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Kevin Crisman

Professor
Advisor, M.S. MARC Program
Director, New World Laboratory
Vice President, Institute of Nautical Archaeology

George T. & Gladys H. Abell Chair in Nautical Archaeology

Worked at TAMU from 1990-Present

Bio

Dr. Kevin Crisman earned a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Vermont in 1981, an M.A. from the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M in 1984, and a Ph.D. in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania in 1989. Dr. Crisman studies ships and seafaring from A.D.1400 to the present day. He has directed or participated in the archaeological investigation of numerous shipwrecks and related maritime sites, principally in Lake Champlain and the Great Lakes, but also around the Azores and Bermuda, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in Oklahoma’s Red River. He has been a member of the Nautical Archaeology Program Faculty since 1990 and holds the Nautical Archaeology and the INA Faculty Fellowships. He teaches courses on seafaring in the Americas, post-Medieval European seafaring, seafaring life, the outfitting and rigging of wooden ships, and he is developing an undergraduate course on the archaeology of naval warfare since A.D. 1400. He is also serves as the Institute of Nautical Archaeology’s Vice President for New World Research.

Selected Publications

  • K. Crisman, C. Kennedy, and G. Schwarz, “Vermont’s Steamboat Pioneer: Jahaziel Sherman of Vergennes,” Vermont History 86.2 (2018), 95-131.
  • K. Crisman, and G. Grieco, “The Western River Steamboat Heroine, 1832-1838, Oklahoma, USA: Propulsion Machinery,” International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 44.1 (2015), 173-195.
  • K. Crisman, editor. Coffins of the Brave: Lake Shipwrecks of the War of 1812. Ed Rachal Foundation Nautical Archaeology Series, (Texas A&M University Press, 2014). 440 pages.
  • K. Crisman, “The Western River Steamboat Heroine, 1832-1838, Oklahoma, USA: construction,” International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 43.1 (2014), 128-150.
  • J.K. Brophy, and K. Crisman, “A Taphonomic Evaluation of Three Intact Pork Barrels from the Steamboat Heroine (1838),” Historical Archaeology 47.4 (2013), 71-85.
  • K. Crisman, W.B. Lees, and J. Davis, “The Western River Steamboat Heroine, 1832-1838, Oklahoma, USA: excavations, summary of finds, and history,” International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 42.2 (2013), 365-381.
  • K. Crisman, “The Heroine of Louisville: Archaeological Discoveries from an 1830s-Era Western River Steamboat,” Ohio Valley History 12.3 (2012), 43-67.
  • K. Crisman, “The Archaeology of Steamships,” In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime Archaeology, edited by D. Hamilton, A. Catsambis, and B. Ford (Oxford University Press, 2011), 610-628.
  • K. Crisman, “Sails on an Inland Sea: The Evolution of Lake Champlain’s Sailing Merchant Fleet,” In A Philosophy of Shipbuilding: Conceptual Approaches to the Study of Wooden Ships, edited by F. M. Hocker, and C. Ward (Texas A&M University Press, 2004), 137-162.
  • K. Crisman, and A.B. Cohn, When Horses Walked on Water: Horse-powered Ferries in Nineteenth-century America. (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998). 292 pages.
  • K. Crisman, The Eagle: An American Brig on Lake Champlain During the War of 1812. (The New England Press and the Naval Institute Press, 1987). 276 pages.

Contact

Office: Anthropology 131A
Phone:
Email: kcrisman@tamu.edu

Courses Taught

  • ANTH 318 – Nautical Archaeology of the Americas
  • ANTH 330 – Field Research in Anthropology
  • ANTH 603 – Seafaring Life and Maritime Communities
  • ANTH 610 – Outfitting and Sailing the Wooden Ship 1400-1900
  • ANTH 628 – New World Seafaring
  • ANTH 629 – Post-Medieval Seafaring
  • ANTH 660 – Field Archaeology

Students Supervised (last 10 years)

 (last 10 years)

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