Editorial

The cover picture on this issue of American Studies in Britain looks back forty years to July 1969 and the first manned lunar landing. It shows US astronaut Buzz Aldrin posing beside the stars and stripes in the shadow of the lunar module ‘Eagle’ – immortalised in the phrase ‘The Eagle has landed’. The photograph was taken by Apollo 11 mission commander Neil A. Armstrong, who had descended with Aldrin to explore the Sea of Tranquility. The pilot of the command and service module ‘Columbia’, Michael Collins, remained in lunar orbit. Visible in the foreground of the illustration are prints made by the astronauts’ space boots, replicas of which can be purchased for a mere $225 from the American Space Store. The price tag on a full Apollo 11 space suits – built to NASA specifications, complete with helmet, hoses, snoopy cap, backpack and gloves – is $9,500. For the children of my generation, born in the mid-1960s and attending fancy-dress birthday parties at the height of space age mania, a suit like that would have been to die for. As it was, the astronauts among us had to make do with borrowed motorbike helmets and yards of tin foil. In those days the mock astronauts, like the real ones, tended to be male. The Soviet Union had sent a woman into space in 1963, when Valentina Tereshkova participated in the Vostok 6 mission, but the Americans would not follow suit until Sally Ride’s STS-7 expedition in 1983. A year later the USSR claimed another first, with Svetlana Savitskaya becoming the first woman to walk in space, followed a few months later by the American Kathryn D. Sullivan. In the early 1990s Sullivan’s compatriot and namesake Kathryn C. Thornton became the third woman to walk in space and the first to accomplish multiple extravehicular activities.

In choosing the cover picture I was tempted by two other routes, both connected to the space race and moon walking. The year 2009 marks the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the beginning of a wave of political revolutions in the communist states of Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania. Two years later the political enmity and technological rivalry between the two twentieth-century superpowers, the USA and the USSR, gave way to a new post-Cold War balance of power with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars would continue in modified form under George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, but much of the impetus had been lost for strategic defense based on interceptor rockets and lasers.

As for moon walking, on 25 June 2009 the United States and the rest of the world lost perhaps the most famous ever moon walker, Michael Joseph Jackson. Born on 29 August 1958 and hitting the Motown scene with the Jackson 5 in 1964, Jackson made a sensational impact on popular music, music video and dance. Academic work on Jackson has addressed the Peter Pan complex, surgical passing, superstardom, fandom, trial by appearance, freak chic, cyborg identity and morphing, but perhaps his greatest legacy is in the videos of ‘Billie Jean’ and ‘Beat It’ and the best-selling 1982 album, Thriller. On vinyl.

Who knows whether some of these topics will make their way into panels and papers at the BAAS 2010 Annual Conference at the University of East Anglia. The call for papers is printed in these pages, along with reports from the rich and highly stimulating 2009 conference at Nottingham. The 2009 Annual Postgraduate Conference takes place at the University of Northumbria on 14 November 2009, on the theme ‘Continuities and Changes’. It promises to be a diverse and fascinating analysis of past and present-day America from within the context of the Obama era. See the BAAS website for details. Registration is by 16 October.

RAE 2008 is a subject for analysis and reflection in Heidi Macpherson’s Chair’s Report from the BAAS 2009 conference, below, and in an open letter by Peter Messent and Richard Ellis. Any BAAS members wishing to join the conversation are invited to submit their thoughts to me at alisonjkelly@btinternet.com by the copy deadline for issue 102 of ASIB, 15 January 2010.

Dr Alison Kelly

BAAS Annual Conference: University of East Anglia

8-10 April 2010

The 55th Annual Conference

Call for Papers

The fifty-fifth British Association for American Studies Conference will be held at the School of American Studies, University of East Anglia from 8 to 11 April 2010. There is no overarching theme for the conference, and papers and panel proposals are welcomed on any subject relating to the United States of America and early America. The conference will feature papers from a wide range of disciplines and play host to an international collection of scholars from across the spectrum of the research community, from postgraduates to senior scholars. Interdisciplinarity is very welcome, and we are also happy to accept proposals for roundtable discussions, poster sessions, or other innovative panel ideas that we can incorporate into the conference schedule.

For further information about the conference please visit: http://www.uea.ac.uk/ams/baas2010

The University of East Anglia has been a pioneering centre for research and teaching in the field of American Studies since it was first established in the 1960s. It is also home to the Arthur Miller Centre for American Studies, which, amongst other activities, sponsors the annual International Literary Festival that has featured an extraordinary range of writers including Arthur Miller, Norman Mailer, Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph Heller, Richard Ford and Toni Morrison. East Anglia itself has a long and storied connection with America: a short drive from the University can take you to the hometown of Abraham Lincoln’s ancestors, the birthplace of Thomas Paine, and the airfields used by the USAAF in World War Two.

For further information about the School of American Studies at the UEA please visit:
http://www.uea.ac.uk/ams

For more information about Norwich and its environs, please visit:
http://www.visitnorwich.co.uk/default.aspx

Submission

Proposals for 20-minute papers should be a maximum of 250 words with a provisional title. These will be arranged into panel groups. Panel proposals by two or more people, sharing a common theme, are also invited. All proposals should be submitted by 16 October 2009 to: baas2010@uea.ac.uk

Dr Thomas Ruys Smith

Conference Organiser

School of American Studies

University of East Anglia

Norwich, NR4 7TJ

United Kingdom

thomas.smith@uea.ac.uk

BAAS Annual Conference: University of Nottingham 2009

Chair’s Report

Annual General Meeting, held at the BAAS annual conference, University of Nottingham, Friday 17 April 2009

It has become customary to start the Chair’s report with a sort of State of the Subject address, and this year in no exception. BAAS as an organisation is committed to supporting American Studies programmes, whether they are single honours, joint honours, or indeed strands of other programmes; we recognise that we have at least as many members who are in Departments of History, Politics, Film and Media, Humanities, Social Sciences and English as in single subject American Studies Departments or Schools, if not more; but we strive to offer support to all colleagues who teach and research in the area of American Studies. As the most visible manifestation of American Studies scholarship, named departments and schools remain vital for our national standing, in league tables, and in relation to the RAE and more importantly the REF.

As Chair of BAAS, I write to Vice Chancellors about American Studies programme closures and offer BAAS’s support, sometimes with success, though often decisions have been made and communicated to staff before BAAS is able to offer its voice. Plymouth and Lancaster both confirmed the closing of American Studies provision this year, though American Studies options remain on other programmes.

As some programmes close, others thrive. Twenty-five programmes are listed in the 2009 Good University Guide League Table for American Studies, which is a higher number than in some previous years, and even here, not all programmes are listed. (By comparison, the 2005 table only listed 20 institutions.)

I’m pleased to announce that Sussex has retained its status as an American Studies department, which is good news and welcome in the current climate. In addition, many universities have seen a marked increase in applications to their American Studies courses, as announced in the Times Higher; across the board applications are up 22% with some institutions claiming rises of more than 50%. The reasons for this increase are mixed and various, and may include the fact that, on behalf of the community, BAAS supported the LLAS produced Discover American Studies CD-rom, produced at the University of Birmingham, and bought over 20,000 copies to distribute free to all institutions who asked for them. Others will claim the Obama effect, just as previously, others had bemoaned the Bush effect. Indeed, this summer I was interviewed by William Lee Adams of Time Magazine regarding American Studies – for an unfortunately named article, ‘American Studies: Stars and Gripes’, which appeared in October 2008. The journalist was keen to promote the idea that Bush was bad for American Studies – without seeing application figures in the context of peaks and troughs, and without recognising that American Studies teaching takes place in joint and combined honours programmes as much as it does on single honours, and certainly without taking into account the American option modules on every programme in English, Film, History, and Politics in the country – to name but a few.

BAAS arranged and sponsored a Heads of American Studies lunch at the ISA, London, in June last year, to discuss recruitment, links with schools and colleges, and research post-RAE. A follow-up meeting is scheduled for 16 June 2009. We have invited Paul Cammack, chair of the RAE subpanel and member of the REF Advisory Group, to discuss the new proposals.

For many of us, the RAE exercised a great deal of our thinking and not a little time. Eight institutions submitted to RAE Unit of Assessment 47, American Studies and Anglophone Area Studies, covering not only American Studies, but Caribbean, Latin American and Canadian Studies research. Although the number of staff submitted to the Unit fell from 114 in 2001 to 92 in 2008, there was also, according to the subject overview report, ‘significant evidence of staff renewal, with just over half of Category A staff submitted in RAE 2008 appointed to their institutions since 2001’. There was also a significant increase in the number of postgraduate students. There was a healthy number of cross-referrals to the panel, though BAAS’s concerted effort to persuade institutions to cross-refer work that was submitted to other panels to Unit 47 – a campaign led by Carol Smith as the former Vice Chair – was not as successful as had been hoped. Heads of Research perhaps misunderstood the cross-referral mechanism, which allowed for expert advice to be offered as a source of information to subpanels, which were free to use the advice as they wished. Although some colleagues have expressed disappointment with the RAE, particularly with the low number of institutions that submitted to the Unit, I quote from the publicly available RAE2008 UOA 47 subject overview report which states categorically:

Given the more demanding criteria of RAE 2008, which discriminates between different levels of international achievement, we believe that the quality of research activity assessed exceeds that of 2001….In 2008, three of the eight institutions submitted had 50 per cent or more of their activity recognised as world-leading or internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour…, and in all over 80 per cent of research (comprising research outputs, environment and esteem), weighted according to the number of staff in each submission, achieved international and world-leading quality levels of 2*, 3* and 4*.

