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N
R I T A I N
A N
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T U D I E S
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ASIB
NO. 109
SPRING 2014
ISSN 1465-9956
BAAS.AC.UK
5 9 t h annual
C O N F E R E N C E:
the
UNIVERSITY
of
BIRMINGHAM
Sue Currell:
New Chair of BAAS
BAAS Executive:
Vacancies Now Open
Martin Halliwell:
Chair’s Report 2013
EDITOR’S
LETTER
W
ASIB 109 Spring 2014
Bs0u10e01
elcome to ASIB, magazine of the British Association for
American Studies. Inside you will find a wealth of report
articles and features by some of the finest researchers from
the UK and beyond engaged with ‘America’ from such
perspectives as literature, political science, history,
linguistics, and more.
Regular readers will have noticed that in recent issues, ASIB
has gently evolved beyond its original purpose as a digest
squarely for our community’s news. Recent issues, for
example, have included interview features with the
Association’s distinguished Honorary Fellows. Concurrently,
baas.ac.uk has become the first stop for news and event
announcements whilst the costs for distributing a printed
ASIB to an international membership have continued to
rise. As a consequence, ASIB has been redesigned to
emphasise the long form report writing of the Association’s
award recipients, with online publication inside baas.ac.uk.
In visual terms, you will find a refreshed colour palette and
revised typography, the inclusion of colour imagery, and
more space to promote the activities of our membership.
Indeed members are particularly encouraged to report
recent publications and other activities of interest to our
community to the Editor with the details supplied (p.51).
This issue’s cover (see p. 3), and the image above (p. 51),
emphasise the architecture of the city of Birmingham,
where the 59th BAAS Annual Conference takes place on
the 13th of April. Conference details are highlighted on the
next page as the organiser, Sara Wood, prepares the final
programme to go live shortly on baas.ac.uk. In other
updates since issue 108, Sue Currell was elected as the new
Chair of BAAS at the Annual General Meeting of April
2013, hosted at the University of Exeter. There, Martin
Halliwell delivered his final annual address as Chair and his
report (p. 4) makes for very interesting reading. At the
request of the Editor, this issue of ASIB includes a letter
from Sue on her plans for the Association over the course of
her term (p.10). In other key appointments to the BAAS
Executive from the AGM, Bridget Bennett took over from
George Lewis as Chair of the Publications Subcommittee,
and Zalfa Feghali was appointed Chair of the Development
Subcommittee.
Complimenting baas.ac.uk, ASIB continues to be a
powerful showcase of the important activities of
Americanist researchers and scholars based in the UK and
beyond. I hope you enjoy this issue, and look forward to
bringing you further enhancements in the future. As ever,
your feedback about the publication is both welcome and
encouraged.
– Kal A!raf
2
INSIDE
ASIB N O. 1 0 9
The 59th annual conference of the British
Association for American Studies (BAAS) will
be hosted by the School of English, Drama, and
American & Canadian Studies at the University
of Birmingham 10-13 April, 2014.
The call for papers is now closed. A preliminary
draft of the conference programme will be
available shortly at baas.ac.uk.
Registration for the conference is now available
at birmingham.ac.uk/baas2014.
SPRING 2014
04
10
11
The Chair’s Annual
Report
Martin Halliwell’s final
annual report as Chair of
BAAS, detailing the
community’s
achievements in the
past year.
Introducing Sue Currell
The new Chair on her
vision for BAAS in the
coming years.
Can You Host The
BAAS Annual
Postgraduate
Conference?
An invitation to host one
of the most important
events in BAAS’s annual
calendar.
12
21
22
33
43
Articles From BAAS Award Recipients
New Orleans, Nashville, Arizona...Just
some of the locations visited by recent
BAAS travel and research award winners.
Publishing Your Book?
BAAS Paperbacks Series Editors Halliwell
& West invite your proposals.
Articles From Eccles Centre
Postgraduate Fellows
Woody Allen, William S. Burroughs and
the cultural origins of Loyalism in New
York: Eccles Fellows on recent work.
Articles From Eccles Centre Fellows
Research inspired by the British Library’s
world famous Eccles Centre.
Serve On The BAAS Executive
A notice of the next BAAS AGM, plus
information and application forms for
BAAS Executive vacancies.
ON THE COVER
Celebrating the architecture of Birmingham
as the next BAAS annual conference heads
to its eponymous University. Here, an artful
composition of the Selfridge Building in the
morning. With full attribution and thanks to
‘Spinnykid’. Image used under the Creative
Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
Unported license. Hosted at the Wikimedia
Commons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
File:Selfridges_BIrmingham.jpg). Date of
access: 20.01.14. For attribution of all
further imagery contained herein, see
CREDITS & CONTACTS (p. 51).
CONTRIBUTE
To contribute an article or feature to ASIB,
contact the Editor, Kal Ashraf. Editorial
guidelines and contact details appear in
CREDITS & CONTACTS (p. 51).
DISCLAIMER
ASIB is an official publication of the British
Association for American Studies, but the
opinions expressed in its pages are those
of the contributors alone and do not
necessarily reflect the policies or beliefs of
the Association.
MAGAZINE OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR AMERICAN STUDIES
3
THE CHAIR’S
ANNUAL REPORT
I
t is fitting that I give my final report as Chair of BAAS at
the Senior Cultural Specialist at the Embassy, at our 58th
the University of Exeter where I had four happy years as
annual conference, as well as Tom Leary, the US
a BA and MA student. I want to begin by thanking the
Embassy’s Minister Counselor for Public Affairs.
conference organisers – Sinead Moynihan, Paul Williams
and Jo Gill – for planning and delivering a really excellent
conference. I also want to thank Mark Whalan for
bringing the conference to Exeter in the first place – and
we are very glad that Mark can be here with us.
Another key theme last year was undergraduate
admissions and the uncertainty that stems from the
government recent shift in policy in respect of the
recruitment of A Level students in English universities.
My report last year was given during the presidential
Undergraduate recruitment on American Studies
programmes did not suffer quite as much as we feared in
primaries. The late summer and autumn gave way to
2012-13, and it is particularly heartening to see four-year
much excitement and interest in the presidential election,
degrees still attracting students. There are still dangers to
and I was very pleased to enjoy election night at the
American Studies degrees, though, and our institutions
United States Embassy in London, along with Jo Gill,
will have to work harder than ever to promote the subject
George Lewis, Iwan Morgan and other colleagues. The
to applicants and to our managers in a period when large
US Embassy continues to be one of the association’s most administrative units are in vogue and smaller programmes
important allies and supporters and it is great that the
vulnerable. There is more to say on this topic, but I want
Cultural Attaché, Monique Quesada, is able to join us for
to save time to talk about two other issues: postgraduate
the banquet to announce this year’s Ambassadors’
programmes and Open Access publishing that have both
Awards. And it is a pleasure, as ever, to have Sue Wedlake, loomed large on the horizon this year.
4
Kal Ashraf
Martin Halliwell Spoke at the BAAS
Annual General Meeting of April
2013 at the University of Exeter
ACHIEVEMENTS
We have had some really impressive distinctions since I last
And, in terms of individual achievements:
•
addressed the AGM.
•
Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction
(worth $25,000) for his book Sword of the Spirit,
Professor Judie Newman (Nottingham) was
Shield of Faith: Religion in American War and Diplomacy,
awarded an OBE last summer recognition of her
published by Knopf.
contribution to scholarship.
•
Professor Tony Badger (Cambridge) has been
•
Memphis for 2014-15.
academic invited to be a fellow.
•
Sylvia Ellis has been promoted to Professor of
International History in the Department of
Women Writers, from January 2013.
•
Editorial (Books) at Edinburgh University Press,
from February 2013.
Mark Whalan (formerly Exeter and BAAS
Publications Chair) has been promoted to a full
Professorship in the Department of English at the
University of Oregon.
With respect to institutional news:
•
•
•
College London in summer 2012. Simon
Professor Matthew Jones (Nottingham) was
Newman, Philip Davies and I are on the advisory
awarded an AHRC Fellowship in summer 2012
board of the new Institute. One of the most
entitled '“Supreme National Interests”: The
exciting initiatives this year is that UCL and BAAS
Official History of Britain's Strategic Nuclear
have collaborated on an annual Fellowship in US
Deterrent and the Chevaline Programme,
Studies to be based at the Institute – a Fellowship
1962-1982’ worth £112,000
that is particularly geared towards Early Career
Dr Stephanie Lewthwaite (Nottingham) was
Scholars. I am happy to announce that for
academic year 2013-14 we are splitting the award
awarded an AHRC Fellowship for her project
‘Remaking Modernism: Cross-Cultural
between Dr Nick Witham (Canterbury Christ
Encounters in Hispano Art, 1930-1960’, worth
(Nottingham) for Semester 2. Details of next year’s
£48,000
Fellowship are included in the list of BAAS related
Church) for Semester 1 and Dr Maria Ryan
awards in your delegates’ packs.
Dr Andrew Johnstone (Leicester) was awarded an
AHRC Fellowship for his project
•
We were very pleased to see the opening of the
new Institute of the Americas at University
I would like to note the following major grants:
•
And we are delighted that a good friend of BAAS,
Nicola Ramsay has been promoted to Head of
Humanities at Northumbria University.
•
Professor Dick Ellis (Birmingham) has been elected
President of the Society for the Study of American
community this year I am very pleased to report that:
•
Professor Celeste-Marie Bernier (Nottingham) has
been appointed the Dorothy K. Hohenberg Chair
of Excellence in Art History, University of
elected as Fellow of the Society of American
Historians. Tony is the only British based
Among the senior promotions in the American Studies
Dr Andrew Preston (Cambridge) has won the
•
We have positive news about the development of a
‘Internationalism, Ideology, and the Debate over
new American Studies Centre at the University of
US Entry into World War II, 1937-1941’, worth
Sussex, which will give institutional shape to
£33,000.
Americanist research and teaching activities.
Professor Tim Armstrong (Royal Holloway
•
And, last autumn I was invited as an external
College, London) has received a Leverhulme Trust
grant of £31,204 for his research project on
assessor to validate the new BA in American
Micromodernism
2013-14.
Studies at Northumbria University, starting from
5
Finally, in this section I want to record the death of
that we have been doing in recent years it is vital
Professor Susan Manning, Grierson Professor of English
that we have a strong membership base, and we
Literature at the University of Edinburgh, who died in
are always very pleased to receive donations to
January. Susan was a pioneer on the relationship between
supplement our array of awards and the very
American and Scottish literature and on transatlantic
generous support we receive from the US Embassy,
literary cultures more generally. Andrew Taylor from
the Eccles Centre at the British Library, and
Edinburgh has written a very moving tribute to Susan in
current donors. Could I please ask you to promote
the current issue of American Studies in Britain.
the benefits of BAAS to your colleagues and
postgraduates: this includes the American
BAAS ACTIVITIES
Studies in Britain magazine, a discounted rate
Most of our activities will be detailed under the reports
from the other officers and the Subcommittee chairs, but I
would like to make three points here.
1. In July 2012 we published the report ‘American
to the annual conference, and a very preferential
rate on the Journal of American Studies.
RESEARCH EXCELLENCE FRAMEWORK 2014
We are soon approaching the submission date for the 2014
Studies in the UK, 2000-2010’. BAAS
REF, and I wanted to spend a moment to update you on
commissioned the report in conjunction with the
subpanel membership here. In winter 2012/13 Professor
Fulbright Commission, and the research was
Faye Hammill (Strathclyde University) was appointed to
conducted by the BAAS intern Dr Richard Martin the Area Studies REF Subpanel to take the place of
during 2011-12, in collaboration with the
Professor Heidi Macpherson who moved to the US in July.
Development Subcommittee. We think this is a
Faye will join Brian Ward and Susan Hodgett as the North
Americanists on the Area Studies subpanel, to join other
really important document – available through the
BAAS website – which outlines institutional trends
Americanists: Susan Mary Grant on the History subpanel;
across the last decade, taking note of disciplinary
Martin Halliwell on English; and John Dumbrell and
developments, recruitment patterns, study abroad
James Dunkerley on Politics and International Relations.
opportunities, American Studies research centres,
BAAS has recently been asked by the REF manager to
and the 2001 and 2008 Research Assessment
make further nominations to support the English and
Exercises.
History REF 2014 sub-panels. The reason for this is that
2. This year we are very excited to launch a new
BAAS publication, ‘American Studies in the
UK: Impact and Public Engagement’, which
showcases our research across a range of funded
more submissions are likely to be submitted to these two
sub-panels than was first estimated. We have made some
nominations and wait to hear back from the REF team.
OPEN ACCESS
projects and across the diversity of our disciplines.
The future of open access publishing was the major policy
We will be launching the brochure formally
focus during winter 2012-13. In February and March
tomorrow lunchtime [Saturday 20 April] and there
BAAS submitted responses on Open Access to BIS and
is a hard copy of the brochure for each conference
HEFCE, and we have worked closely with the English and
delegate. The brochure will also be available via
History subject associations in coordinating our responses,
our website soon after the conference.
and on a joint position statement involving 20 scholarly
3. We have also spent a great deal of time this year
associations from the arts, humanities and social sciences. I
looking at our membership, via our new BAAS
would like to say a few words about Open Access and
membership officer Rachael McLennan. Please
indicate three areas that are of particular concern for us,
but I won’t go into all the details here.
can I draw your attention to the ‘Join’ tab at the
top right of the BAAS website and the new
‘Donate’ button just underneath it. For BAAS to
continue to work in the energetic and diverse ways
6
The debate stems from the publication of the Finch
researchers and retired academics. None of these groups
Report on the future of Open Access publishing
will have access to institutional or research council funds to
(“Accessibility, Sustainability, Excellence: How to Expand
pay for article processing charges.
