History, memory and religion converge in new book

Devin Manzullo-Thomas ’09, assistant professor of American religious history and director of the Archives, will publish his first book, “Exhibiting Evangelicalism: Commemoration and Religion’s Presence of the Past,” in 2022.

His book is the first written history of museums and historic sites created by evangelical Protestant Christians in the U.S. in the 20th and 21st centuries. Exploring the histories of five different sites, he argues that these museums enabled religious leaders to develop a coherent identity for evangelicalism rooted in history.

The book is a revised version of his doctoral dissertation, which he completed in 2020 at Temple University. He aims to write for public historians and scholars of religion who want to know more about how history, memory and religion can interconnect.

“There have been some really good books about those three topics in the last 20 or so years, but almost none of them talk about history museums created by evangelical Protestants. My hope is that public historians will read this book, recognize the work that religious people have done to interpret their pasts in public and be inspired to tackle religious topics and themes in their own museums, archives and other historic sites,” he said.

A Friends of Murray Library event in November featured him and his book.

“Devin’s presentation was a fascinating introduction to his book as he explained the purpose of evangelical museums and gave an illustrated glimpse into the first such museum honoring Billy Sunday as well as two museums that honor Billy Graham,” said Harriet Bicksler, Friends of the Murray Library Board chair.

Manzullo-Thomas says he’s grateful to all his who encouraged, supported and challenged him during the writing process.  “I could not have completed this project without this kind of intellectual community,” he said.

— Molly McKim ’23