This is an achievement to be proud of, though as BAAS has consistently noted in media interviews, to colleagues, and to Vice Chancellors, American Studies research is found in a variety of other units of assessment as well, and American Studies research has a far wider base than represented here. Thus I urge individuals and heads of programmes to contact me with information about where they and their colleagues were submitted.

These achievements are ably demonstrated by the many awards, promotions and other recognition accorded American Studies colleagues this year. Jacqueline Fear-Segal won the American Studies Network book prize for her book White Man’s Club (University of Nebraska Press, 2007). Rebecca Ferguson (University of Wales, Lampeter) gained a Recognition Award from the Toni Morrison Society in America for her book Rewriting Black Identities: Transition and Exchange in the Novels of Toni Morrison (2007). Gareth Davies (St. Anne’s, Oxford), was awarded the Richard Neustadt Prize of the American Politics Group of the Political Studies Association for his book See Government Grow on Federal education policy. And of course BAAS offers its own Book Prize, which this year is awarded to Kasia Boddy for her book Boxing: A Cultural History (Reaktion, 2008).

American Studies continues to offer clear evidence of its relevance and impact to both the US and the UK. For example, the Institute for the Study of the Americas formally launched its new United States Presidency Centre (USPC) on 24 October 2008. The centre is being set up to promote and facilitate research and scholarship on the US presidency, not only from a contemporary institutional and policy perspective but also in terms of its historical and cultural significance. Professor Matthew Jones (Nottingham) has been appointed by the Prime Minister as a Cabinet Office official historian, and commissioned to write the history of the Chevaline programme. On a very different note, an American Studies PhD Student at Sheffield, Kaleem Ashraf, has had his poetry read by Julia Wright (writer, activist and daughter of the great Richard Wright) at the National Unveiling of the Richard Wright Stamp at the Chicago Post Office earlier this month, as part of the centennial celebrations of Wright’s life and work.

BAAS members have also had success in achieving research grants, a significant factor regarding the health of the subject. Paul Grainge (Nottingham) made a successful bid to host and organise an AHRC research workshop on its ‘Beyond Text’ scheme. Sharon Monteith (also Nottingham) was successful in her application to the AHRC Research Leave Scheme to complete her book on Civil Rights in the Melodramatic Imagination.

This year has also seen a number of well-regarded academics achieve career distinction. Will Kaufman has been made Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Central Lancashire. Craig Phelan has been offered a Chair in History at Kingston. Jude Davies has been made Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Winchester.

Philip Davies, Emeritus Professor at De Montfort University and Director of the Eccles Centre, has been elected as a Rothermere American Institute Fellow, in recognition of his ‘exceptional contribution to the intellectual life of the RAI’ and his ‘distinction in academic, professional or public life’. Phil has also become co-editor of the Academy of Social Sciences journal 21st Century Society.

Douglas Tallack has been appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Arts, Humanities and Law at the University of Leicester, and Richard Carwardine is to become the next Warden of Corpus Christi.

Sadly, we also lost some long standing supporters of American Studies in Britain this year, including Vivien Hart, former Professor of American Studies at Sussex and Charlotte Erickson, a former BAAS Secretary and Chair who remained closely connected with BAAS throughout her lifetime.

BAAS offers many important services to the community. This year alone, BAAS will award 29 prizes worth a total of over £70,000, not including the support and funding we offer to conference organisers. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the US Embassy and also of individual BAAS members who regularly contribute to our Short Term Travel Award funds or who donate anonymously in other ways. For the first time this year, we will announce a new award of BAAS Fellow in recognition of services to BAAS and the American Studies Community.

As Chair of BAAS, I attended many functions on the community’s behalf over the past year, including, perhaps most memorably, the Election Night Party at the Embassy as well as a Breakfast meeting at the US Ambassador’s house the next morning – at 8am! At our table was, amongst others, Sir David Frost. It was an enjoyable and interesting set of events. I was also fortunate to be invited to the Ambassador’s house for the annual 4^th of July barbeque, complete with lashings of rain and the odd celebrity spotting opportunities.

On a more academic note, I attended the Regional Awards Winner reception and dinner for the AHRC in June, which was followed by a robust question and answer session with Philip Esler. I attended two meetings of UKCASA on BAAS’s behalf. I also attended a meeting of the Chief Officers’ Group for the Academy of Social Sciences in London. I attended a meeting of the Associate Fellows of the Institute for the Study of the Americas and have twice met the ISA’s new director, Maxine Molyneux, with plans for further meetings over the next academic year. I had to decline other invitations – to Fulbright lectures, for example – but often other officers or members of the executive were able to represent BAAS when I was unable to attend.

Perhaps one of the biggest tasks facing BAAS over the past year, as in previous years, was responding to a variety of consultation activities – often with very little notice. For example, we responded to a US patents consultation run by the British Library. Often, though, such consultation activities require repeated correspondence and negotiation. BAAS remained engaged with the European Reference Index for the Humanities project. Although we find journal rankings invidious and problematic, we also felt, as a subject association, that we would rather be involved in a project that seemed to be going ahead regardless of academic opinion – and thus be in a position to shape it – than to allow it to proceed without expert advice and guidance. We worked tirelessly to ensure that the Journal of American Studies achieved an A rating on the recently published Literature list, but we noted other anomalies. We thus contacted relevant journal editors and publishers to make them aware of the project and how they could correct the misapprehensions of their expert panel, and we nominated a number of BAAS members to serve – though to date we have yet to hear back from the ERIH as to whether our nominations were accepted.

We remain engaged with AHRC consultations. We wrote several letters to the AHRC regarding not only their Block Grant Proposal Scheme which continued to ignore the presence of American Studies, but also their creation of four new prioritisation panels. It was on the basis of this latter correspondence that I spoke at the UKCASA meeting about area studies in relation to the AHRC in January. Other area studies associations expressed similar concerns and thanked BAAS for being proactive in writing to the AHRC. We welcomed the commitment from the AHRC to seek American Studies experts for panels, though we were disappointed that in the reply to us, the overall nature of area studies was not recognised. We are pleased that a number of our members are AHRC peer college reviewers, and that some sit on the prioritisation panels themselves, and it is through this connection – as well as continuing dialogue and inviting representatives to speak to this conference – that we continue to engage with the AHRC.

We made a commitment to being involved, as appropriate, with a new body called the Arts and Humanities Users’ Group – a pressure group set up to respond to the AHRC, HEFCE and other bodies about research initiatives. On your behalf, the Executive Committee approves or does not approve linking our organisation’s name to letters sent out by the group about proposals and plans.

Other ways in which we support and promote American Studies are through engaging with the media, both in print form as noted above with Time Magazine, but also through other media outlets. For example, this year I talked with BBC Radio 4, Radio 5 Live, Radio 3 and other media outlets about the elections, John McCain, a miniseries on American History, George Washington’s Death Mask and Radio 3’s Free Thinking Festival of Ideas, often passing on the names of BAAS members for panels and discussions, and I’m aware that the rest of the Executive, particularly the Secretary, does the same. We issued a press release for the first time this year about our awards winners, and we have initiated plans to raise the profile of the Association – and American Studies– over the next year, for which we will need your help.

I have consistently noted that BAAS is much larger than its thirteen-strong elected representation – hence our need to rely on you to help us with consultations, profile raising, and representing American Studies nationally and internationally. But it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the hard work of all the members of the Executive, who sit on the committees and subcommittees as volunteers and often during their own free time; who respond with patience and dedication to these consultation activities; and who judge the copious number of awards BAAS funds or supports. I want to thank in particular the other officers: Martin Halliwell as Vice Chair and chair of the Publications subcommittee; Theresa Saxon as Treasurer, and Catherine Morley as Secretary. I know from experience the amount of time that this last role in particular requires, as the Secretary acts as a conduit for most of the information flow in BAAS. Thanks are extended also to the other subcommittee chairs: Sarah MacLachlan, Will Kaufman and Ian Scott, and to ex-officio and co-opted members Paul Blackburn, the Teachers’ Representative, Dick Ellis, the chair of the Library and Resources subcommittee, and Susan Castillo as editor of the Journal of American Studies. Michael Collins has completed his first year as postgraduate representative and has done a sterling job of continuing to support this important segment of our population, and other members George Lewis, Mark Whalan, Andrew Lawson, Robert Mason and Ian Bell offer their valuable support and input into committee and subcommittee meetings.

