Directory

Biography

Scott Roper is a cultural and historical geographer. A native New Englander who joined the Castleton faculty in 2005, he has taught college-level geography since 1992. His interests are varied, but generally revolve around regional and local geographies of North America; the interpretation of historical cultural landscapes; conservation and sustainability issues; race, ethnicity, and sport; basic cartography; and Geographic Information Systems. He also works with teachers to promote geography education and with municipal governments on issues relating to historical geography, planning, and the law.  

When he’s not on campus, you can usually find Professor Roper analyzing cemeteries and old houses, looking for cellar holes, or following the Boston Red Sox.

Education

Ph.D., University of Kansas, 1997
M.A., University of North Dakota, 1993
B.A., Clark University, 1991

Accomplishments

• Coordinator of the Vermont Geographic Alliance, 2010-present
• Appointed by Governor Peter Shumlin to serve on the Vermont Center for Geographic Information Board of Directors, 2013-14 and 2014-15
• Member of the Board of Directors for the Pioneer America Society: Association for the Preservation of Artifacts and Landscapes, 2005-2014
• Vermont representative to the Executive Board of the New England-St. Lawrence Valley Geographical Society/NESTVAL Division of the Association of American Geographers, 2007-2013
• Edited the annual journal PAST: Pioneer America Society Transactions for the Pioneer America Society, 2005-2011
• Book review editor for the journal Material Culture, 2003-2008
• Helped organize annual meetings of the Pioneer America Society: Association for the Preservation of Artifacts and Landscapes in Utica, NY (2013), Stuart, FL (2011), and Castleton, VT (2010).
• Elected to the Lyndeborough NH Board of Selectmen, 1999-2002, and to the Lyndeborough NH Budget Committee, 2010-2013 and 2014-present
• Served on several municipal committees including the Zoning Board of Adjustment (alternate member), 2013-present; Historic District Commission, 2010-2013; Monuments Committee, 2010-2013; Meetinghouse Committee, 2006-2009; and Conservation Commission, 2006-2008.
• Author of more than 20 articles, books, book chapters, reviews, and encyclopedia entries, including:
• "'Wrought in the Spirit of our Ancestors': Ethnicity, Scale, and the Reinvention of a New England Town," in Blake Harrison and Richard Judd, eds., A Landscape History of New England (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2011), 303-322;
• "Another Chink in Jim Crow? Race and Baseball on the Northern Plains, 1900-1935,” in Bill Kirwin, ed., Out of the Shadows: African American Baseball from the Cuban Giants to Jackie Robinson: The Best of Nine (Lincoln: Bison Books/University of Nebraska Press, 2005) 81-93;
• (with Stephanie Abbot Roper) Citizen Soldiers: New Hampshire’s Lafayette Artillery Company, 1804-2004 (Portsmouth, NH: Peter E. Randall, Publisher, 2004;
• "The World is Moving to a Higher Level: The Cost of Progress in Downtown Peterborough, 1913-1921," Historical New Hampshire 56:1-2 (2001) 34-53;
• The Peterborough Savings Bank, 1847-1997 (Peterborough, NH: Sims Press/Directors of Primary Bank, 1999).
• (with Stephanie Abbot Roper) "We’re Going to Give All We Have for this Grand Little Town: Baseball Integration and the 1946 Nashua Dodgers," Historical New Hampshire 53:1-2 (1998) 2-19;
• "Maintaining the ‘Cheery Fires’: Servants’ Space in a Turn-of-the-Century Kansas House." Material Culture 28:3 (1996) 17-40.

Selected Publications

• (with Stephanie Abbot Roper) of When Baseball Met Big Bill Haywood: The Battle for Manchester, New Hampshire, 1912-1916. Jefferson City, NC: McFarland and Company, Publishers, 2018.
• “'Wrought in the Spirit of our Ancestors': Ethnicity, Scale, and the Reinvention of a New England Town." In Blake Harrison and Richard Judd, eds., A Landscape History of New England. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press (2011) 303-322.
• "Another Chink in Jim Crow? Race and Baseball on the Northern Plains, 1900-1935.” In Bill Kirwin, ed., Out of the Shadows: African American Baseball from the Cuban Giants to Jackie Robinson: The Best of Lincoln: Bison Books/University of Nebraska Press (2005) 81-93.
• (with Stephanie Abbot Roper) Citizen Soldiers: New Hampshire’s Lafayette Artillery Company, 1804-2004. Portsmouth, NH: Peter E. Randall, Publisher, 2004.
• "The World is Moving to a Higher Level: The Cost of Progress in Downtown Peterborough, 1913-1921." Historical New Hampshire 56:1-2 (2001) 34-53.
• (with Stephanie Abbot Roper) "We’re Going to Give All We Have for this Grand Little Town: Baseball Integration and the 1946 Nashua Dodgers." Historical New Hampshire 53:1-2 (1998) 2-19.
• "Maintaining the ‘Cheery Fires’: Servants’ Space in a Turn-of-the-Century Kansas House." Material Culture 28:3 (1996) 17-40.

Courses

ENV 1015 Introduction to Environmental Studies
GEO 1060 Fundamentals of Geography
GEO 2020 World Regions and Cultures
GEO 2050 Cartography
GEO 2150 Cultural Geography
GEO 2110 Time and Space in North America
GEO 2220 Weather and Climate
GEO 3050 Conservation, Planning, and the Environment
GEO 3110 Reconstructing Past Landscapes
GEO 3120 Applied Geographic Information Systems