Joseph Beilein Jr., Ph.D.

Joseph M. Beilein Jr. is a Civil War historian who specializes in guerrilla warfare, gender, material culture, and violence. He’s the author of Bushwhackers: Guerrilla Warfare, Manhood, and the Household in Civil War Missouri (2016) and the co-editor of The Civil War Guerrilla: Unfolding the Black Flag in History, Memory, and Myth (2015) and several articles on the guerrilla conflict during the Civil War. His evolving research agenda seeks to include the intersection of alcohol and manhood during the Civil War.

At Penn State Behrend, Beilein teaches courses on the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, Military History, and American History. Beilein has consulted on two episodes of TLC celebrity genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are? with actresses Jessica Biel and Megan Mullally.

Courses Taught

• HIST 020, American Civilization to 1877
• HIST 130, Introduction to the Civil War Era, 1848 through 1877

Recent Conference Participation

• “’Nothing But Truth is History’: William E. Connelley, William H. Gregg, and the Pillaging of Guerrilla History,” Society of Civil War Historians Biennial Conference, Lexington, Kentucky, June 14-16, 2012.
• Missouri Secessionist Households, Chair, 53rd Annual Missouri Conference on History, Kansas City, Missouri, April 15, 2011.
• Roundtable: Directions in Missouri’s Civil War History, Panelist, 53rd Annual Missouri Conference on History, Kansas City, Missouri, April 14, 2011.
• “The Hired-Hand: William Clarke Quantrill, the Household, and Missouri’s Organic System of Warfare,” 7th Graduate Conference on History, University of Missouri, Department of History, April 16, 2010.
• “The Guerrilla Shirt: A Labor of Love in Missouri’s Civil War,” Suprea Utilitatem: Finding Artistry in Functionality, Graduate Student Symposium, Department of Art History and Archaeology, University of Missouri, February 27, 2010.

Invited Talks and Other Presentations

• “The Guerrilla Shirt,” The Friends of the James Farm Annual Meeting, Jesse James Farm and Museum, Kearney, Missouri, June 9, 2012.
• “The Guerrilla Shirt: A Labor of Love and the Style of Rebellion in Civil War Missouri,” Border Wars Conference, Kansas City, November 11, 2011.
• “Guerrilla Men, Rebel Women, and Household War in Civil War Missouri,” University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, October 4, 2011.
• “Historian At War: William E. Connelley and the Creation of the Savage Guerrilla,” Border Wars Symposium, Hall Center for the Humanities, University of Kansas, April 6-8, 2011.