Finally, I am very grateful Celeste-Marie Bernier and her colleagues at Nottingham, for organising such an excellent conference, with grace, good humour, and of course, musical entertainment in the evenings.

Minutes of 2009 BAAS AGM

The 2009 AGM of BAAS was held on Friday 17 April at the University of Nottingham at 3:15pm.

Elections:

Treasurer            Theresa Saxon (to 2012)

Committee

John Fagg  (to 2012)

Martin Halliwell  (to 2012)*

Iwan Morgan  (to 2012)

*Not eligible for re-election to this position.

The Treasurer circulated copies of the Trustees’ Report and the draft audited accounts, which she asked the AGM to approve. She informed the AGM that the Trustees’ Report now contains a paragraph outlining firm concepts of how BAAS activities provide public benefit. This is a new aspect of the report which has recently been introduced by the Charities Commission. TS noted that as yet there is no template for phrasing our public benefit but we should have clearer guidelines next year. She added that in this first year she has stressed the provision of resources on the BAAS website and conference subsidies to PGs.

In terms of the accounts, TS drew the membership’s attention to the increase in the cost of journals and publications this year. The figure is double that of last year, which is linked to the Discover American Studies Project. TS also noted that subscriptions are down on last year, which means that our income from subscriptions has dropped £3000 this year. She noted that there have been a few cancelled standing orders. BAAS will need to monitor this issue as it may be a continuing trend; undoubtedly, the current financial crisis has had an impact. Overall she noted a healthy deficit of £14,000 in 2008. This is a positive position (as we should not make a surplus) and certainly no cause for concern.

The Treasurer noted that the bank accounts (as at 15 April 2009) were as follows: General Deposit, £17,214.69; Short Term Awards, £1701.44; Current, £21,349.73; Conference, £969.96; making a total of £41,235.82. The amount in the RBS Jersey is £15,474.61 and the US Dollar Account has $9,460.90.

Judie Newman (Nottingham) proposed that the accounts be approved; Carol Smith (Winchester) seconded the motion, and it was carried unanimously.

TS reported on progress made on Gift Aid, which has been an ongoing issue over the last few years. Since 2000, membership subscriptions and donations have been eligible for Gift Aid, and BAAS can claim back 22/78th for those who have signed legitimate Gift Aid declarations. TS has recently put in a claim to the Inland Revenue for approximately £1600. However, there are currently only 120 Gift Aid mandates on file (which accounts for just a quarter of the membership). TS urged the membership to collect, complete and return the circulated Gift Aid forms.

TS also reported on membership figures; there are currently 462 fully paid up members (160 of which are postgraduates), which compares to 523 (including 190 postgraduates) at this time last year. When those who have not updated their standing orders are included, this number rises to 525 in total (with 179 postgraduates).

On behalf of the Executive Committee TS proposed an increase in the BAAS subscription, to be introduced in 2010. She noted that BAAS and JAS have been linked since 2005 (with an optional subscription to the journal tied to membership). CUP have proposed to increase the number of volumes from three to four issues per year. Inevitably, this will incur an additional cost of £5.00 per annum. As BAAS has not increased membership fees since 2002, the Executive Committee have proposed an increase of £2.00 per annum on full membership and £1.00 per annum on postgraduate and retired membership costs. This rise is necessary to build the community, to build on the work of the association, and to invest in the updating and maintenance of the BAAS website. Thus, with the new JAS rate and the BAAS membership increase, the overall proposed subscription increases are as follows:

• Individual membership with JAS: rise from £41 to £48
• PG membership with JAS: rise from £28 to £34
• PG membership without JAS: rise from £13 to £14
• Retired membership with JAS: rise from £28 to £34
• Retired membership without JAS: rise from £13 to £14.

Phil Davies (Eccles Centre) proposed that the increase be approved, with effect from January 2010; Carol Smith seconded the motion, and it was carried unanimously.

The Chair offered a comprehensive verbal report, which is reproduced in full above.

Conferences:

Sarah MacLachlan began her report by acknowledging what a huge success the Nottingham conference had been so far, and offered public congratulations to Celeste-Marie Bernier and her team of postgraduates for the hard work they had put in before and during the conference. SM noted that this year she had visited the 2010 conference site at UEA with Thomas Ruys-Smith, the 2010 conference organiser. The conference will be based at the University of East Anglia (8–11 April 1010) and preparations are already well underway. She noted that the call for papers was available in conference packs and members were asked to consider submitting proposals early to allow for planning.

The 2011 conference will be held at the University of Central Lancashire, organised by Theresa Saxon. SM reported that the University of Manchester was confirmed for the 2012 conference, with the University of Exeter hosting the conference in 2013, and the University of Birmingham taking on the conference in 2014. Finally, SM invited suggestions for future conferences.

Publications:

Martin Halliwell began his verbal report by reminding the AGM that minutes of all meetings are published on the website, so that individuals may keep updated about current activities. He then reported on some of the highlights of the year in relation to the Publications subcommittee. In relation to BRRAM (British Records Relating to America in Microform), Ken Morgan (Brunel) continues to be active in developing the catalogue. A new BRRAM microform, ‘The American Correspondence of Arthur C. Murray with Franklin D. Roosevelt’, was released in late 2008; ‘The Manuscripts of Samuel Martin, a sugar planer in C18th Antigua’ is ready for release; and the William Davenport Papers (relating to a Liverpool slave merchant) have been added to the online resources on the slave trade. Ken Morgan is looking to expand the number of large American research libraries that have a standing order to take all the BRRAM titles, and would welcome any suggestions of new papers for the collection.

In relation to the BAAS EUP series, the series editors, Simon Newman (Glasgow) and Carol Smith, and EUP commissioning editor, Nicola Ramsey, have been busy in 2008 exploring possible new subjects and authors for the BAAS series. A new addition to the series is Celeste-Marie Bernier’s African American Visual Arts, co-published with University of North Carolina Press. Books on The American Short Story since 1950 and North American Theatre are due out in 2009-10.

MH noted that the editor of JAS, Susan Castillo, associate editor, Scott Lucas, and CUP representative Martine Walsh have been working very hard in 2009, streamlining and improving the JAS editorial processes. In 2008-9 Janet Beer (Oxford Brookes) and Shelley Fisher Fishkin (Stanford) had their terms of office on the JAS editorial board extended for another three years. MH welcomed the following as new board members: Richard Crockatt (UEA), Jane Dailey (Chicago) and Marjorie Spruill (South Carolina). At a meeting on 13 March in London, CUP, JAS and BAAS representatives discussed the proposal to move from three to four issues per year from 2010. The extra issue would cost an additional £5, making the rate £20 for BAAS members to receive JAS. The page length of future issues will be 240 pp. MH also noted that CUP are keen to develop First View for JAS which will mean that fully citable articles will appear online before they appear in print form. It was also proposed to add the associate editor of JAS to the BAAS Executive as a co-opted member. Carol Smith proposed the motion be approved; Judie Newman seconded the motion, and it was carried unanimously.

In relation to other publications, the latest issue of ASIB was produced earlier in the spring, with the deadline for the autumn issue being 31 July. MH noted that the typesetting for ASIB remains at Oxford Brookes University and, on behalf of BAAS, thanked Alison Kelly (RAI) for her work as editor.

Felicity Donohoe (University of Glasgow) took over from Elizabeth Boyle (Sheffield) as editor of US Studies Online in autumn 2008. Issue 13 was published in November 2008 and Issue 14 will include a number of papers first aired at the 2008 Exeter BAAS PG conference. MH noted that flyers for US Studies Online were included in conference packs and the editor is keen for the journal to be publicised to all American Studies graduate students.

MH thanked colleagues on the Publications subcommittee for the work they did in 2008-9.

Development:

Will Kaufman began his report by noting a series of positive developments, including the introduction of the BAAS Honorary Fellowship Award (developed in conjunction with the Ian Scott and Ian Bell on the Awards subcommittee) and the marked increase in the number of applications for conference support. He noted the Development subcommittee’s concerns about the liaison between schools and the American Studies community, and added that he hoped to meet with teachers, establish contacts, listen to grievances and receive teachers’ suggestions about BAAS–schools liaison. He stressed the value of initiatives such as the BAAS Schools Essay Prize, but added the need to do more, on both sides of the school-HE equation. The Development subcommittee has discussed, for instance, the possibility of recruiting a second schools liaison member from the teaching sector, either to accompany or alternate with the current schools liaison representative – perhaps from a southern region to complement the existing northern representation. BAAS welcomed the news that Dr Bella Adams (LJMU) has taken over the directorship of the American Studies Resource Centre, which continues to host the important 6th Form Conference. WK also offered congratulations to Dr Adams’s predecessor, Ian Ralston, who was recently offered a State Department Tribute for his services to American Studies.

