Dear Colleagues,

I share with you sad news from the UWM History Department. Dr. Michael Allen Gordon, Associate Professor Emeritus of History, passed away on October 5, 2020.

Michael earned a BS from Northwestern University and a PhD from the University of Rochester. He was an oral historian and archivist at the Wisconsin Historical Society before coming to UW-Milwaukee in 1987. At UWM, Michael taught courses in American labor history, the history of Wisconsin, the 1950s, and local history, and served as the Coordinator of the department’s Public History Program. He helped to prepare scores of History graduate students for careers in museums, historical agencies, and other public history professions. Michael retired from UWM in 2011.

Michael published articles on labor and public history, as well as oral history. Transcripts of interviews he conducted with Milwaukee civil rights leaders have been catalogued in the Civil Rights Digital Library. He helped to develop the script for The Line, a play based on oral histories about the Patrick Cudahy strike (1987-1989) and was instrumental in its production at Milwaukee’s Theatre X in 1996. His book, The Orange Riots: Irish Political Violence in New York City, 1870 and 1871, was published by Cornell University Press in 1993.

For additional information, please see Michael’s obituary online. Our condolences to Michael’s family and to the many others whose lives he touched.

Take care,

Johannes

Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs