In Memorium: A tribute to Prof. Travis Beal Jacobs (1936-2025) by Prof. Jim Ralph, via the American Historical Association.
Travis Beal Jacobs, Fletcher D. Proctor Professor emeritus of American History at Middlebury College, died on September 16, 2025.
Travis was born in New York City on April 22, 1936, the son of Albert C. and Loretta Beal Jacobs. His father’s career as a law professor took the family from Alexandria, Virginia, to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to New York City, where at Columbia University Albert was professor of law, then provost under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Albert later became the chancellor of the University of Denver and then president of Trinity College, Hartford. Travis attended Deerfield Academy and Princeton University, graduating in 1958. Initially, he planned to attend Columbia Law School, but at the last minute, he decided to pursue a PhD in American history at Columbia under William E. Leuchtenburg. In 1965, he joined the faculty at Middlebury College.
Travis became a legendary figure at Middlebury, teaching thousands of undergraduates over 43 years, especially in his popular two-semester lecture course on 20th-century US history. He brought the past to life through his lively lectures and adept use of audio recordings and film clips (well before the advent of PowerPoint presentations). He had high expectations of his students, which helped ensure that they came to his seminars well prepared and ready to engage with the assigned materials. He was a vigorous proponent of students doing original research and was an advocate of a required senior thesis for all history majors. He was a meticulous editor of student writing, and he helped transform tentative writers into confident crafters of essays and longer papers. I was one of those Middlebury undergraduates whose love for the study of history grew because of Travis’s tutelage.
Travis was also an exemplary departmental chair. During his 17 years as chair, he helped make the history department one of the most respected and largest on campus. He retired from the Middlebury faculty in 2008.
Throughout his career, he was an active scholar with wide-ranging interests. With Beatrice Berle, he co-edited Navigating the Rapids, 1918–1971 (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973), the diaries of Adolf A. Berle, one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s brain trusters. Next came America and the Winter War, 1939–1940 (Garland, 1981), based on his dissertation, an analysis of the Roosevelt administration’s response to the Russo-Finnish War. Inspired by his father’s experiences, he wrote Eisenhower at Columbia (Transaction Publishers, 2001), an examination of Eisenhower’s first civilian leadership post after his military career. He also edited the Middlebury College General Catalogue: Bicentennial Edition (2000), a who’s who of the college. In his last years, he was at work on a study of Robert T. Stafford, a former governor, US congressman, and US senator from Vermont.
Travis received several Earhart Foundation Fellowships, taught in Tunis on a Fulbright fellowship, served on the Presidential Studies Quarterly editorial board, and attended many Salzburg Seminars in American Studies. A tireless advocate for public history, he served as the president of the Henry Sheldon Museum of Middlebury during a capital campaign that led to the creation of the Paris Fletcher Community Center. He was a strong supporter of its research center, with its valuable Vermont history collections, which he enthusiastically encouraged Middlebury undergraduates to mine for their research projects. He also skillfully curated the immensely successful Charles S. Grant Memorial Lectureship in American History, which starting in 1966 brought dozens of the leading interpreters of the American past to Middlebury for public lectures.
Travis was known for his friendly demeanor and good cheer; his dedication to Middlebury College and higher education (as well as his healthy skepticism about administrative decision-making); his mentorship of younger colleagues in the history department; his support of former students as they made their way through life; his enjoyment of Chappaquiddick Island of Edgartown, Massachusetts, and Chazy Lake in the Adirondacks; and his love for his family, especially his two sons, T. Beal Jr. and Holmes, and his three grandchildren.
The Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs program on Global and International History presents “Chasing Bandits, Disrupting Order: Terrorism and Imperialism in the Long American Century” with Michael E. Neagle.
Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room
Open to the Public
Ian Nagoski is an independent music researcher and reissue record producer in Baltimore, Maryland, who has specialized for over 20 years in early-twentieth-century recordings made by immigrants to the United States, with a particular focus on musicians from the Ottoman Empire and post-Ottoman locales. The latter have included Greek, Armenian, Arab, Jewish, and Turkish musicians.
Axinn Center 232
Open to the Public
Alan Mikhail is the Chace Family Professor of History at Yale University. He is the author of six books that have been translated into ten languages. His work has helped to establish the field of Middle East environmental history, positioned the Ottoman Empire at the center of global early modern history, and creatively scrutinized the place of the archive in the making of past and present.
Axinn Center 229
Open to the Public
Please join the departments of American Studies, Classics and Classical Studies, Comparative Literature, English, Film and Media Culture, History, Literary Studies, and Religion for a reception celebrating graduates in these disciplines.
The following departments invite grads and their guests to join them in the locations listed below.
English | AXN 232 | 3:30-4:15 pm
Religion | AXN 220 | 3:30-4:15 pm
History | Abernethy Room (AXN 221) | 3:30-5:00 pm
Film and Media Culture | AXN 229 | 3:30-5:30 pm
American Studies | American Studies Conference Room | 4:45-5:30 pm
Classics and Classical Studies, Comparative Literature, Literary Studies | AXN 232 | 4:45-5:30 pm
Axinn Center
The Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs program on Global and International History presents “Slavery, Abolition, and the Antebellum Origins of Modern Business Ethics” with Seth Rockman, the George L. Littlefield Professor of American History and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Brown University.
Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room
Open to the Public
On the second day of the symposium, Mexican director Michelle Garza Cervera will answer questions (in English) about her acclaimed debut film Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022). This will be followed by a conversation in Spanish between Michelle and Rita Segato, offering a broader dialogue on gender-based abuse and violence against women in Latin America. The conversation between Michelle and Rita will be translated into English for the audience.
Cookies and drinks will be provided.
Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room
Open to the Public
Presented in Spanish with real-time translation to English
The symposium will kickoff with a keynote presentation by Argentine anthropologist Rita Segato, followed by an open discussion with students, faculty, and community members. Hors d’oeuvres will be provided in Sunderland Lobby beginning at 4:00 PM.
Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)
Open to the Public
History, Heroes, and Bipartisanship: What the Congressional Naming Commission Can Teach About our Past, Present, and Future
“What a timely and inspiring history. The word ‘hero’ is bandied about so often that it begins to lack real meaning. How fortunate that Seidule and Williams have helped restore full value to the real actions that define heroism, sacrifice, virtue, and honor.” —Ken Burns, award-winning documentarian and filmmaker
McCardell Bicentennial Hall 216
Open to the Public
Iran has entered one of the most consequential crises in its recent history when the United States and Israel launched coordinated and unprovoked air strikes across the country on February 28. These strikes killed hundreds, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who ruled Iran since 1989. The country has retaliated with missile and drone attacks on U.S. bases, Israel, and other targets in the Gulf countries, raising the risk of a full-scale regional war. How did we get here?
McCardell Bicentennial Hall 216
Open to the Public
Professor Beverly Gage, the John Lewis Gaddis Professor of History at Yale University, a Pulitzer-Prize winning historian, will be delivering the 2026 Charles S. Grant Memorial Lecture. Her lecture is titled, “This Land is Your Land: Grappling with the American Past on the 250th anniversary of the Nation’s Founding.”
Sponsored by the Charles S. Grant Memorial Lecture Fund and the History Department.
McCardell Bicentennial Hall 216
Open to the Public
Please join the departments of American Studies, Classics and Classical Studies, Comparative Literature, English, Film and Media Culture, History, Literary Studies, and Religion for a reception celebrating graduates in these disciplines.
The following departments invite grads and their guests to join them in the locations listed below.
English | AXN 232 | 3:30-4:15 pm
Religion | AXN 220 | 3:30-4:15 pm
History | Abernethy Room (AXN 221) | 3:30-5:00 pm
Film and Media Culture | AXN 229 | 3:30-5:30 pm
American Studies | American Studies Conference Room | 4:45-5:30 pm
Classics and Classical Studies, Comparative Literature, Literary Studies | AXN 232 | 4:45-5:30 pm
Axinn Center
The Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs program on Global and International History presents “Slavery, Abolition, and the Antebellum Origins of Modern Business Ethics” with Seth Rockman, the George L. Littlefield Professor of American History and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Brown University.
Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room
Open to the Public
On the second day of the symposium, Mexican director Michelle Garza Cervera will answer questions (in English) about her acclaimed debut film Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022). This will be followed by a conversation in Spanish between Michelle and Rita Segato, offering a broader dialogue on gender-based abuse and violence against women in Latin America. The conversation between Michelle and Rita will be translated into English for the audience.
Cookies and drinks will be provided.
Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room
Open to the Public
Presented in Spanish with real-time translation to English
The symposium will kickoff with a keynote presentation by Argentine anthropologist Rita Segato, followed by an open discussion with students, faculty, and community members. Hors d’oeuvres will be provided in Sunderland Lobby beginning at 4:00 PM.
Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)
Open to the Public
History, Heroes, and Bipartisanship: What the Congressional Naming Commission Can Teach About our Past, Present, and Future
“What a timely and inspiring history. The word ‘hero’ is bandied about so often that it begins to lack real meaning. How fortunate that Seidule and Williams have helped restore full value to the real actions that define heroism, sacrifice, virtue, and honor.” —Ken Burns, award-winning documentarian and filmmaker
McCardell Bicentennial Hall 216
Open to the Public
Iran has entered one of the most consequential crises in its recent history when the United States and Israel launched coordinated and unprovoked air strikes across the country on February 28. These strikes killed hundreds, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who ruled Iran since 1989. The country has retaliated with missile and drone attacks on U.S. bases, Israel, and other targets in the Gulf countries, raising the risk of a full-scale regional war. How did we get here?
McCardell Bicentennial Hall 216
Open to the Public
Professor Beverly Gage, the John Lewis Gaddis Professor of History at Yale University, a Pulitzer-Prize winning historian, will be delivering the 2026 Charles S. Grant Memorial Lecture. Her lecture is titled, “This Land is Your Land: Grappling with the American Past on the 250th anniversary of the Nation’s Founding.”
Sponsored by the Charles S. Grant Memorial Lecture Fund and the History Department.
McCardell Bicentennial Hall 216
Open to the Public
The Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs program on Global and International History presents Dr. Sunil Purushotham and “India in the 1940s: War, Partition, and Decolonization.”
Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room
Open to the Public
Remarks and awards for History department seniors and their families.
Axinn Center Abernethy Room (221)
Peter Beinart is Professor of Journalism and Political Science at CUNY. He is also a Contributing Opinion Writer for The New York Times, a political commentator on MSNBC, and Editor-at-Large of Jewish Currents. Over the years he served as Editor of The New Republic and wrote for publications like The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Die Zeit, and the Financial Times. He is the author of four books including The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris (Harper, 2010) and The Crisis of Zionism (Times Books, 2012).
Wilson Hall, McCullough Student Center
Open to the Public