WK noted that HE recruitment was a constant issue of discussion for the Development subcommittee, adding that in the coming year BAAS hopes to have some concrete statistics regarding the impact of the Discover American Studies CD-Rom project fronted by Dr Sara Wood and Professor Dick Ellis in collaboration with the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies – and generously funded by the US Embassy. One of the forthcoming tasks of the Development subcommittee will be to gather national feedback about the use of this recruitment package. The membership were asked to contact WK with details of recruitment and their use of the CD.

In terms of US Embassy grants, WK offered thanks to the US Embassy, who kindly agreed to provide the requested funds for this year’s BAAS conference, the STAs and the Ambassador’s Awards. He noted that the embassy had kindly provided a sum of £12,880, which broke down exactly into the requested amounts for each bid. Particular thanks were extended to Sarah-Jane Mayhew and Sue Wedlake.

WK noted an increase in the number of BAAS conference funding requests. Since the last AGM BAAS has been able to offer funding worth approximately £4,980 for conference organisation. The recipients were as follows: Trevor Burnard (Warwick) and Tim Lockley (Warwick) were awarded £300 for a conference on Early American and Atlantic History; Philip Davies (Eccles Centre) was awarded £300 for the 2008 Congress to Campus 6th Form conference; Michael Collins (Nottingham) and Mark Storey (Nottingham) were awarded £300 for a Nineteenth Century Literature postgraduate conference; Lewis Ward (Exeter) was awarded £300 for the 2008 BAAS postgraduate conference; Kathryn Gray (Plymouth) was awarded £300 for the South West American Studies Forum; Alan Rice (UCLAN) and Fionnghuala Sweeney (Liverpool) were awarded £300 for the Liberating Sojourn 2; Karen Heath (Oxford) was awarded £300 for the Nixon Era conference; Matthew Ward (Dundee) was awarded £300 for the 10th annual SASA conference; Iwan Morgan (ISA) was awarded £300 for the Seeking a New Majority conference; Ruth Hawthorn (Glasgow) was awarded £300 for the New Clear Forms conference; Richard Martin (London) was awarded £300 for a David Lynch conference; Helen Mitchell (Northumbria) was awarded £300 for the 2009 Annual BAAS postgraduate conference; Dick Ellis (Birmingham) was awarded £300 for the Engaging the New American Studies conference; Phil Davies (Eccles Centre) was awarded £300 for the 2009 Eccles Congress to Campus conference; Bella Adams (LJMU) was awarded £200 for ASRC schools conference; and applications for support funding have also been received for a Toni Morrison symposium (£280 requested) and the forthcoming HOTCUS conference (£300 requested).

WK extended thanks to Michael Collins for his ongoing work as Postgraduate Representative. He commended the organisers of the very successful BAAS postgraduate conference at Exeter in 2008; and noted that the forthcoming postgraduate conference will be held at Northumbria University on 14 November 2009.

WK concluded his report by thanking those who had replied to his email call for information regarding high-profile American Studies graduates, especially Pete Messent, Chris Gair, Phil Davies and Richard Crockatt. With their assistance BAAS has had responses from Richard Lister of the BBC, the novelist Jill Dawson, and the crime-writer John Harvey. WK reported that he had also had a response from the personal assistant to the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, which noted that ‘[Mr Salmond’s] dissertation on the 1860 election gave him a great admiration for Abraham Lincoln that has continued to influence him throughout his career in politics’.

All the members of the Development subcommittee were thanked for their contributions during the year.

Awards:

Ian Scott began his report by thanking the anonymous judges who contributed to the successful business of the Awards subcommittee. He noted that the success of the Awards had meant that this work had grown exponentially in the past few years and the Executive Committee will continue to encourage members to volunteer their services in the adjudication of BAAS Awards. He noted that BAAS will award 29 prizes in 2009 worth a total of nearly £70,000.

IS also reported that the teaching assistantship at Wyoming had been very successful again and that this would continue through another cycle for a further two years at least. He also noted that the Eccles Fellowship Award was still open and he encouraged colleagues to apply for the various EU and domestic awards. IS mentioned the inauguration of the new BAAS Honorary Fellowship Award, and asked the membership to consider proposing individuals for the fellowship. Finally, IS thanked the US Embassy for their support, as well as the individual members of BAAS who donate funds to support the Short Term Travel Awards.

Libraries and Resources:

Dick Ellis reported that the subcommittee had dealt with three main items over the past year. The first was the Discover American Studies CD, which was kindly funded by the US Embassy and purchased by BAAS. He reported that already American Studies applications have risen by 22%. DE noted that the CD was still available and interested individuals should email him for copies. The second major item of business for the subcommittee was the BLARs journal, which continues through the financial support of the US Embassy and the work of Matthew Shaw. The next issue will appear in August 2009. Those with suggestions for articles should email the editor, Dr Matthew Shaw, at the British Library. He also noted that BLARs had run a very successful session, entitled Dirty Filthy Copyright, at the conference on Thursday 16 April. Next year’s Dirty Sexy Copyright 2 is already in the planning stages. DE reported that the final item of major business was the development of an American Studies resources website (to be developed with INTUTE). This online tutorial provision will help teach students how to evaluate and criticise materials on the web. He added that he will contact the membership shortly, requesting assistance with the second phase of the programme.

Thanks were extended to all members of the subcommittee, especially Jane Kelly (Secretary), Phil Davies and colleagues at the British Library.

EAAS:

Phil Davies reported that his main business concerned the EAAS biannual conference in Dublin. He noted that the 24 workshops and lectures had recently been finalised, but there would be opportunities to propose papers for the workshops. This would be advertised in the newsletter on www.eaas.eu. Details would also be circulated via the BAAS e-list. He reminded the AGM that the extended deadline for the EAAS Rob Kroes Book Prize would close at the end of July and urged the membership to send along their manuscripts. He also reminded the membership of EJAS as a valuable publishing outlet. He concluded by noting that EAAS 2012 would be held in Turkey.

AOB:

Jenel Virden (Hull) asked why all institutions with raised application figures were not reported in the Chair’s Report. The Chair replied that she had reported the figures of all those institutions which had responded to her call for information.

The AGM concluded at 4.30pm.

Professor Vivien Hart (28 May 1938 – 2 February 2008)

Professor Vivien Hart died peacefully following a short illness caused by an aggressive brain tumour earlier this year. She was a modest, undemonstrative friend who provided unstinting support and sage advice to her colleagues and students at the University of Sussex and beyond.

An interdisciplinary social scientist whose work traversed the fields of history, politics and law, Vivien’s research focused particularly on the contribution of women to the political process and more recently their role in constitution-making. After completing her PhD at Harvard, Vivien joined colleagues in American Studies at Sussex in 1974. There she worked to help establish American Studies as a leading field at the university as well as nationally, becoming Professor in 1996. Always ready to read a research proposal or book chapter, she would offer detailed and supportive feedback that was often accompanied by a glass of wine as well as much encouragement. A model of patience in an often frustrating or difficult environment, Vivien quietly succeeded without making enemies or losing friends.

Alongside her dedicated service to Sussex, she sustained an expansive network of friends and colleagues throughout the world. She spent time as a visiting Professor at Smith College and at Ohio State University, and held fellowships at the American Council of Learned Societies, Toronto University, the United States Institute of Peace, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Brookings Institution.

While she enjoyed travelling and always found time for her many friends, Vivien was happiest making a difference to those most excluded from positions of power and decision making. Her work was sustained by a desire to investigate and correct the politics of exclusion. Vivien’s short report, ‘Democratic Constitution Making’, written during a fellowship at the US Institute of Peace, has become one of the most significant and effective contributions that an American Studies academic has made to conflict resolution throughout the world. Her colleagues at the Comparative Constitutions project thus recently mourned her as ‘a pioneer in thinking about how the process of making constitutions relates to the consolidation of democracy and human rights’, and she was proudly bemused that, of all her work, this short report seemed to have made the most impact and was being used to inform conflict resolution in areas as divergent as Iraq and Sri Lanka.

To Vivien, the theory and the practice of social inclusion and participatory democracy could not be separated and she always had her eye on the practical outcomes of her academic research. Her work on the formation of national identity or constitution-making, for example, was driven by pragmatic considerations such as: ‘Can there be such a thing as a woman-friendly state?” In her book, Bound by Our Constitution: Women, Workers, and the Minimum Wage she wrote that “Minimum wagers trod a narrow path between the attractions of theoretical perfection and the urgent need for practical solutions. Their dilemma, and ours, in choosing between the best policy or the best they could get, was never better stated than by New York activist Pauline Newman, reminding yet another preliminary inquiry in 1915 that, while the theoretical debates roll on, “in the meantime the girls are absolutely starved”.’

Vivien Hart’s death leaves us with one less feminist voice to remind us about what is important while theoretical debates roll on in academic or juridical institutions – but she also leaves us with the gift of her sharp and peace-loving intellect that will continue to inform and sustain the research and social policy of inclusive politics beyond the boundaries of American Studies and her own time.

