Breeden, James O.

Dr. James O. Breeden worked as a professor of American history at Southern Methodist University. Breeden received a Ph.D. from Tulane University in New Orleans, and taught at SMU from 1969 until 2004.

He specialized in antebellum Southern history, and also taught an undergraduate course on the history of SMU. As Dr. Breeden explained, the great benefit of the class was to give students writing experience. Rather than simply looking up secondary source information, students engaged in primary research using university records from the SMU Archives in the DeGolyer Library on campus. "I expect them to improve their powers of analysis and to use creativity to put information together from different types of sources," Breeden said. "If they understand the history of where they are, they will be better equipped to deal with it."

Topics researched in the class included the development of the SMU athletic program in the early years of the university, events in the life of SMU during a particular era, and the history of SMU fundraising drives. The papers that students wrote were expected to be roughly twenty pages in length. Copies of the papers were kept in the SMU archives for future use by researchers.

In addition, students also studied the history of higher education in the United States; Dr. Breeden assigned SMU professor Marshall Terry’s book From High on the Hilltop: A Brief History of SMU as a class textbook.

Now retired, Dr. Breeden holds the title of professor emeritus of history from SMU.

Sources:

"Hilltop history: Students use archives to conduct research on University." Annotations (Vol. III, No. II), Fall 2001, pg. 2.

Mears, John. Recollections on James Breeden. Email, Southern Methodist University Clements Department of History.

Dr. James O. Breeden worked as a professor of American history at Southern Methodist University from 1969 until 2004. Breeden was a member of the armed services, and served in Germany. He received a Ph.D. from Tulane University, and taught history of medicine courses at the University of Washington in the late 1960s before coming to SMU.

Dr. Breeden’s area of historical focus was the American South, in particular antebellum Southern history. During his thirty-five year tenure at SMU, he taught the American history survey course; an undergraduate class in historiography; and Southern history courses, including on the development of science and medicine in the region.

Breeden worked as chairman of the history department in his later years at SMU, and also served as faculty advisor to the SMU chapter of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He wrote and edited several books, including Joseph Jones, M.D. (1975), Advice Among Masters: The Ideal in Slave Management in the Old South (1980), Medicine in the West (1982), and Long Ride in Texas: The Explorations of John Leonard Riddell (1994).

Retired since 2004, Dr. Breeden holds the title of professor emeritus of history from SMU. He and his wife moved to South Carolina to be near their children. For several years the Breedens owned a used bookstore, named "Boomers" after the family dog. They sold the bookstore recently and live in Charleston and Charlottesville, Virginia.

Sources:

"Hilltop history: Students use archives to conduct research on University." Annotations (Vol. III, No. II), Fall 2001, pg. 2.

Mears, John. Recollections on James Breeden. Email, Southern Methodist University Clements Department of History.