Access to Research Publications”) in June 2012. This
report sought to ensure that published scholarship was
Although the horizon looks a little better than it did in
freely available, and recommended that the gold model
December, the debate is far from won and it is still unclear
should underpin the future of UK scholarship. This means whether REF 2020 will demand that articles are Open
that authors will pay an Article Processing Charge (APC)
at the point of publishing, thus transferring the cost of
Access compliant. However, it is heartening to see now a
vigorous debate about the benefits of the green model
publishing from subscribers to authors, some of whom will
across a range of different academic disciplines. Indeed,
receive the cost of the APC from a funding body as part of publishers – including Cambridge University Press, the
a research grant. The gold model was seen as future proof,
publisher of the Journal of American Studies – are
whereas the green option – in which published work is
already starting to prepare for a hybrid future, with arts,
made available through university repositories – was
humanities and social-science journals likely to maintain
thought to be too baggy, in the respect that readers could
both green and gold options. And it might be on this
not easily navigate their way around the various platforms
hybrid model that for most of us – unless we are funded by
hosted by the broad range of UK universities.
a research council – will continue to publish in ways that
are not dissimilar from the present.
The beginning of 2013 promised strict segregation
between gold and green, but the last six weeks have
POSTGRADUATES
brought a different perspective. The responses to the BIS
inquiry, by all accounts, have given pause for thought. It
We are at an in-between time in terms of postgraduate
seems now that the acceptance of the gold model by the
funding in the arts and humanities. The AHRC’s current
government and RCUK was hasty because it conceives of
five-year block grant of postgraduate studentships awarded
the debate in narrow terms and in favour of science
in 2008 comes to an end this year. Many UK institutions
subjects.The gold option simply ignores the many varieties
are currently bidding for a second phase of AHRC block
of publishing needs within the arts, humanities and social
grants. This time studentships will be awarded to consortia
sciences, which includes practice-based research and
creative disciplines such as design, art, music and creative
rather than individual institutions, and most of these
writing.
consortia are regionally configured. The AHRC’s
published funding model will not allow all these bids to
succeed, so we could be looking at significant regions of
The first area of concern for our disciplines is the
the UK which do not have research council scholarships.
monograph. Indeed, the Finch Report itself admitted that
The results will be known in the late summer, but however
it had not fully considered monograph publishing which,
widely the funding is allocated the AHRC has withdrawn
when taking books and chapters as a whole, represents
its support for Masters’ courses. This is a U-turn on the last
around 70% of the submissions for English and History
round of block grants, particularly professional MAs –
scholarship, as submitted to the 2008 RAE – a trend which such as Librarianship, Museum Studies and Creative
is likely to be replicated in the 2014 REF. The second
concern is that current debates do not fully acknowledge
Writing – which seemed to be high on the agenda a few
that American Studies and other Area Studies scholars
years ago. Arguably, this has been replaced with the
AHRC’s emphasis on partnerships between higher
frequently publish in journals and with presses outside the
education and the creative industries, but it still leaves most
UK – and there is little evidence that the gold open access
MA courses without national funding – and with
model will be adopted by publishers in North America.
institutions being pushed to spend much of their
And the third concern – shared with many other
scholarship money on PhDs.
associations – is that the gold open access model raises
equal opportunities issues for postgraduates, early career
7
The future of stand-alone MAs, then, looks fairly bleak –
in 1994; and I met the new Chair, Sue Currell, at the
particularly if we take into account the high level of debt
Oxford BAAS conference of 2002. I am delighted that Sue
that students will carry from taking a BA. Currently most
has been elected as the 19th Chair of BAAS – and only the
MAs cost around half of an average BA fee (on the higher
fourth female Chair, following Heidi, Judie Newman and
fee model), but we could envisage the MA fee soon
Charlotte Erickson. I know that Sue shares my view that
creeping up towards the BA level, making Masters courses
BAAS should actively encourage grassroots groups and
available only to the wealthy or to international students
networks across the diversity of our disciplines, but that the
who are used to paying higher fees. The paradox, of
course, is that we cannot simply focus on PhD funding,
association has a crucial role in representing the American
Studies community in the broadest possible terms.
when PhD programmes are predicated on completion of
an MA. We might see more research MAs or MRes
courses develop, but it is important that those MA
programmes focusing on American-related topics do not
get squeezed out in favour of more generic or traditional
programmes, and that we push ourselves to think creatively
– and in a far-sighted way – about this issue. We have
already seen a major threat this year to the only dedicated
I will continue our work to help further internationalise
BAAS in my new roles as the UK Representative for the
European Association for American Studies and as
Council member of the International American Studies
Association, and I will continue to engage in professional
and public debates over the next three years in my new
role as the Chair of the English Association’s Higher
Education Committee. BAAS will always be my intellectual
MA course in American Literature in the Republic of
home, though, and where my strongest friendships are. I
Ireland – at University College Dublin (although the threat
look forward to seeing the association flourish in the
here is based on staffing, rather than fees) – and we want to
coming years.
ensure that our MAs continue to act as feeders to PhDs in
American Studies and related disciplines.
– Ma!in Halliwell
FINAL REMARKS
As this is my last Chair’s report, I would like to take this
opportunity to thank all the colleagues I have had the
pleasure to work with on the Executive Committee over
the last seven years, and particularly over these last three
years during my term as Chair. I would especially like to
thank the BAAS officers between 2010 and 2013: Jo Gill
and Catherine Morley as Secretary and Sylvia Ellis and
Theresa Saxon as Treasurer, as well as the three colleagues
who have acted as Vice-Chair: Sue Currell, Ian Bell and
Will Kaufman. I would particularly like to thank Ian Bell,
George Lewis and Tom Ruys-Smith who finish their terms
of office this year; Dick Ellis whose role as Chair of
BLARS passes to Michael Collins; and Michael Bibler who
will start a new job at Louisiana State University in August.
It has been an honour to serve the American Studies
community and I hope I have done the role justice.
BAAS has been a strong line of continuity through my
career. My PhD supervisor, Richard King, was BAAS
Chair in the mid-1990s; I met the previous Chair, Heidi
Macpherson, at my first BAAS conference in Cambridge
8
HAVE YOU VISITED
SULGRAVE MANOR?
Sulgrave Manor,
1910 prior to the
reinstatement of
the west wing.
A NOTE FROM TRACEY GOOCH ON
SULGRAVE MANOR’S CENTENARY YEAR
Sulgrave Manor is celebrating a
special centenary year in 2014. In
1914 the manor was purchased and
restored to celebrate 100 years of
peace between Britain and the USA.
Today it is held in trust for the
people of both these nations.
Sulgrave Manor was the home of
George Washington’s English
ancestors. The original Tudor Great
Hall and Great Chamber, built in
the mid-1500s by George
Washington’s five times great
grandfather, exist today alongside a
Queen Anne wing built c.1715 and
gardens designed by Sir Reginald
Blomfield.
We will be hosting a variety of
events throughout 2014, including
our annual Watson Chair lecture at
the British Library in conjunction
with the Eccles Centre on 21
February 2014.
Check our website
www.sulgravemanor.org.uk and join
our mailing list to be kept up to date
with what’s on at the manor
throughout 2014.
We will also be launching our
Centenary Appeal in 2014 –
Sulgrave Manor has suffered from
lack of investment and is struggling
to cope with the repairs and ongoing
maintenance this Tudor house
desperately needs. We are appealing
for help to raise the funds we
urgently need to ensure the manor
remains open to the public for future
generations. Contact us on
[email protected] if
you would like to know more about
our Centenary Appeal or get further
involved. Our phone number is
(01295) 760205 and our address is
Sulgrave Manor, Manor Road,
Sulgrave, Near Banbury, OX17
2SD.
– Tacey Gooch
9
INTRODUCING
SUE CURRELL
Elected Chair of BAAS, April 2013
A
s a Reader in American Literature at the University
of Sussex I have taught a wide range of
interdisciplinary American Studies courses at all
levels. All of my degrees are American Studies: I
gained my BA in American Studies (Literature) at
Sussex, an MA in American Studies from the
University of Maryland and a PhD in American
Studies also from Sussex, I also spent two years as a
postdoctoral research fellow at the University of
Nottingham’s School of American and Canadian
Studies.
Working in American Studies enabled me to follow
an equal interest and curiosity in literature, history
and politics. Until recently, then, I have been a
“thoroughbred” hybrid, a product of this wonderful
interdisciplinary field that has sustained a community
of Americanists with a broad range of interests.
American Studies departments have been a crucible
for my eclectic research interests in the cultural
history of the US of the early twentieth century,
which include the history of leisure, eugenics, and
popular culture to the politics and publishing culture
of the communist Left.
providing that support and community: through
awards, conferences, schools liaison, publications and
engagement with governments, embassies, NGOs,
commissions, and various international groups –
BAAS is at the forefront of making sure our presence
is known and our work disseminated and
understood.
As a long time beneficiary of this, I now feel it is time
to repay my debt somewhat. As Chair I hope to build
on Martin Halliwell’s excellent work to bring our
research to the forefront of public awareness and to
maintain a presence and voice in current discussions
taking place within higher education policy
discussions. These are certainly challenging times,
from privatisation and funding issues to open access
and American studies scholarship within the REF.
Martin has worked incessantly to make sure that we
are part of those debates and decisions and that the
concerns of our community are well-voiced.
The huge benefit of having spent an entire academic
career working within American Studies departments
was brought home to me when this luxury ended and
I was “restructured” into a School of English in 2009
and thereby institutionally split from the historians,
political scientists and social scientists I had worked
alongside for the first time. While always a valued
community, BAAS took on a new significance and
importance to me: it presented a haven of friendship,
innovative scholarship and a support network of the
kind that institutional structures now struggled to
sustain.
We will need to work hard to maintain this function
as a bulwark against the negative effects of changes.
It is also more important than ever to make sure we
continue working to steer change in positive and
ethical directions. With the help of the executive
committee and BAAS membership, I look forward to
overseeing further expansion of our network, grow
our online presence and enable increasing
participation in new media and publishing
developments. I would like to see increased benefits
to members evolving from a wider members’ forum
and media contact database online but also by
exploring and encouraging opportunities for us to
take part in community engagement beyond
academia. I look forward to working with you on
these goals in the coming years.
Becoming a member of the Executive Committee at
that point, and then vice-Chair in 2012, I have seen
at close hand the huge amount of work that goes into
– Sue Currell
10
YOUR
INVITATION
TO HOST
THE BAAS
ANNUAL
POSTGRADUATE
CONFERENCE
Dear Colleague,
The British Association for American Studies is happy to announce that the deadline
for applications to host the annual postgraduate conference in 2014 has been extended
until the 28th of February 2014. This event usually takes the format of a one-day
conference in November.
Representing interdisciplinary research, academic exchange and scholarly networking,
the postgraduate conference is a key part of BAAS. If you would like more information
about organising this important event, please contact your Postgraduate Representative
at [email protected].
Best wishes,
– Jon Ward
11
A REPORT FROM
STEPHANIE PALMER
(NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY)
BAAS Founders’ Award Recipient
2013
T
Thanks to this award from BAAS, I was able to visit
I found the English royalty ledgers particularly
informative. The 1901 ledger begins by listing number of
archives at Butler Library at Columbia University, the
copies sold to date, which allowed me to trace reception
American Academy of Arts and Letters, the New York
of some writers back to the 1890s. I am able to say that
Public Library, and Houghton Library at Harvard
Harpers sold 3800 copies of Freeman’s A New England
University in July 2013. I conducted research on Mary
Nun and Other Stories (1891) by 1901. That story collection
Wilkins Freeman, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Constance
was the second of two collections that caused a stir of
critical and popular interest in Freeman in Britain
Fenimore Woolson, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman for a
between 1890 and 1894 (the first story collection was
book project on the reception of American women
published by David Douglas, an Edinburgh publisher).
writers in Britain between the American Civil War and
Today, Freeman is remembered primarily as a short-story
World War I. Increased interest in transatlanticism in the
writer of the 1880s and 90s, but the ledgers show that
twenty-first century has recently turned to close readings her novels, as well as her story collections, continued to
of women’s transatlanticism. Yet the new work on
sell well in Britain up to around 1910. Beating out the
likes of Thomas Hardy and William Dean Howells, she
women’s transatlanticism tends to emphasise U.S.
was very often the best-selling Harpers author in many a
women’s indebtedness to British predecessors or treat
six-month period. Author correspondence files were also
specific figures as unique conduits for Atlantic exchange.
interesting in the case of Freeman. Her letters to Harpers
In contrast, this project treats a range of socially active
have been published in Brent Kendrick, ed. The Infant
women writers and demonstrates their impact on British Sphinx: Collected Letters of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, but the
Harpers archives also includes correspondence from F.A.
markets and readers. The British responses to these
Duneka, William H. Briggs, Cass Canfield, and other
writers were admiring, pungent, and unique, and
employees of Harpers. Most intriguing was a series of
deserved to be remembered and analysed. The business
letters from 1924 to 1925 about a play adapted by Susan
records of American publishers were particularly rich
Richmond of London from Freeman’s story ‘A Conquest
sources. Butler Library’s Rare Books and Manuscripts
of Humility’ for the Arts League of Service Traveling
room holds the archives of Harper Brothers, which
Theatre, a subsidised society that produced good plays
for small audiences in the provinces. Susan Richmond
include correspondence with authors, contracts
(including language about foreign and translation rights), wrote to Harpers London office asking if the story was
still in copyright and for permission to adapt the play for
and even English royalty ledgers dating from the years
this company; Bernard Shaw advised them on their
1901 to 1919. Through its flagship literary monthly,
dealings with authors. Although Harpers was not the
Harper’s Monthly, which was published in London from
original British publisher of the story (Douglas was),
Harpers in London and New York agreed that
1880 onward, its literary agents like Sampson Low and
Richmond needed to gain permission from both them
Osgood and McIlvaine, and through its London office
and Freeman and to pay royalty to both parties. Writing
once that opened in the 1890s, Harpers were
to the London office, an employee of Harpers in New
instrumental in bringing many American authors to
York expressed his doubts about the commercial value of
Britain. Through their dealings with publishers in
the play, which he reckoned he could not judge from the
Australia and other parts of the colonial market, they
great distance across the Atlantic. The correspondence
also brought American authors to the Anglophone world. illustrates just how distant the British market and British
tastes seemed from Harpers employees, even though they
were keen to capitalise as much as possible on it.
