“And what honours they would turn out to be”: Organiser’s Report of the 2016 joint IAAS and BAAS conference by Philip McGowan

[vc_row margin_bottom=”15″][vc_column][dt_banner image_id=”8626″ bg_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.13)” min_height=”300″][/dt_banner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row margin_bottom=”12″][vc_column width=”2/3″][dt_teaser image_id=”12821″][/dt_teaser][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][dt_quote]At the 61^st annual BAAS conference and the 46^th annual IAAS conference, our associations cemented alliances forged over recent years of renewed co-operation between members, writes outgoing IAAS Chair and IBAAS organiser Philip McGowan. IBAAS16 rearranged the usual order of things at BAAS and IAAS conferences (in more ways than one) to fit in its 95 panels and 300 speakers.[/dt_quote][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row margin_bottom=”15″][vc_column][vc_column_text]The last time BAAS and the IAAS held a joint conference, the vast majority of this year’s delegates at IBAAS16 were either undergraduates, schoolchildren or, quite probably, in day care. Stranmillis College had been the venue a quarter of a century ago: this time, Queen’s University Belfast stepped up to the plate to do the honours.

And what honours they would turn out to be. For three days and nights, the two associations cemented alliances and friendships forged over recent years of renewed co-operation between members, evidenced mainly in collaborations between our postgraduate and early career communities.

In the build-up to the conference, and for the days immediately following it, Twitter was ablaze with the #IBAAS16 hashtag as delegates documented their travels from across Ireland, Britain, Europe, the US, Asia and Australia. With the opening panels beginning at 11.00am on the Thursday, IBAAS16 rearranged the usual order of things at BAAS and IAAS conferences to fit in its 95 panels and 300 speakers. Sponsored by the Eccles Centre, Professor John Howard of King’s College London delivered his plenary on the American nuclear cover-up of the Palomares incident in Spain in 1966 ensuring the first day concluded with collective gasps and a general sense of disbelief that – who’d have believed it? – official branches of the American government had conspired with Franco’s administration to conceal the full extent of a B-52 refuelling accident above Spain’s Mediterranean coast.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]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[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row margin_bottom=”15″][vc_column][vc_column_text]Following John’s brilliant lecture, delegates made their way to Belfast City Hall where the opening reception (hosted by Belfast City Council) was addressed by the US Consul General in Belfast, Daniel Lawton, who recalled America’s particular relation with the city of Belfast and reminded those present that it was George Washington who had granted Consular status to the city 220 years ago in 1796.

Friday brought sunshine to BT7 and yet more international delegates who crowded the Whitla Hall as well as Queen’s recently refurbished Graduate School and the Peter Froggatt Centre for more coffee breaks, lauded lunches and the most diverse set of panels ever assembled at either an annual BAAS or IAAS conference. Before the launch reception for BAAS 2017 hosted by Canterbury Christchurch University in Queen’s Great Hall, Professor Deborah Willis of NYU Tisch School of the Arts amazed the assembled delegates with a photographic history of social movements in the US from Emancipation to Black Live Matter. The range of images shown during her Journal of American Studies talk was extraordinary and the conversation during that evening’s reception was dominated by what Professor Willis had managed to present to the conference in just about sixty minutes.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row margin_top=”10″ margin_bottom=”10″][vc_column][dt_fancy_image image_id=”8611″ style=”2″ width=”500″ margin_top=”10″ margin_bottom=”10″ align=”center”][dt_fancy_title title=”Keynote speakers Professor John Howard, Professor Deborah Willis and acclaimed novelist Richard Ford.” title_size=”small” title_color=”accent” separator_style=”disabled” el_width=”60″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row margin_bottom=”15″][vc_column][vc_column_text]For those who attended on the Saturday, all four seasons made their appearance felt with bright morning sunlight giving way in the afternoon to rolls of thunder, coupled with falls of snow and hail. None of this deterred the IBAAS delegates intent on stocking up on their fix of American Studies panels and roundtables ahead of the closing events of this Belfast conference. In a slight alteration to the usual IAAS annual plenary, the Alan Graham Memorial Lecture, Richard Ford read from his work at Titanic Belfast: his hour-long reading and question-and-answer session was then followed by the Gala Dinner. Having attended Professor Willis’s talk, Richard elected to change his chosen reading: instead of presenting new material, he read the opening half of ‘Everything Could Be Worse’ from Let Me Be Frank With You to highlight the varied and nuanced issues alive in the discussion of race in the United States today and to ask what is the novelist’s role within this hugely contentious matter and how they can deploy the valencies within language to be productively provocative. 200 people crowded into the Andrews Gallery at Titanic Belfast: on the walls around them the first exhibition in the UK or Ireland by Guggenheim Fellowship awardee Larry Fink (he shares this notable honour with both Deborah Willis and Richard Ford) was on display alongside photographs by Richard Wade and Jo Longhurst.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”15″][vc_column][dt_fancy_image image_id=”12848″ style=”2″ width=”550″ margin_top=”15″ margin_bottom=”15″ align=”center”][dt_fancy_title title=”At the Gala Dinner outgoing BAAS Chair Sue Currell and outgoing IAAS Chair Philip McGowan presented Ian Bell with the prestigious BAAS Fellowship and honoured the passing of former IAAS Chair Tony Emmerson with the closing toast.” title_size=”small” title_color=”accent” separator_style=”disabled” el_width=”70″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row margin_bottom=”15″][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Gala Dinner was served in the Titanic Suite, replete with authentic replica Titanic staircase, and venue for the awarding of the annual BAAS and IAAS awards by outgoing chairs Sue Currell and Philip McGowan. Of particular note here was Ian Bell’s receiving of the BAAS Fellowship to mark his decades’ long dedication to the American Studies community in the UK. The official proceedings concluded with a toast to the memory of long-standing IAAS stalwart, former Chair, Secretary and Treasurer as well as former EAAS Treasurer, Tony Emmerson, who passed away in December 2014 but who had been eagerly anticipating what he rightly predicted would be a momentous event in the history of both associations.

Philip McGowan, Senior Lecturer in American Literature at Queen’s University Belfast, was the main organiser of the IBAAS16 conference which also marked the end of his five-year term as Chair of the IAAS. His research examines nineteenth- and twentieth-century US poetry, fiction and film; he is also interested in America’s history with alcohol and addiction.         [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][ultimate_carousel slides_on_desk=”3″ slides_on_tabs=”2″ slides_on_mob=”1″ infinite_loop=”off” autoplay=”off”][dt_teaser image_id=”12833″ lightbox=”true”]The conference tote bag. Source: Catherine Bateson[/dt_teaser][dt_teaser image_id=”12834″ lightbox=”true”]Professor John Howard delivering his ‘fascinating (and frankly terrifying) keynote on “The American Nuclear Cover up in Spain”’ (Gallagher). Source: Rosemary Gallagher[/dt_teaser][dt_teaser image_id=”12836″ lightbox=”true”]Philip McGowan introducing the US Consulate Belfast at the #IBAAS16 drinks reception in Belfast City Hall. Source: Sophie Cooper[/dt_teaser][dt_teaser image_id=”12835″ lightbox=”true”]US Consul General Daniel Lawton addresses the #IBAAS16 opening reception. Source: IBAAS16 Twitter Account[/dt_teaser][dt_teaser image_id=”12837″ lightbox=”true”]Sue Currell, outgoing Chair of BAAS, giving her final report to the AGM. Source: IBAAS16 Twitter Account[/dt_teaser][dt_teaser image_id=”12838″ lightbox=”true”]Lydia Plath and Gavan Lennon, the organisers for the BAAS annual conference 2017, having fun hosting the Canterbury Christ Church University drinks reception. Source: BAAS Conference 2017 Twitter Account[/dt_teaser][dt_teaser image_id=”12841″ lightbox=”true”]Journal of American Studies roundtable on the second book project. Source: Sinéad Moynihan[/dt_teaser][dt_teaser image_id=”12843″ lightbox=”true”]Richard Ford reading at Titanic Belfast. Source: IBAAS16 Twitter Account[/dt_teaser][dt_teaser image_id=”12842″ lightbox=”true”]Dessert at Titanic Belfast. Source: Wickham Clayton[/dt_teaser][dt_teaser image_id=”12869″ lightbox=”true”]Professor Ian Bell receiving the BAAS Fellowship. Source: Michelle Green[/dt_teaser][dt_teaser image_id=”6171″ lightbox=”true”]IBAAS16 poster[/dt_teaser][/ultimate_carousel][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row margin_bottom=”15″][vc_column][dt_banner image_id=”12329″ min_height=”270″][/dt_banner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][dt_quote]My research stay at the British Library was instrumental in helping advance my monograph on the intersection between the American funeral industry and performance history, says Marie Pecorari, Eccles Centre Visiting European Fellow in North American Studies. These resources helped me examine the tensions and overlap between social rituals and aesthetics furthering Jessica Mitford’s claim there is an identifiable “American way of death”.[/dt_quote][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]The starting-point for my research project entitled “Off-Color: Blackness and American Funeral Practices from the Civil War to the Gilded Age” was a little-known biological fact: as a corpse decomposes, the skin gradually undergoes discoloration, ultimately leading the body to look black, regardless of its initial skin-color. Although most bodies are disposed of too early for this evolution to be observed, when burial is delayed and climactic conditions less than optimal for preservation, this development can occur. The sight rarely fails to attract attention and often proves distressing. The American Civil War was such a collective moment of realization. John DeForest,[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]a novelist writing in the immediate aftermath of the war, and whose lack of success is widely attributed to his graphic realism, describes the following scene: “In an hour more he was a corpse, and before night he was black with putrefaction, so rapid was that shocking change under the heat of a Louisiana May.” (DeForest, 294).

