Faculty and Staff

Rosalind J. Beiler, Ph.D.

• Associate Professor
• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: 407-823-6467
• Campus Location: CNH534F
• View CV

Education

• Ph.D. in History from University of Pennsylvania (1994)

Research Interests

Early American History, Atlantic History, Migration, Early Modern German History, Public History 

Recent Research Activities

Rosalind J. Beiler's research focuses on migration in the early modern Atlantic world. She is currently working on a digital humanities project - People, Religion, Information Networks, and Travel - The Dynamics of Migration in the Early Modern World (PRINT - https://PRINTmigrationnetwork.org). Funded by a Major Collaborative Archival Initiatives grant from the NHPRC/National Archive, PRINT's team is creating a portal to 2700 letters of religious minorities from 5 repositories in 4 countries and 3 languages in order to visualize the complexities of early modern correspondence networks and the ways they shaped mobility and migration. Beiler's first book, Immigrant and Entrepreneur: The Atlantic World of Caspar Wistar, 1650-1750, examines the process of cultural adaptation and change through the lens of one eighteenth-century German-speaking immigrant to the British colonies. Beiler has conducted research as a fellow at the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard University, a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Berlin Germany, and a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow at the Library Company of Philadelphia. She has presented her work at conferences in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Selected Publications

Books

• Immigrant and Entrepreneur: The Atlantic World of Caspar Wistar, 1650-1750 (University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2008).

Articles/Essays

• With Kathryn E. Wilson, "From Peopling to Postethnic:  Pennsylvania Pluralism Reconsidered," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 143 (Oct. 2016), 257-70. 

• “Information Brokers and Mediators:  The Role of Diplomats in the Migrations of German-speaking People, 1709-1711.”  In A Peculiar Mixture:  German-Language Cultures and Identities in Eighteenth-Century North America.  Jan Stievermann and Oliver Scheiding, eds.  University Park, Pa.:  The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2013, 43-57.

• “Migration and Loss of Spiritual Community:  The Case of Daniel Falckner and Anna Maria Schuchart.”  In Enduring Loss in Early Modern Germany.  Lynne Tatlock, ed.  Leiden:  Brill, 2010, 369-95.

• “Dissenting Religious Communication Networks and Migration, 1660-1710.”  In Soundings in Atlantic History: Latent Structures and Intellectual Currents, 1500-1825, Bernard Bailyn, ed.  Cambridge, Ma.:  Harvard University Press, 2009, 210-236.
• "Information Networks and the Dynamics of Migration: Swiss Anabaptist Exiles and Their Host Communities," in Religious Refugees in Europe, Asia and North America (6th-21st century), Susanne Lachenicht, ed., Lit Verlag, 2007.
• "Searching for Prosperity: German Migration to the British American Colonies, 1688-1780," in The Atlantic World: Studies in Migration, Imagination and Slavery, Prentice Hall, 2005.
• "Bridging the Gap: Cultural Mediators and the Structure of Transatlantic Communication," in Atlantic Communications: The Media in American and German History from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century, Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2004.
• "Smuggling Goods or Moving Households The Legal Status of German-speaking Immigrants in the First British Empire," in Meschen zwischen zwei Welten: Auswanderung, Ansiedlung, Akkulturation, Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2002, 9-23.
• With Klaus Irmscher, "Die Wanderungsbewegungen der Glasmacher Wenzel aus Gründau-Breitenborn im Deutschen Südwesten, Zweite Teil," Genealogie, 26, 2002, 301-315; 350-357.
• "Caspar Wistar: German-American Entrepreneur and Cultural Broker," in The Human Tradition in America from the Colonial Era to Reconstruction, Scholarly Resources, 2001.
• "From the Rhine Valley to the Delaware Valley: The Eighteenth-Century Transatlantic Trade Channels of Caspar Wistar," in In Search of Peace and Prosperity: New Settlements in Eighteenth-Century Europe and America, Penn State University Press, 2000, 172-188.
• With Klaus Irmscher, "Die Wanderungsbewegungen der Glasmacher Wenzel aus Gründau-Breitenborn im Deutschen Südwesten, Zweite Teil," Genealogie, 9/10, 1998, 274-296.
• "Distributing Aid to Believers in Need: The Religious Foundations of Transatlantic Migration." Pennsylvania History, Special Supplemental Issue, 64, 1997, 73-87.
• "Peterstal and Wistarburg: The Transfer and Adaptation of Business Strategies in Eighteen-Century American Glassmaking," Business and Economic History, 26, 1997, 343-353.

Awards

Research:

• NEH Postdoctoral Fellowship, The Library Company of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, 2006
• Senior Scholar, Lecture/Research Fulbright Grant, John F. Kennedy Institute, Freie Universitaet Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 2003-2004.
• Fellowship, Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1997-1998.
• Scholars-in-Residence Award, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, PA, 1997.
• In-House Research Grant, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 1996.
• Summer Research Fellowship, Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, DE, 1995.

Public History:

• Viva Florida! Florida Wildflower Foundation, Public History Center, 2014.
• Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, General Program Support Grant, Public History Center, 2014.
• UCF Tech Fee Grant, Infrastructure and Student Facing Technology, Public History Center, 2014.
• Changing America, NEH/American LIbrary Association/Smithsonian Institute, Exhibit and Programming Grant, 2013.
• LIFE @ UCF, History in a Box, Public History Center, 2013.
• Created Equal: America's Civil Rights Struggle, NEH/Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History, Community Programming Grant, 2013.
• LIFE @ UCF, Archival Supplies, Public History Center, 2012.
• Museum Assessment Program, Collections Stewardship, American Alliance of Museums/Institute for Museum and Library Services, 20121.
• CAH Research Incentive and Development Grant, Co-PI w/ Scot French, "Publicly Engaged History for the Digital Age," UCF, 2011.
• CAH Interdisciplinary Research Grant, "Home Movie Day," Co-PI w/ Stephen Schlow and Laila Miletic-Vejzovic, UCF, 2008.

Teaching:

• Teaching Incentive Program Award, UCF, 2006.
• Summer Diversity Faculty Institute, Brown v. Board of Education, UCF, 2003.
• Summer International Faculty Institute, Internationalizing the Curriculum, UCF, 2001.
• Teaching Incentive Program Award, UCF, 2000.
• Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award, UCF, 2000.
• Dean's Initiative Award, Technology Across the Curriculum, CAH, UCF, 1996.

Courses

• Spring 2026
• Fall 2025
• Summer 2025
• Spring 2025
• Fall 2024
• Summer 2024
• Spring 2024
• Fall 2023
• Summer 2023