12
modest and diffident in leaving the negotiations for
letters from the 1950s requesting permission to publish
finding a British publisher to her American publisher’s
her story, ‘A New England Nun’ in various U.S.
discretion. But I now have an idea why Phelps stopped
Information Service books issued with cooperation from
publishing with Sampson Low and turned to other
local publishers around the world, in such languages as
British publishers.The trip was interesting partially for
Sindhi. The story was selected, a U.S.I.S. official wrote,
omissions in the record. I was unable to locate much
because it would improve understanding of the United
correspondence between Harper and Brothers or
States. Perhaps the story’s cautious combination of
female chastity and female autonomy appealed to
Houghton Mifflin and the British publisher Sampson
Low, which operated as their London agent during the
U.S.I.S. officials looking for respectable American
years in question. Only one scrap of paper remains in
literature to be read primarily in Asia, where there were
the Constance Fenimore Woolson file at Harpers, and
The Freeman correspondence also turned up a sheaf of
not many good American stories on the market. The U.S. Mary Noailles Mufree’s papers consists of two contracts.
Information Service at Beirut also wrote asking to
Both transatlanticism and women’s writing are difficult to
publish the story in simplified English for its English
research for some of the same reasons. Although
classrooms. Although Freeman’s stories were no longer in American publishers like Harper Brothers were highly
copyright in the United States, Harpers agreed to receive interested in capitalising on the British and Anglophone
the U.S. Information Services honorarium for world
market when the opportunity arose, they were not
translation rights and schemed to divide the honorarium
(which was $10 per short story) between themselves and
focused on it enough to preserve clear records. Although
women writers who achieved popular success were
Freeman’s heirs as advantageously as possible to
treated warmly by the publishers, much of the record of
themselves. The exchange illustrates that Freeman’s
women’s dealings with their publishers is not extent.
stories were read and remembered between the end of
her life and the emergence of feminist literary criticism
This trip gave me valuable insight into women’s
in the 1960s. It also points to a paper trail for the U.S.
transatlanticism from the publishers’ perspectives, their
Information Service publications, one that may interest
mixture of carelessness and capitalist self-interest in
any scholar studying how this influential government
approaching the British market for American fiction. It
department shaped worldwide reception of American
also helped enrich my understanding of what writing for
literature.
a British market meant for various American women
writers. I thank BAAS for granting me access to these
At the New York Public Library Henry W. and Albert A.
archives.
Berg Collection I looked at two reader’s reports for the T.
Fisher Unwin of London reprint of Charlotte Perkins
Gilman’s Women and Economics (1898). G.K. Chesterton
wrote that it was the best expression of the New Woman
– Stephanie Palmer
movement he had read, but he quibbled with Gilman’s
argument that women are not in a state of economic
dependence by choice. Edward Garnett praised the book
for being sensible and rational. The most striking thing
about the two reader’s reports of this classic feminist text
is that both are written by men. At the Houghton I read
through letters between Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and her
publisher, Fields and Osgood (later Houghton Mifflin).
Unfortunately few of the early letters have survived, so I
was unable to find out how Phelps felt about Sampson
Low editing and annotating the 1869 British edition of
her bestseller, The Gates Ajar. In the following years she
frequently misspelled Sampson Low’s name and seemed
13
I
am a current third-year PhD student at the University of
my visit to the SBHLA would illuminate how Southern
Cambridge, working on a dissertation on the
Baptists in particular became politicised about abortion,
politicisation of abortion among American evangelicals
and how this tied into the national and ecumenical story
in the 1970s and 1980s.The generous grant I received
of American evangelicals’ politicisation about the issue.
from BAAS enabled me to spend July and the beginning
of August in Nashville, Tennessee (USA), researching at
The bulk of my research last summer at the SBHLA
the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archive
centred on the files of the CLC. During my five weeks at
(SBHLA).
the SBHLA, I worked through virtually all of the
archive’s relevant CLC holdings, which extended through
The Southern Baptist Convention – as America’s largest
the 1970s. I was able to get a clear sense of the ways in
Protestant denomination numerically and arguably its
which, over that decade, the CLC framed legal abortion
most thoroughly evangelical one – occupies a place of
as an extension of key Baptist tenets of freedom of
particular significance in understanding how Protestant
conscience and separation of Church and State. I had
evangelicals became pro-life in the 1970s and 1980s. The
known before I had visited the SBHLA that the Southern
Southern Baptist Convention today is one of the most
Baptist Convention in the 1970s was not against
reliably Republican and pro-life denominations, and it is
abortion, but I was surprised by the extent to which this
therefore tempting presumptively to read this back onto
was dramatically borne out by the material at the archive.
earlier decades; yet the SBC’s current positioning is in
fact the result of a profound and radical internal re-
The head of the CLC through the mid-1980s, Dr Foy
Valentine, had ties with the Religious Coalition for
negotiation and re-imagining of the meaning of Church/ Abortion Rights, even signing a statement that the latter
State separation through the early- to mid-1980s.
produced in 1977. The CLC tended to skew liberal in
Throughout the 1970s, the applied ethics agency of the
general – Valentine was close to President Johnson and
Southern Baptist Convention, the Christian Life
was a strong supporter of many aspects of the Great
Commission (CLC), was producing pro-choice material
Society reforms of the 1960s; yet I learned last summer
for the Convention’s congregants; and the Baptist Joint
through personal documents I discovered that even many
Committee for Public Affairs (BJCPA), supported in
key conservatives in the SBC were not yet opposed to
largest measure by the SBC, was campaigning in
abortion by the late 1970s. I discovered letters and
Washington for legal abortion. These activities
increasingly met with fierce resistance from a growing
statements in the archive that indicate that abortion was
not an issue that had permeated the moral consciousness
conservative faction in the SBC, who ultimately emerged
of even those Southern Baptist conservatives who would
ideologically victorious over the moderates. By the late
be strongly pro-life by the 1980s and 1990s. During my
1980s, conservatives had gained control of the
time researching at the SBHLA, the archivist there
denomination, grafted the SBC onto the rising pan-
recommended two further collections on the same topic –
evangelical Religious Right, and – under the leadership
the Foy Valentine Papers and the BJCPA Papers, both
of Dr Richard Land – had turned the CLC itself into a
held in Baylor University’s Texas Collection.
forceful exponent for the pro-life cause. I had hoped that
14
A REPORT FROM
REBECCA WAGNER (ST JOHN’S
COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE)
BAAS Peter Parish Prize
Recipient 2013
Before I began my BAAS trip, I had originally intended
for this research on Southern Baptists and abortion to
form one chapter of a broader dissertation on the
politicisation of abortion among American evangelicals
more generally from the 1970s onwards. However, as the
material that I came upon during my visit was so
fascinating and virtually untouched by previous scholars,
I ended up shifting my entire doctoral project to focus
specifically on Southern Baptists and abortion – in other
words, to look at how, when, and why the SBC became
pro-life. Last summer, the SBHLA’s CLC holdings did
not stretch beyond the late 1970s, leaving the rest of the
story opaque. Through good fortune, however, there will
be far more material in the SBC archive for me to work
with in a few months’ time. With Dr Land’s retirement
from the CLC last summer, all of the CLC holdings from
the 1980s through summer 2013 have just now been
transferred to the SBC archive. The archivists have
agreed to expedite their processing of this collection for
me, in advance of my planned visit this coming spring/
summer. Additionally, Dr Land has just deposited his
own papers in the SBC archive – papers which contain
key material on how he moulded the CLC into a vehicle
for the evangelical pro-life movement, including material
on his establishment of a Washington office for antiabortion lobbying in the 1990s. Although his papers will
be closed for 25 years, I met with Dr Land last summer
and secured special permission from him to research in
his collection on the abortion issue – a rare opportunity
that no other scholar has had before.
With these new primary sources, I hope to produce a
comprehensive and well documented exploration of how
America’s largest Protestant denomination became prolife. I am incredibly thankful to BAAS for financially
15
As a continuation of my BAAS project, I spent
supporting my research, and for making the beginnings
September in Waco, Texas, looking preliminarily through of this exciting new project possible.
these collections. The Valentine papers afforded me a
closer understanding of the concerns and motivations of
the man who headed the CLC through the mid-1980s,
– Rebecca Wagner
and the BJCPA papers allowed me a comparative view of
another Baptist agency beyond the CLC that was in
favour of legal abortion. The Valentine papers and the
BJCPA papers are both currently unprocessed, and have
thus been seen by very few scholars, and together they
represent a trove of exciting new material.
I
was awarded the Marcus Cunliffe Prize by BAAS to
The resources I was able to access in Tempe are vital to
enable a three week research trip to Tempe, Arizona.
my project, but were not the only benefit I gained from
The main purpose of my trip was to gather material
this trip. My stay in Arizona and interactions with those I
A REPORT FROM
REETTA HUMALAJOKI
(UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM)
BAAS Marcus Cunliffe Prize
Recipient 2012
from the microform collection Major Council Minutes of met there critically aided my development as a historian
American Indian Tribes held at Arizona State University.
in a broader sense. On my very first day I had the
This collection is central to my PhD thesis, which
opportunity to have dinner with Professor Donald Fixico,
examines the rhetoric surrounding Native American
a key historian in the field of Termination as well as
Termination policy in the United States (1953-1970) in
the domestic, global and Native reservation spheres.
Native American historiography in general. His advice
and encouragement of my project was invaluable and
Termination aimed to split up reservation land bases and
raised important questions regarding the theoretical
rid Native American tribes of their federal trust status,
background of my research. During my trip I also had an
forcing them to accept the “privileges and
opportunity to meet Dr Katherine Osburn and hear
responsibilities” of American citizenship. My thesis
about her upcoming book on the Mississippi Choctaws –
addresses the issue of why Termination – which is now
one of the tribes whose council minutes I have chosen to
widely considered a disaster – was accepted, by assessing
include in my study. The support from these academics
attitudes towards Native Americans and government
and the chance to discuss my project alerted me to
policy. Accessing the minutes of tribal council meetings is
different, specifically American perspectives on
critical to understanding how Bureau of Indian Affairs
officials addressed various tribes and how those tribes
Termination and its context. This experience reminded
me to be aware of how my position as a Finnish citizen in
responded to and understood Termination, US
the UK affects my understanding of Native American
citizenship and being “American”.
and US history.
On arrival on campus, I was pleasantly surprised to find
Considering its location in the Southwest, it is
Hayden Library equipped with brand new microform
unsurprising that Arizona State University houses such a
scanners, attached to large-screen PCs providing visitors
wealth of resources for postgraduate students studying
with unlimited, free scanning of sources. This meant that
American Indian topics. I really enjoyed meeting other
I could collect sources more efficiently than I had
postgraduate students and being able to discuss my
planned. As a result I included a fourth tribal council, the project with people who are aware of Termination and
Klamath, to the three I had already begun to look at –
its significance in US history. As the only current history
the Navajo, the Mississippi Choctaw, and the Five
PhD candidate in Durham focusing on the United States,
Civilized Tribes Inter-Tribal Council. The Klamath tribe
let alone Native Americans, this was a rare treat. In
was faced with a withdrawal bill in 1954 and eventually
addition, hearing about the research projects of others
terminated in 1961. In including their tribal council
broadened my understanding of the differences between
minutes I will be able to examine how a tribe in these
UK and US PhD programmes. For instance, I was able
circumstances reacted to Termination, compared to
to sit in on a graduate student class on colonialism and
others which were not immediately threatened.
global indigenous populations; as a result I am aware of
additional important literature on this topic.
16
I was very impressed – at times perhaps even a bit
intimidated – by the breadth of knowledge and skills of
the American grad students. However, after talking to
other students I found that the experience of doing a
PhD is in many ways very similar: filled with stress,
pressure to work non-stop, and often feelings of
confusion when immersed in one’s own thesis.
Finally, without this trip I would not have been able to
visit some of the places that I have read about in the
tribal council minutes and gain a glimpse into life on the
reservation of one of the tribes included in my thesis
project. With the help of history graduate student Farina
King and her family on the Navajo reservation, I spent a
weekend in Monument Valley. Seeing the impoverished
conditions many still live in (as well as getting stuck
behind obviously inebriated drivers more than once in a
single day) made the continuing problems of at least one
tribe glaringly obvious. Yet more striking was the
incredible beauty of the land and warmth of the people I
spoke to. These factors affirmed to me how important it
is to continue to study Native American history, as it
remains relevant to examine why change has failed to
occur in so many cases. Furthermore, this must be
conducted in a respectful way understanding the reality
of the challenges faced by tribes and the efforts that they
make to overcome them, avoiding simplistic or
generalised victim narratives.
Three weeks may seem a short time in which to conduct
substantial research, yet having completed the research
trip I disagree. With the help of modern technology and
networks of supportive fellow researchers, I was able to
collect a great deal more sources than I had planned, as
well as having stimulating conversations and getting a
taste of Navajo daily life. Thanks to this award from
BAAS, I have gained the sources and experience I need
to complete a well-rounded thesis.
– Ree$a Humalajoki
17
A REPORT FROM
LINCOLN GERAGHTY
(UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH)
2013
T
he Founders’ Award allowed me to travel to the University
of Iowa’s Special Collections Archive which contains
important and valuable collections of fanzines, fan letters,
science fiction convention material and fan videos. The
university has been the recipient of numerous and vast
donations from fans and the librarians are still cataloguing
new additions every day. The Special Collections Archive
is currently involved in a major cooperative effort with
the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), called
“The Fan Culture Preservation Project”, to preserve zines
and other artefacts of fan culture. In partnership with
OTW, a non-profit fan-run organisation, Special
Collections at Iowa continues to receive donations of
materials from their creators and collators and make them
available to future generations of researchers and other
interested parties.
Visiting this archive forms part of an ongoing and
developing research project on the history of popular
fandom, fan relationships with the media industries, and
the importance of memory and nostalgia in creating a fan
identity. The four objectives of the project are: To
investigate the affective relationship between the practices
of fandom and the consumable merchandise and fanzines
that fans collect from their favourite film and TV
franchises; To assess the impact of memory and nostalgia
in the development of fandom and the formation of
collecting and fanzine communities; To analyse the
significance of geography and space in the buying, selling
and trading of collectible media merchandise and fanzines
and how fans interact with and within that space; To
establish the roles played by the media industry,
manufacturers, sellers, traders, collectors and fans in the
mass marketing of merchandising, fanzines and the
creation of fan collecting communities.