Dr. Susan Currell

University of Sussex

Albert Hamilton Gordon (1901-2009)

Albert Hamilton Gordon, a generous supporter of American Studies postgraduate students at Glasgow University, died on 1 May in his New York City home. His wife, Mary Rousmaniere, predeceased Albert, and he is survived by five children, twelve grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. 107 years old at his death, Albert Gordon lived a full and remarkable life, and to those who met him he appeared a living link with more than a century of American history. Albert’s mother, Sarah Flanagan, left Galway with her family in the wake of the Great Famine, while his father Albert Franklin Gordon had been one of the first ranchers in the Wyoming Territory before becoming a leather broker who was the leading supplier to the British Army during the Great War.

Albert was born in Scituate, Massachusetts on 21 July 1901. He was educated at Roxbury Latin School before graduating cum laude at Harvard University in 1923, and then going on to receive his MBA from Harvard two years later. He began working as an analyst for Goldman Sachs, traversing the eastern seaboard and developing a love of travel, while enjoying New York City and all it had to offer during the era of Prohibition. After the Wall Street Crash Albert and two partners took control of the ailing company Kidder Peabody, which they relocated from Boston to New York City. Eventually becoming chairman, Mr Gordon helped make it a major Wall Street institution: by 1960 he was listed one of the ten most powerful men on Wall Street, and Kidder ranked as one of the top investment banking concerns. Albert became known as one of the ‘Titans of Wall Street’, and he was the last of these men who rebuilt American investment banking.

Kidder Peabody was sold to General Electric in 1986, but retirement was not an option, and until 2007 Albert continued spending four days a week in the office. His enthusiasm for good health and exercise combined with his love of travel in interesting ways: he climbed stairs rather than take elevators, walked instead of taking buses or subways, and he loved running, wherever he was. He made a hobby of walking from the downtown areas of major cities to airports, regularly walking from his home in Manhattan to JFK airport, as well as walking to airports in such cities as Baltimore, Cleveland and even Los Angeles (the latter taking him six hours). An early supporter of the New York Road Runners Club, Albert helped the group to create the New York Marathon, and the club named its library and an annual race in his honour. He was the oldest competitor in the inaugural London Marathon, and although he was forced to stop running in his 80s, Albert continued to exercise until shortly before his death.

Mr Gordon was an enthusiastic supporter of many good causes, working for and helping to support Roxbury Latin School and Harvard, where he created the Harvard Associates and raised money for academic and athletic causes. In the UK Mr Gordon has provided teaching and coaching scholarships for American graduates at Winchester College, and he created an endowment for American Studies postgraduate students at the University of Glasgow, becoming an Honorary Fellow of the University in 2002. The annual Gordon Lecture in American Studies is named in his honour, and the ninth lecture was given by Professor Douglas Tallack just a few days before Albert’s death.

Albert Gordon was often more interested in finding out about the interests of others than in talking about his own life, asking about favourite authors before gently probing the respondent on his or her answers: at his 101^st birthday party at his summer home on Fisher’s Island, he quizzed me quite mercilessly about F. Scott Fitzgerald, and I soon realised that he knew far more about Fitzgerald than I did. Few people knew more about Trollope than did Albert, and he was an enthusiastic patron of the Trollope Society and a great collector of various editions of Trollope’s novels. I was once able to ask Albert about his education at Harvard, and whether or not he had taken classes from a particular American historian, and if so what they were like. Knowing full well how interested I was, he replied with a twinkle in his eye that he had indeed taken a course with Frederick Jackson Turner, but had found him a rather boring lecturer. Perhaps Albert Gordon did represent a living link with much of American history, from the Irish Great Migration to the Roaring Twenties to the rebuilding of Wall Street, but it will be for his enthusiasm for life, for reading and for running that I shall remember him. And for his sense of humour. Although one of Wall Street’s most eminent bankers he often flew in economy class, and he once noticed a junior Vice President from his bank taking a seat in business class. Albert scribbled a short note, and had a flight attendant take it forward to his junior colleague, asking ‘What is the food like up there?’

Simon Newman

University of Glasgow

Following RAE 2008

An Open Letter by Peter Messent and R. J. Ellis

American Studies in Britain has emerged from the 2008 RAE as a subject area under considerable threat. Following publication of the RAE results, research funding across the board in American Studies has dropped by 22%, making it the seventh most heavily cut in terms of funding in this RAE research round. More to the point, at least three of the eight units returned in the American and Anglophone (UoA 47) panel have been subject to immediately adverse affects. The American Studies undergraduate course at University of London, King’s, has been closed. American Studies has lost its Departmental status at Swansea, instead operating as a programme within a reconfigured School of Arts and Humanities. The Liverpool unit is under threat of closure. Indeed, the existence of the American Studies and Anglophone Area Studies Panel itself is now in serious question as a result of such developments. Though not all of the above are due solely to the RAE results, they have certainly had a substantial contributory effect.

While we consider it pointless to complain about an exercise that is now completed, we think it worth highlighting an apparent unevenness across Arts panels which has worked to the detriment of our subject area. A series of statistics make this clear.

The median GPA, or ‘National Profile,’ for the whole of RAE2008 (all subjects) was 2.62, whilst in American and Anglophone Studies the GPA was very significantly lower – the ninth lowest – at 2.38.

Exactly 50% – 4 of the 8 – units assessed in the American and Anglophone panel had unclassified grades of between 5 and 15%. The Philosophy panel, with 42 returns, had only one unit with an unclassified grade. English (87 returns) had 19 units with unclassified grades – just over 20% of the units assessed. History, with 83 units returned, had 18 units with unclassified grades – just below 25% of the units assessed. However if we omit London Metropolitan (unrepresented on the closely related English and History panels), and look directly across units at the remaining institutions represented on the three panels (English, History and American and Anglophone), neither English or History had any unclassified returns in these seven institutions while American Studies and Anglophone had three units (over 40%) with unclassified grades.

At the other end of the scale, we might look at the 4*s and 3*s, taken as one combined sum. Again we omit London Metropolitan as the one institution not also submitting in English and History. The remaining seven units in American and Anglophone received, on average a 4* or 3* for only 45% of their entries. English’s percentage ratings in the same institutions average at 63.6%. History’s average was 59.3%.

All these figures indicate the scale of the problem generated by the RAE. There are other statistics that could be given, but the indications here are of a panel that, whatever its integrity and good intentions (for we do not question these), judged less generously than its peers, and that not enough adjustment was made at a higher level to compensate for that fact. It might be suggested that the American Studies outputs in these Universities are – across the board – less worthy of merit than in those comparative units. We would strongly resist any such reading. The fact that Professor Paul Cammack, the Chair of UoA 47, has confirmed that, where research was cross-referred to the American and Anglophone panel from other panels, no significant difference in quality was evident, helps support that claim.

In raising these issues, we wish in part merely to make others aware of these acute disparities, and of the misleading impression of our subject area that has accordingly been generated. We also look for representations to be made to ensure such disparities are ironed out next time round, if – as we hope – some version of an American Studies panel still exists.

However we are also concerned about the immediate visibility of our subject area and how it may now be affected. American Studies, it is true, could perhaps survive as a piecemeal scattering of fragmented provisions. Indeed, it has been argued by at least one major scholar in the field that this is inevitable, and should not, perhaps, be resisted. Our own sense is that we should resist such a development where we can. And this is where BAAS comes in. BAAS defends and protects the interests of the subject as a whole, and represents much more than specialised American Studies Departments or Schools: our subject, after all, is taught widely, often as part of the activities of other departments, across the University board. But it is specialised American Studies Departments that provide the subject area with its public visibility. It is a constant battle (as BAAS knows well) to keep American Studies represented in the public educational domain. The fact that American Studies is not a named subject in the new AHRC Postgraduate Block Grant Partnership is symptomatic of the endemic difficulties that constantly emerge.

We hope here both to focus the minds of our friends and colleagues on the damage done by the last RAE, and to call for the development of a coherent counter-offensive. The poor results recorded in UoA 47 are visible for all to see. We note that HEFCE has not moved to develop strategies to assist American Studies. This is in stark contrast to what has happened in Languages and Non-Anglophone Area Studies, where Professor Michael Worton, Vice Provost, UCL, is leading a review of the health of these subjects and how they might be helped (following equivalently poor RAE results). This review is likely to lead to increased resources being diverted to these subject areas. American Studies has no such assistance on the horizon; it has to fend for itself.

Consequently we lend our own voices to the agenda that BAAS no doubt is already considering. We would argue the immediate need for a careful stock-taking of our subject area. At this crisis point (for this is how we see it) we ask that BAAS pays continued and particular attention to the defence and promotion of its named American Studies units to ensure that more losses of resource, and indeed of teaching and research units, do not occur. It is here that the present damage is being done, and if these units (and institutional recognitions of their presence) continue to be depleted, and to fade from view, the health of the whole subject area will be – perhaps irreparably – damaged.

