Dave Nelson

Dr. Nelson has taught a variety of classes. In addition to survey courses (US 1, US 1, World History II. Western Civ II), Nelson has also taught US and the World Since 1970, the United Nations and the World, Environmental History, Transformation of Scotland 1500-1850, Introduction to Critical Thinking, Race and Ethnicity in the US, Multicultural America, Public History, Digital Archives, and a History of Superheroes.

Dr. Nelson focuses on American (cultural, Southern, Florida), Scottish, Public and Environmental history. In the past he has worked on the New Deal era, Florida tourism, and historical memory. His recent research focuses on the nexus between politics, culture, religion, and morality, in particular various moral panics (e.g., witch trials, crime, pornography, immigration, etc.) Currently he is working on the history of the death penalty in Florida, Florida fears and anxieties in the 1970s and 1980s, the moral panic in 19th Century Scotland over Italians and ice cream, and the suppression and resurrection of Christmas in Scotland, 1500-1960.

Publications:

Books:

How the New Deal Built Florida Tourism: The Civilian Conservation Corps and State Parks (University Press of Florida, 2019)

*Winner of 2019 Florida Book Award for Nonfiction and the Charlton Tebeau Book Award for Florida History, Florida Historical Society

Florida Fears: Moral Panics and Social Anxieties on the Eve of the Culture Wars, 1970-1985 (forthcoming, University Press of Florida)

Articles:

"Microbes and Xenophobes: Moral Panic Over Italian Ice Cream in Scotland, 1870-1920," Scotia (Fall 2020)

“Rejecting Paradise: Tourism, Conservation, and the Birth of the Modern Florida Cracker in the 1930s,” Florida Historical Quarterly (Summer 2018)

“When Modern Tourism Was Born: Florida at the World Fairs and on the World Stage in the 1930s,” Florida Historical Quarterly (Spring 2010)

"’More of a Prison than an Asylum’: Florida Hospital for the Indigent Insane During the Progressive Era,” Southern Studies (Fall 2009)

“Relief, Gender, and Youth at Camp Roosevelt: A Case Study of the NYA in Florida,” Florida Historical Quarterly (Fall 2007)

“The Great Suppression: State Fire Policy in Florida, 1920-1970” Gulf South Historical Review (Spring 2006)

“A New Deal for Relief: Governor Fred Cone and the Florida State Welfare Board,” Florida Historical Quarterly (Fall 2005)

Book Chapters:

“Uneasy Rider: Governor Haydon Burns, 1965-1967,” in Boyd Murphree and Robert Taylor ed. Governors of Florida (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2020) *Book was Winner of the 2020 Florida Book Award for Nonfiction

“Old Suwannee in the New South: Governor Frederick P. Cone, 1937-1941,” in Boyd Murphree and Robert Taylor ed. Governors of Florida (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2020)

“Battles of Olustee: Civil War Memory in Florida,” in Jonathan Shepherd and Seth Weitz ed., A Forgotten Front: Florida During the Civil War Era (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2018).

“ ‘Improving’ Paradise: The Civilian Conservation Corps and Environmental Change in Florida,” in Jack E. Davis ed. Paradise Lost? The Environmental History of Florida
(Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2005)

Other Publications:

A Guide to Florida Governors and the Florida Cabinet State Archives of Florida (2008)
A Guide to Civil War Records at the State Archives of Florida State Archives of Florida
(2008)
A Guide to New Deal Records at the State Archives of Florida State Archives of Florida
(2007)
Shall We Gather at the River: African-American Sacred Music from the Florida Folklife
Collection [audio recording] State Archives of Florida (2007)
More Music from the Florida Folklife Collection [audio recording] State Archives of Florida (2006)
Music from the Florida Folklife Collection [audio recording] State Archives of Florida
(2005)

Presentations:
“Dangerous Knowledge: The Moral Panic over Sex Education in Florida, 1969-1982,” Florida Association of Historians, Lake City, Florida (tba, February 2020)

“The Devil Comes to Florida: The Fears and Anxieties Over Halloween, 1970-1985,” Southern Studies Conference, Auburn University (31 January 2020)

"Microbes and Xenophobes: The Moral Panic Over Italian Ice Cream in Scotland, 1880-1920," Scottish Studies Center Colloquium, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada (5 October 2019).

"Saving the Children: Florida and the Moral Panic Over Child Pornography, 1977-1986," Gulf South History Conference, Pensacola, Florida (19 October 2019)

“Devil Worshipers and Poisoned Candy: Halloween and the First Satanic Panic in Florida, 1960-1982,” Florida Association of Historians, Sarasota, Florida (23 February 2019)

“Scotland Cancels Christmas? The Mass of Christ in Scotland, 1558- 1958,” Scottish Studies Center Colloquium, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada (14 October 2018).

“The Death and Resurrection of the Death Penalty in Florida” Gulf South History Conference, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (7 October 2018)

“Deep Throat in the Deep South: Florida’s War on Obscenity During the Porn Chic Era” Florida Conference of Historians, Wakulla, Florida (16 February 2018)

“When Modern Florida Tourism Was Born: Florida At The World Fairs and on the World Stage in the 1930s,” Florida Historical Society Annual Meeting, Pensacola, Florida (22 May 2009)

"Conservation, Commodification, and the Creation of Paradise in New
Deal-era Florida," Agriculture History Society Annual Meeting, Reno, Nevada (21 June 2008)

“Cattle, Ticks, and Tourists: Florida Cultural Wars During the New Deal Era, 1927-1943,” Agriculture History Society Annual Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts (17 June 2006)

“Cattle, Ticks, and Tourists: Florida Cultural Wars During the New Deal Era, 1927-1943,” Allen Morris Conference on Florida History and the Atlantic World, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida (25 February 2006)

“’More of a Prison than a Hospital’: A History of the Florida State Hospital, 1890-1910,” Southern Historical Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia (3 November 2005)

“The Great Suppression: State Fire Policy in Florida, 1920-1970,” Gulf South Historical Association Annual Meeting, Pensacola, Florida (7 October 2005)

“Relief, Gender, and Youth at Camp Roosevelt: A Case Study of the NYA in Florida,” Florida Historical Society Annual Meeting, Melbourne, Florida (20 May 2005)

“Florida Folklife Collection at the Florida State Archives,” Florida Folklife Council Meeting, Tallahassee, Florida (6 April 2005)

“Florida’s Governor Fred Cone: A Life,” a speech to Columbia County Historical Museum, Lake City, Florida (24 October 2004)

“Florida's Welfare State Parks: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Florida Park Service, 1933-1942,” Florida Historical Society Annual Meeting, Melbourne, Florida (16 April 2004)

“A New Deal for Welfare: Governor Fred Cone and the Florida State Welfare Board” Florida Conference of Historians, Lake City, Florida (5 March 2004)

“ ‘Improving’ Paradise: The Civilian Conservation Corps and Environmental Change in Florida” Allen Morris Conference on Florida History and the Atlantic World, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida (14 February 2004)

“A History of Sea Turtle Conservation,” Earth Kinship Conference, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida (5 February 2000)

Dr. Nelson is the founder and director of the Scotland Study Abroad program for the University System of Georgia. For more info, go to: https://usg-goes-global.via-trm.com/visitor/programs/7084

He has also taught the USG's London Program. Nelson also directs the Honors program for ABAC-Bainbridge, and advises the Model UN club. He has previously advised the History Club, Film Club and 42 Club (a genre-fiction book club). He currently serves on the board for the Carter Arts and Lecture series.