History PhD student Rachel Birch selected to present her research in Heidelberg, Germany

The Heidelberg Center for American Studies invited Rachel Birch, as one of twenty global scholars, to participate in their 2026 Spring Academy on March 23 through March 27 in Heidelberg, Germany. Her presentation, “The Narrative Dissonance of Idealized Womanhood: Forging Distinct Culture of Print and Power in the American West,” focused on her use of digital methods examining nineteenth and twentieth century religious print culture produced by women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Throughout the week, each participant shared their research for twenty minutes and then engaged in a forty-minute discussion and critique of their work.