Drawing on Southern Roots, a Pair of Historians Study Appalachian Energy

Kelby Greene '25 met Professor Bethany Moreton in the class American Anthropocene: Climate and Power in U.S. History during Kelby's sophomore fall. The two have since partnered up to study the history of coal mining in Appalachia through the lens of the Tennessee Valley Authority, a federally-owned electric utility corporation. After graduation, Kelby will work in Dartmouth's history department and freelance as a radio producer before beginning a yearlong fellowship studying energy politics in rural Nepal, funded by Dartmouth's H. Allen Brooks Traveling Fellowship.

Kelby Greene '25

she/her/hers

Hometown

Knoxville, Tennessee

Major

History

Bethany Moreton

she/her/hers

Position

Professor of History

How did your Southern origins inspire your interest in history?

Kelby

I grew up on a farm in Tennessee that’s been in my family since the 1920s, so I’ve always been very conscious of history. The history of Tennessee remains very real; it’s still very much a place rooted in the physical. Today, I’m interested in the intersection of history, energy, and economics as a way of understanding the forces that shape our energy system.

Professor Moreton

Kelby and I share a background as Southerners who come from places drenched in history. It’s easy to recognize how historically-produced our present day is if you come from places that wear their history on their sleeve.

Tell us more about your research.

Kelby

I’m studying the role of the Tennessee Valley Authority in shaping energy consumption patterns and policy in the early 20th century. The TVA is the largest coal-consuming utility corporation in the United States. I used funding from Dartmouth’s Stamps Scholars Program to travel to the TVA’s archives in Atlanta. I even had some money left over to support myself during an unfunded internship with a historical society. The Stamps Scholars Program reduced a lot of financial barriers. Research isn’t just for people who can afford to not work.

What is your favorite part of working together?

Professor Moreton

Whether I’m collaborating with a 19-year-old sophomore or an 80-year-old retired professor, it’s nice to imagine that we’re all having an ongoing conversation in an intergenerational, trans-historical community. We all have relationships with one another, including with people who passed away a long time ago who wrote some of these books we’re reading. It’s an effective lineage. I’ll add, too, that Kelby earned High Honors on her thesis and graduated Phi Beta Kappa!

Kelby

It’s fantastic to have a working relationship with someone I look up to as a scholar. Professor Moreton takes the work very seriously with me as a peer. I find the relationship so empowering because I feel like my ideas and my work are important; they really matter. It’s not just about my four years at this small liberal arts college in New England; the work I’m doing continues to matter even after graduation.