It should then come as no surprise that the Civil War proved to be a turning-point for funeral practices in the United States. The blackening of soldiers’ corpses needed to be avoided if they were to be handed over to their faraway families, leading a nascent caste of self-taught undertakers/ entrepreneurs to advertize their cosmetic skills. “Bodies Embalmed by Us NEVER TURN BLACK” (quoted in Gary Laderman 1997: 115), they claimed, plugging their makeshift embalming skills in the newspapers when not displaying actual specimens in their storefronts.

What was at stake beyond the integrity of the corpse was the racial anxiety behind the color change. In a society segregated along color lines, this manifestation of death as the great equalizer struck as… off-color and contemporaries felt the need to cover it up. The most famous example may be that of President Lincoln, who was taken on a two-week long funeral train from Washington to Illinois before his final burial: white makeup had to be applied to his increasingly blackening skin, as even the initial embalming job could not sustain the journey and succession of lyings-in-state (Swanson 2010: 281-2).

The acceptance of embalming within a relatively brief period represents a significant cultural shift, as the practice had been until then regarded as pagan and inappropriate, and considered only for medical purposes.

My objective was to look at the discourses behind this evolution: beyond the reactions to blackened corpses, how were the radical changes in funeral practices presented and justified by the press, commercial entrepreneurs, and the military? And more specifically, what role did race-based arguments play in the evolution towards a new model in white communities?

I based my methodological approach on my background in theatre and performance studies. There has been recent scholarship on the development of the modern American funeral industry, including pertaining to the racial angle (Holloway 2002; Smith 2010); and there have been publications in performance studies on the theatrical implications in the representation of corpses (Schneider 1991), but without establishing a connection with the evolution of funeral practices or foregrounding the racial angle.

Most scholarship on the subject comes from the fields of social and cultural history, religious studies, or the history of medicine; by bringing in a performance approach and working at the intersection of theatre and history I hoped to open up new perspectives. Why? Because the emerging figure of the funeral director drew on theatrical techniques (lighting, positioning for viewing, use of makeup and music, with the professional funeral home replacing the domestic setting in prior instances of public viewing (wakes)). I posited that contemporary audiences’ theatrical tastes may have played a part in shaping the presentation of the dead body, ushering in new funeral norms constituting, beyond regional, social, ethnic or religious differences, an identifiable “American way of death” (Mitford); and that what is now presented as the dominant model, even – and most conspicuously and paradoxically– in the African-American community, was originally rooted in part in racist biases and a fear of blackness.

My two-part stay at the British Library (3 weeks in August 2014 and 4 weeks in February-March 2015) enabled me to open up perspectives I had not yet envisaged and reframe and tweak my initial assumptions. In order to put my hypothesis to the test I looked at a combination of primary sources and hard-to-find, older monographs, not accessible in my home country.

My research stay was instrumental in helping advance my larger project for a monograph on the intersection between the American funeral industry and performance history, examining the tensions and overlap between social rituals and aesthetics.

My first article based on the research conducted at the British Library is due to be published in 2016 in the peer-reviewed French journal Études anglaises, as part of a special issue on ‘Performing Absence’, which I am also editing. I hope to publish an augmented version of this article as a book chapter in my future monograph.

Not only was I able to access a rich collection of materials, but I also had the opportunity to engage with scholars and librarians over a fairly long time period, exchanging in meaningful and unpredictable ways. Those discussions steered my research in fresh directions that I still have to fully probe and explore. I especially want to thank Pr. Philip Davies and Dr. Cara Rodway, who took the time to welcome me warmly on my arrival in London. I also want to thank Dr. Sue Currell, who encouraged me to apply after meeting at a symposium in Liverpool.

Having a cup of tea in the shadow of the glass tower, sharing a new insight with a colleague on the top floor terrace overlooking Saint Pancras station, attending the Summer Scholars Eccles Centre lectures – those are moments of deeply enjoyable and enriching scholarly exchange I will remember and cherish for a long time. They may not leave as palpable a trace as pages of notes, but I am confident they will shape and inform my future writings and encounters in no small way.

Works cited

John DeForest, Miss Ravenel’s Conversion from Secession to Loyalty. [1867] London: Penguin. 2000.

Karla F.C. Holloway, Passed On: African-American Mourning Stories. Durham: Duke University Press. 2002.

Gary Laderman, The Sacred Remains: American Attitudes Toward Death, 1799-1883. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1997.

____________, Rest in Peace: A Cultural History of Death and the Funeral Home in 20th Century America. New York: Oxford University Press. 2003.

Jessica Mitford, The American Way of Death. Buccaneer Books. 1963.

Rebecca Schneider, Performing Remains: Art and War in Times of Theatrical Reenactment. London and New York: Routledge. 2011.

Suzanne E. Smith, To Serve the Living: Funeral Directors and the African American Way of Death. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 2010.

James L. Swanson, Bloody Crimes: The Funeral of Abraham Lincoln and the Chase for Jefferson Davis. New York: William Morrow. 2010.

Marie Pecorari is Associate Professor of English at Paris-Sorbonne Université.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

British Association for American Studies

Minutes 283rd

Minutes of the 283rd meeting of the Executive Committee, held at Canterbury Christ Church University, on Saturday 16 January 2016 at 1.30pm.

1. Present: Sue Currell (Chair), Jenny Terry (Secretary), Cara Rodway

(Treasurer), Simon Hall, Martin Halliwell, Brian Ward, Joe Street, Uta Balbier, Nick Witham, Sinéad Moynihan, Kate Dossett, Doug Haynes.

Apologies: Celeste-Marie Bernier, Bevan Sewell, Rachael Alexander, Ben Offiler, Katie McGettigan.

In attendance: Jenny Terry

2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting

These were accepted as a true record and will now go on the website.

3. Matters Arising

None

4. Review of Action List

The Chair asked the Exec to comment on the status of their Action List duties. Website training for executive committee members will be scheduled for the June meeting. All other Action List duties will be addressed under the relevant section below.

5. Chair’s Business (SC reporting)

(a)        Chair’s activities, meetings and correspondence (June 2015 – January 2016)

• 2 July 2015 Sue attended Independence Day celebrations at Ambassador Barzun’s mansion, Winfield House.
• 10 July she attended the Eccles Centre for American Studies Network Launch Party.
• September 2015 Sue responded to the UKCASA Questionnaire to Member Associations.
• Sue has been appointed as a reading panelist for the Fulbright Commission’s UK awardee selection process for 2016-17.
• She has also been appointed as a member for the QAA review panel for the Subject benchmark statement for Area studies and although unable to attend the October meeting, sent comments on behalf of BAAS electronically.
• Sue communicated with Peter Mandler on behalf of BAAS in relation to the Arts and Humanities Alliance response to the Government’s Green Paper consultation on HE. BAAS has been included in this response.
• 5-6 December 2015 Sue attended the BAAS/HOTCUS Postgraduate Conference in Glasgow.
• Sue has been appointed to the interview panel for Senior Fulbright Fellowships taking place at the Fulbright Commission: interview dates are 14 January and 18 February 2016.

Due to health and teaching reasons, Sue was unable to attend several events in the Autumn. For information these included:

• 23 September 2015 Annual AHRC Subject Associations meeting. A programme for the day included speakers Professor Rick Rylance, Chief Executive of the AHRC, and Professor Mark Llewellyn, AHRC’s Director of Research. Among the topics discussed were postgraduate support and training, including a presentation from the AHRC’s Creative Exchange Hub on new models of doctoral training, updates on AHRC Commons (from Dr Richard Clay) and the Academic Book of the Future (Dr Samantha Rayner). Nick Witham attended on behalf of BAAS and reported that the presentation on the Academic Book of the Future contained interesting information about REF and new forms of monograph publishing; he also had the opportunity to discuss with the other subject associations and the AHRC the difficulties of supporting ECRs.
• 23 October 2015 The Arts and Humanities Alliance meeting at the Royal Historical Society.
• A meeting of UKCASA at UCL on 9 November 2015 in tandem with a conference, ‘Area Studies in the 21st Century’, organised by UCL.
• 11 November 2015 ‘Gender, Inequalities and Academic Careers: History, American Studies and British Universities’, University of Leeds, an event supported by BAAS.
• 13 November 2015 the American Politics Group colloquium (Sue was asked to chair the afternoon panel with the Former Members of Congress).
• 2 December 2015 Humanities and Social Sciences Learned Societies and Subject Associations Network event at the British Academy. The agenda was changed after the Comprehensive Spending Review appeared to create less impact on HE than originally thought. Instead the focus was a speaker and discussion on interdisciplinarity.

