Thirst for history always ripe for discovery

The story of how the steel industry in the United States was caught flat-footed by foreign competition as well as a nascent environmental movement embraced by their labor union represents a fascinating turn in the historical arc of American industrial development. It was also sufficiently captivating to power Louise Milone to get her doctorate degree after age 75.

“The real history of the 1950s is how US steel and the other major companies became overwhelmed by foreign competition,” said Milone (Ph.D., ‘25), tempering her enthusiasm, barely. “Especially in U.S. Steel’s case, it was in part because they also rejected the latest technology.”

Her intellectual curiosity, engaged over a lifetime, readied Milone for her next act.

“When I teach classes, I tell my students: you’re in a new world. You must pay attention to what happened and technological advances in the old world that sometimes would take 10 years, twenty years, 30 years – you’re in a world where it happens in 20 months,” she said. “And what you need to be is lifelong learners, never be complacent about what you know about a technology that is coming. Keep up with everything that’s happening and just expect this to be your life.”

Milone reminds her students to be excited by that prospect, by embracing learning with excitement by example. After a career that included work as a US senate staffer, Milone revisited a lingering itch: an unfinished bachelor’s degree. She enrolled at Georgia State University in 2013 to finish her BA in economics ‘as an elder.’ 

“I took a history class on women in film and that was it, I was going to be a history major,” Milone said. “At that time, GSU had many non-traditional aged students in their 40s and 50s, and they wanted to try something new, doing a BA/MA and wanted to try it out on me. I assume I was low risk, right?”

Bothered about not having finished her BA, she agreed to get a master’s as well. At the completion of her MA coursework, Milone’s committee recommended she pursue her doctorate.

“I said you’re crazy! So, I applied to UGA, knowing they would never accept me. And it happened,” she said. She received a call from Cindy Hahamovitch, B. Phinizy Spalding Distinguished Professor of History, with news of her acceptance. 

“I applied to UGA because of Cindy – I admire her work as a writer. I planned to study economic history, then I shifted my focus to educational history, the history of white students in the 20s and 30s in Georgia and the issue of race formation. If you’re interested in race formation, the people that really make a difference – bad or good - are thos who hold power!”

Early on in her UGA experience, Milone attended seminars and meetings with invited speakers, including one on urban heat islands.

“I was curious about what effect that might have had when you change from dirt roads to concrete, and from wooden houses to brick houses,” she said. Simple enough.

With her low expectations, Milone attended the meeting. “About 20 people there, all the best in their fields. I felt totally out of place. I was seated next to a geographer who mentioned the town of Donora,” she said of the Donora, PA death fog, a severe air pollution event that killed 20 people in 1948. “He said nobody’s really looked at the issues of what was in the airand how long it had been going on. It really sparked something in me.”

Two months later, Milone went to Hahamovitch to discuss switching from history of education to a deep dive into the steel industry,  the labor movement and air pollution.

Hahamovitch didn’t flinch.

“Louise read about the Donora smog disaster and was hooked. She took her first science class in fifty years and dove right in!” Hahamovitch said. “Now that she's finished, I'll miss being able to say I have a PhD student studying the history of air. Who knows what's next for her? Maybe skydiving.” 

Milone successfully defended her dissertation, “Smoke Meant Money: A History of Smog in a Pennsylvania Steel Town.” on July 11. A précis on the dissertation:

A deadly air pollution disaster catapulted the steel mill town of Donora, Pennsylvania, into national infamy. Behind those disaster headlines lay the story of the town’s steel working families who created a tight-knit, supportive community, living under a constant air-borne barrage of metals and gases. They built our nation’s infrastructure while being buffeted not only by the toxic air they breathed but also by the vagaries of devastating swings in national and international economies and the frequently questionable business decisions of the United States Steel Corporation that eventually led to the closure of the town’s mills, devastating their beloved community. This is an economic, environmental, public health, labor, and industry story, but ultimately it is the story of the people of Donora and our country that enjoyed the fruits of their labor, then turned away when trouble came.

Milone’s most-rewarding teaching experiences so far have included her time as an instructor of U.S. history at the Whitworth Women’s Correctional Facility. 

“Teaching those classes was the most incredible experience. I learned so much from those students – a lot about how history affects people and the way they think, the discussions we’ve had. What it means to be in a situation in which you REALLY want to be in that classroom. And the difference that it makes for the class,” Milone said.

A lifelong learner at the head of the class shows how to make a difference at any age.

Image: UGA history faculty member Cindy Hahamovitch, left, with Louise Milone on the porch of LeConte Hall. Franklin College photo.