“I always thought my strength was in good lectures to large classes,” the University of Montana history professor said. “I'm not that much of a writer.”
His admirers beg to differ. They chose to honor him at the 45th annual Friends of Mike and Maureen Mansfield Library banquet next week as a worthy member of Montana's literary pantheon, alongside authors Norman Maclean, Patricia Goedicke, Michael Malone and Ivan Doig.
Fritz retired as a full-time professor last year, after 34 years of teaching Montana and U.S. history at UM and terms in both the House and Senate of the Montana Legislature. Now 70, he's opted to take a one-third-time teaching load and is also instructing summer school for the first time in a quarter-century.
“It's like (Green Bay Packers quarterback) Brett Favre at his press conference: He said, ‘I can still play, but I don't want to,' ” Fritz explained. “I can still teach - I just don't want to do it full time.”
Since going to a shorter schedule last year, Fritz has traveled extensively in Europe and South America. He's also kept a hand in the activities of Lewis and Clark enthusiasts, and plans to speak at their annual conference in Great Falls this summer.
Fritz credited much of his academic success to how he tailored his courses to student needs. He avoided early morning and late-afternoon course schedules. He chose textbooks based on affordability as well as relevance, often preferring historical novels over narrative nonfiction. And he took advantage of national cycles of interest, offering a course in presidential election history only during presidential election years.
“Ideally, history is more interesting when it's interpretive,” Fritz said. “You've got to put the facts together in a meaningful way, look for the controversies. That way, you will remain interested in history five years, 10 years, 20 years down the pike.”
Getting that interest started has become harder over the years. Fritz cited national surveys that found more than half of American high school students can't locate the Civil War in the correct half of the 19th century. His own classroom reference checks bear out that lack of basic factual knowledge.
“Montana students are better than the national average, according to my little quizzes,” he said. In Fritz's opinion, the main culprits are excessive TV watching and underdeveloped reading habits. He was also upset with national and state history standards that he thought “boiled the innovation out of teachers.”
“It's very difficult to get undergraduates interested in historiography (the analysis of conflicting historical records),” Fritz said. “Textbooks have done more damage to that than anything else. Students get to thinking history is just an unending mass of names and dates.”
Fritz's narrow office in the UM Liberal Arts Building is lined to the ceiling with books, busts of historical personalities and an extensive beer can collection. In addition to numerous other awards he's earned in his teaching career, he has a portrait of himself as Abraham Lincoln. At 6-foot-5, the addition of a beard and top hat are all that's necessary to carry off the impersonation.
“He came to our Civil War class dressed as Abe Lincoln and gave the whole lecture as Lincoln,” said UM senior Robyn Smith, who's taken four of Fritz's courses. “I love his classes because he's an amazing orator. It's like being at story time with your grandfather. He knows his subject areas forward and backward and upside-down.”
Ironically, Fritz grew interested in both Civil War and Montana history late in his career. The trouble with teaching history, he said, was its never-ending supply of fascinating subjects. It takes almost as much discipline to keep broadening experience as it does to become an expert in something.
“Most historians are way too specialized,” Fritz said. “I'm familiar with about 1 percent of the history of the world, and I'm probably as wide-ranging as anyone on the floor (of the UM history department) here.”
The theme of this year's Mansfield Library banquet is “Making History Come Alive.” Fritz said he didn't plan on “showing up in drag” of some historic character, but he looked forward to the costumed efforts of the Lolo Travelers' Rest Brigade of Lewis and Clark re-enactors. Anyone wishing to join him should contact the Mansfield Library at 243-6049 for tickets.
Library fete
The 45th annual Friends of the Mike and Maureen Mansfield Library banquet takes place Tuesday in the University Center Ballroom. The event begins at 6 p.m. with a social hour, followed by a London broil buffet dinner. Tickets cost $30 in advance, $35 at the door and $275 for a table for 10. For more information and tickets, call (406) 243-6049 or
e-mail elizabeth.dalessio@ umontana.edu.
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