(b)        Achievements, announcements and events of note to BAAS members

• Heidi Macpherson, former Chair of BAAS, has been appointed The College at Brockport’s President by The State University of New York Board of Trustees. Heidi, formerly Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at University of Wisconsin–La Crosse, in July 2015 became the first female president in the College’s history, and its seventh overall.

(c)        Succession (Chair and Executive roles)

A number of the current terms of executive committee members end in April 2016, including those of the Chair and Postgraduate Rep. We are looking ahead to elections at the AGM and also, inevitably, reconfiguration of our subcoms. Sue would like to explore the possibility of a new executive position to support the work of BAAS; one possibility is of an Equalities and Diversity Rep, another is of a Senior academic post. A proposal will be brought to the next executive meeting in April.

6. Secretary’s Business (JT Reporting)

(a) Narrative report

Jenny has been liaising with Louise Cunningham on matters like the membership database, and dealing with the usual enquiries and correspondence.

On 1 December 2015 she spoke on the phone with Susan Worrall from Birmingham University Library about the BAAS archive, the deposit policy, and incomplete sequences of material. If anyone is able to help with locating a copy of the BAAS conference programmes from 2009 (Nottingham) and 2010 (East Anglia) that would be much appreciated. Susan recommended the archiving of any photographs relevant to BAAS activities and events. Jenny will visit the archive in Spring 2016 and if passed material can deposit it then (the library’s policy is hardcopy over electronic).

Jenny attended the JAS editorial board meeting on 15 September 2015. On the same day there was a small meeting of BAAS officers and subcom chairs at the Institute of the Americas, UCL. As Sue could not attend, this was chaired by Brian and Jenny, and allowed for updates on Awards, the website, Schools liaison, the proposed change to CIO status, and the ballot model offered in the template constitution from the Charity Commission.

(b) Co-option

The committee confirmed the co-option of Mike Simpson (Bradford Grammar) onto the Development and Education subcom as Schools representative. Nick will be staying in touch with Mike about plans and potential events.

(c) Charitable Incorporated Organisation Constitution

As part of the move to CIO status, Jenny circulated a draft beginning to integrate our current constitution with the Charity Commission template for CIOs on 11 January 2016. Responses from the committee were invited. A difference that has emerged is that our current constitution deals only with the election and terms of executive committee members, while the Commission model deals only with the appointment and remit of charity trustees. At the moment all elected executive members are registered as trustees. Jenny will consult with Keith Lawrey on this terminology and any other issue arising where his expert input might be helpful. The next steps are to complete the draft constitution and to share information with the membership about the proposed change, which will be voted on at the AGM. The change to CIO necessitates a vote to dissolve and reform BAAS, after which, if the motion is passed, we register anew with the Charity Commission. Cara consulted with the accountants in September and was advised that the transfer of assets from the old BAAS to the new should be a relatively smooth process.

(d) Election Process

As of April 2015, the BAAS constitution allows for the possibility of electronic or postal voting in executive elections. This option is intended to bring flexibility and to give those who can’t attend the conference the chance of voting. Although we do not have mechanisms in place for the 2016 elections, the template constitution from the Charity Commission lays out a model that could be adopted along with the proposed change to CIO status. The model is ‘hybrid’; it means the AGM ballot is combined with the option of an electronic ballot. Jenny explained that this would mean nominations and submission of statements from candidates would happen earlier (for example, six weeks before the AGM). The CIO constitution also appears to stipulate that the membership of every voter is checked (those voting at the AGM and those voting in advance). Whether we adopt the Charity Commission’s model of electronic voting or not, we will need to put in place membership checks for the AGM under the CIO constitution. According to the template, two non-trustee scrutineers are required to oversee advance voting and associated membership checks (i.e. it can’t be the BAAS secretary).

There were several suggestions for handling membership verification and voting. Members could be asked to bring their membership number to the AGM and could be checked off a list drawn from registered conference delegates. Another option would be to include a ballot paper in the conference packs of verified BAAS members. Software used for live classroom surveys could be adopted to allow login and electronic voting within the AGM, although access to devices could be an issue.

Jenny will write up and circulate an outline of the ‘hybrid’ election process and requirements (including the need to attend the AGM if standing for election). She will also seek advice from Keith Lawrey on how other learned societies verify membership at AGM ballots.

7. Treasurer’s Business (CR reporting)

(a)        Bank Accounts (as at 15 January 2016)

Paypal                                             £3,102.01

Current                                            £3,794.73

Savings                                           £34,075.36

BAAS Publications Ltd                    £33,535.96

TOTAL:                                           £74,508.06

(b) Membership Figures (provided by Louise Cunningham)

Honorary membership – 3

Schools membership (PS) – 9

Individual membership – 249 (97 online JAS, 152 with full JAS)

PG membership – 243 (182 online JAS, 61 with full JAS)

Retired (PR) – 25 (19 online JAS, 6 with full JAS)

Unwaged (PU) – 6 (4 online JAS, 2 with full JAS)

Members on fully paid sheet (total 535)

The 16 June 2015 total was 500.

Louise Cunningham had also provided Jenny with a written report on usability and the transfer of membership data to the system that is part of the new website; there are some issues to be followed up via Katie.

(c) Narrative Report

The BAAS finances look healthy. Our projected royalty income from CUP for 2015 is £82,140, with half due as an advance in January.

From the 2015 period onwards, BAAS is required to pay £25 per member for distributing hard copies of the journal (this was waived in 2014 under the terms of the royalty agreement). This is likely to cost us £6,443.75 over the course of last year, although these figures are approximate and will be finalised by CUP in the spring.  Therefore the final income for the 2015 journal issue will be approximately £75,696.25.

The executive discussed print subscriptions and whether current arrangements will mean that BAAS will be modestly subsidizing the distribution costs for those members who prefer to retain print subscription. One option would be to raise the cost of the print option for non-concessionary members; any proposal to raise the cost of BAAS membership has to be agreed by the executive and put to members by the Treasurer at the AGM. Another suggestion involved a voluntary contribution from print subscribers, which could be dedicated to a Postgraduate or Early Career travel fund for example. If need be, this issue can be revisited.

In terms of long term sustainability, Cara has been implementing a plan to build up the BAAS reserves to £41,000 (this equals 14 months of our unrestricted spending, i.e. not Eccles or Embassy monies, based on the 2014 figures; if our spending increases we may wish to revise this reserve upwards). We are on course to achieve this reserve target from April 2016. We can then start to consider how we want to use our improved income to benefit the American Studies community and ensure the continuation of BAAS’s work.

8. Awards Subcommittee (UB reporting)

Uta thanked all those committee members who had agreed to sit on judging panels this year. Interviews for our GTA scheme had taken place in London on 15 January 2016 with a very strong field; the successful candidate will be notified shortly.

For most of our awards and prizes we received a similarly healthy number of submissions to in previous years. We should consider ways in which to raise the profile of all our schemes but in particular the Ambassador awards and Schools prize; it would be helpful to draw on the networks of executive members, including the Eccles Centre, and for us to promote awards at events like university Open Days where possible. A new Early Career essay prize in collaboration with Adam Matthew digital collections has been launched. Thanks were noted to Ben for his work on this. The scheme’s deadline has just been extended. The BAAS bookmark (in progress) will be an aid to promotion in future.

Uta has initiated conversation with Jonathan Bell, Director of the Institute of the Americas, about an award to replace the UCL-BAAS fellowship scheme, which has come to an end. She would like to involve Ben as Early Career Rep in those discussions.

Uta will be working with Katie on an electronic submission system for awards in the future. She is also improving communication channels with the Arthur Miller Centre about their prizes. There had been a suggestion from Bevan about perhaps splitting travel awards into dedicated or alternating streams for history and literature.

The executive discussed the issue of whether committee members should be able to enter themselves for BAAS awards. Clarification is needed on application forms and the website with transparency in view. Setting aside the Eccles and Arthur Miller prizes, for BAAS schemes there has been some variation in practice in recent years. Given the sometimes long cycle of academic book writing, executive members have always been able to enter the BAAS book prize if they have a book out during their term on the committee. It was agreed that eligibility and ineligibility needs to be more clearly specified before the next awards round and that for the current round executive members would be excluded from the BAAS Founders travel award.

The proposed new CIO constitution has more detail on regulating any financial benefit to trustees; we should seek advice regarding how prizes and awards fit into this.

(a) BAAS Honorary Fellowship

The committee discussed nominations for the BAAS Honorary Fellowship and agreed to make an award this year.

Procedure was clarified for future years: this is a decision made at the main executive meeting rather than in the Awards subcommittee, and the guidance that nominations should come from outside of the nominee’s institution will be added to the website.