Trek convention memorabilia, represent an important
resource for scholars of American studies and stand as a
historical record of fan subcultures and their adherents.
Researching this history of American fandom through
fanzines and fan magazines is an important part of my
overall project as understanding how communities of fans
engage with media texts in the present can only be done
through understanding and piecing together how they did
so in the past. Studies of American fans and fandom
hardly ever discuss fandom in its historical contexts thus
having the opportunity to search the archives and read
these rare fanzines and convention programmes can only
enrich the project. Publishing the findings will take this
archival material, undoubtedly of interest and use to
future generations of scholars and fans, beyond the
confines of academia and out to a wider audience.
Programmes, magazines and flyers stored in the M.
Horvat Collection of Science Fiction Convention
Materials will be discussed in my forthcoming publication,
Cult Collectors (Routledge, 2013) but further material found
in the Morgan Dawn Fanzine and Fanvid Collection and
the M. Horvat collections of zines and convention material
will serve as the basis for a future book on fan histories.
The size and diverse contents of the archive means that
further research and dissemination through publication are
required to fully exploit the collated material. In visiting
the archive I was not only able to gather previously unseen
material that will be used in current research but it has also
introduced me to historical objects and data that have
inspired ideas for future work.
I would like to thank BAAS for the financial support
provided by the award that enabled me to travel to Iowa.
The library staff at the university, including Kathryn
Hodson, Greg Prickman and Kalmia Strong, deserves
praise for its informed and ever-present help with the
As part of this project I needed to go to Iowa and gather
collection. The fanzine archive is growing constantly and I
important research material held in their archive. The
do hope to return to Iowa in the near future. As a fan
archive holds publications donated by collectors and fans
studies resource its contents is still largely untapped and its
dating back to the 1920s. The twenty individual collections importance has therefore sadly gone unnoticed. I
that make up the archive, ranging from the Papers of
encourage interested researchers to discover what’s there.
Norman Felton, Gertrude M. Carr and the Debbie
– Lincoln Geraghty
Hoover fanzine collection to the collections of TV shows
such as Farscape, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Star
18
I
would like to thank BAAS for supporting a very
productive visit to the Archives of the Archdiocese of
New Orleans to research the recently opened Rummel
Administrative Records for essential final material for a
study of Catholic desegregation in Louisiana.
The Rummel Administrative Records are a vital source,
because Rummel, archbishop between 1935 and 1964,
was responsible for the largest Catholic populated diocese
in the South and led the Province of New Orleans that
included Louisiana’s three other dioceses.
The archdiocese witnessed a prolonged struggle over
parochial school desegregation, which until now, could
only be studied through public sources, such as pastoral
letters and newspaper reports. The newly processed
materials revealed the inner workings of the Catholic
chancery as it sought a viable desegregation policy for its
churches, schools, agencies and organisations.
The Rummel Administrative Records comprise school
desegregation files, correspondence with other Louisiana
Catholic bishops and New Orleans city officials, Catholic
schools, parishes, and organisations, and lay people.
The materials revealed Rummel’s early attention to racial
discrimination in both the church and secular world, but
also his reluctance to desegregate Catholic schools in the
face of entrenched opposition from state politicians and
vocal lay people. Correspondence with segregationist lay
people offered insights into segregationist arguments and
beliefs, and Rummel’s attempts to counter them.
– Mark Newman
19
A REPORT FROM
MARK NEWMAN (UNIVERSITY
OF EDINBURGH)
2013
FROM BAAS MEMBERS
The Poetics of the American Suburbs is the first book
to consider the rich body of poetry that emerged
from and helped to shape the post-war American
suburbs. Jo Gill discusses the work of forty or
more writers—some well-known, such as Anne
Sexton and Langston Hughes, others not
primarily known through their poetry such as
John Updike, and some who were best-sellers in
their own time but have since largely been
forgotten such as Phyllis McGinley. Combining
detailed textual and archival study with insights
drawn from other disciplines, the book offers a
new perspective on post-war suburbia and on the
broader field of twentieth-century American
Jo Gill is Associate
Professor and
Director of
Education in the
Department of
English at the
University of Exeter,
UK. She is the
author of Anne
Sexton's
Confessional Poetics,
Women's Poetry and
The Cambridge
Introduction to
Sylvia Plath, and the
editor or co-editor of
several other books.
She is Lead
Researcher on the
Leverhulme-Trust
funded "Cultures of
the Suburbs
International
Research Network."
literature.
ial
spec
e
ff
o r
New From
The American Left
Its Impact on Politics and Society since 1900
Only the American right has ever really recognised the potency of
the American left. Now, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones fully details the left’s
numerous achievements, including the welfare state, opposing
militarism, reshaping American culture, black rights and civil
liberties, awakening the USA to the dangers of fascism, and great
public enterprises such as the late Twin Towers.
Jeffreys-Jones tells the full story of the US’s left wing: how the
socialists of the Old Left gave way by the 1960s to the anti-war
militants of the New Left, and how they in turn gave way to a ‘Newer
Left’ that advocated causes such as gay rights and multiculturalism.
Bringing the discussion into the 21st century, he shows how
the post-2000 Bush administration succumbed to the ‘socialist’
nationalisation it despised, and considers Barack Obama’s claim to
be a ‘president of the left’.
Save £25.00
0DUPCFStQQt)#t
Special Price: £65.00 £39.99
To contribute your recent publications to ASIB, contact the Editor with the details on p.51. - Ed. 20
NEW PUBLICATIONS
BAAS PAPERBACK SERIES
EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS
A NOTE FROM MARTIN HALLIWELL
AND EMILY WEST
BAAS Paperbacks are published
by Edinburgh University Press in
association with the British
Association for American Studies.
vigorously marketed by Edinburgh
University Press in the UK and via
Oxford University Press in North
America.
BAAS Paperbacks has two new
Series Editors who, along with
Edinburgh University Press, wish
to promote and develop BAAS
Paperbacks as the definitive series
of lively, accessible and focused
books (70,000 words maximum) in
any field or subfield of American
Studies.
Volumes can be pitched within a
single discipline or with an
interdisciplinary focus.
Volumes in the series combine
overviews of the subject with
original research and are
In particular, we are keen to
recruit proposals relating to areas
where we feel the series needs
developing, including all areas of
pre-twentieth century research;
regional, urban and transnational
studies; the history of borderlands,
ethnicity and citizenship; colonial
and revolutionary America; gender
and sexuality; international
relations; literary and film genres,
contemporary events; public and
intellectual cultures; and visual
technologies.
The book should be appropriate
for adoption as required reading
on relevant undergraduate courses.
Please do contact us with your
ideas for potential books, which
can be either thematic or
chronological in scope.
For a list of titles in the BAAS
Paperbacks series so far, please go
to www.euppublishing.com/series/
BAAS.
Contact the Series Editors:
Martin Halliwell (University of Leicester)
[email protected]
Emily West (University of Reading)
[email protected]
euppublishing.com/series/BAAS
21
T
A REPORT FROM
KAREN HEATH (ST ANNE’S
COLLEGE, OXFORD)
BAAS/Eccles Centre PG Award
Recipient 2013
hanks to the generosity of the Eccles Centre Postgraduate The research that I undertook at the British Library
Award in North American Studies I was able to make
enabled me to considerably strengthen, broaden, and
regular research trips to the British Library over the
contextualise my primary source basis. In particular, I
course of 2012-3.
was able to access a number of key periodicals, including
conservative magazines (American Mercury, National Review),
My doctoral thesis, Conservatives and the Politics of Art, from
specialised art journals (Theatre Arts, Art News, Craft
Red Scares to Culture Wars, offers a new policy history of the Horizons), plus other non-arts publications that
National Endowment for the Arts, the federal agency that infrequently offered critical commentary on the
makes grants to artists and arts organisations in the
Endowment, (Esquire, Saturday Review, Business Week). I
United States. My thesis explains the development of
arrived at the library with a comprehensive index of
conservative perspectives on federal art politics from the
references drawn from the Readers’ Guide to Periodical
Red Scares of the late 1940s and early 1950s, to the
Literature, meaning that I was able to easily order up the
Culture Wars of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and
correct issues to the reading room, and hence quickly
hence the evolution of conservative political power.
locate the relevant articles to copy. I also made good use
The most popular story holds that the National
Endowment for the Arts found itself caught up in the
Culture Wars when Christian right groups strenuously
objected to certain federal grants, particularly to Andres
Serrano’s Piss Christ and Robert Mapplethorpe’s SelfPortrait with Whip. Numerous studies have sought to
of the LexisNexis Congressional Hearings Digital Collection, a
database that offers the full text of published and
unpublished congressional hearings. As this material is
now available in digital format, I was able to easily
undertake searches to find the Endowment’s
appropriations and re-authorisation submissions.
uncover the meaning of the Culture Wars, but scholars
Overall, my time at the British Library has been
have yet to examine conservative approaches to federal
extremely fruitful, and I am very grateful to BAAS and
activism in the arts in a historical sense. My thesis
the Eccles Centre for their support of my work.
therefore uncovers the older origins of conservative
opposition to federal support for the arts, analyses
conservative conceptions of art, and illuminates the
– Karen Hea%
limited role the right imagined for the federal
government in the arts in the post-war period. Most
importantly, my work also offers a focussed analysis of
the agency’s grant-making priorities in order to
understand the limited impact of conservatives in terms
of influencing public policy. In a more general sense
then, my thesis illuminates the overall odyssey of modern
American conservatism, provides a new insight into the
ways we periodise political history, and also invites a
broader view of how we understand politics itself.
22
D
A REPORT FROM
ROBERT W. JONES II
(UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER)
Recipient 2013
uring the 2012-2013 academic year I was fortunate to
semantics) and Vladimir Gavreau (infrasound) greatly
make several trips to the British Library due to the
influenced Burroughs and he often spoke of them in
support I received from the Eccles Centre. These trips
interviews and wrote about them in non-fiction work.
were made with the goal of strengthening my doctoral
However, the depth of their influence on his philosophy
research on William S. Burroughs and specifically for my
in the 1960s and 1970s is often overlooked. The materials
thesis tentatively titled The Only Complete Man in the
I had access to at the British Library have provided
Industry: William S. Burroughs and the Post-war avant-garde.
ample evidence and source material in support of my
Much of my research at the British Library focused on
the archives of Burroughs, Brion Gysin (Burroughs’
primary argument that the way Burroughs used the cutup method was not simply to expose truths hidden within
primary collaborator during the 1960s and 70s) and
texts, but, to use these texts as a means of passing on
Genesis P-orridge who, aside from his primary work as
specific ideas to his audience.
the driving force behind Throbbing Gristle and Psychic
TV was a long time disciple of Gysin and Burroughs and
During the academic year I was able to listen to dozens of
an executor of the estate of filmmaker Anthony Balch.
hours of audio that are not available to the general
The archived materials I was most interested in
public. These tapes and sound server items generally
contained limited release and unreleased audiotape
cover the times that Burroughs lived and worked in
experiments that William Burroughs created during the
London as well some recordings from his time in Paris,
1960s and 70s.
New York and Lawrence, Kansas. These recordings
provided excellent source material for the chapters of my
William S. Burroughs’ written work is difficult to classify.
thesis that show how his use of audio tape was a direct
His most famous literary work Naked Lunch is often
extension, not only of his literary cut-up project, but of
described as everything from post-modern to cyberpunk.
his interests in the work of Alfred Korzybski, W. Grey
My research focuses on the decade and a half after the
Walter, Vladimir Gavreau and Wilhelm Reich. In
publication of Naked Lunch where his work became
addition to the primary source material for my research
increasingly experimental and began to leave the page to
these tapes contained private interviews and phone calls
interact with audiotapes and avant-garde film. While
in which Burroughs speaks at length about the cut-up
there has been some research on this portion of
technique, his collaborations with Brion Gysin and
Burroughs’ oeuvre none of the research focused on
creating an intellectual history of the cut-up movement
others.
and tracing the origin of much of Burroughs’ philosophy
These interviews and conversations provide a wealth of
to his interest in what I refer to as fringe sciences. This is
contextual information on the primary materials that I
commonly defined as science that was not part of the
am researching. In addition, the archives contained many
mainstream, yet may have been borne out of cold war
rare pieces of audio including one of Burroughs reading
experimentation. This includes fields of interest such as
the text “Hassan I Sabbah” while under the influence of
brainwashing and remote viewing. Thinkers such as W.
mescaline and also contained a cut-up of this text that is
Grey Water (neuroscience and cybernetics), Wilhelm
subject to tape dragging.
Reich (orgone theory), Alfred Korzybski (general
23
This is an explicit example of the way in which text can
be obscured with this technique and also displays how
new words can emerge from the dragging, thus backing
up Burroughs idea that these experiments could bring to
light new and different texts simply by speeding up and
slowing down tape.
The research that I conducted was instrumental in
completing the third chapter of my thesis as well as
providing information for chapter four. In addition, I
prepared a conference paper “Body is Evidence of the
Film: William S. Burroughs and the Post-war Avantgarde” that I presented at the British Association For
American Studies conference April 2013 at the
University of Exeter. This paper examines the ways in
which artists and musicians have collaborated with
Burroughs and utilised his ideas in their work. Further, I
have used material collected during my time at the British
Library to prepare an abstract for an upcoming
conference on William S. Burroughs and the image,
taking place in London during February 2014.
I would like to thank The Eccles Centre at the British
library for providing the financial support for my research
trips and the British Association for American Studies for
selecting my grant application. Due to the generous
support of these organisations I was able to spend several
days exploring archival material that has already proven
to be incredibly important to my PhD research. In
addition, I would like to thank the staff at the British
Library especially the staff in the audio archives that
were extremely knowledgeable, helpful and generous with
their time during each of my visits.
