Steven Harthorn joined the English faculty at Concordia University Chicago in 2024. He enjoys helping students articulate their ideas effectively and guiding them as literary explorers of the past, connecting them with intriguing perspectives and the beauty and depth of literary expression.

Dr. Harthorn serves on the James Fenimore Cooper Society board as Executive Director for Publications and Corresponding Secretary. His scholarship frequently focuses on literary history, utilizing primary sources such as period reviews, publishing records, correspondence, and unpublished manuscripts. He is currently working on a scholarly edition of Cooper's final novel, The Ways of the Hour (1850).

Academic and Professional Highlights

Prior Positions

Prior to coming to Concordia University Chicago, Dr. Harthorn taught at the University of Northwestern - St. Paul, where he also served as director of the Eagle Scholars Honors Program from 2019-2022 and chair of the Department of English & Literature from 2022-2024.

From 2005-2015, Dr. Harthorn taught at Williams Baptist College (University) in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. Before that, he taught at the University of Tennessee and coordinated service learning for the university's College of Arts & Sciences.

Awards and Honors

  • James Fenimore Cooper Society's James F. Beard Award for Young Scholars, 2007
  • Stephen Botein Fellowship from the American Antiquarian Society, 2002

Areas of Research

Early American Literature, Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Literature, The Novel

Publications:

  • “The Pathfinder and Cooper’s Return to Popular Literature.” In Leather-Stocking Redux; or, Old Tales, New Essays. Ed. Jeffrey Walker. New York: AMS Press, 2011. 193-224.

  • Editor, James Fenimore Cooper Society Journal, October 2015-present (published two to three times per year)

  • Editor, James Fenimore Cooper Society Newsletter, September 2006-July 2015 (published three times per year; publication superseded by James Fenimore Cooper Society Journal)

  • Editor, James Fenimore Cooper Society Miscellaneous Papers, 2008 (with Melissa Wright); 2009, 2010 (with Shalicia Wilson); 2011, 2012 (with Callison Hopkins); 2013 (with Jessica Perkins); 2014; 2016

  • Editor, James Fenimore Cooper: His Country and His Art 19 (2013), 15, 16, 18, 20 (with Hugh C. MacDougall, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2015).

  • Introductory Letters: Vol. 1 & Vol. 2. The Last of the Mohicans; A Narrative of 1757. By James Fenimore Cooper. 1826. New York: Charles Winthrope & Sons, 2015. 2 vols.

  • An Unfired Shot in the Literary Battle of Lake Erie: Cooper's Unpublished Reply to Alexander Slidell Mackenzie. Literature in the Early American Republic 5 (2013): 1-100

  • The Pathfinder and Cooper's Return to Popular Literature. In Leather-Stocking Redux; or, Old Tales, New Essays. Ed. Jeffrey Walker. New York: AMS Press, 2011. 193-224

  • What Happened to Cooper's Sixth Leatherstocking Tale. James Fenimore Cooper: His Country and His Art 15 (2005): 55-61

Presentations:

  • “Cooper’s The Ways of the Hour and the Webster Trial.” American Literature Association Conference, Chicago, IL, 23 May 2024

  • “Natty Bumppo’s Rifle.” American Literature Association Conference, Boston, MA, 25 May 2023

  • “A British Adaptation of an American Classic: Uncas and The Last of the Mohicans.” With Carrie Nelson. University of Northwestern Faculty Scholarship Symposium, 5 May 2023

  • “The Great American Novel Series: The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper.” Invited Presenter/Panelist, National Association of Scholars Webinar Series on Great American Literature, 11 October 2022.

  • “Working with Literary Manuscript: James Fenimore Cooper’s ‘America; A Vision.’” With Jordan A. Jantz. University of Northwestern Faculty Scholarship Symposium, 7 May 2021.

  • “Retelling History: 195th Anniversary of The Last of the Mohicans.” Invited Presenter/Panelist, Fort William Henry, Lake George, New York, 6 February 2021.

  • “Cooper and the Great Man Theory.” 22nd International James Fenimore Cooper Conference, SUNY College at Oneonta, September 2019

  • “Prison Philanthropy Journals and Cooper’s The Ways of the Hour.” 21st International James Fenimore Cooper Conference, SUNY College at Oneonta, September 2017; University of Northwestern Faculty Scholarship Symposium, 11 May 2018

  • “Illustrated Editions of Cooper’s The Spy: A Survey.” American Literature Association Conference, San Francisco, CA, May 2016

  • “Frank Imitations: Harry Castlemon’s Literary Debt to Cooper.” American Literature Association Conference, Boston, MA, May 2015