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Areas of Research: Environmental History, Business History, History of Technology, U.S. and the World.
Minseok Jang is a PhD candidate specializing in environmental and business history. His dissertation, Trust on Fires: Kerosene, Standard Oil, and Anti-Monopoly, 1846–1911, revisits the rise and fall of Standard Oil through the lens of kerosene—the earliest petroleum product that democratized light in the late nineteenth century. By tracing kerosene’s material impacts across its global commodity chain, the study reveals the distinct dynamics driving Standard Oil’s vertical integration, global expansion, and eventual dissolution in 1911. Moving beyond conventional narratives focused on corporate executives and domestic opposition, his research highlights kerosene’s global environmental risks—particularly fire—as critical forces shaping modern corporate development and anti-monopoly politics. Ultimately, the study argues that global actors’ responses to kerosene fires played a decisive role in determining the fate of Standard Oil and its adversaries in the United States.
Advisor: Dr. Kendra Smith-Howard