Bultema, Anderson to highlight MSUās 2025 Marszalek Speaker Series
Contact: Pattye Archer
STARKVILLE, Miss.āJames A. Bultema, president of the Ulysses S. Grant Association, and Heath Anderson, a fifth-year history Ph.D. candidate from Virginia, are featured speakers for Mississippi Stateās 2025 John F. and Jeanne A. Marszalek Lecture Series.
Free and open to the public, the event takes place at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday [March 20] in the John Grisham Room of Mitchell Memorial Library.
Held each March, the Marszalek Lecture Series recognizes an Ļć½¶Ö±²„graduate student and a nationally renowned historian, highlighting their research and emphasizing the use of primary sources in historical scholarship, according to David Nolen, associate dean for archives and special collections.
āThe Marszalek Fund enables the purchase of primary source materials covering the Civil War and Reconstruction, Jacksonian America and race relations,ā said Nolen. āThe lecture series provides a platform for a student researcher to present their work alongside an established scholar sharing insights from their own research.ā
Bultema will present āUlysses S. Grant: A Photographic History,ā while Andersonās talk is titled āLife is Not Held Sacred: Mississippi and the Election of 1875.ā
Bultema served as vice president of the Grant Association for 34 years before assuming the role of president. An international expert on Grantās image, his collectionāthe Bultema-Williams Collection of Grant images and printsāis housed at the Grant Presidential Library at MSU.
A combat veteran and retired Los Angeles police officer, Bultema has authored several books on police history. His latest work āSea of Redā is an award-winning Amazon bestseller. He and his wife, Carole, operated Bullywood Productions, a documentary film company in Los Angeles, for 25 years.
Anderson developed a passion for history and the American Civil War through frequent visits to historic battlefields. His dissertation āThe Civilization of Slavery vs. That of Freedomā examines how Americansā conflicting views of ācivilizationā during the Civil War era shaped the course of Reconstruction.
Nolen emphasized that the Marszalek series provides Ļć½¶Ö±²„students, faculty and staff with a valuable opportunity to engage with influential scholars.
āWe hope students gain insight from the lecture by experiencing original research presented by both a student and an experienced scholar,ā he said.
The lecture series and Marszalek Library Fund were established in 2002 when the Marszaleks donated $20,000 to Ļć½¶Ö±²„Libraries to support the acquisition of primary source materials.
āThrough the Marszaleksā generosity, the library continues to enhance its collections, positively impacting the universityās research and teaching mission,ā Nolen added.