Professor of History

Nancy Locklin-Sofer is a specialist in pre-modern Europe, especially France.  Her areas of research include the history of women’s roles in the family and the economy.  She is the author of Women’s Work and Identity in Eighteenth-century Brittany (Ashgate, 2007). Though that project was an economic study, it led to an interest in the law. Her later work involved women’s property and inheritance rights, the social/emotional networks revealed in notarial contracts, and the status of children born out of wedlock in the eighteenth century. Her last project took her into the realm of criminal justice; Murder, Justice, and Harmony in an Eighteenth-Century French Village was published by Routledge in 2019.

Dr. Locklin-Sofer’s current project is a collaboration with her History of Murder classes as they work to solve the century-old cold case of a local serial killer. Interested readers can check out the Night Marauder Project blog. This project will culminate in a book acknowledging the extensive contributions of the students, archivists, and local historians.

Dr. Locklin-Sofer regularly teaches First-Year Seminars and Ancient World surveys. However, her favorite classes revolve around the themes of Ancient Rome, Medieval Love, Historical Mock Trials, Witch Hunts, and the Enlightenment. The history of gender and family roles is a recurring theme in all her classes.  Maryville College is her dream job, allowing her to combine her love of research and teaching in a small, family-friendly community.

Dr. Locklin-Sofer created a witch hunt role-playing game for her core class and a Silk Road Trading game for Ancient World History. Feel free to check them both out and make comments or suggestions.