Partnership aids history study at BG
By ERICA BLAKE
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Christi Bartman entered the policy history doctorate program at Bowling Green State University hoping to study the Soviet Union's involvement during the Nuremberg Trials, post World War II.
At the time, less than a year ago, she had no idea that only a few states away an organization had been created to memorialize a man who played an important role in those trials.
So when BGSU and the Robert H. Jackson Center created a partnership, Ms. Bartman said she was thrilled that the research that awaited her could be more easily attained.
The center, in Jamestown, N.Y., is dedicated to preserving the memory and advancing the ideas of Robert H. Jackson, a U.S. Supreme Court justice and chief American prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials.
The collaboration - signed yesterday - will help promote the center as a resource for the study of Mr. Jackson's influence, while opening the door to university students researching that period in history.
"Anytime you can offer students the opportunity to see history and policy through a bigger lens, it will broaden their abilities to understand what's out there," said Ms. Bartman, 43, of Whitehouse. "This takes it out of something they read in a book, and puts a face and name on it. It puts documents and speeches behind it. Hopefully, it will make it much more memorable for the student."
The center was created in 2001 by attorneys interested in preserving Mr. Jackson's legacy, said center president Greg Peterson in a telephone interview. He said that not only will BGSU act as an outlet for disseminating materials from the Jackson Center, but also the university will help evaluate and archive the center's collected documents and artifacts.
And, the collaboration involves seeking private funding to develop an internship program for undergraduate students in the future. The university also plans to establish a graduate assistantship to promote research related to the former justice.
"We felt strongly that we should create an opportunity to learn about our local Supreme Court justice and his relevancy today," said Mr. Peterson, who helped found the center. "Even today, we had no idea how much of an impact he had in the Supreme Court, the Nuremberg Trials, and the New Deal."
Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Mr. Jackson to the Supreme Court in 1941. While on the Court, he served as chief U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg war crimes trials at the conclusion of World War II and is credited with playing an important role in creating international law.
He also participated in landmark cases such as the unanimous ruling in Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka.
Don Rowney, a history professor and chairman of the graduate program in policy history at BGSU, said the partnership will offer opportunities to students like Ms. Bartman that just didn't exist before.
He added that with all the renewed interest in international law - especially after the convening of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the impending trial of Saddam Hussein - the partnership can only grow.
"We think that the research interest that we have as a graduate program in policy history can benefit from having a connection in the public's eye with an organization that has a specific focus and a focus that people can attach itself to," he said.
Contact Erica Blake at: eblake@theblade.com or 419-724-6076.
Reprinted with permission of The Blade
June 21, 2005