– Robe! W. Jones II
24
A REPORT FROM BARBARA
PITAK (UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW)
Recipient 2013
Library, confirmed my thesis that the discomfort in
for awarding me a Visiting European Postgraduate Award
research on this specific genre in the context of its musical
in North American Studies 2013. I spent almost two
representations, is related to a negative paradigm of
months – April/May 2013 – on a research in the British
racism. In such musical films like Show Time (1936) The
Library. This experience has significantly improved my
Duke is Tops (1939), Babes in Arms (1939), Stormy Weather
PhD project.
(1943), Hello Dolly (1969), the blackface character is present
and becomes a kind of platform for discussion on
My dissertation examines the manifestations of grotesque American identity. The grotesque side of this topic is based
in American stage and film musical. My research approach primarily on the fact that it was being presented in a happy
is based on cultural studies. Therefore an in-depth study of and joyful form from which the musical comedy is known.
the history of culture of the United States, in particular
Extreme energy and carefree shown by dancing, singing
aesthetics of theatre, film and literature is necessary. The
and playfulness clashes with traditional caricatures and
basic research questions are: In what extent the category of racist stereotypes.
grotesque, so popular in the European culture, relates to
the representations of American culture? What are the
By exploring a range of materials offered by the British
symptoms of this aesthetic category that indicate specific
Library I was also able to make excellent use of
nature of this musical genre?
publications on the theory of grotesque, I have not been
I spent the time mostly researching a chapter of my
able to access elsewhere, such as: The Grotesque: A study in
Meanings (Barasch 1971), The gruesome doorway: an analysis of
dissertation on various aspects of grotesque in the
the American grotesque (Uruburu 1987), The American Stage and
nineteenth-century pre-musical stage form: blackface
the Great Depression: A cultural history of the grotesque (Fearnow
minstrelsy and its later manifestations in film musicals. I
1997).
had the opportunity to find various materials, make a
profound readings and almost 120 pages of notes from
I would also like to mention that the EThOS online
such monographs like Inside the minstrel mask: readings in the
platform turned out to be extremely useful as it afforded
nineteenth-century blackface minstrelsy (Bean, Hatch,
me an access to various unpublished doctoral dissertations.
McNamara 1996), Demons of disorder: early blackface minstrels
I managed to find several documents that became and
and their world (Cockrell 1997), Grotesque Essence: Plays from the inspiration for my own work. A research stay at the British
American Minstrel Stage (Engle 1978), Jump Jim Crow: lost
Library was a very productive time as well as a great
plays, lyrics, and street prose of the first Atlantic popular culture
opportunity to gather valuable materials that are not
(Lhamon 2003), Dan Emmet and the rise of early Negro
available in my home country. It was also an important
minstrelsy, (Nathan 1962), Blacking up: the minstrel show in the
scientific experience. I would like to express my deepest
nineteenth century America (Toll 1974), Disintegrating the musical:
gratitude to Professor Philip Davies and the staff at the
Black performance and American musical film (Knight 2002).
Eccles Centre as well as to BAAS for making such an
This allowed me to look more thoroughly at this cultural
invaluable and inspiring research possible.
phenomenon which earned its popularity due to
stereotyped and caricatured presentations of black people.
These monographs as well as various secondary materials
– newspapers and journals articles – found in the British
– Barbara Pitak
25
I
am extremely grateful to the BAAS and the Eccles Centre
A REPORT FROM AMELIA PRECUP
Recipient 2013
T
hanks to the Eccles Centre Postgraduate Award, I was able
to conduct my research at the British Library in London
for a period of four weeks. This experience contributed
greatly to the advancement of my research project. The
main objective of my research project is to approach
Woody Allen’s fiction, considering the historical and
cultural implications which shaped his writing, in order to
better understand how he continues, develops and replies
to the Jewish tradition within the American urban thinking
pattern. In order to accomplish my research objective, I
have to take into consideration the immediate context of
his writing, i.e. the aesthetics coordinates recommended by
the editors of The New Yorker magazine, the publication
where most of Woody Allen’s short pieces had been
published first, as well as the larger literary context which
most definitely influenced his writing, that is, the playful
aesthetics of literary postmodernism. Another important
aspect I am investigating is represented by the implications
of Woody Allen’s Jewish cultural heritage in his short
fiction and the way in which he processes all the elements
pertaining to the legacy of his Jewish upbringing as
compared to other contemporary Jewish-American
writers.
clearly see the influences of S. J. Perelman and Robert
Benchley on Woody Allen’s literary style. I would like to
mention that I did not have access to any critical approach
to the work of Perelman or Benchley until I got to the
British Library, not to mention that the aesthetic direction
of the New Yorker short stories was still rather unclear until I
got the chance to analyze the relevant research in the field.
Moreover, I could also consult a series of books on JewishAmerican literature, Jewish stereotypes and Jewish humor,
as reflected into the twentieth century American
mainstream culture and literature. One might think that
some of the resources I consulted in the British Library are
also available at other libraries and that is true (except for
the Romanian libraries I have access to). Nevertheless,
when writing a thesis, it is extremely important to have all
the resources you need available to you in one place. The
thought that you can check your hypotheses without
having to travel to another library or wait for weeks to get
a book is extremely refreshing when writing and
conducting research. At least, this is how I work better.
The access to resources (some of which I did not even
know existed) is just one of the highlights of the research
trip made possible by the Eccles Centre Postgraduate
I began my research based on the fact that most studies on Award. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity this
Woody Allen’s work focus on his films, analyzing various
grant offered me to meet extremely interesting people,
aspects, from plot, technique, influences, and characters to working in different fields of North American studies. I
his use of humor or his ideological perspectives.
had the chance to discuss my research with people working
Nevertheless, his short stories, essays and plays received
both in connected academic areas and in completely
little attention from critics worldwide. Given the scarcity of different research fields, but all the discussions I had
critical material on Woody Allen’s short fiction, I had to
seemed to shed even more light on my research project.
build a theoretical framework for each section of my thesis, These discussions helped me see my research from
based on researches and theoretical standpoints relevant
different perspectives and also offered me the opportunity
for the evolution and the marketing of the short story on
to learn extremely interesting things about American
American soil, as well as for postmodernism and
history, politics, culture, and literature, directly from
contemporary American literary trends. Moreover, the
specialists in the field. To sum up my experience, I can say
debates around the definition of Jewish-American
that my research gained more depth, my thesis advanced
literature and the implications of ethnicity in the work of
considerably, and I got to meet interesting people with
contemporary Jewish-American writers are also essential
whom I could share experience and knowledge. For all of
for my research. During my stay at the British Library, I
these I am extremely grateful to the support I received
was able to consult books and articles which helped me
from the Eccles Centre and the BAAS.
understand better what the best approach for the first and
– Amelia Precup
the third section of my thesis would be. I am now able to
understand much better the impact of The New Yorker on
Woody Allen’s short fiction and its readership, just as I can
26
I
A REPORT FROM
CHRISTOPHER MINTY
(UNIVERSITY OF STIRLING)
Recipient 2013
I recently undertook a research trip to the British Library, future-Loyalist William Laight were close friends, whilst
London, to carry out crucial research for my Ph.D.
in 1775 Alexander Hamilton fended off a noisy mob who
project. Based at the University of Stirling, my
sought to tar-and-feather the president of King’s College,
dissertation examines the cultural origins of Loyalism in
Rev. Dr. Myles Cooper—a noted and hated Loyalist.
New York, c. 1763–1775. The characters and subjects of
What this project hopes to demonstrate is that Loyalism
my dissertation are over 9,300 Loyalists from across the
was not an overtly political stance; rather, it was more a
various counties of eighteenth-century New York. To
statement of community. With a scratch of the pen,
pinpoint ‘who’ these Loyalists were, I have identified and
analysed a dozen Loyalist subscription lists or petitions,
Loyalists sought to legitimise the ‘community’ and protect
it from being reconfigured by a group of individuals—the
two “Declarations of Dependence” and three
‘Rebels’—who they did not know or trust. My project
fantastically detailed oaths of allegiance. Although each
argues that our ideological dichotomy of Loyalist and
document varies in specificity—some oaths of allegiance,
Patriot is not only misleading, but it is actually less
for example, list age as well as occupation, whilst the
important than the already- forged division of political,
petitions usually just have a name—they have provided
economic, and social communities in New York. It was
me with an interesting challenge and pertinent research
their desire to stay together in these ‘safe,’ imagined
question: just who were these people? To answer this
communities allowed them to suppress the ideological
frustratingly large question, my Ph.D. has adopted an
discord that existed between them.
interdisciplinary approach. By drawing upon traditional
historical methods, I have also implemented
prosopographical, quantitative and qualitative analysis
and social network analysis to pull these people together
under the aegis of Loyalism. To do this, I have used the
ostensibly amorphous concept of ‘community’ as a
methodological tool to illustrate how these Loyalists were
intimately connected with one another prior to signing a
In the current academic climate, research is becoming
increasingly and frustratingly expensive, especially when
the primary focus of your work is New York. For me, a
large proportion of my funding has been directed
towards conducting archival research in the United
States. Although it was extremely productive, it left me
with less financial leeway to visit key archives in the
Loyalist declaration or taking the oath of allegiance.
United Kingdom. Fortunately, however, I gratefully
By using what some historians may classify as
Library in mid-2012, which I undertook in May 2013. It
aesthetically unappealing sources—daybooks, ledgers,
account books, receipts, probate records—my Ph.D.
proved to be an absolutely critical trip.
dissertation wants to suggest that the ‘path to Loyalism’
was far from a linear or teleological process, and
allegiance was a peculiarly elastic concept. During the
1760s and early-1770s, “future-Loyalists,” if they may be
called that without falling foul to inferred teleology,
worked with “future-Patriots” throughout the various
crises that engulfed New York. For example, John Jay and
accepted a fellowship at the Eccles Centre at the British
When I first arrived in London, I knew that the papers of
Maj.-Gen. Sir Frederick Haldimand would be of utmost
use to this project. Haldimand, born in Yverdon,
Switzerland, served throughout the Seven Years War
(1756–1763) and proved to be a highly proficient military
officer.
27
“William Smith Jr.’s Alternative to the American
soon bound for New York when Thomas Gage left the
Revolution,” two copies remain extant, one in Smith’s
colonies for a brief period in mid-1773. Haldimand
handwriting. Both are in the William Salt Library,
became acting commander-in-chief of British forces in
preserved in the Dartmouth Papers. When I visited the
North America during the Tea Act crisis, and these were
British Library, I was aware of Smith’s “Alternative,” but
the first papers I sought to consult. Through reading his
did not expect to find it neatly preserved in the
correspondence with officials back in London,
Haldimand Papers.
After serving as Governor of Quebec, Haldimand was
Haldimand’s evocative letters—bound in stunning olive
green volumes—provided me with a key insight into life in An absolutely central collection of documents I also
New York during this period. Writing to Lord Dartmouth, consulted were Haldimand’s personal correspondence
Secretary of State for the Colonies, the general wrote:
“From several inflamatory [sic] Papers, there is great
reason to suppose, that some opposition will be made to
the importation of the Tea reported to be sent by the East
India Company, I shall Endeavour to prevent it as far, as
will appear consistent with prudence, in the present state
with Hugh and Alexander Wallace, two prominent New
York merchants. Both Hugh and Alexander would
become Loyalists during the American Revolution, and
the former would sign both Declarations of Dependence.
This correspondence, dated from 1765–1778, allowed me
to track the development of the imperial crisis through
of Affairs in America.” A month later, after the Boston
the eyes of two men who would become Loyalists. For
Tea Party, Haldimand again wrote to Dartmouth. In this
letter, it is possible to gauge New Yorker’s increasing
instance, in 1765 and with considerable prescience, Hugh
Wallace lamented to Haldimand that “we hope the
radical consciousness and the importance of intercolonial
Parliament will relieve all our Sufferings & rid us of the
support. “Had the ship with the Tea for this Province,
arrived ten Days ago,” Haldimand opined, “it might have
Stamp Act, tho’ they may punish us from rashness in
violently opposing it”. In fact, this series of letters was
been safely landed, but the Account of what happened at
actually so useful, that I have decided to implement the
Boston, which was sent off by Express to this place &
friendship of Wallace and Haldimand as a case study to
Philadelphia has created such a ferment that I apprehend, demonstrate how New Yorkers’ perception of
that the Governors, to prevent dangerous extremities, will
‘community’ evolved throughout this period. On the eve
rather chuse [sic] to permit that the Tea shou’d be sent
of the American Revolution, colonists began to turn
back to England.” From reading all their extant
correspondence, it becomes perfectly clear how a “torrent
towards their friends and associates in times of need.
of licentiousness” was brewing in New York, which would
In 1766, Wallace gratefully thanked Haldimand for
soon force its inhabitants to tentatively determine where
sending his wife some oranges; in 1775, before the British
their allegiance lay, at least for the time being.
occupation began in September 1776, Wallace
desperately sought Haldimand’s help as he requested his
Another key manuscript I consulted was “William Smith’s
advice and influence in London to alleviate the losses he
Thoughts on the disturbances in America written in 67
may accumulate. “You will no doubt in your rounds,”
and given to me at N: Y July the 4th 75”. A year before
Wallace speculated, “see Lord Hillsborough, [and] when
independence was declared, Haldimand desperately
you do, & can lett [sic] his Lordship know that I am
sought to gain a more thorough understanding of the
known to you, honoured with your Friendship &
infamous “New York Triumvirate,” actually wrote this
document in 1765 during the Stamp Act crisis. In it, he
Merchant & a Friend to Government, may be of the
origins of the crisis, and called upon noted lawyer William Confidence & your giveing [sic] me such a Character as
you think will do sense to his Lordship, both as a
Smith, Jr. for advice. Smith, a Whig and member of the
posited that because the colonies had significantly
greatest Use to me.” The Haldimand Papers were even
more useful than I had anticipated, and I hope to use
contributed to the British war effort in the Seven Years
them again in my research. Although the majority of my
case. As Robert Calhoun illustrated in his useful article,
materials.