9. Development and Education Subcommittee (NW reporting)

The subcommittee had received reports from Katie (Website) and Ben (Early Career Rep). Katie is continuing to work on membership login with Clear and Creative. The terms of Ben Offiler and Michelle Green as USSO editors will soon be up and replacements will need to be sought. Nick will be looking to appoint a new Library and Resources Representative, as Matthew Shaw no longer wishes to continue after April.

A member had suggested that BAAS initiate a new award in the form of a Public Engagement Grant; this would aim to encourage public facing / outreach work and events, and collaboration with activist networks.

(a)        Gender, Inequalities and Academia Symposium

Kate had reported to the subcom on ‘Gender, Inequalities and Academic Careers: History, American Studies and British Universities’, an event supported by BAAS that took place on 11 November 2015 at Leeds University. The day had been very successful with approximately twenty-five participants. Video recordings will be posted online soon. A further outcome will be a Special Issue of the Journal of American Studies on gender and inequalities.

The subcommittee had also discussed the possibility of a new post of Equality and Diversity Rep on the BAAS executive (see the minute and Action Point under Chair’s business).

(b)        International Officer Suggestion

Joe Street had suggested the possibility of a US-based International Rep. This point of contact could support the promotion of BAAS’s work in the US and might assist in the co-ordination of conference panels. The role would not involve an elected position on the exec nor attendance at most meetings; fees could be waived at our annual conference for the holder, for example.

(c)        Demographic Review / Gender and Inequalities Survey

Since Sue got the ball rolling last year, Ben is continuing with the design and implementation of a survey focused on the UK American Studies community. It may extend to interviews rather than being reliant on survey questions alone. Additional questions may be modelled on the Royal Historical Society’s survey, which was discussed at Leeds and is available here http://royalhistsoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/RHSGenderEqualityReport-Jan-15.pdf

(d)        BAAS Bookmark

Sue is working on the redesign and update of our flyer as a bookmark/insert for promotional purposes. The executive agreed to support the cost of the design and printing.

10. Postgraduate Business (RA sent a short report)

The BAAS Postgraduate Conference took place at the University of Glasgow 4-5 December 2015 with a focus on the theme of collaboration. It involved a HOTCUS Career Development Workshop and both days of the event were well attended (84 across the two days). There has been a very positive response overall to the event and a fuller report will appear in the next ASIB. The filmed keynote and interviews will appear on websites soon. The continuation of the two-day format, including a development session, may be useful for future PG conferences.

With the IAAS PG symposium being so close, both in time and theme, to the BAAS PG conference there were no attendees from the IAAS/Irish institutions in 2015. It may be worthwhile reconsidering a joint conference, or setting a different date in future.

Queries had been received about BAAS’s reciprocal arrangement with the IAAS that they will fund one IAAS member to attend the BAAS PG conference, while we will fund one member to attend the IAAS PG conference. The information on our website needs to be brought into line with that on the IAAS pages (http://iaas.ie/funding-opportunities/) in order to publicise and foster this connection. It was agreed the PG Rep could be the main point of contact for this funding.

11. Publications Subcommittee (JS reporting)

(a)        JAS

The new design for the cover of the Journal of American Studies from CUP was circulated. The 50^th anniversary of JAS this year will be marked by a special issue and the cover coincides with this landmark. The Editors have recently advertised for a new Editorial Assistant, who will need to be positioned to work closely with them.

Joe and the Publications subcom are currently looking at the process by which JAS Editors are appointed. Joe is consulting with the current editors and CUP, and a written model will be brought to the next executive meeting.

Similarly, to clarify the procedure for appointment and ratification of JAS editorial board members, after consultation a written outline on voting etc will be brought to the next executive meeting.

(b)        British Records Relating to America on Microfilm

Joe has been consulting with Kenneth Morgan about his role and the work of BRRAM. Kenneth has been running BRRAM, which microfilms and digitises a range of resources, since 2003. BAAS receives a modest annual income from subscriptions (mainly overseas) and BRRAM furthers our commitment to preserving and making available resources. Given the holdings are digital as well as on microfilm we might consider a name change to reflect this. Also, we should consider how better to promote BRRAM, especially to BAAS members and UK universities. A full list of the titles available is at: http://www.baas.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/British-Records-Relating-to-America-in-Microfilm.pdf Although Kenneth has no plans to retire at the moment, he and Joe will write a job outline and we should think ahead to plans for the role in the future.

12. Conference Subcommittee (SM reporting)

(a)        Queen’s University Belfast 2016

Conference paper acceptance emails have gone out and registration is open. The subcommittee received the draft conference programme. Sinéad is liasing with Philip McGowan over our application to the US Embassy grants programme, which has opened later than in the past this year.

(b)        Canterbury Christ Church 2017

Two keynotes are already in place: Brian Ward, Northumbria University (Eccles speaker) and Marjorie Spruill, University of South Carolina (JAS speaker). The subcommittee considered possible programme models for the new two-night timeframe.

(c)        EAAS/BAAS London 2018

The EAAS/BAAS 2018 committee met on 25 November 2015 at UCL’s Institute for the Americas to discuss the upcoming conference, with representation from Eccles, BAAS, EAAS, UCL and King’s. The official organiser will be co-opted on to the BAAS Conferences subcom from April 2016. Because of disaggregation at King’s, Clare Birchall has stepped away from the organisation, but we’re very grateful to her for putting so much work into the bid and early organisational efforts.

The conference will take place at different sites (probably 1.5 days at King’s, 1.5 days at UCL, with one or two events at the Eccles centre, too). The dates are to be confirmed.

(d)        Bids to host the 2019 conference

The subcommittee gave all bids close consideration before making a recommendation to the executive. It was agreed that the 2019 conference would be held at Sussex.

(e)        BAAS Conference Support Awards

Sinéad reported that the subcommittee had received a comparatively high number of applications in the November round. To ensure a more even distribution across the two deadlines, it was agreed to add guidance to the application form that the events must be scheduled to take place within twelve months of the scheme deadline.

13. EAAS (MH reporting)

The next EAAS conference will be in Constanta, Romania, 22-25 April 2016. Sue will be in attendance and happy to undertake BAAS work, although no longer Chair by that time. Phil Davies will step down as President of EAAS in April and that vacancy will be advertised.

The main EAAS business has been planning towards the joint conference in London in 2018. The organising team is in place as is a schedule of meetings.

Martin’s term as EAAS representative for BAAS will come to an end in 2017 and discussion about succession and handover with regard to the 2018 arrangements will therefore need revisiting early in 2017.

14. Any Other Business

Cara will be taking one month of maternity leave from her duties as BAAS Treasurer (approximately mid-Feb to mid-March). Sue will cover matters relating to banking during this period.

15. Date of next meeting

Thursday 7 April 2016 (time TBC), Queen’s University Belfast.

Secretary: Dr. Jenny Terry / Email: j.a.terry@durham.ac.uk /

[vc_row margin_bottom=”15″][vc_column][dt_banner image_id=”12323″ min_height=”270″][/dt_banner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][dt_quote]The resources at the British Library enabled me to fill in the last theoretical gaps of my dissertation that argues female writers from Caribbean and Pacific Islands offer a diverse and significant contribution to ongoing debates about the global environmental crisis, says Yvonne Kaisinger, recipient of the Eccles Centre Visiting European Postgraduate Award.[/dt_quote][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]With the Eccles Centre Visiting European Postgraduate Award I was able to conduct research for my dissertation in English and American Studies at the British Library in London for two weeks in September 2015. My dissertation project “An Ocean of Words: The Interplay between Literature, Language, and the Environment on Caribbean and Pacific Islands” investigates the treatment of environmental problems, including species extinction and climate change, in contemporary fiction and poetry by female authors. At the beginning of the 21^st century, we[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]face countless global environmental crises that are a direct result of colonial and neo-colonial practices in many regions. Literature has always played a crucial role in depicting political, social, historical, and environmental issues. Through creative depictions of these issues, literature makes for instance the notion of (in)justice more tangible for readers and creates a feeling of empathy towards humans and the nonhuman world. Through the lens of postcolonial ecocriticism, a relatively new field of study, I address how contemporary female writers from Caribbean and Pacific Islands try to make sense of a changing relationship to the land and the sea in a postcolonial present. By writing against the preconceptions that these islands are remote, isolated, and particularly vulnerable, contemporary writers offer a diverse and significant contribution to ongoing debates about the global environmental crisis. It is often through the juxtaposition of Western ideas of these “paradisiacal” islands with the every-day lives of locals that contemporary literature from Caribbean and Pacific Islands offers a fascinating glimpse into island life by creating complex and layered texts that invoke a new eco-poetics of darkness.

