Bill Childs received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the
University of Texas at Austin and joined the faculty of the OSU History
Department in 1984. He had taught previously at UT and at the University
of Georgia.
He is interested
in the interaction of political economy with social and cultural forces.
His first book,
Trucking and the Public Interest (1985), was selected
by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Book for 1986-87.
His second book published in 2005 with Texas A&M Press, The Texas Railroad Commission: Understanding Regulation in America to the Mid-Twentieth Century (September, 2005), revealed the origins of the TRC's power to regulate production of oil. That authority lay in an evolutionary development of regulation of transportation and utilities in the U.S. since the mid-19th century. As he has done in most of his work, Professor Childs underscored the federalist nature of regulation in the U.S.
Professor Childs has also published articles on the interaction of state and national
regulatory processes, with particular focus on how cultural forces shape the history of regulation. He published an extended essay on
"The Infrastructure," for The Encyclopedia of the United
States in the Twentieth Century (1996). And, he was the Editor of Essays
in Economic and Business History from 1994 until 1998.
His current research will weave together the history of progressives, economic regulation, natural resource planning, technology, environmentalism, and consumer culture from 1900 through the 1950s. The life of the public servant Leland Olds will carry much of the narrative. One goal of the book is to present in an accessible form the history of domestic energy policy in the U.S. in the 20th century.
Professor Childs teaches courses on American
history from the late 19th century to the 1960s, consumer culture and American
business history, and 20th century world history.
Professor Childs has extended his interest in history to work in the
theatre. For seven years, 1993-2000, the last two as president, he served
on the Board of Trustees of the Contemporary American Theatre Company
(CATCO), Columbus' leading Equity theatre. He returned to the board in 2003. He has served as historical
consultant or dramaturg on five productions at CATCO: 1892 (1992); The Grapes of Wrath (2001); Herb Brown's You're My Boy (2005); The Complete History of America (Abridged)(2007); and Jeff Daniels' Escanaba in Love in 2008.
In the spring of 2001 Professor Childs, CATCO, and the Goldberg Center
published "Stage Notes and Actor's Book" on the web for the The
Grapes of Wrath. The same partners published "Play Notes" for You're My Boy in 2005 and Complete History of America in 2007.
Childs maintains course syllabi pages
PHOTO: DAVID BLANKS, ISTANBUL 2001
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