War, they were entitled to an increased position within the time was spent in the Manuscript Room at the British
Library, I did manage to pull myself away to consult other
British Empire. Of course, as we know, this was not the
28
infrastructure through the grid-like roads at the bottom
available online through various databases and the
end of Manhattan Island, as well as New York’s ethnic
democratisation of the archive—most notably for me,
and religious diversity. It shows man-made developments
Early American Imprints—the visceral charge of reading
of the land—pastures, orchards and gardens—and, at the
and touching the “real thing” remains preferable,
bottom of the map, it shows the defining images of New
especially as a young historian. During my time in
York City during the eighteenth century: commercial
London, I was lucky enough to consult volume one of A
vessels.
Although a vast number of documents are becoming
Collection of Tracts from the late News Papers, &c.
containing particularly The American Whig, A Whip for
My trip to the British Library proved to be one of the
the American Whig, With some other Pieces. Published by most fruitful research trips I have carried out for my Ph.D.
I gathered materials that will become central to my
local printer and future-Patriot, John Holt, the tightlybound volume contains hundreds of essays concerning
the potential establishment of an American Episcopate in
the colonies in 1767–1768. Sparked by John Ewer’s
argument and ideas as they develop. The British Library
is a fantastically vital institution for all students and
academics, and thanks to British Association of American
infamous sermon, the chance to consult this rare text was
Studies I was able to utilise their brilliant collections. I
this volume, too, were small pieces of marginalia, when
the unknown owner marked the document at key
privilege, as always.
a privilege, and it also provided me with several key points would like to thank BAAS, the British Library and the
that I intend to use in a chapter of my project. But within Eccles Centre for their generous contribution. It was a
junctures in the text. Despite highlighting to me the
“important” sections, A Collection of Tracts gave me a
– Ch'(opher Minty
real understanding of the sensuous immediacy of the past
as I followed the rhythmic construction of the conflicting
arguments. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this 400pp
volume. Alongside this, I also consulted Samuel Johnson’s
fantastically vital 1755 Dictionary to understanding how
eighteenth-century colonists understood “society,”
“loyalty” and “loyalist,” and Philip Livingston’s The
Other Side of the Question. These also provided me with
particularly useful information.
Lastly, I consulted Bernard Ratzer’s magisterial map of
New York. A journalist has described Ratzer as the “Da
Vinci of New York cartography,” and it is a truly breathtaking document. Only four remain in existence and this
is the only one in Great Britain (the other three are based
at the New-York Historical Society and the Brooklyn
Historical Society). Formerly owned by King George III,
it vividly portrays the streets of eighteenth-century New
York City and is arguably the finest portrayal of the
seaport town prior to the American Revolution. Engraved
on the map are the houses of future-Loyalists James
DeLancey, Robert Murray and Peter Stuyvesandt. It
illustrates who were neighbours and how colonists
probably bumped into each other on their daily trips to a
marketplace or down to the closest wharf. The map gives
us a great deal of information, as we see a developing
29
A REPORT FROM RUTH MARTIN
(UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE)
Recipient 2013
T
he Eccles Centre Postgraduate Award enabled me to
organisation’s financial security. He resigned from the
research an extensive collection of archival materials
ACLU to become a powerful financial backer of the
essential to the completion of my thesis, Defending the
ECLC, a move which strained the poor relationship
Unpopular: Civil Liberties, fear and conformity in New York,
between the US’s two largest civil liberties groups.
1937-1969.
These findings make a major contribution to current
This thesis examines how civil liberties organisations
historiography in several significant ways. Firstly, it
developed to defend the constitutional right of freedom of
association during a period characterized by conformity
challenges the traditional notion of the death of
progressivism, left-wing non-communism by 1952.
and fear of ‘un-American’ political ideologies. Assessing
Continuities of membership and ideology can be traced
the activities of three inter-connected groups, the
between the Progressive Party of the ’40s and civil liberties
American Civil Liberties Union, Emergency Civil
defence groups in the ’50s and beyond. Legal defence of
Liberties Committee, and National Lawyers Guild, my
the unpopular in the US, based on constitutional rights,
research addresses challenges faced by civil libertarians in
acted as an acceptable issue over which progressives could
periods of national emergency during the early Cold War.
coalesce. Secondly, it emphasizes the substantial
The development of legal defence strategies and
commitment of non-communist lawyers in defending
employment of the rhetoric of rights acted to defend
those attacked as subversive, as many lost their license to
suspected subversives, particularly Communists against
virulent political attacks.
practice and were jailed for contempt of court. This
contrasts to the dominant narrative which emphasizes the
Bar’s failure to uphold the right to counsel during this
My aim during my research trip was to assess the strategies time-period. Finally, it underlines how civil liberties groups
developed by the ACLU and ECLC. The collection of
played a key yet forgotten role in ameliorating the lingering
ACLU official policy pamphlets held at the British Library
effects of anti-Communism during the 1960s civil rights
shed light on the Executive Committee’s changing
and anti-War movements.
priorities and the ways in which they promoted the group
and portrayed its aims. Of greatest importance was the
I am immensely grateful to the British Library for allowing
microfilm of the Papers of Roger Nash Baldwin, founder
me access to the documents, and to the individual
of the ACLU in 1920 and leader until 1950, who
continued to exercise immense influence over the
archivists for their hard work and expertise in suggesting
relevant records collections. The documents I researched
organisation until the late 1960s. He presided over the
formed a seminal part of my PhD thesis. I wish therefore
ACLU’s 1940 resolution banning communists or political
to reiterate my sincere appreciation to the Eccles Centre
extremists from leadership positions in the organisations.
for providing me with this invaluable opportunity.
The Library also contains several political pamphlets
produced by long-term ACLU Board member and socialist
philanthropist Corliss Lamont, which were produced from
– Ru% Ma!in
the late 1930s to the 1950s. Lamont continually pushed
the ACLU for a more stringent commitment to defending
the rights of the unpopular, even at the expense of the
30
WELCOMING NEW MEMBERS OF BAAS
Bonnie Huskins teaches Atlantic World History
University of Birmingham, based in the
and the History of North America at St. Thomas
Department of American and Canadian Studies.
University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
Her current research centres on representations of
Her research examines sociability as a vehicle of
fatherhood in Hollywood film during the 1990s,
community formation amongst Loyalist refugees
with a particular interest in how masculinity is
who resettled in Nova Scotia after the American
constructed within this paternal paradigm. Katie
Revolutionary War. A related publication is
currently serves as Editor of the interdisciplinary
‘“Remarks and Rough Memorandums’: Social Sets,
journal of North American Studies, 49th Parallel.
Sociability, and Community in the Journal of
Lisa Bogert is a PhD candidate at the Queen's
William Booth, Shelburne, 1787 and 1789,” in the
Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society, Vol. 13
University Belfast and holds degrees from Yale
(2010).
Katie Barnett is completing her PhD at the
University, Centenary College and the University
College Dublin. Her research focuses on 20th
Simon Middleton teaches in the History
century cultural and social immigration history and
Department at the University of Sheffield. He was
foodways, which aims to analyse Irish American
educated at Kingston Polytechnic, Harvard
identity construction in regards to cross-generational University, and the City University of New York
cultural transmission. It further examines the rise of
Graduate Center, where he completed a Ph.D. From
diasporic heritage tourism aimed at Irish Americans
1997-2005 he taught in the School of American
with a focus on postmodern commodification and
Studies at the University of East Anglia. His
culinary tourism.
research interests lie in the area of early American
social and cultural history. Simon has won several
Chris Bradshaw is a PhD student at
awards for his work including a 2001 PEASE Prize
the University of the West of Scotland based in the
for the best journal article in early American
School of Social Sciences. His esearch focuses on
economic history, and the Hendricks Manuscript
American presidential elections, particularly the
Award and 2007 BAAS Book Prize for, From Privileges
campaigns between 1960 and 1980.
to Rights: Work and Labor in Colonial New York.
Jonathan Coburn is a PhD student in American
Katie Muth teaches in the School of English at the
History at Northumbria University. Jon’s research
University of St Andrews and has taught
interests include U.S. foreign policy and peace
contemporary literature, cultural studies, and liberal
history. His thesis is an analysis of the peace protest
arts at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon,
group ‘Women Strike for Peace’, paying particular
attention to the efficacy of maternal identity in
and at Washington University in St. Louis. She is
justifying a pacifist position and in allowing for
American fiction and the history of computing.
currently at work on a book manuscript on postwar
‘mature women’s’ involvement in politics.
Thomas E. O'Bryan is a human rights
Ben Houston is lecturer in modern US history at
practitioner and scholar, having studied and taught
Newcastle and specialises in the civil rights
in the UK, China, India and at American University
movement, nonviolent direct action, and oral
history. He is author of The Nashville Way, a
in Washington, D.C. He also worked for
international human rights NGO, Freedom House,
community study of the civil rights movement in
while in D.C., and Mr. O'Bryan maintains a keen
Nashville, Tennessee (UGA Press, 2012). Previously
interest in American foreign policy, politics, and
he directed an oral history project on African
culture. You can contact Mr. O'Bryan via
Americans in Pittsburgh at Carnegie Mellon
University.
[email protected].
31
Stephen Robinson holds a PhD in
American History from the University of
Southampton. He currently teaches at the
University of Southampton, and has also
taught at the University of Winchester.
Stephen's research focuses on race relations in
the US South, with a particular focus on the
1880s. His publications include ‘Rethinking
Black Urban Politics in the 1880s: The Case
of William Gaston in Post-Reconstruction
Alabama,’ The Alabama Review, 66 (January
2013) and a forthcoming book entitled Freemen
and Citizens: Black Politics in the 1880s South.
Ibram H. Rogers is an assistant professor of
Africana Studies at the University at Albany,
SUNY. He is the author of the award-winning
book, The Black Campus Movement: Black Students
and the Racial Reconstitution of Higher Education,
1965-1972. He has published essays on the
Black Campus Movement in several journals,
including the Journal of Social History, Journal of
African American Studies, Journal of African
American History, and The Sixties: A Journal of
History, Politics and Culture. He has earned
research fellowships from the American
Historical Association, Chicago's Black
Metropolis Research Consortium, Rutgers
Center for Historical Analysis, and the
Lyndon B. Johnson Library & Museum.
Charles J. Shindo is Professor of History at
Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana specialising in 20th century cultural
history, especially the interwar years. He holds
a PhD from the University of Rochester and
is the author of Dust Bowl Migrants in the
American Imagination (University Press of
Kansas, 1997) and 1927 and the Rise of Modern
America (University Press of Kansas, 2010).
Charles is currently working on a project
examining the various media adaptations of
H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds.
Imaobong Umoren is a DPhil student at
the University of Oxford based in the Faculty
of History. Her research focuses on the global
travels and connections between a group of
English and French speaking black women
intellectuals from the Caribbean, Africa and
the US between the 1920s -1960s.
Nicole Willson is a PhD student at the
University of East Anglia in the school of
American Studies. Her current research traces
the resonances of the Haitian Revolution in
the American unconscious. Her other
research interests include intersections
between race, class, gender, transatlantic
modernity, and the Diasporas of Africa and
the Caribbean.
Michelle K. Yost is a PhD student at the
University of Liverpool's School of English,
researching the American Hollow Earth
narrative and the Ohioan John Cleves
Symmes, whose theories inspired a century of
hollow earth writing. She had written reviews
for Foundation: the international review of science
fiction, and was a contributor to the third
edition of the Science Fiction Encyclopedia.
WELCOMING NEW MEMBERS OF BAAS
Jenna Pitchford-Hyde is currently Lecturer
in Humanities at the University of East
Anglia with special responsibility for
developing outreach activities across the
Faculty. Jenna has previously held lectureship
posts in English Literature at Nottingham
Trent University and American Studies at the
University of Lincoln. Jenna’s research
examines how contemporary warfare impacts
on identities, specifically focusing on issues of
technology, gender, the psychological effects of
war, national identity, and perceptions of the
‘Other’ in Persian Gulf and Iraq War
narratives. Her recent publications include
‘The “Global War on Terror,” Identity, and
Changing Perceptions: Iraqi Responses to
America’s War in Iraq’, Journal of American
Studies, 45: 4 (2011), and her current research
projects include a monograph which explores
the complexities of technology and identities
in Persian Gulf and Iraq War narratives.
32
I
was extremely privileged to be the Eccles Centre Visiting
food industrialisation. This led me to some of the food
Professor in North American Studies at the British
trade journal archives.
A REPORT FROM
BETSY DONALD (QUEEN’S
UNIVERSITY, CANADA)
BAAS/Eccles Centre Award
Recipient 2013
Library for the 2012-2013 academic year. It was during
this time that I was also on sabbatical at the University of I discovered a fascinating collection of business and food
science journals that really gave me a sense of how the
Cambridge, so this gave me the opportunity to research
in the library throughout the academic year. However,
industry saw itself at particular points in history and what
my most sustained and productive research period at the
the major issues of the day were. The sources for my
My project started out to be about the relationship
the largest circulation. By 1920, the American food
British Library was the four month period between April, research were trade journals like, Food Processing and Food
2013 and July, 2013 when I became fully immersed in the Processing and Marketing, but the main and most interesting
source was the monthly trade journal, Food Industries. This
library’s collections.
was the major food industry trade journal of its day with
between urbanisation and the industrial food system in
processing industry’s numbers had peaked at 63,000.
through most of the major secondary sources on the
industry established associations and produced a trade
the United States. I spent the first few months drawing on After 1920, the industry began a process of mergers and
the BL’s vast American food literature collection, reading acquisitions and it was during this period that the
history of food in America, including such classics as
magazine. Food Industries’ inaugural issue was
Richard J Hooker’s (1981), A History of Food and Drink in
America, James E. McWilliams (2005), A Revolution in
December 1928 and it continued to publish monthly
until 1951. In 1951 the journal changed its name to Food
Eating: how the Quest for Food Shaped America, Harvey
Engineering, and then ran under this name until 1976.
After 1976 the journal’s name was changed to Food
Levenstein’s (1988) Revolution at the Table and Andrew F.