BAAS Notices and Requests

An American Studies Gold Mine: The Journal of American Studies Archive

There is a saying that, the deeper you delve into a gold mine, the richer the rewards. In academic terms this can only be a good thing – particularly given the way that past theories and scholarly trends have a tendency to come back into fashion. As the field of American Studies regenerates, evolves and moves on its intellectual debt to the works of the past becomes increasingly evident. When the academy honours its senior scholars – as it did at this year’s British Association of American Studies Conference – it becomes clear how important the evolving state of the American Studies field is to contemporary understandings of ‘America’ and its various representations. Consequently, understanding and re-examining past works remains hugely important for current scholars: not just to get to grips with the extant literature, but also to help to situate contemporary work within the wider narrative of American Studies scholarship.

Nevertheless, in spite of these obvious advantages it has not always been easy to access past issues of journals and the Journal of American Studies has been no exception. Until now, that is. Cambridge University Press, which publishes JAS, has recently completed a project to digitise all back copies of the journal. Ranging from April 1967 until the present day, there is now a dizzying range of articles, review essays and reviews available to peruse. On their own, the issues provide a tour d’horizon of some of the most distinguished American Studies scholars since the 1960s. Collectively, however, they provide a pathway through an evolving and diverse field – which takes in a range of innovative inter-disciplinary methods and approaches, culminating most recently in the ‘cultural turn’ and the emergence of transnational American Studies. At a time when ‘America’ and our understanding of it is being challenged by new developments and events, this opportunity to reconnect with the past of American Studies is most timely; one which we hope many people will take the opportunity to enjoy.

The archive is available at http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=AMS via log-on through Athens.

Bevan Sewell, University of Nottingham

Editorial Assistant, Journal of American Studies

Media Contacts Database: call for information

As the plans for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) take shape, it is apparent that measuring the impact of our research beyond the academic community will be an increasingly important criterion in the assessment of research activity. Accordingly, BAAS hopes to improve and make more systematic its role as an information gateway for external agencies – especially media – who are seeking to contact experts in British American studies for the purpose of drawing on their research expertise. We hope to establish a contacts database listing research specialisms and key publications for UK American Studies academics, which will allow media organisations, NGOs, schools, and arts and culture institutions better access to details of the range and location of American Studies expertise in the UK.

To that end, we are sending out a call for information to be held by BAAS, and in due course to be made available on our website and in our publications. If you are interested in BAAS passing on your details to such external agencies as a way of helping disseminate your research, please could you respond to Mark Whalan (m.whalan@exeter.ac.uk) with the following information:

• name, title, and academic institution
• list of 4–5 research specialisms (e.g. American modernist literature; the history of the civil rights movement; contemporary US sitcoms)
• list of 2–4 key publications
• your phone number, e-mail and website URL if available

Many thanks

Mark Whalan

BAAS Database of Schools Liaison Personnel

Again with the REF and our impact beyond the academic community in mind, BAAS is keen to increase members’ interaction with schools. Accordingly, we hope to establish a contacts database listing details of academic staff and postgraduate students who would be willing to speak to school groups on American Studies topics.

We are therefore issuing a call for information to be held by BAAS, and in due course to be made available on our website. If you are interested in BAAS passing on your details to schools, please write to the BAAS Secretary, Catherine Morley (catherine.morley@leicester.ac.uk), with the following information:

• name and title
• affiliation with complete contact details including address, telephone, fax, and email
• list of 4–5 research specialisms

By providing this information, you agree to it being passed on to schools who are seeking a speaker on American Studies or a related discipline.

BAAS Database of External Examiners 

The Secretary of BAAS, Catherine Morley, holds a list of potential external examiners. If individuals would like to put their names forward for this list, please email her at cm260@le.ac.uk. Include the following information, in list form if possible:

• name and title
• affiliation with complete contact details including address, telephone, fax, and email externalling experience (with dates if appropriate)
• current externalling positions (with end dates)
• research interests (short descriptions only)

By providing this information, you agree to it being passed on to universities who are seeking an external for American Studies or a related discipline. Should you wish your name to be removed or your details updated in the future, please contact the Secretary.

Any university representative interested in receiving the list should also contact the Secretary. BAAS only acts as a holder of the list; it does not ‘matchmake’.

Paper copies can also be requested by sending a letter to:

Dr Catherine Morley

Centre for American Studies

University of Leicester

University Road

Leicester, LE1 7RH

Journal of American History Scholarship Records

You are asked once again to respond to a call for information about recent publications in American History from the Journal of American History.

For BOOKS, please include the following information: author name, title, city of publication, name of the press, year of publication, number of pages, ISBN number, price in local currency, and language(s) of publication.

ARTICLES FROM JOURNALS should include the author name, title, volume number of the journal, month or season (if applicable) and year of publication, page numbers.

ARTICLES FROM EDITED COLLECTIONS should include the name of the volume, pages, and the editors’ names, press, city, year of publication.

DISSERTATIONS should include author’s name, full title, institution from which the dissertation was written, the year of the degree.

Please send the information to Patrick Hagopian, one of the JAH UK international contributing editors, p.hagopian@lancaster.ac.uk

US Studies Online

the BAAS postgraduate journal, issue 14, spring 2009 is now available on the British Association for American Studies website http://http://www.baas.ac.uk/

Travel Award Reports

Founders’ Award

Towards the end of 2008 I submitted an abstract to the organisers of a conference in Virginia; I had seen their call for papers and it was exactly in line with my current research. Very quickly they responded and accepted my proposal. However, as a part-time tutor only a few months out of my PhD I knew that my ability to actually attend the conference would depend on whether the debt I had incurred during my postgraduate studies shrank or grew. It grew. And then I awoke one morning to find that we had entered the second Great Depression. This was not a good time to hit the credit card, and the Bank of Mum and Dad had already given more than enough in the course of my PhD (money, accommodation, their hopes and dreams that I might find secure employment this side of thirty). The situation did not look promising. Obviously, my first thought was to apply for a government bail-out. But apparently you only get that if you lend and lose vast amounts of other people’s money. Instead, therefore, I applied to the BAAS travel award scheme. I would like to record here my sincere thanks for the grant which followed. It enabled me to deliver a conference paper in early June 2009 at Liberty University, in Lynchburg, Virginia. The conference theme was ‘D-Day’, and it was purposefully timed to coincide with the 65^th anniversary of the allied invasion. It brought together social, cultural and military historians from across the United States; I was the only UK-based scholar to attend. My paper examined American commemoration of D-Day in Normandy from the end of the war to the present. More specifically, I discussed the ways in which the image of 6^th June has changed through time and, in doing so, I considered the extent to which representations of the wartime past are often framed by the circumstances – political, cultural, economic, psychological – of the present.

This conference paper was based upon research undertaken during the course of my PhD; my thesis examined the ways in which Americans have commemorated the Second World War in Europe, and upon the European landscape. I engaged with this subject via a detailed study of commemorative activities in East Anglia (wartime home of the American air force and thus ‘occupied’ during the war by approximately 200,000 American servicemen) and in Normandy (site of the largest amphibious operation in history, and a region through which up to half a million American soldiers passed). The widespread commemorative activities witnessed in these two regions over the last sixty-five years have included, amongst other things, memorial construction, museum building and battlefield pilgrimages. In more recent years, such activities have also been joined by other, less ‘traditional’, practices: the production of commercial memory media and the development of internet based ‘sites of memory’. Thus, I have examined the ways in which acts of commemoration continuously re-script the past with reference to the concerns of the moment; but I have also explored the extent to which the actual practices of commemoration likewise change through time.

During the course of my PhD I gave papers discussing aspects of this research at several conferences in Britain and Ireland. But I had not had the opportunity to present my research on D-Day commemorations, nor had I been able to offer my thoughts to a specifically American academic audience. The generous award of the BAAS travel grant provided that opportunity. Moreover, it also allowed me to be involved in a conference which was itself an act of commemoration: the conference included numerous talks and presentations by living witnesses to D-Day, and the final day of the conference (6^th June) also included attendance at a commemorative ceremony at the National D-Day Memorial, located in Bedford, Virginia.

I found my attendance at the conference to be an enormously rewarding experience. It was a pleasure and a privilege to be able to meet with, and talk to, many D-Day veterans, and I was also able to make several contacts with American academics pursuing similar lines of research. I look forward to following up some of these contacts, and continuing my discussions with these scholars, during the years to come.

Let me conclude by offering, once again, my thanks to BAAS for the award of a travel grant without which I would not have been able to attend the conference.

Sam Edwards

Lancaster University

Founders’ Award

I am extremely grateful to the British Association of American Studies for awarding me a short term travel award to the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives in New York where I hoped to uncover more about James Baldwin’s early political life. Located on the tenth floor of New York University’s main library, the Tamiment Library is a little-known (or used) resource for scholars interested in Labor and the left.