These counter-narratives constitute a crucial challenge to dominant master narratives from Western countries about these regions. Robert Nicole remarks in The Word, the Pen, and the Pistol: Literature and Power in Tahiti that islands were long “associated with a set of inherited mythological, intellectual, poetic, and psychological factors. Being by definition closed and remote, islands big or small could appeal to the Western imagination” (16). After a renaissance of Caribbean literature in the 1950s and 60s and of Pacific literature in the 1970s, contemporary writers, including Mayra Montero (Cuban-Puerto Rican) and Chantal Spitz (Tahitian), have consequently created new genres of writing by appropriating Western forms, such as the novel, and by expanding them with regional characteristics, such as talkstory in the Pacific.

In Chantal Spitz’s novel Island of Shattered Dreams, the importance of knowing “the language of the land, the sea, the moon and the stars” is highlighted in order to help one’s “soul to take root in [the] culture” which offers an enriching “new understanding of the world around” oneself (51). Elizabeth DeLoughrey and George Handley, the editors of Postcolonial Ecologies: Literatures of the Environment (2011) highlight in their introduction to the volume “that histories embedded in the land and sea have always provided vital and dynamic methodologies for understanding the transformative impact of empire and the anticolonial epistemologies it tries to suppress” (4). They propose an “aesthetics of the earth,” a term borrowed from Edouard Glissant, which they define as “a discourse of transformative self-conscious disruption that calls attention to the universalizing impulses of the global–as a key aspect of postcolonial ecocriticism” (28). Writing from a Caribbean context, Glissant develops his idea of an “aesthetics of the earth” in Poetics of Relation (originally published in French in 1990). In this monograph, he calls for an aesthetics of the earth that is linked to rupture and connection, disruption and intrusion (151). So he does not limit aesthetics to positive ideas but insists that the disrupting factor is needed to ascertain that for instance land will not become territory again, which implies that it cannot be conquered anymore. The multifaceted narratives from both regions offer a fascinating glimpse into island life that are embedded in current environmental crises that the characters have to face in order to ensure a future for themselves as well as future generations and thus these texts promote a sense of planetary consciousness.

During the period of my award, I filled the last theoretical gaps for my dissertation project by reading Edouard Glissant’s Caribbean Discourse and Poetics of Relation, among many other sources related to Caribbean and Pacific Island literature, and I hope to complete my project in the summer of 2016. With the resources I had access to, I was also able to finish my talk on “Myths and Metamorphoses: Reading Seascapes in Contemporary Pacific Literature” which I presented at the conference “Underwater Worlds: Aquatic Visions in Art, Science and Literature” at the University of Oxford in September 2015.

In conclusion, my project has greatly benefited from the Visiting European Postgraduate Award and the chance I had to conduct research at the British Library. I am very grateful that I also had the opportunity to meet some of the staff at the Eccles Centre while I was there.

Works Cited

DeLoughrey, Elizabeth and George B. Handley, eds. Introduction. Postcolonial Ecologies: Literatures of the Environment. Oxford: OUP, 2011. Print.

Glissant, Edouard. Poetics of Relation. 1990. Trans. Betsy Wing. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1997. Print.

Glissant, Edouard. Caribbean Discourse. Trans. J. Michael Dash. Charlottesvilles: U of Virginia P, 1989. Print.

Nicole, Robert. The Word, the Pen, and the Pistol: Literature and Power in Tahiti. Albany: State U of New York P, 2001. Print.

Spitz, Chantal. Island of Shattered Dreams. 1991. Transl. Jean Anderson. Wellington: Huia, 2007. Print.

Yvonne Kaisinger is a Research Assistant at University of Salzburg.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

I am sad to report the death of David Adams, aged 85 years, on 22^nd March 2016.

David was a giant in American Studies. Appointed Assistant Lecturer in History at the University College of North Staffordshire at Keele in 1957, he became Lecturer in American Studies at Keele University in 1961, Senior Lecturer in 1965 and Professor in 1972. David led the founding of Keele’s American Studies programme in 1961, the establishment of the American Studies Department in 1965 and was Head of the Department until 1993. Keele’s David Bruce Centre for American Studies in 1969 was an achievement of particular import to David Adams and he remained its Director until 1996, shortly before he retired from the University to become Emeritus Professor in 1997.

His connection with Keele was more than departmental. Britain’s first post-war university incorporated the vision of creating more than a virtual intellectual community on its fine 600+ acre estate, investing in housing stock that would result in staff and students living on site. David invested fully in this vision, initially residing in the attic rooms of Keele Hall, and living in various homes on campus over the next 55 years, before moving with his wife Sarah to a cottage in Keele, the Staffordshire village that gives the university its name. Keele’s campus remains beautiful, and it is a particular pleasure to me that David and Sarah have enjoyed the trees I have been able to place in its arboretum.

David Adams and his Keele colleagues brought me to American Studies. I think I could still find my notes from David Adams’ lecture on Chicago in the 1920s, which I attended almost 50 years ago. I remember some details: containing his story within the parentheses of the gangland murder of Dean O’Banion in his flower shop in 1924 and the St Valentine’s Day Massacre of 1929, David brought the history of prohibition to life with anecdotal energy without ever disregarding intellectual rigour. There was a striking description of O’Banion’s elaborate funeral, with its 26 flower-decorated trucks, a giant display in white roses ‘From Al’, the whole procession fronted and followed by police bands. Taking advantage of Keele’s progressive attitudes to student choice of degree subjects, I left Mathematics and entered American Studies.

Outside the lecture hall I found David on the staff list: MA (Cantab), AM (Yale) MA, DPhil (Oxon) looked pretty daunting to me, but he wasn’t. His primary interest was in the life and times of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the New Deal, and the instant any callow undergraduate indicated the slightest awareness that FDR had been the longest-serving president David become their beaming friend. There were undoubtedly alternative keys turned by other students, but US domestic politics and history most engaged me and I was never much drawn to David’s other interest, twentieth century U.S. foreign policy. It was here, though, that David made his greatest published contribution, with the 25-volume series of Documents from the British Foreign Office Confidential Print (University Publications of America).

David Adams served on the Executive Committee of the British Association for American Studies, and as the BAAS representative on the Executive of the European Association for American Studies. The first conference of the American Politics Group was hosted by David Adams and John Lees at Keele University in January 1975. David was engaged in the various defences of American Studies that were mounted whenever the subject was threatened by government or university policy. But though his contribution to the American Studies community in institutional terms was highly significant, it was matched by his personal commitment to his students, a good will that did not cease at graduation. Sarah Adams confirms that ‘[o]ne of his joys was following the careers of former students and colleagues’. In my case David travelled to events I host at the British Library in London as long as he was able to – his support never stopped, and he never made any secret of his pride that I was one product of his teaching, and that he reckoned I had come out OK.

Awarded the OBE in 1997, the citation read: ‘Professor David Keith Adams. For services to North American studies in the U.K.’ In 2000 the University of Keele added its own Honorary DLitt to David’s awards.

David had rarely enjoyed good health. A couple of years ago he wrote with regrets that he would be unable to make Tony Badger’s Bryant Lecture (regrets sharpened by the fact that David’s undergraduate years had been spent at Clare College, of which Tony had gone on to become Master) since he could no longer travel to London – but he would read the lecture when it was available – ‘My grey cells like to still feel engaged with what is going on’.

A fall at home led to his admission to hospital and all David’s immediate family were able to visit over the brief period before his peaceful death.

Professor Phil Davies, Director of the Eccles Centre at the British Library

[vc_row margin_bottom=”15″][vc_column][dt_banner image_id=”11923″ min_height=”270″][/dt_banner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][dt_quote]The Eccles Centre Fellowship provided me with crucial time and financial assistance to complete research on the arguments of proponents and opponents of the Vietnam War between 1964 and 1973, says Fabian Hilfrich, Eccles Centre Visiting Professor 2013-2014. The diversity of anti-war opinion in these publications was even more wide-ranging than expected.[/dt_quote][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]I had the privilege and opportunity to be an Eccles Centre Visiting Professor at the British Library in the academic year 2013-14. Although I have not yet been able to use all the funds — the funders have graciously agreed that I carry some funds over into this academic year – I already spent three weeks at the British Library, from 1-14 September 2013 and from 2-8 June 2014.

The main purpose of my time at the British Library was to do research for a manuscript on the arguments and ideologies prevalent among proponents and opponents of[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]the Vietnam War between 1964 and 1973. For that purpose, I am trying to establish a diverse and representative sample of opinion, drawing on archival material from presidential libraries, anti-war groups, social action groups, and important individuals. While I have done most of this research in the United States, the British Library is the only institution in the United Kingdom that holds other relevant material – most notably a complete run of the National Review, the important neo-conservative weekly, and, above all, the Underground Newspaper Collection. This collection, microfilmed in the 1970s and 1980s, contains a wide array of politically very diverse underground publications, ranging from full and long-running alternative newspapers, such as the Berkeley Barb, short and short-lived anti-war GI publications, such as FTA, to Liberation News Service, an attempt to establish an alternative radical news agency. This range allowed me to access opinions that might otherwise have escaped my focus on prominent organizations and individuals.