Smith’s (2009) Eating History among dozens of others. As
my research progressed I found myself looking more
specifically at the rise and fall of the American industrial
foodscape through the voices of the food industry itself.
Most of the contemporary social science books about the
Engineering International, 1976+ to reflect the growing
globalising focus of the American food industry. I also
became enamoured by the monthly editorials written by
Lawrence V. Burton in Food Industries during the
depression and war years and the subsequent editorials
industrial food system tell the story of an industry under
written by Frank K. Lawler between 1948 and 1975.
attack. Technological innovation may have provided
cheap food to millions, but this has come at a cost in
the industry; they saw the industry as more than just an
Both these men had a deep knowledge and passion for
American industry among many, but as a keynote of 20th
problems: food safety; workers' rights; animal welfare and century American purpose and prosperity. This was a
the environment. Even the contemporary food industrial time in America when the American industrial food
terms of rising obesity and other diet-related health
trade journals seem to be on the defensive with regard to
how their industry is perceived by various publics. As I
reflected on this trend in the literature, I became curious
to know how the industry saw itself in the early years of
system was revered, its innovations celebrated for their
significant contribution to the success of social and
economic life in 20th-century America. The war years
were a particularly fascinating time to read about as food
was seen as a key weapon.
33
Canadian Studies. A heartfelt thanks too to Philip Davies
democracies” as the US fought for freedom with food and
and everyone at Eccles Centre. My time was so rewarding
claimed to have fed 200 million allies around the world.
and productive and I look forward to returning “home” to
This was an interesting time as supply blockages created
the BL very soon.
huge demand for sugar and spice substitutions and
vitamin and mineral enrichment. These substitutions and
enhancements became the underpinning of the American
industrial diet in the post-war period. By the 1950s, food
processing became increasingly automated, engineered
– Betsy Donald
and chemical laden. Food became an abstraction divorced
from its natural origins as the industry was aggressively
promoting synthetic foods. Until 1958 additives were
added and removed in the food system only when the
FDA could prove them dangerous. The 1960s saw
industry continuation of additive creations including the
making of reasonable facsimiles and analogs of natural
foods. The industry responded to several major local and
global political issues (such as the race riots in big city
America and world hunger issues). However, they
dismissed the growing consumer backlash of chemicals in
their foods. By 1973, the economic crisis hit the industry
hard, especially energy costs. It was at this time that the
industry also became increasingly angry and defensive
about unions, regulation and government intervention.
Additionally, the “radical consumerist” became the
scapegoat and was seen as a threat to the American free
enterprise system and the American way of life. Starting
in the mid-1970s, the industry began a stepped-up public
relations campaign to extol the virtues to the publics and
government on the benefits of an American industrialised
diet.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the British Library and
only wished I could stay for another year. I was grateful
for the sustained period of time within which to read,
reflect and write up draft chapters of my project. I was
also grateful for the opportunity to present my findings in
the Summer Scholar Series on July 24, 2013 in a power
point talk entitled, ‘The Rise and Fall of the American
Industrial Foodscape’. I received excellent feedback and
had the opportunity to meet interested and interesting
members of the public, some of whom I have stayed in
touch. Thank you in particular to all the librarians and
British Library staff who made my time so enjoyable and
productive. I am especially grateful to Jeremy on the
second floor of the science reading room for his guidance
and enthusiasm about my project and to Philip Hatfield in
34
The industry presented itself as the “larder of the
TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, TURKEY)
Recipient 2013
I
undertook research in connection with my project, ‘The
and impressions which were designed in a male-oriented
East, the West and America: How Nineteenth Century
environment would also reveal some major details about
American Women Writers Depicted Foreign Nations in
nineteenth-century American society, culture and the
Children’s Books.’
(un)changing roles of women.
The research endeavored to concentrate on the primary
For the research that was conducted at the British
and secondary sources on nineteenth-century American
Library, apart from the secondary sources on children’s
female writers’ children’s books at the British Library.
literature and specific writers (especially like Catherine
This offered the opportunity to conduct a comprehensive Maria Sedgwick), Jean Petrovic’s bibliographical study
analysis on the American perspective(s) about the
entitled “For Myself, For My Children, For Money: A
formation of national identity and the portrayal of other
Bibliography of Early American Women’s Writings at the
nations in the world. As Jean Petrovic indicates in the
British Library” became the initial point of reference.
introductory part of “‘For Myself, For My Children, For
The works of most of the names that are indicated in this
Money: A Bibliography of Early American Women’s
study turned out to be significant sources for the research.
Writings at the British Library,” the majority of those
Ms. Child’s The Mother’s Story Book; or, Western Coronal
female writers came from highly literate and educated
(1833) offers some certain stereotypical depictions of
American families, and some of them made their living
native American (Mohawk), ancient Egyptian, French,
from their writing. These women did not only write
children’s books; they also composed religious works,
English and Indian people. Additionally, in the same
work, there is also a Persian fable. In The History of the
poems and textbooks. Some of them became the editors
Condition of Women, in Various Ages and Nations (1835), which
of important children’s magazines (like Lydia Maria
was published in two volumes, Child refers to the
Child’s Juvenile Miscellany), some of them became famous
representations of women in different geographies and
with the moral stories that they wrote for children (like
time periods. Emma C. Embury’s Constance Latimer: Or the
Caroline Howard Gilman), and some of them wrote
Blind Girl. With Other Tales (1838) depict the story of a
about their travels in Europe (like Grace Greenwood and
blind girl, but the details of the work provides some
Caroline M. Kirkland) which possibly became influential
important aspects about India by specifying the life of a
sources for their stories for children. In brief, the research rich East India merchant from America. In Stories and
aspired to focus on the works of nineteenth-century
American writers which were considered to be
Legends of Travel and History, for Children (1857), Stories of
Many Lands (1867), Stories and Sights of France and Italy
exceptionally constructive in grasping the attitude of the
(1867) and New Life and New Lands (1873), Sarah Jane
European/white Americans regarding the other people
Clark, who took the name of Grace Greenwood in 1844,
who lived inside and outside Europe and the West. The
provides information mainly about Europe and the
attitudes of the female writers were deemed to be
continent’s comprehensive history.
particularly appealing because during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries, children’s stories and books were
primarily written for boys by male writers in the Englishspeaking milieu. Therefore, the women writers’ thoughts
35
A REPORT FROM
BAHAR GURSEL (MIDDLE EAST
definitely constitute a very important part of my ongoing
since that they were written for children (primarily for the
project.
Her above-indicated works constitute evident significance
writer’s cousins and daughter). However, they are also
important accounts because Greenwood was one of the
I wish to extend my many thanks to the executive and
first paid woman newspaper correspondents in the United sub-committee members of the British Association of
States; hence her descriptions offer a journalist’s
American Studies (BAAS), the British Association for
perspectives of other countries and cultures. Catherine
Canadian Studies, and to the staff of the Eccles Centre at
Maria Sedgwick, who was one of the noteworthy female
writers in nineteen-century America, also composed
the British Library. Without the support and guidance of
Prof. Philip Davies, the research could have been much
works which focused on both the United States and other
more strenuous and demanding; I would like to thank him
countries and people. For instance, in The Travellers: A Tale
for his kindness and support. I am also particularly
Designed for Young People (1825), she denotes the main
grateful to the staff of the British Library who facilitated
features of native American people from the view point of my research during the period I spent in London. For my
a nineteenth-century white woman by comparing them to
contact information, please see: www.hist.metu.edu.tr/
other races. The Baths of Bagnole; or, the Juvenile Miscellany
assist-prof-dr-bahar-gursel.
(1826), on the other hand, she mentions a struggle
between the French and African pirates, and also reveals
numerous portraits of Christians, “infidels,” a Turkish
woman and a Spanish general. In Letters from Abroad to
– Bahar Gursel
Kindred at Home (1841), Sedgwick offers information on
Britain (especially London), Belgium, Germany, and also
Russian, German and English people and their
characteristics. In the second volume of the same work,
she refers to Italy and different cities in the peninsula by
comparing the characteristics of the Old World to
America. Pretty Little Stories for Pretty Little People: A Suitable
Christmas or a New Year’s Gift (1849) is a 160 pages long
collection of short stories among which there are a few
narratives that depict western and eastern stereotypes in
an outstanding manner. The British Library’s rich
collection of nineteenth-century children’s literature also
consists of books that are collections of short stories which
were composed by various writers. For example, Cassell’s
Shilling Story Book for the Young (1866), which is a multivolume work, comprises the stories of male and female
writers which offer remarkable examples of nineteenthcentury
All in all, the research which was conducted at the British
Library for five weeks provided me the opportunity of
materializing the foundations of a book-length study
which will concentrate on not only nineteenth-century
American female writers, but also the changing and
developing trends of Anglo-American children’s literature
in the above-mentioned era. The notes which I took at the
library (that consist of 71 pages and 49,667 words)
36
A REPORT FROM
ROBERT MASON (UNIVERSITY
OF EDINBURGH)
Recipient 2013
M
y project, ‘The struggle for free time: television,
politicians and journalists. In many cases the British
elections, and the politics of campaign reform, 1948–
Library is the only library in the United Kingdom to
2008’, investigates the ways in which television
house these books; the way in which an Eccles Centre
transformed the nature of political debate in the United
fellowship provides an opportunity for intensive work
States. Throughout this period, a consistent theme
with this material is without parallel, and it is
among both participants in and observers of politics was outstandingly supportive of research on American
disappointment that television failed to realize its lofty
topics.
potential to enrich that debate. The commercial
imperative at the heart of the broadcasting sector
The picture that together these publications offered was
encouraged a focus on entertainment and a resistance to one of persistent tension and misunderstanding between
controversy; a regulatory system that was light by
journalists and politicians, between broadcasters and
international comparison fostered relatively limited,
reformers. The cause of free time was one that was
rather than extensive, coverage of politics. Over time,
fundamentally critical not only of the broadcasting
the cost of television commercials grew significantly,
industry as deficient in making adequate use of its
constituting a leading element in the expense of
access to the public airwaves, but also of journalists in
electoral politics. In both respects—television’s neglect
covering electoral politics in a trivialized rather than
of politics and television’s expense for politicians—the
substantial manner. An emphasis on speech freedoms
relationship between television and politics was
apparently a problem that demanded solution. For
provided an effective rallying cry against the reform
cause. To achieve success, reformers needed to identify
many reformers, over a period of many decades, the
some degree of common cause with the business of
solution was free time for political candidates during
broadcasting and with the profession of journalism. At
campaigns. The project asks why free time was a
best, this happened fleetingly, notably during early
persistent goal of the reform cause and why efforts in
discussions about public broadcasting and during the
pursuit of the goal repeatedly ended in failure.
policy- and business-related uncertainties that
surrounded the arrival of digital television in the 1990s.
The resources of the British Library on modern
In this respect, systemic and technological changes
American history are very extensive, and access to these
emerge as an opportunity for a reform impetus, though
resources thanks to an Eccles Centre visiting fellowship
has powerfully assisted and informed the development
historically speaking these have offered an opportunity
no more than short-lived in extent and weak in nature.
of this project about television and politics. These
resources include rare publications issued by both the
An alternative route to action depended on the
National Association of Broadcasters and the Federal
mobilisation of political commitment for the cause.
Communications Commission, but the holdings that
Such a coalition remained difficult to mobilize, however.
proved to be more important for the project were
Incumbent politicians were unenthusiastic about the
contemporary publications on journalism, television,
prospect of modifying a system under which they had
politics, and campaigns, including the memoirs of
secured their own election.
37
accumulated that the goal was an unrealistic one,
materials consulted at the British Library, but no less real
legislators time and again returned to free time as a key
was the significance of the relationship between
way to improve election campaigns. Moreover, the
politicians and local broadcasters in home districts and
arguments offered by the congressional advocates of
home states. These relationships further boosted the
reform demonstrate remarkable consistency over time,
strength of the broadcast lobby, the activities and
though an emphasis grew on the high cost of
influence of which, moreover, tended to receive little
campaigning, and the fundraising imperatives that
journalistic scrutiny. Nevertheless, against the odds, there
were a few moments when political support for reform
politicians consequently faced. This was nevertheless
complemented by increasing concern about the quality of
increased. The first surrounded the introduction of
political debate in the United States.
Less straightforward to assess, even on the basis of the
presidential debates on television in 1960. The debates are
commonly remembered for their apparently
The people as well as the material of the British Library
advantageous implications for John F. Kennedy’s
make an important contribution to the work of
challenge to Richard Nixon; there was also a surge of
researchers there, in providing expert advice. I am very
enthusiasm for the debate format, which received
grateful for the opportunity to have spent an extended
widespread support as an innovation that improved
period of time working at the Library, an experience that
democratic discourse. The second took place during the
has added substantially and significantly to the research
turbulent years of the Nixon administration, when the
relationship between the White House and the news
foundation of this project.
media became freshly and intensely controversial. Among
Richard Nixon’s strategies to build public support was the
use of presidential statements, supported by the avoidance
– Robe! Mason
of news conferences; Democrats on Capitol Hill
demanded free time for congressional leaders as a
legislative counterpart of the presidential statement. On
both occasions, the CBS television network was innovative
in crafting new forms of political programming in which
the principle of free time was significant. On the first
occasion, commercial pressures terminated the
experiment; on the second, political controversies,
supported by legal action, killed the innovation.