I am, I confess, a big fan of archives. I love the ritual of entering the library; of discovering who’s helpful (and who to avoid). I relish the moment when I know I’ve stumbled across something of value and I enjoy the unwritten code of conduct when communicating with other scholars (nod, smile but rarely speak). Archival work, as I try and tell my students, is akin to sleuthing. (I see myself as in the mould of The Wire’s McNulty – though I suspect my students see me more as a Dr. Watson figure.)

I am currently working on two projects centred on the African American writer James Baldwin. I have recently edited A Historical Guide to James Baldwin (Oxford University Press, 2009), and am currently finishing a monograph, provisionally titled: James Baldwin: Race, Identity and Politics From the Cold War to Gay Liberation. The monograph examines how Baldwin’s work shaped and responded to key political and cultural developments in the United States from the 1940s to the 1980s. During the course of my research I became increasingly drawn to Baldwin’s early political career, a part of his life that has largely been airbrushed from biographical and critical works.Despite cutting his teeth on a group of magazines associated most closely with the ‘New York intellectuals’ (including later articles for Partisan Review), Baldwin repeatedly played down his early political associations whilst at the same time offering tantalising hints at the importance of a cluster of anti-Stalinist editors on his early career. Saul ‘Sol’ Levitas of The New Leader, Randall Jarell of The Nation and Elliot Cohen and Robert Warshow of Commentary, Baldwin acknowledged, ‘were all very important to my life. It is not too much to say that they helped to save my life.’ And yet Baldwin is curiously hazy about his connections to the political scene of the 1940s. ‘My life on the Left,’ Baldwin wrote (and it’s the second part that whetted my appetite), ‘is of absolutely no interest.’

I used the archives at the Tamiment Library to trace Baldwin’s involvement with Eugene Worth, a close friend whom Baldwin recalls introduced him to the Young People’s Socialist League (YPSL) and to get a better sense of the author’s political past. Although I did not uncover any specific references to Baldwin (there are no records of YPSL members from the early 1940s), I was able to find a number of extremely useful unpublished articles. In particular, I located a number of illuminating articles from the YPSL magazine, Challenge! from the early 1940s (the time when Baldwin was a member) as well as articles and letters from key YPSL and Socialist writers on the Left and racial politics (e.g. George Breitman). The material that I have found will give my book more focus, illuminating the wider connections between Leftist politics and African American politics in the 1940s.

Douglas Field

University of Staffordshire

Founders’ Award

I am grateful to the British Association of American Studies for a Founders’ Award which paid for a transatlantic air fare to pursue two projects, at two archives, alongside two existing small grants in the United States for four weeks in April 2009.

My first two weeks of research were spent at John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, Columbia Point, Massachusetts, with the additional aid of a John F. Kennedy Foundation Research Grant. I am currently working on a project about global responses to the Kennedy presidency and assassination. Much of this centres on the controversy surrounding Britain’s establishment of a National John F. Kennedy Memorial at Runnymede in 1964 (located next to Royal Holloway, University of London), as well as a Kennedy Memorial Trust to administer scholarships to Harvard and MIT. It places these specific debates more broadly within the global context of Kennedy commemorations with special reference to the construction of Kennedy memorials around the world.

At the Kennedy Library I made use of the Gerald Jay Steinberg Collection. It was deposited over 30 years ago, and I was the first scholar to use the collection in its entirety for a dedicated research project. Steinberg, a Maryland dentist, boasted the largest collection of Kennedy ephemera in the world. As part of the collection he meticulously documented Kennedy memorials, writing to hundreds of US cities, counties and states, and scores of countries, for information and photographs. The result is a collection that maps the geocultural coordinates of Kennedy memorials worldwide, revealing intriguing domestic and transnational dimensions to this phenomenon. A co-chaired workshop on the topic has since been accepted by the European Association of American Studies for their conference in Dublin, 26–29 March 2010.

My second two weeks of research were spent at the Rockefeller Archive Center (RAC), Sleepy Hollow, New York, with the additional help of a RAC Grant-in-Aid. I spent the time beginning research on a project to write a political biography of Arkansas governor Winthrop Rockefeller using the 264 microfilm reels of his papers housed at the archive. Rockefeller was the first Republican governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction (1967–71) and, alongside Florida’s Claude R. Kirk, Jr. (no relation!) he was one of the first two Republicans in the South to win gubernatorial elections since Reconstruction.

What makes Rockefeller and other early Republican governors of the modern South so fascinating is that they were almost all liberal Republicans, which flies in the face of what has become the dominant conservative ‘southern strategy’ narrative of Republican ascendancy in the region. My research will examine, through Rockefeller’s career, how and why liberal Republicans paved the way for the party’s successful conservative incursion into the South. Winthrop Rockefeller’s career is particularly apposite in this respect since it was his brother Nelson, New York governor (1959–73) and forty-first vice president of the United States (1974–77), who lent his name to the liberal ‘Rockefeller Republicanism’ of the era in US politics.

In the first instance my research will be directed toward an essay about Rockefeller’s 1966 election campaign to appear in Glen Feldman’s forthcoming edited collection How, When, and Why the South became Republican. Two other articles based on my research, which will be stepping stones to the full-length study, are in currently in progress. Whilst at the RAC I was invited to apply for a place on a newly launched Scholar-in-Residence programme and I will return to the archive to conduct further funded research in August 2009.

The Founders’ Award was extremely helpful in allowing me to stretch and maximise the benefits of two existing small grants from the US and in enabling me to successfully apply for further funding from other sources. The results of the research will be disseminated at conferences and in publications over the coming year and will shape my unfolding research well beyond that period.

John A. Kirk

Royal Holloway, University of London

Founders’ Award

Since 2005 I have been collecting documents on the work of various business organisations that were active in the United States during and after the Second World War. These records are spread throughout the US in federal, state, presidential, university and local archives. As a result I have had to make several short trips, as opposed to one more convenient large one, in order to visit the available sources. With the help of a Founders’ Award, in 2008 I was able to make one such trip to archives in Detroit, Michigan, which up to that point had been too expensive to undertake. The material I gathered there has proved invaluable in my overall project, which seeks to weigh the contribution and influence of the corporate elite on the policies of the US government.

The home of several manufacturing concerns, not to mention the ‘big three’ car firms of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors, Detroit has a lot to offer business historians, especially those interested in studying American corporations during their global heyday of the 1950s and 1960s. The trip to Detroit also allowed me the opportunity to visit the extensive archive in the library of the University of Chicago, home of the ‘Chicago school’ of scholars and intellectuals that became so prominent in American business and politics during the 1940s. The staff at the library were extremely helpful and courteous and operated their system in a similar way to that of the larger National Archives in Washington, DC, where records have to be carefully pre-ordered and must be viewed in a very prescribed fashion. In all the trip was a great success, at least if my suitcase-full of photocopies and literature is anything to go by!

The Founders’ Award helped pay for the flight and accommodation leaving only the subsistence costs for me to find. In these tough financial times (when have they ever been otherwise?) when competition for larger grants from the well-known funding institutions is especially high, it is worth noting that research trips – even overseas – can still be achieved with the help of the smaller yet invaluable contributions that are offered (competitively and on merit) by professional organisations such as BAAS. From my perspective, without these opportunities to win smaller grants, the gathering of material for my current project would have been almost impossible or taken even longer to accomplish had I waited until I hit ‘paydirt’ by winning a single large grant.

Charlie Whitham

University of Wales Institute, Cardiff

John D. Lees Award

In September 2008 I travelled to Washington DC for a three-month fieldwork trip to conduct research towards my PhD, the subject of which is post-9/11 US civil–military relations. Specifically, the research seeks to assess and explain the relative balance of influence between senior civilian policymakers and military leaders in order to address the question of who controls military strategy in the post-9/11 era. The thesis uses two major case studies, Afghanistan (2001–2009) and Iraq (2003–2009), with which to provide an answer to the central research question and to test theoretical propositions regarding the relative balance of influence within the civil-military relationship. The purpose of the fieldwork trip was threefold: to gather evidence to corroborate or clarify existing accounts of the decision-making process for key decision points identified for each case study; to provide additional information regarding particular benchmarks in the evolution of US military strategy which have received little or no attention in the existing literature (particularly with regards to Afghanistan); and to investigate the importance of specific variables that appear to have a significant effect on the civil–military balance of power.

Given the contemporary nature of the two case studies and the limited access to government records relevant to national security decision-making, interviewing was to be a primary tool for compiling a qualitative account of civil-military interaction throughout the policymaking process. Over the course my twelve weeks in DC I met with a number of professionals relevant to my thesis, interviewing individuals within the Joint Staff at the Department of Defense, the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs at State, as well as speaking with current and retired military officers, including a former commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan. In addition to sources located within, or with proximity to, the core decision-making forums, I also benefited from the analyses and views of a number of journalists (including an associate editor at the Washington Post), scholars (from Johns Hopkins, National War College, and George Mason University), and analysts from institutions such as Brookings and the Centre for American Progress. I was amazed at the time, and continue to be surprised even now on reflection, at how receptive these individuals were to my requests for their time and how willing they were to engage with my research. Each interview provided a unique insight into the interests, preferences, and respective influence of the major civilian and military players, illuminating the different patterns of military-policymaker behaviour and illustrating how the relationship dynamics shaped the substance of military strategy as it evolved in Afghanistan and Iraq. I anticipate that the material gained from the fieldwork will be of significant value in facilitating the testing of the explanatory power of the different models of military–policymaker relations under development.

