FARMINGTON — The University of Maine at Farmington has announced that Chris O’Brien, UMF associate professor of history, has been named to the list of Hoover Scholars by the Herbert Hoover Presidential Foundation.

O’Brien has been awarded a travel grant to help fund his summer visit to the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, Iowa. There, he will conduct research on Iowa politician Bourke Hickenlooper and the northern resistance to civil rights from 1957-1965.

“This is a wonderful honor, and I am very grateful to the foundation for this opportunity,” said O’Brien. “Presidential libraries are a treasure trove of historically significant original writings, documents and artifacts that can provide insight into the past that, surprisingly often, resonates in today’s world.”

Twenty-ninth Governor of Iowa and four-term U.S. Senator, Hickenlooper opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. His opposition to a perceived federal government overreach helped realign the Republican Party with those that advocated a states rights position.

According to O’Brien, his investigative project was shaped by UMF student research assistants who worked during the academic year to complete a preliminary review of the library’s archives and conducted investigations into the existing historical literature.

Established in 1979, the grant program was created to encourage scholarly use of the holdings of the Hoover Library.

In addition to his upcoming visit to the Hoover Presidential Library, O’Brien has also conducted historical research at the Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy Presidential Libraries.