The research conducted at the British Library also
suggests that there was no golden age of American
television, and instead that controversy about the
medium’s democratic responsibilities arrived as soon as its
emergence to prominence. Despite the significance and
sometimes intensity of the charges against television, the
debate was not one that secured positive change. In
tracking the development of this debate and its legislative
implications over time, as well as the obstacles that
reformers encountered, material relating to Congress is
especially important. The US Congressional Serial Set,
now available remotely to holders of a British Library
reader’s pass, offers countless insights on this history. Even
as the context of politics and broadcasting underwent
significant transformations, and even as evidence
38
I
would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks
their way into the book. Of note was a 1952 National
to the Eccles Centre at the British Library and the British Security Council report that mooted the possible
Association for American Studies for awarding me a
deployment of American troops to assist the British fight
visiting fellowship. In this final report I will outline the
the communist insurgency in Malaya. This casts new
benefit of the grant to my research.
light on now American Cold War priorities were primed
to impinge on Britain’s colonial counter-insurgency
The fellowship was undertaken with the aim of
campaigns. A keyword search of the online material at
furthering research for a book project provisionally
entitled ‘The Special Relationship in Counter-
the Library also revealed that presidents from Truman to
Obama have used the phrase ‘special relationship’ to
Insurgency: Britain, America and Irregular Warfare’.
describe US ties with 22 nations other than Britain. This
The purpose of the book is to place Anglo-American
is food for thought when assessing the ‘specialness’ of
relations within the historical framework of the numerous bonds between London and Washington.
counter-insurgency conflicts that the two nations of have
A series of secondary material was also of immense
fought, from the British ‘small wars’ of decolonisation
benefit. I particularly took advantage of books relating to
after 1945, through the testing Vietnam War era, up to
American perceptions of the British campaign in
the demands of modern irregular war in Iraq and
Palestine (1945-48), in order to garner how the conflict
Afghanistan. An analysis of military co-operation and
shaped US responses to the creation of the state of Israel.
diplomatic relations in the context of these particular
forms of conflict, it is hoped, will shed light on an under-
I am currently in discussions with several publishers
explored dynamic between London and Washington at
about securing a contract for the book. I hope that the
times of war.
manuscript will be completed by late 2014, with
publication a year later. Should you be interested, once
The resources available to me at the British Library were
the book has been published, I would be delighted to
of immense help in deepening the primary source
come and give a public lecture at the Eccles Centre
foundations of the book. Let me briefly outline the
around US-UK relations in counter-insurgency wars
materials that were utilised and their utility to my
from Palestine to Afghanistan. I also intend to submit a
research.
paper for the BAAS annual conference, based on the
Predominantly I wanted to take advantage of the British
research for this book, in the next year or two.
Once again can I thank you for the opportunity to
Library’s subscription to online services that provided
undertake this fellowship. I look forward to maintaining a
declassified US government documents including the
close relationship with the Eccles Centre in the future.
Declassified Document Reference System; the Digital
National Security Archive; the Freedom of Information
Act Electronic Reading Room; and the Public Papers of
the President. Collectively, these online archival resources
– An)ew Mumford
provided a wealth of material I had not seen before and
offered up numerous revelations that will certainly find
39
A REPORT FROM
ANDREW MUMFORD
(UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM)
Recipient 2013
I
would like to thank the Eccles Centre for
more about the activities and history of the
American Studies, the British Association for
Eccles Centre.
A REPORT FROM
JOANNE MANCINI (UNIVERSITY
OF IRELAND MAYNOOTH)
Recipient 2013
American Studies, and the British Library for
supporting my research visit to the British
I hope that this programme will continue for
Library, undertaken during the weeks of 20
many years to come, as it will be of great benefit
June, 2011, 27 June, 2011, 4 July 2011, and 11
to scholars of North America from all over
July 2011.
Europe.
My experience at the British Library was an
overwhelmingly positive one. I was able to
consult a range of very interesting material, and
– JoAnne Mancini
to make good progress on my work. I have been
able to write a draft of a paper related to some
of the materials I was able to see during my
visit, and with luck it will be published in the
near future. This opportunity was especially
important to me in light of the lack of similar
sources available within the libraries and
archives here in Ireland.
I am also happy to report that all of the staff I
encountered in the British Library were
extremely courteous and efficient. It truly is a
wonderful place to work. I must give special
thanks to Matthew Shaw, whose direction and
advice greatly improved my ability to navigate
the collections interface, and to Tom Harper,
who very kindly took the time to meet with me
to discuss maps in the collections. I must also
thank Professor Philip Davies for giving me the
opportunity to meet with him and for telling me
40
T
his report covers the research activities entailed in
tranquillity and absence of interruptions have been
being an Eccles Centre Visiting Fellow in North
particularly welcome. The quiet physical space
American Studies at the British Library 2011-2012.
creates an attendant intellectual space which is very
A REPORT FROM
J. SIMON ROFE (SOAS)
Recipient 2012
much appreciated.
First of all may I take this opportunity to offer my
heartfelt thanks to the Eccles Centre at the British
The main effort of my activities has been in the
Library, and particularly, Carole Holden, Matthew
preparation of the manuscript for Palgrave entitled:
Shaw and of course Professor Philip Davies. Further,
I would like to thank the British Association of
The Embassy in Grosvenor Square – American Ambassadors
to the United Kingdom 1938-2008. Further, to providing
American Studies, and Dr Caroline Morley &
me the opportunity to drafting of my own work in
Professor Martin Halliwell (both of University of
the volume, including the chapter on Ambassador
Leicester), and Dr Sylvia Ellis (University of
Joseph P. Kennedy and the introduction, the absence
Northumbria). Finally, I would like to thank those of
of distractions allowed me to copyedit the entire
my fellow Fellows who I was fortunate to meet during manuscript, and compile the index. I would very
the course my time in the Library. I thoroughly
much welcome the opportunity to share the research
enjoyed the opportunity to speak with them and
that went into the book with colleagues in the British
learn about their projects.
Association of American Studies.
The focus of my research during the course of my
fellowship has been to explore the role played by the
United States Embassy in Grosvenor Square London
– J. Simon Rofe
in Anglo-American relations. To that end I have
undertaken a number of activities, including:
1.
The Embassy in Grosvenor Square – American
Ambassadors to the United Kingdom 1938-2008,
(Palgrave) www.palgrave.com/products/
title.aspx?pid=478112 published 7 December
2012.
2.
Conference Presentation – TSA 2011
University of Dundee June 2011.
3.
Public Forum – Transatlantic Diplomacy’ at
Yale University March 2011.
In connection to all of the above endeavours, the
British Library has been a wonderful resource. I
have spent many hours in the reading rooms, and
particularly the Fellows Reading Room where the
41
BAAS FUNDING
REPORT
A LETTER TO THE CHAIR OF BAAS
FROM GEOFFREY PLANK
Dear Dr. Currell,
On behalf of the British Group in Early American
History, I am writing to thank BAAS again for your grant
of £250 to encourage postgraduate participation at our
annual conference, which took place at the University of
East Anglia from the 5th to the 7th of September, 2013.
Overall, the conference was a good success. Next
year we’re hoping to meet in Edinburgh, and we hope we
will be able to continue our relationship with BAAS into
the future.
Thank you very much.
Your grant allowed us to reduce the conference fee for
postgraduates from £70 to £35, and as it happened,
eighteen postgraduate students took advantage of that
offer. (We had funds to make up the shortfall.) We also ran
a special session geared toward the concerns of
postgraduates, on the theme of getting one’s first book
published. Fredrika Teute, who edits the prestigious book
series published by the Omohundro Institute of Early
American History and Culture at Williamsburg shared
the stage with Sally Gordon, who edits a series with
Cambridge. Many older academics joined the
postgraduates, and there were approximately forty in
attendance, but the postgraduates definitely steered the
discussion during the question time. It was very helpful.
Sincerely yours,
Professor Geoffrey Plank.
School of History
42
Friday 11 April, 2014
4.00-5.30pm
NOTICE OF THE BAAS AGM, 2014
University of Birmingham
Agenda
1. Elections: Secretary, 2 committee members,
Nominations should be on the appropriate
1 PG representative, and any other offices that
written form, signed by a proposer, seconder,
fall vacant before the AGM
and the candidate, who should state
2. Treasurer’s report
willingness to serve if elected. The institutional
3. Chair’s report
affiliations of the candidate, proposer and
4. Report of the Conference Sub-Committee,
seconder should be included. All candidates
and Annual Conferences 2013-2015
5. Report of the Publications Sub-Committee
for office will be asked to provide a brief
statement outlining their educational
6. Report of the Development Sub-Committee backgrounds, areas of teaching and/or
7. Report of the Awards Sub-Committee
research interests and their vision of the role of
8. Report of the Libraries and Resources Sub- BAAS in the upcoming years. These need to
Committee
be sent to the Secretary at the time of
9. Report of the Representative to EAAS
nomination so that they can be posted in a
10. Any other business
prominent location and available for the
membership to read before the AGM. Those
Elections
standing for election are expected to attend the
AGM.
At the 2014 AGM, elections will be held for
the post of Secretary, for two positions on the
Contact
Committee (three-year terms), for one
Postgraduate Representative (2 year term) and
Dr Jo Gill
for any other offices that fall vacant before the
BAAS Secretary
AGM. Current incumbents of these positions
Dept of English
may stand for re-election if not disbarred by
University of Exeter
the Constitution’s limits on length of
Queens Drive
continuous service in Committee posts.
Exeter, EX4 4QH
Tel. 01392 264256
Elections can only take place if the meeting is
[email protected] / [email protected]
quorate; please make every effort to attend.
The procedure for nominations is as follows:
Nominations should reach the current
Secretary, Jo Gill, by the strict deadline of
12.00 noon on Friday 11 April 2014.
43
Secretary of BAAS
Nomination Form
I should like to propose ................................................................................................ for the above.
BAAS NOMINATION FORM
Proposer
Name: ................................................................................................
Institution:
................................................................................................
Signature:
................................................................................................
Date:
................................................................................................
Seconder
I should like to second the above nomination.
Name: ................................................................................................
Institution:
................................................................................................
Signature:
................................................................................................
Date:
................................................................................................
Candidate
I confirm that I am willing to stand for election to the above.
Name: ................................................................................................
Dept & Programme: .................................................................................................
Institution:
................................................................................................
Signature:
................................................................................................
Date:
................................................................................................
Nominations must reach the Secretary, Jo Gill, by noon on Friday 11 April 2014.
44
Secretary of BAAS
Supporting Statement
Candidate’s Name
....................................................................................................
SUPPORTING STATEMENT
Please provide a brief statement outlining your educational backgrounds, areas of teaching and/or
research interests and vision of the role of BAAS in the upcoming years.
45
Member, Executive Committee of BAAS (2 Posts)
Nomination Form
Proposer
Name: ................................................................................................
Institution:
................................................................................................
Signature:
................................................................................................
Date:
................................................................................................
Seconder
Name: ................................................................................................
Institution:
................................................................................................
Signature:
................................................................................................
Date:
................................................................................................
Candidate
Name: ................................................................................................
Dept & Programme: .................................................................................................
Institution:
................................................................................................
Signature:
................................................................................................
Date:
................................................................................................
46
Member, Executive Committee of BAAS
Candidate’s Name
....................................................................................................
47
Postgraduate Representative of BAAS*
Nomination Form
Proposer
Name: ................................................................................................
Institution:
................................................................................................
Signature:
................................................................................................
Date:
................................................................................................
Seconder
Name: ................................................................................................
Institution:
................................................................................................
Signature:
................................................................................................
Date:
................................................................................................
Candidate
Name: ................................................................................................
Dept & Programme: .................................................................................................
Institution:
................................................................................................
Signature:
................................................................................................
Date:
................................................................................................
* See BAAS Constitution 6 (d): Candidates for postgraduate representative must be registered
postgraduate students not in permanent teaching employment.
48
Postgraduate Representative of BAAS
Candidate’s Name
....................................................................................................
49
CHAIRS
HONORARY FELLOWS
Frank Thistlethwaite (1955–59)
Philip Davies (1998–2004)
2009: Richard H. King (Nottingham)
Herbert Nicholas (1959–62)
Simon Newman (2004–2007)
2009: Mick Gidley (Leeds)
Marcus Cunliffe (1962–65)
Heidi Macpherson (2007–2010)
2010: M. J. Heale (Lancaster)
Esmond Wright (1965–68)
Martin Halliwell (2010–13)
2011: Helen Taylor (Exeter)
Maldwyn Jones (1968–71)
Sue Currell (2013–)
2012: Susan Castillo (King's College
London)
George (Sam) Shepperson (1971–
74)
IN CELEBRATION OF THE
ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE BRITISH
ASSOCIATION FOR AMERICAN
STUDIES, THIS PAGE RECORDS THE
DISTINGUISHED INDIVIDUALS WHO
HAVE CHAIRED THE ASSOCIATION
AND/OR EARNED ITS HONORARY
FELLOWSHIP SINCE 1955.
2013: Tony Badger (Cambridge)
Harry Allen (1974–77)
Peter Parish (1977–80)
Dennis Welland (1980–83)
Charlotte Erickson (1983–86)
Howard Temperley (1986–89)
Bob Burchell (1989–92)
Richard King (1992–95)
Judie Newman (1995–98)
50
CREDITS
Image flyer of the British Association for American
Image of the Devon countryside, a short distance
Studies Annual Conference (p. 3). Courtesy,
from the University of Exeter campus (p.4).
University of Birmingham. Date of access:
Attribution Kal Ashraf. Hosted at Flickr
20.01.14.
(flickr.com/kalashraf). Date of access: 20.01.14.
Image of the Library of Birmingham, UK (p. 2).
Image of Sulgrave Manor, The Cradle of the
With full attribution and thanks to ‘Bs0u10e01’.
Washingtons (p. 9). Circa 1910. Public domain,
Image used under the Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
royalty free, expired copyright. Hosted at the
Wikimedia Commons (http://en.wikipedia.org/
Hosted at the Wikimedia Commons (http://
wiki/File:Sulgrave-Manor.jpg). Date of access:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
20.01.14.
File:LoB_001_20131030.jpg). Date of access:
20.01.14.
CONTACTS
ASIB is edited by Kal Ashraf (University of
articles should aim for a lower limit of 500 words
Sheffield). Email the Editor at
and an upper limit of 600. For consistency, British
[email protected]. Feedback about the
English spellings are preferred. Books, journals or
publication is encouraged.
magazines named in the article should be
italicised. Thus Native Son, Journal of American
To contribute a research report to ASIB, please
Studies, The New Yorker. Titles of journal articles
adhere to the following editorial guidelines
should be placed in single inverted commas.
regarding house style. Travel and research report
BAAS.AC.UK
51

your copy here - British Association for American Studies

Transcription

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