So far, the results have outstripped my expectations. First of all, some of the publications covered stories, which did not find much mention in the establishment press. More importantly, the diversity of anti-war opinion in these publications was even more wide-ranging than I had expected. Although most of the papers could be classified as ‘radical’, anti-war opinion ranged from the dogmatically radical to the moderate liberal spectrum. I was also struck by the fact that many of these differences related to identities – majority white male anti-war opinion differed from that of women, which again differed from that of minorities. These observations are absolutely essential to a nuanced portrayal and interpretation of anti-war attitudes in my project. In addition to that, the material also suggested a ‘rethink’ of conventional opinion in some areas not directly related to my current research. These observations may very well provide the basis for future research, e.g. on the relations between and mutual perceptions of anti-war activists and soldiers/veterans. When I return to the British Library in June or July of this year, I will finish my research into this unique resource.

Finally, my time at the British Library also allowed me to supplement secondary source reading of books and journals that are not available in Edinburgh. In summary, the Eccles Centre Fellowship provided me with crucial time and financial assistance to complete vital research for the completion of my current research project and manuscript. I am enormously grateful for this opportunity and the flexibility of the funders. I would like to thank Phil Davies (whom I had the opportunity to meet in London) and the Eccles Centre staff personally for all the assistance they provided. I also greatly enjoyed a couple of Eccles Centre lectures I listened to while in London.

Fabian Hilfrich is Senior Lecturer in American History at the University of Edinburgh.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row margin_bottom=”15″][vc_column][dt_banner image_id=”11290″ bg_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.29)” min_height=”295″][/dt_banner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][dt_quote]Thanks to BAAS and the British Academy I was able to organise two fruitful archival trips to New York in 2014 and 2015 that have resulted in two articles and a possible book proposal, says Joe Merton, recipient of the BAAS Founders’ Research Travel Award. My archival research sheds light on public fears of predatory crime in 1970s New York City and reveals a city in crisis – a crisis not simply of crime, but also of confidence, authority and legitimacy.[/dt_quote][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Thanks to the BAAS Founders’ Research Travel Award I was able to make two research trips to the US in autumn 2014 and June 2015, supplementing a larger research travel grant from the British Academy, to support a new research project on fear of crime and urban restructuring in 1970s New York City.

My project considers how public fears of predatory crime – and the response of political and corporate elites to those fears – permanently transformed the political, cultural and spatial landscape of New York City during the 1970s, two decades before the advent of “zero tolerance” and “quality of life” policing. It assesses the impact of a perceived[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]“crisis” of crime – a crisis as significant as the city’s near-bankruptcy in 1975 – in restructuring city politics and local political coalitions, public policy priorities, labour relations and the role of the state, the use of urban space, development and design, and the city’s media cultures, with lasting significance not just for New York but for many urban centres across the Western world.

Spending such an extended period of time in New York enabled me to access materials off-limits to a UK researcher typically limited to browsing the historical New York Times. Much of my time in the city was divided between the chaos of the New York City municipal archives – home to the subject files of various city administrations, many city-sponsored publications and coachloads of flustered genealogical researchers – and the relative tranquility of the New York Public Library, where I was able to consult the papers of various citizens’ advocacy groups, the New York Times’s editorial staff and a wide range of city newspapers unavailable in the UK (New York Post, New York Daily News, Village Voice, New York magazine). These materials illustrated both the universality of public anxiety over street crime – fear of crime transcended cleavages of race, ethnicity and class in the city – but also, against the backdrop of fiscal retrenchment, the increasingly tortured efforts of city government and public institutions such as the Police Department or Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee to alleviate those concerns.

Valuable materials on crime and city government were also available at the La Guardia and Wagner Archives and the Columbia University Special Collections, home to an impressive oral history for the Koch administration (1977-89), while the collections of the Brooklyn Public Library and the splendid Brooklyn Historical Society offered insights into the attempts of private citizens’ groups and neighbourhood organisations to confront crime at a time of dwindling faith in the state: self-help guides, vigilante patrols and advice on alarm systems and attack dogs predominated here, not sympathy for police officers or public officials, while tirades linking crime to city welfare and drug treatment programmes could be found amongst the letters pages of local newspapers and community newsletters. Beyond New York, I was also able to make trips to Yale, to access the papers of former mayor John V. Lindsay; Albany, to view the microfilmed papers of State Governors Nelson Rockefeller and Hugh Carey (and gaze at the modernist splendour of Empire State Plaza); and Sleepy Hollow, home of the Rockefeller Archive Center and the collections of some of the business advocacy groups central not just to the reordering of the city’s finances in the 1970s but also its criminal justice priorities. Together, my research has revealed a city in crisis – a crisis not simply of crime, but also of confidence, authority and legitimacy.

Support from BAAS also enabled me to attend the biennial Urban History Association conference in Philadelphia and deliver a paper on fear of crime and the crisis of expertise in New York during the Lindsay years (1965-73). Further developed using primary material from New York, this paper has since been expanded into an article under consideration by the Journal of Policy History, while a second article on the crime-fighting activities of private foundation the Association for a Better New York has been submitted to the Journal of Urban History. The UHA also provided an opportunity for me to forge initial contacts with Columbia University Press, who have expressed an interested in publishing the eventual manuscript.

I am deeply grateful to the BAAS Awards Committee for giving me the opportunity to conduct this research and finally kickstart my project.

Joe Merton is Senior Lecturer in Twentieth Century History at University of Nottingham.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row margin_bottom=”15″][vc_column][dt_banner image_id=”9209″ min_height=”300″][/dt_banner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][dt_quote]My study of the street cultures of working-class and immigrant boys in Chicago in the early twentieth century has benefited immensely from the Institute of Juvenile Research’s Life Histories collection. This collection houses hundreds of life stories of delinquent children, normally from immigrant or working-class families, which has enabled me to examine issues such as sexuality, which I thought would be completely invisible in the historical record, says Oenone Kubie, recipient of the BAAS/Journal of American Studies Travel Award 2015.[/dt_quote][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]My project is a study of the street cultures of working-class and immigrant boys in Chicago in the early twentieth century. These boys evaded reforms aimed at controlling juveniles, and throughout the period I look at, continued to carve out spaces for themselves within the Progressive Era city. While boys’ street cultures may seem romantic and even a positive alternative to the highly prescribed lives of modern children, it is inadequate to think of these boys’ subcultures as unimportant or quaint. Boys in Chicago heavily disrupted commercial operations, particularly around the railways, costing railroad companies large amounts in damages and security. Youth gangs contributed to and may even have begun the Chicago Race Riot in 1919 and they greatly contributed to racial[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]antagonism on a day-to-day basis as boys policed the physical racial boundaries of the city, beating up black children (and adults) who dared to cross into white immigrant neighbourhoods. Boys as young as twelve and thirteen were involved in the Democrat political machine through gangs funded by politicians and their connections with corrupt police officers and judges. Their subcultures were written into the spaces which they inhabited and which they, to borrow Lefebvre’s phrase, produced.  Even an act as simple as “loitering” on street corners challenged official plans for the city and altered the meaning of street space.

Thanks to the generous support of JAS/BAAS Travel Award I was able to extend my research trip this summer in Chicago for an extra month. I had spent the first month at the University of Chicago Regenstein Library, in the second month I was then able to visit the University of Illinois in Chicago Library and the Chicago History Museum.

The key collection I saw during this trip was the Institute of Juvenile Research’s Life Histories collection. In the early twentieth century, the Chicago School of Sociology was pioneering a new method of sociological research: the life history. They argued that by taking a detailed biography of a subject – either through interviews or asking individuals to write an autobiographical essay in response to prompt questions – one could draw broader conclusions about society and problems facing communities. Luckily for me, many of the sociologists were interested in delinquent children, normally from immigrant or working-class families. The Chicago History Museum houses over a hundred of these life histories.

There are real methodological problems with using the life histories as evidence. To name just a few of the issues: many of the stories have been edited by sociologists and first drafts lost; there are very few life histories of boys of colour; subjects may have exaggerated or down right lied about their experiences. On the other hand, the life histories are some of the only sources where I can access the (albeit mediated) voices of the boys I study. And within the histories they discuss topics that range from delinquency and crime to family life, ethnicity and sexual behaviour. These sources will enable my project to examine issues, such as sexuality, which I thought would be completely invisible in the historical record.

I’m excited to be back in the UK, and to start to get to grips with some of this material and what it means for my projects. Once again, I’d like to thanks BAAS for enabling this trip to take place.

Oenone Kubie is a DPhil History student at the University of Oxford.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

British Association for American Studies

Minutes 282nd

Minutes of the 282nd meeting of the Executive Committee, held at the Institute of the Americas, UCL, on Friday 19 June 2015 at 1.00pm.

1. Present: Sue Currell (Chair), Jenny Terry (Secretary), Cara Rodway

(Treasurer), Katie McGettigan, Simon Hall, Brian Ward, Joe Street, Uta Balbier, Sinéad Moynihan, Ben Offiler. For part of the meeting: Jonathan Bell, Keith Lawrey.

Apologies: Doug Haynes, Nick Witham, Celeste-Marie Bernier, Bevan Sewell, Phillip McGowan, Martin Halliwell, Rachael Alexander, Kate Dossett.

