Contact Information
Research Interests
Twentieth-century U.S. history; medicine, public health, and science; women, gender, sexuality; disability history; visual culture and documentary film; law and society; Vietnam.
Research Description
Current Research Projects:
Agent Orange in the United States and Vietnam.
Thalidomide Life Stories.
Examining the Body: In Medicine and Law.
Education
Ph.D. University of Wisconsin, Madison
BA University of California, Davis
Grants
- National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Stipend, 2015.
- Center for Advanced Study, UIUC, 2014-15.
- Arnold O. Beckman Research Award, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2010.
- Mellon Faculty Fellowship, 2006-07.
- National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Library of Medicine, 2004-06.
- James and Sylvia Thayer Short-Term Research Fellowship, UCLA, 2004.
- Rockefeller Archive Center Research Fellowship, 2003.
- ACOG-Ortho-McNeil Fellowship in the History of American Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2001.
- Social Science Research Council, 1998-99.
- National Institutes of Health (NIH)-National Library of Medicine, 1995.
- Radcliffe College Schlesinger Library Research Grant, 1995-96.
- Center for Advanced Study, UIUC, 1993-1994.
- Arnold O. Beckman Research Award, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 1992-1993.
- American Historical Association Littleton-Griswold Research Grant, 1992.
- American Bar Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, 1988-1990.
- Maurice Richardson Fellowship, University of Wisconsin, Madison Medical School, 1987, 1990.
Awards and Honors
Book and Article Awards:
- William H. Welch Medal, 2015, American Association for the History of Medicine for Dangerous Pregnancies
- Arthur J. Viseltear Prize, 2012, American Public Health Association for Dangerous Pregnancies.
- Joan Kelly Memorial Award, 2011, American Historical Association for Dangerous Pregnancies.
- Eileen Basker Memorial Prize, 2011, American Anthropological Association for Dangerous Pregnancies.
- Inaugural Faculty Award for Research in the Humanities, 2010 Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities (IPRH) for “Rashes, Rights, and Wrongs in the Hospital and in the Courtroom” Law and History Review (Summer 2009).
- Surrency Award, Honorable Mention, 2009, Society for Legal History.
- James Willard Hurst Book Award, 1998, Law and Society Association, for When Abortion Was a Crime.
- Choice Outstanding Academic Book of the Year, 1997 for When Abortion Was a Crime.
- President's Book Award, 1995, Social Science History Assn. for When Abortion Was a Crime.
- Louis Pelzer Memorial Award, 1990, from the Organization of American Historians, "About to Meet Her Maker," published in the Journal of American History (1991).
University of Illinois Honors:
- LAS Robert W. Schaeffer Professor of History, 2023-
- University of Illinois University Scholar, 2012-2015
- LAS Faculty Study in a Second Discipline, Museum Studies and Art+Design, 2021-22.
- Public Voices Op-Ed Project Fellowship, 2020-21.
Teaching Awards:
- Graduate Advisor Award, Medical Scholars Program, UIC College of Medicine, Urbana, 2009.
- Queen Award for Teaching, Department of History, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2012-13.
- List of Excellent Teachers, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Courses Taught
HIST 172 US 1877-present (Gen ed: USM)
Hist 203 Reacting to the Past: Gender Equality? Gender, Work, and Sports
HIST 263 US Hist of medicine/public health (Gen ed: USM)
Hist 286 US Gender History since 1877 (Gen ed: USM)
Hist 300 Film and History: Medicine and Health
Hist 400 War and Society: Vietnam
Hist 498 Research Seminar on Disabilities; US Gender/Women's History focused on UIUC; Sexuality
HIST 502, 505, 570 Comparative Gender; Epidemics and Diseases; Disability History; Core US History
Additional Campus Affiliations
Professor, History
Professor, Gender and Women's Studies
Professor, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory
Professor, College of Law
External Links
Honors & Awards
Book and Article Awards:
James Willard Hurst Book Award, 1998, Law and Society Association, for When Abortion Was a Crime.
Louis Pelzer Memorial Award, 1990, from the Organization of American Historians, "About to Meet Her Maker," published in the Journal of American History (1991).
President's Book Award, 1995, Social Science History Assn. for When Abortion Was a Crime
Choice Outstanding Academic Book of the Year, 1997 for When Abortion Was a Crime
Inaugural Faculty Award for Research in the Humanities, 2010 Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities (IPRH) for “Rashes, Rights, and Wrongs in the Hospital and in the Courtroom” Law and History Review (Summer 2009).
Surrency Award, Honorable Mention, 2009, Society for Legal History
Eileen Basker Memorial Prize, 2011, American Anthropological Association for Dangerous Pregnancies
Joan Kelly Memorial Award, 2011, American Historical Association for Dangerous Pregnancies
Arthur J. Viseltear Prize, 2012, American Public Health Association for Dangerous Pregnancies
William H. Welch Medal, 2015, American Association for the History of Medicine for Dangerous Pregnancies
University of Illinois Honors:
University of Illinois University Scholar, 2012-2015
Public Voices Fellowship, 2020-21
Teaching Awards:
Graduate Advisor Award, Medical Scholars Program, UIC College of Medicine, Urbana, 2009.
Queen Award for Teaching, Department of History, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2012-13.
List of Excellent Teachers, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Highlighted Publications
Reagan, L. J. (2010). Dangerous Pregnancies: Mothers, Disabilities, and Abortion in Modern America. University of California Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pnn83
Reagan, L. J. (2022). When Abortion Was a Crime: Women, Medicine, and Law in the United States, 1867-1973, with a New Preface. University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2kx88fq, https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520387423
Reagan, L. J., Tomes, N., & Treichler, P. A. (Eds.) (2007). Medicine's Moving Pictures: Medicine, Health, and Bodies in American Film and Television. (Rochester Studies in Medical History). University of Rochester Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt163tbq7
Recent Publications
Reagan, L. J. (2023). “Abortion Becomes a Crime Again”: Special Issue “Fifty Years of Feminist Studies 1972-2022". Feminist Studies, 48(3), 844-849. https://doi.org/10.1353/fem.2022.0053
Reagan, L. J. (2023). From When Abortion Was a Crime to Abortion Is a Crime. Bulletin of the history of medicine, 97(1), 11-21. https://doi.org/10.1353/bhm.2023.0001
Reagan, L. J. (2022). When Abortion Was a Crime: Women, Medicine, and Law in the United States, 1867-1973, with a New Preface. University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2kx88fq, https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520387423
Reagan, L. J. (2019). Abortion travels: An international history. Journal of Modern European History, 17(3), 337-352. https://doi.org/10.1177/1611894419854682
Reagan, L. J. (2018). Monstrous births, birth defects, unusual anatomy, and disability in Europe and North America. In The Oxford Handbook of Disability History (pp. 385-406). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190234959.013.23