SUNY Potsdam History Professor Co-Authors Book on 'Relief Work as Pilgrimage'

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SUNY Potsdam Associate Professor of History Dr. M.J. Heisey is the co-author of “Relief Work as Pilgrimage: ‘Mademoiselle Miss Elsie’ in Southern France, 1945-1958,” published by Lexington Books.

POTSDAM, NY (02/10/2016)(readMedia)-- SUNY Potsdam Associate Professor of History Dr. M.J. Heisey has co-authored a book, "Relief Work as Pilgrimage: 'Mademoiselle Miss Elsie' in Southern France, 1945-1948," which was recently published by Lexington Books. She wrote the volume with her sister, Nancy R. Heisey, who is a professor of biblical studies and church history at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.

The book documents the travels of Elsie C. Bechtel, who left her Ohio home in 1945 for the tiny French commune of Lavercantière, where for nearly three years, she cared for children displaced by the ravages of World War II. Bechtel's diary, photographs and letters home to her family provide the central texts for this study.

From 1945 to 1948, Bechtel's pen and camera recorded her encounters with French society and her immersion in the spare beauty of rural France. From her daily work came passionate musings on the emotional world of human interactions and evocative observations of the American, Spanish and French co-workers and children with whom she lived.

As a volunteer with the Mennonite Central Committee, Bechtel was part of the war relief efforts of pacifist Quakers and Anabaptists. Between 1939 and 1948, the committee's programs in France distributed clothing, shared food, and sheltered refugee children. The work began in the far southwest, but by the time Bechtel completed her service in 1948, had moved to the Alsace region, where French Mennonites clustered.

Bechtel's writings emerged from a religious context that included much travel, but little reflection on the significance of that travel. Yet, religiously motivated travel -- an old tradition in southwest France -- shaped Bechtel's life. The authors consider her experiences in terms of religious pilgrimage and reflect on their own pilgrimage to Lavercantière in 2006 for a reunion with some of the people marked by the broader effort that Bechtel joined.

To understand Bechtel's experiences and prose, the authors examined archival sources on MCC's work in France, gathered oral and written narratives of participants, and researched other war relief efforts in Spain and France in the 1930s and 1940s. Drawing on these various contexts, the authors established the complexity -- but also the significance -- of pilgrimage and humanitarian service as intercultural exchanges.

Dr. M.J. Heisey completed her bachelor's degree in history at Messiah College, before going on to earn a Master of Arts degree and a Ph.D. in history at Syracuse University, where she also completed a Certificate of Advanced Study in women's studies. Heisey has been a member of the faculty at SUNY Potsdam since 1997, and is an associate professor in the Department of History.

"Relief Work as Pilgrimage: 'Mademoiselle Miss Elsie' in Southern France, 1945-1958" by M.J. Heisey and Nancy Heisey is available via Lexington Books, at www.rowman.com/Lexington.

SUNY Potsdam's Department of History offers a variety of courses ranging from the ancient world to the present, and from Africa and Asia to Europe and the Americas. The department's faculty is comprised of inquisitive scholars, whose passion for history enlivens their classrooms. For more information, visit www.potsdam.edu/academics/AAS/History.

Founded in 1816, The State University of New York at Potsdam is one of America's first 50 colleges-and the oldest institution within SUNY. As the College marks its bicentennial in 2016, SUNY Potsdam will celebrate a 200-year legacy of pioneering programs and educational excellence. The College currently enrolls approximately 4,200 undergraduate and graduate students. Home to the world-renowned Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam is known for its challenging liberal arts and sciences core, distinction in teacher training and leadership in the arts. Empowered by a culture of creativity, the campus community is nearing the completion of Take the Lead: The Campaign for Potsdam, which has already raised $32 million for scholarships and programs.

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