In attendance: Jenny Terry

2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting.

These were accepted as a true record and will now go on the website.

3. Matters Arising

None

4. Review of Action List

The Chair asked the Exec to comment on the status of their Action List duties. All Action List duties will be addressed under the relevant section below.

5. Chair’s Business (SC reporting)

(a)        The Chair offered thanks on behalf of BAAS to Joe Street and his colleagues for their marvelous work in organising the annual conference at Northumbria.

(b)        Chair’s activities, meetings and correspondence

• 1 May 2015, Arts and Humanities Alliance meeting at the Royal Historical Society offices, UCL. Discussed:

– The Nurse Review of the research councils, results of which we should be looking out for.

– The RCUK review of Open Access; there is a need for everyone to monitor how the two mandates, Gold and Green, are enforced institutionally, and the expenditure of Gold funds.

– The impact of Open Access on our journals, and new models that might be emerging to accommodate this.

– Upcoming consultations on the next REF and the possibility that some bodies might together issue a joint ‘bottom line’ statement, which would seek a looser qualification for impact (that would include ECRs, permit researcher mobility, and recognise expertise beyond a narrow publication definition) and a minimum 70% allocation for rigorous peer review of publications.

• 11 May 2015, Eccles Centre dinner, following the DW Bryant Lecture by Ambassador Matthew Barzun.

• On behalf of BAAS and the American Studies community, Sue sent a letter to The Rt. Hon. Philip Hammond, MP Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to voice our concern about the possible abolition of the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission (MACC) and its proposed replacement by a single UK government Scholarship Commission. The letter contained over 15 signatures from leading scholars and professors of American studies.

• 18 June 2015, Sue visited the BAAS Archive held at Birmingham University. She met with Susan Worrall and Ivana Frlan, Special Collections, discussing the return of items incorrectly deposited, clarification of the deposit policy, cataloguing the archive, and a possible Masters at Birmingham to research BAAS’s history using the archive. BAAS Officers will ensure compliance with the deposit policy.

(c)        Achievements, announcements and events of note to BAAS members

• The National Humanities Center Named Fellows for 2015-16 include Daniel Scroop (History, University of Glasgow). While completing work on The Politics of Scale in Modern American History he will hold the Walter Hines Page Fellowship of the Research Triangle Foundation.

• Professor Judie Newman (Nottingham) has announced her retirement (from October 2015). A former chair of BAAS, Judie will be continuing her research and generously has said she ‘will be ready to be useful if needed’.

• Cambridge Professor and US Intellectual Historian and Southern Historian, Michael O’Brien died in May 2015. To mark this JAS is going to post a short tribute on the journal website and make some of his published work available for free.

• Jo Gill has been promoted to Chair at Exeter University.

(d)        A suggestion had come from John Fagg that for the next US election an ‘on the campaign trail’ blog made up of posts from UK students on their year abroad could be exciting and good outreach. This could be hosted by USSO or the BAAS website and we could co-ordinate with our Fulbright contacts.

6. Secretary’s Business (JT Reporting)

(a)        Co-options for 2015-16

The committee approved the co-option of Kate Dossett (Leeds) onto the executive with a particular remit on gender and equality initiatives. They also confirmed the co-option of Matthew Shaw (British Library) onto the Development and Education subcom as Libraries and Resources representative, and Lydia Plath’s joining of the Conferences subcom as one of the Canterbury Christ Church conference organisers (2017).

(b)        Vice-Chair of BAAS

The committee confirmed the election of Brian Ward (Northumbria) as Vice-Chair for 2015-16.

(c)        Publications and Awards subcommittee standing orders

Two minor amendments to subcom standing orders were agreed in light of subcom composition following the recent elections and complications arising from previous changes.

– In the Publications standing orders ‘Two officers of BAAS (usually the Vice Chair and the Treasurer), one of whom shall act as chair’ was changed to ‘Two or more full members of the Executive Committee (usually including one Officer), one of whom shall act as chair.’

– In the Awards standing orders ‘Two or more members of the Committee, one of whom shall be designated as chair. One officer of the Association (usually the Secretary)’ was changed to ‘Two or more full members of the Executive Committee (usually including one Officer), one of whom shall act as chair.’

(d)        Electronic Elections

Following changes to the constitution agreed in April, we now have the possibility of running our annual elections electronically. Jenny circulated one model of how this could work in practice along with responses received via email to that model. The committee had a brief discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of holding elections by electronic means before, rather than at, the AGM. It was agreed to return to this issue for a fuller discussion at the next executive. In the meantime online ballot capability and security could be looked into as part of other website development.

(e)        Move to Charitable Incorporated Organisation

Keith Lawrey joined the executive to give a legal perspective on our current status as an unincorporated charity and the options open to BAAS such as a move to being a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. Keith explained the purpose of the Association of Learned Societies – set up specifically to advise and support small societies – and his own role within it. If BAAS were to accrue debts, at the moment trustees (that’s elected members of the executive) and ordinary members of the society would be liable for those debts as individuals. With a move to incorporated status this would no longer be the case, although in the event of negligence or misconduct trustees would still be held to account.

The process of the change to CIO would involve replacing our current constitution with one adapted from the template provided by the Charity Commission. This would be likely to incorporate much of our existing constitution and Keith would be able to help with drawing this up. As well as voting to adopt a new constitution, members would need to vote to dissolve BAAS itself for it then to be immediately reformed as the CIO BAAS (alongside the necessary re-registration online with the Charity Commission). Our constitution requires a two-thirds majority at a special General Meeting before the society can be dissolved. At the moment registration as a CIO is free although a charge may be introduced in the future.

Keith answered several questions during discussion. Our trading arm ‘BAAS Publications Ltd’ could be owned by the CIO in a similar way to how BAAS is the sole shareholder of the arm now. We would continue to submit an annual report to the Charity Commission. The change, allowing us to have both charitable and incorporated status, makes us a legal entity and brings an ‘added layer of safety’ in the event of debt. We would need to consult with our bank about their preferred way of conducting any transfer of assets (our constitution makes provision for the transfer of assets, clause 14). There are no tax implications. It was noted that the Charity Commission constitution template contains stipulations regarding the running of elections; Keith would be able to advise on the extent to which we could adapt this document. As trustees our responsibilities are not just to members but also, in line with registered charity objectives, to the public as beneficiaries.

Sue offered our thanks to Keith for his visit and help. With some further clarification of details regarding the process, the executive should be in a position to agree a recommendation at the next meeting.

7. Treasurer’s Business (CR reporting)

(a)        Bank Accounts (as at 16 June 2015)

BAAS Publications Ltd: £7422

Current: £6483.71

General Deposit: £58,102.10

Dollar Account: $3,399.04

(b)        Membership Figures (provided by Louise Cunningham)

Members on fully paid sheet (total = 500)

Individuals – 237 (76 online JAS, 161 with full JAS)

PG – 219 (150 online JAS, 69 with full JAS)

PU (Unwaged) – 6 (3 online JAS, 3 with full JAS)

PR (Retired) – 26 (15 online JAS, 11 with full JAS)

PS (Schools) – 12

(c)        Narrative Report

• The handover from outgoing Treasurer Theresa to Cara is well underway. Cara soon hopes to have online access in order to make bank transfers.
• BAAS has received the latest cheque payment from CUP.
• Phil Davies had suggested to Sue that the Charity’s Aid Foundation were a body able to advise on ethical investment for charities.
• Louise Cunningham has been working to clean up the BAAS membership database and also now has access to the Paypal account, meaning she is able to check membership payments. In readiness for the move of the database to the secure area of our website, Katie has been putting the information into the right format. When we make the move, only fully paid up members will get a user login automatically; others will have to pay their membership fees to have access.

8. Development and Education Subcommittee (SC reporting in the absence

of NW)

(a)        Katie reported that the website is running well and the members’ area is nearly ready for launch. There has been some use of the media enquiries facility already. Training for executive members is being planned for the next meeting.

(b)        Matthew Shaw was welcomed as Libraries and Resources Rep. He reported that he would be consulting with former members of BLARS for suggestions, and for advice with continuing libraries work. It was noted that USSO are putting together a roundtable on Open Access and the Humanities by Martin Eve, with commentary/reviews by Katie McGettigan, Daniel Pearce (Cambridge University Press), and Rupert Gatti (Open Book Publishers), and Eve responding. Matthew would also be keeping an eye on the ‘Open Library for the Humanities’ in case of possible links and opportunities.

(c)        Ben Offiler was welcomed as Early Careers Rep. Ben reported that he had several suggestions and ideas for continuing to develop BAAS’s engagement with Early Careers academics, including first book and EC essay prizes. Ben will draw up a written outline of these plans, including practicalities of implementation, costs and context of our existing awards.

Ben also raised the issue of the high cost of attending conferences for EC researchers currently without full institutional affiliation or support; we should formalise the practice of such members being able to register for the BAAS annual conference at the PG rate (as happened at Exeter in 2013).

