to work on topics that deal with a smaller and more personal world.

"With the guidance of my major advisor, Dr. Richard Lowe at the University of North Texas, I selected my dissertation topic (a history of the 28th Texas Cavalry). This topic combined two major interests: an interest in unit histories and a growing interest in the history of Confederate soldiers in the Trans-Mississippi Confederacy. Although older unit histories influenced me in regard to organization and major topics, a newer wave of unit histories greatly influenced me. Contemporary historians have mined census records, tax records, and service records to find out more about the kinds of men who went to war. In my case, Douglas Hale's The 3rd Texas Cavalry in the Civil War not only provided data for comparison purposes, but also provided guidance on research ideas.

"In the late 1990s, I began working on a spin-off project. In writing Peculiar Honor: A History of the 28th Texas Cavalry, 1862–1865, I utilized an important source, the correspondence of Captain Theophilus Perry and his wife, Harriet. Captain Perry served in the 28th Texas Cavalry and was mortally wounded at the battle of Pleasant Hill in Louisiana in April, 1864. The Perrys suffered many tragedies during the war, and their letters show the impact of the war on one southern family. As I deciphered and transcribed their letters, for the first time I became interested in the topic of women during the war. Two books that were of particular use in regard to background material were Drew Gilpin Faust's Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War and Sally G. McMillan's Motherhood in the Old South: Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Infant Rearing. The process of adding identifications of people, places, and events was a time-consuming but rewarding project."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Civil War History, March, 2003, Frances S. Pollard, review of Widows by the Thousand: The Civil War Letters of Theophilus and Harriet Perry, 1862–1864, p. 87.

Journal of Southern History, August, 2002, Betsy Glade, review of Widows by the Thousand, p. 706.