Publications & Media

I am committed to public scholarship, creative writing, and the power of under-told stories and experiences. Trained as a historian, I've immersed myself for decades in interdisciplinary, social-justice focused studies. I identify strongly as a writer who supports other writers. My research and writing underscore all my other work.

Books

Jodi Vandenberg-Daves, Work That Matters: A Guide to Careering for Idealistic Women (work in progress)

Jodi Vandenberg-Daves, Modern Motherhood: An American History (Rutgers University Press, 2014) Purchase on Amazon

Jodi Vandenberg-Daves, Making History: A Guide to Historical Research through the National History Day Program (ABC-Clio, 2006) Purchase on Amazon

Jodi Vandenberg-Daves, Poems in the Mother Tongue (lulu.com, 2019) Purchase on Amazon

Media Appearances & Mentions

Northern Public Radio, Teachers' Lounge, "An American history of motherhood, mentorship, and empowering women's leadership," 2024.

Vox, "From banning hugs to gentle parenting, how are you supposed to raise kids, anyway?" (2023)

Maisonneuve, "The Mother Load: Mom guilt isn't a feeling. It's an entire industry, perfected over centuries," (2023)

New York Times, “It’s 2021: Why is ‘Supermom’ still around?” (2021)

WBEZ Chicago Public Radio “The Reset,” “What the declining birth rate says about American Motherhood,” (2021)

New York Times, “Early Motherhood has always been miserable,” (2019)

Coulee Region Women, “The Woman-Friendly Workplace,” (Dec. 2015/Jan. 2016), pgs. 31-32

Wisconsin Public Radio, Newsmakers, “Modern Motherhood: An American History,” (2014)

Additional Academic Publications

“Twentieth-Century Motherhood: Promises, Pitfalls, and Continuing Legacies,” The American Historian, 2016.

"Finding Maternal Histories,” Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (Spring/Summer 2014), introductory article for special issue: “Mothers and History.”

“Medicine, Modernity, and the Maternal Body” Nursing Clio (May, 8, 2014)

“Mama Bear as Micromanager: The Evolution of Cultural Ideals of Motherhood in the Berenstain Bears Book Series, 1960-2000,” Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering 5:1 (Spring 2003): 135-147.

“’A Look at the Total Knowledge of the World’: The University of Minnesota, the Land-Grant Tradition, and the Politics of Public Higher Education, 1950-1990,” History of Education 32: 1 (Spring 2003): 57-79.

“’There’s Got to be More Out There’: White Working-Class Women, College, and the Better Life, 1950-1985,” International Labor and Working-Class History 62 (Fall 2002): 99-120.

“Teaching Motherhood in History: The Challenge of Private Experience in a Tradition of Public Narrative,” Women’s Studies Quarterly 39:3/4 (Fall/Winter 2002): 234-255.

“The Manly Pursuit of a Partnership Between the Sexes: The Debate Over Women and Girls in the YMCA, 1914-1933.” The Journal of American History 78 (March 1992): 1324-1346.

“Mama Bear as Micromanager: The Evolution of Cultural Ideals of Motherhood in the Berenstain Bears Book Series, 1960-2000,” reprinted in a “best of journal” book, Mother Matters: Motherhood as Discourse and Practice, Andrea O’Reilley, ed., Toronto: Association for Research on Mothering, 2004.

“Native Americans and the Federal Government: A Guide to Sources,” with Louise Edwards-Simpson, in National History Day 2003: Rights and Responsibilities in History, Bea Hardy and Cathy Gorn, eds., College Park, MD: National History Day, Inc., 2002.

“A Research Roadmap for Your History Day Topic,” in National History Day 2002: Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History, Bea Hardy and Cathy Gorn, eds. College Park, MD: National History Day, Inc., 2001.

National History Day 1999: Science, Technology, Invention in History. Jodi Vandenberg-Daves and Cathy Gorn, eds., College Park, MD: National History Day, Inc., 1998.

National History Day 1998: Migration in History. Edited by Jodi Vandenberg-Daves and Cathy Gorn. College Park, MD: National History Day, Inc., 1997.

Outreach Publications

“Self-Starter Women: Women Entrepreneurs in the Upper Midwest,” Seven Magazine, 2018.

“Seven Ways Motherhood Has Changed,” Coulee Parenting Connection, 2017.

“Listen to Your Mother: Learn Her History,” Humanities Booyah, Wisconsin Humanities Council Blog, 2015.

“Here’s What Women Really Want,” Jodi Vandenberg-Daves and Betsy Morgan, River Valley Business Review, December 5, 2008.

Peer Reviewer for Academic Journals

The Journal of American History (2020/2021)
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics (2019)
The American Historical Review (2018)
Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (2019)
Minnesota History (2016)
The Children’s Association Quarterly (2015)