(d)        Schools

Sue reported that there had been two applications for schools event funding, one in connection with Congress to Campus and one for a Rosa Parks centenary event in Leicester. It had been decided to award £300 and £500 respectively. It would be good to secure video or other content for the website to publicise our support in this area.

Nick is working on lining up a Schools Rep for 2015-16 with input from Cara.

9. Postgraduate Business (RA sent a short report)

The arrangements for the Postgraduate Conference, organised in collaboration with HOTCUS this year, are developing well. It will run 4 – 5 December 2015 in Glasgow, with the HOTCUS workshop on the Friday and the BAAS programme on the Saturday. Members are asked to see http://baashotcus2015.wordpress.com and to encourage postgraduates to attend. The CFP is live and available on the website. See also twitter @baashotcus2015 and http://facebook.com/baashotcus2015. Rachael has written a piece for ASIB, which gives further detail.

The keynote speakers have just been announced as Dr Jenny Barrett (Edgehill University), Prof. Faye Hammill (University of Strathclyde), and Warren Pleece (DC Comics). On the Friday there will be a career development workshop.

10. Publications Subcommittee (JS reporting)

Profound thanks were offered to Bridget Bennett for all her important work on Publications.

(a)        USSO

The good work on USSO, including book hour and podcasts, continues and the Editors have been invited to speak at the Italian Association of American Studies, Naples, in September 2015. They will be sharing their experiences and what they have done to develop the blog. SC proposed, and the executive agreed, that BAAS fund 25% of their travel costs.

They were ‘Highly Commended’ runners up in the UK Blog Awards, a great achievement for a relatively new blog.

(b)        Journal of American Studies

Discussions on the process of appointing JAS board members will be resumed at a subsequent meeting when the editors can be present.

The subcom will also return to discussion of the details of the process for appointing JAS Editors.

(c)        EUP

Emily West had reported on behalf of the series editors in the subcom. The publisher session at the 2015 BAAS conference was a success and the editors hope to run a similar session at the 2016 event. There are currently seven BAAS paperbacks under contract (two were under contract prior to Emily and Martin’s appointment). None are set for publication imminently and there have been no new submissions since the last Exec meeting.

(d)        BRRAM

A report had been received from Kenneth Morgan. Publications will return to discussion of the future of BRRAM next time.

11. Conference Subcommittee (SM reporting)

• Northumbria University 2015

Thanks were offered to Joe Street for organising such a successful conference. In total, there were 225 delegates in attendance; of these 97 were postgraduates. The keynote lecture by Gary Younge, which included a talk and Q&A from Elizabeth Dibble (Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy), attracted an audience of 160, which included 20 members of the general public. On Sunday 12 April, the roundtable ‘BAAS at 60: A Celebration’ took place to celebrate 60 years of the British Association for American Studies and to reflect on the changing nature of the organisation and of American Studies in the UK. This involved Sue Wedlake (US Embassy) and former BAAS Chairs Martin Halliwell, Judie Newman, Philip Davies and Richard King as well as Sue Currell and Nick Witham, who gave a short paper on the Cold War and the early years of BAAS.

Sinéad had received a report on the conference from Joe, which now appears on our website. The conference accounts are being wrapped up.

• Queen’s University, Belfast 2016

Philip reports that all is progressing as planned. The CFP has been sent out and appears on websites. Proposals can be sent to baasiaas2016@qub.ac.uk and further details found here: http://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/baasiaas2016/  Members are asked to publicise the conference.

• Canterbury Christ Church University 2017

Lydia Plath raised some questions regarding the format and scheduling of the slimmed-down conference in 2017. Sinéad will liaise with her about this and what needs to be put in place over the coming months.  The conference dates will be 6-8 April 2017. The executive will meet at Canterbury in January 2016.

• EAAS/BAAS 2018

Nothing to report.

• 2019 Conference

It was agreed to issue an invitation for expressions of interest about hosting future conferences via the BAAS newsletter; this should also include an update on the venues for 2016, 2017 and 2018.

• Small Conference SupportApplications

Two applications had been received by the first of two deadlines this year, one for a SAVAnT event at the British Library and another for the BAAS/APG colloquium. It was decided to award £200 each to the two applicants in this first round.

In line with what had been agreed at the April executive, the application form for the scheme will be redrafted to include more of a steer on BAAS’s conference support.

12. Awards Subcommittee (UB reporting)

(a)        Ambassador Awards

Our report on the awards has been submitted to the US Embassy and accepted. Bradley Moore is leaving the Embassy and Sarah-Jane Mayhew will take over his grant duties. We hope to continue our good relations with the Embassy.

(b)        GTA Studentships

Despite Doug’s efforts, we have not yet been successful in securing a new studentship to replace the one withdrawn at Virginia. Executive members are asked to suggest US institutions/individuals that could be approached. We could promote the advantages of involvement by putting interested institutions in touch with our current partners.

Doug has been in contact with current GTA award holders to obtain reports for the website/ASIB.

(c)        Future Awards Ceremonies

The format of the awards ceremony had been discussed in the subcom, especially in view of Belfast arrangements. To shorten proceedings, the full list of recipients could be provided on the tables with only those recipients present at the banquet having their names read out and being presented with their awards. This would allow a little more time for brief comment on the winning work. There was support for this option and Uta will look into the practicalities of preparing such a list with Louise Cunningham.

Another possibility raised was that Eccles awards could be presented at the Eccles-sponsored keynote lecture rather than at the banquet.

It was also noted that the cost of covering travel expenses for recipients of the School prize etc could rise steeply for Belfast. It was agreed to review the policy of offering to cover travel costs for 2016.

(d)        International Student Essay Prize

A suggestion had been received about a new essay prize for International American Studies Students. It was decided this could be something to look at in future but that at the moment we have a wide and strong portfolio of prize opportunities.

13. EAAS

Nothing to add since the AGM report in April.

14. Any Other Business

None

15. Date of next meeting

TBC

Secretary: Dr. Jenny Terry / Email: j.a.terry@durham.ac.uk /

[vc_row][vc_column][dt_banner image_id=”9351″ min_height=”270″][/dt_banner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row margin_top=”15″][vc_column width=”1/2″][dt_quote]My research at North Carolina has revealed involuntary childlessness during the nineteenth century resulted in an unexpected blurring of public and private gendered spheres, says Morwenna Chaffe, recipient of the BAAS Abraham Lincoln Award 2014.[/dt_quote][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]As the recipient of the Abraham Lincoln Award 2014, I was fortunate enough to be able to carry out research in two archives in North Carolina. The research I sourced on this visit now forms the core of my PhD thesis I am therefore extremely grateful to BAAS for their support.

My doctoral research foregrounds individual experiences of involuntary childlessness in the United States during the second half of the nineteenth century. Focusing on the[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]intimate, the project considers those women and their spouses whose desire for parenthood was unfulfilled. As previous studies have examined the phenomenon of infertility from a medical perspective, the specificity of the personalised viewpoint has yet to be properly explored in historical scholarly research. In order to locate personal experiences around involuntary childlessness my research foregrounds several case studies compiled from family letters and diaries. Before I was able to conduct this archival research, my thesis was lacking not only in primary sources but also individual voices.

The first part of my trip was spent at the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History & Culture at Duke University. The center is based in the Rubenstein Rare Books & Manuscript Library and holds a large collection of papers that portray the cultural and historical lives of women. It was here that I read the correspondence and diaries of Virginia Tunstall Clay, who suffered a stillbirth in 1854 and then remained childless throughout both of her marriages. Letters of concern and sympathy from her brother-in-law to both herself and her husband demonstrated the intense care and interest that family members, including male relatives, took around reproductive trials. This establishes a network of familial and gendered involvement in reproductive experiences that we often fail to recognize in the study of the physician/patient relationship or with the emphasis on nineteenth-century taboos around the discussion of pregnancy.

The Southern Historical Collection in Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill proved an exciting and surprising source of archival material relating to family experiences of involuntary childlessness. The Cornelia Phillips Spencer papers in particular provided me with hundreds of letters written between Cornelia and her daughter, Julia Spencer Love. They established an almost daily correspondence, which revealed Julia’s thoughts and feelings throughout the later stages of her pregnancy. However, after Julia delivered her still-born child, her husband, James Lee Love took over the correspondence to Cornelia. The letters to his mother-in-law offered her not only an account of Julia’s health and recovery, but revealed an intimate sorrow at the loss of the baby and his attempts to revive the spirits of his wife. Again, male relatives came to the fore in what were previously depicted in history as ‘private’ events in which the ‘public’ male had limited involvement in.

The case studies I developed from the archival research have radically transformed the shape and themes of my thesis. The sources are instrumental in being able to express not only the sorrow that some childless spouses felt, but also in demonstrating the lives they were able to create for themselves. My sincere thanks again to BAAS for making this trip possible and allowing me to explore these lives in such an intimate way.

Morwenna Chaffe is a PhD candidate at UEA researching experiences of involuntary childlessness in 19th-century America.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]