In addition to interviewing, I also attended a number of events and conferences taking place in the DC area, the highlight of which was a two-day topical symposium on national security reform organized by the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University. The not-for-attribution nature of the commentary and discussions of the symposium provided a frank and incisive dialogue on the issues at hand, many which were of distinct relevance for my research. Involvement in these events further provided the opportunity to listen to significant figures, including the Deputy Chairman of NATO Military Committee, a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, current regional military commanders, and distinguished scholars who are at the very forefront of the evolving debates on national security reform, civil–military relations, military transformation, post-conflict administration and security challenges in the post-9/11 era.

Such a short report as this cannot really capture the full value of the twelve weeks spent in Washington as it was enriching in many ways, both academic and personal. Having always studied and observed the US from a distance, experiencing how Washington works from within has given me a whole new perspective. The personal interactions I had with interview subjects helped to locate my research within the contemporary debates and reaffirmed, on both a personal and professional level, the significance of my research area. Finally, if for no other reason, the experience and skills I gained over the course of the trip have been invaluable in terms of the development of my confidence. My sincere thanks to the British Association of American Studies for its contribution towards the trip by way of the John D. Lees Travel Award.

Charlotte Louise Regan

University of Westminster, London

Peter Parish Award

Being awarded the BAAS Peter Parish travel grant provided me with invaluable funding for research in Georgia towards my thesis, Race and the State Fair in the American South 1900-1930. The annual state fair provides a cultural canvas on which the impact of national events and trends can be seen within a local context during this era. It reflects how local communities engaged with national constructs of race, progressivism, education and consumerism. In doing so, the fair provides a unique space as, unlike other forms of entertainment, such as the circus, it celebrated and consciously interacted with current issues or the ‘norms’ of everyday life. This is particularly significant in terms of racial dynamics as, following the Atlanta race riot, an alternative African American state fair was established in 1906 to take place the week following the ‘white’ fair. A part of my thesis examines the black fair, an event which has not been examined in depth before. It analyses the history of the black fair and the spirit of accommodationism in which the fair was established, alongside the prominent African American educators who were involved in the fairs. The predominantly black crowds present at the fair and black parades throughout the streets of Macon projected and promoted a sense of black identity, consciously or unconsciously creating a black community through the strategy of accommodationism.

My research trip started in New Orleans, Louisiana in April 2009. In New Orleans I presented a conference paper at the Popular Culture Association (PCA) conference entitled ‘Black and White Days: Racial Space in Georgia’s African American and “White” fairs, 1900–1915’. Apart from providing me with the experience of an international conference it helped me to network with fellow academics in the field of American Studies. After continuing on my trip to Macon, Georgia, I started working with Betsy Yates of the Macon Exchange Club alongside the wonderfully helpful staff at the Genealogy section of the Washington Memorial Library.

The research trip and my immersion within the local community helped me reach a geographical and historical understanding of Macon and the state fair during this time period. Talking about and interpreting state fair documents with the help of people who had a familial understanding of Macon’s history proved to be a priceless experience. My knowledge of the state fair was furthered by an almost tangible sense of history that, whilst not written down, came from the memories of people who had grown up in Macon. In particular this provided a useful insight into Macon’s racial dynamics, as much of de facto segregation tacitly depended on assumed community knowledge and boundaries.

The documents I found on my trip will form a seminal part of my PhD thesis. A designated Ku Klux Klan day in 1926, alongside evidence of the role played by the state fair’s women’s department as an antidote to the perceived modernising and corrupting influence of the suffragette movement, are examples of some of the cultural forces at play at the Georgia state fair during this period. Significantly, my research trip and access to primary sources has disclosed more elusive facts regarding the history of the black state fair in Macon from 1906 to 1919. My thesis will therefore address a unique and previously unexplored topic within the field of American Studies. Again, many thanks to BAAS for providing me with the funds which not only assisted me in gathering information pivotal to the completion of my PhD but also in enabling me to immerse myself in such a special and rewarding experience.

Kate Nowicki

University of Sussex

Funding Report: South West American Studies Forum

On 16 May 2009 the University of Plymouth hosted a regional American Studies conference for academics and postgraduate students in the South West. The event was attended by colleagues from the Universities of Plymouth, Exeter, West of England and East Anglia, with additional speakers from the Roosevelt Study Center in Holland and the University of Glasgow. In all there were six panel speakers, one plenary speaker and a keynote speaker. The topics covered included: America’s reputation in a global and transatlantic context, early 20^th century literature and visual culture, the work of Henry James, as well as contemporary American literature, music and culture. The one-day forum fully demonstrated the breadth, depth and vibrancy of the field in the South West.

£300 of BAAS conference funding supported the travel and subsistence of our keynote speaker, Andrew Hook, Emeritus Bradley Professor of English Literature at the University of Glasgow, whose address was entitled: ‘Anti-Americanism in 19^th century British Literature’. The conference was also supported by the US Embassy, who funded postgraduate travel and conference fees, and by local artist Brian Pollard, who donated this image of the Mayflower for our exclusive use at the conference.

The South West American Studies Forum meets biennially and we look forward to meeting again in 2011.

Kathryn Gray

University of Plymouth

Funding Report: Richard Nixon and the Making of Modern America

On 11 May 2009 a postgraduate conference entitled ‘Richard Nixon and the Making of Modern America’ was held at the Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford. The event was made possible through the generous sponsorship of the British Association for American Studies, in conjunction with the Arts and Humanities Research Council. It was the third annual event in an emergent tradition of postgraduate symposia on the postwar United States held at the University of Oxford. Fifty delegates from as far afield as Poland came to hear five renowned historians speak alongside three panels of graduate students on a wide range of perspectives on Nixon’s legacy for the United States and beyond.

The day started with an enthralling talk by veteran journalist and author Godfrey Hodgson on ‘Remembering Nixon’, informed by Mr Hodgson’s experience of interviewing the late president. The first panel, on ‘Explaining Nixon’s rise to power’, was introduced by Dr Robert Mason (Edinburgh) and featured two papers related to Nixon’s ‘Southern strategy’. The second panel, entitled ‘America at home and abroad during the Nixon Administration’, was introduced by Professor Margaret MacMillan (St. Antony’s College, Oxford) and featured two papers on the public reaction to the Vietnam War, together with an examination of political satire in the early 1970s. The final panel, which aimed to address Nixon’s legacy, was introduced by Professor Iwan Morgan (Institute for the Study of the Americas, London) and encompassed four papers on a range of topics: the exit strategy from Vietnam and its consequences for US foreign policy in the 1990s; the politics of Presidential libraries with reference to post-Watergate developments, particularly the Nixon Presidential Library; an examination of Nixon’s portrayal in Hollywood films; and the enduring effects on radical art of cultural politics during the Nixon Administration.

The conference was rounded off by a keynote address delivered by Prof. David Greenberg (Rutgers) entitled ‘Defrost Nixon: The Politics of Reputation in the Age of Clinton and Bush’, which elicited a lively discussion referencing many of the earlier papers.

A sign of the convivial atmosphere which accompanied the day’s proceedings was the fact that almost thirty delegates chose to attend the post-conference dinner in a nearby restaurant, where the conversation flowed and the food was unanimously declared excellent. The speeches by Mr Godfrey Hodgson and Prof. David Greenberg (together with the Q&A session) were filmed and have been published on a news website, www.fora.tv, where they can easily be found by searching for ‘Rothermere American Institute’.

Karen Heath

St. Anne’s College, Oxford

Funding Report: Liberating Sojourn II

From Thursday 23 April to Saturday 25 April Dr. Alan Rice of the University of Central Lancashire, and Dr. Fionnghuala Sweeney of the University of Liverpool, organised a three-day symposium at the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Latin American Studies. The event focused on the legacy of the 150^th anniversary of Frederick Douglass’s second tour of Great Britain and Ireland, along with similar tours made by other African American abolitionist speakers during the 1850s. Participants included academic researchers from institutions throughout Great Britain and Ireland and the United States and Canada, along with independent scholars and archivists. The keynote speakers were Professor Richard Blackett of Vanderbilt University and Professor Jean Fagan Yellin of Pace University (sponsored by the School of Journalism, UCLAN). Panels included ‘Teaching Slavery, Abolition and the Black Atlantic’(sponsored by the English Subject Centre); ‘Travelling Abolitionists’(sponsored by the Institute of Latin American Studies, Liverpool); ‘British Radicalism and Abolitionism’(sponsored by the British Association of American Studies) and ‘Latin America and Abolition’(sponsored by the Institute of Slavery Studies at the University of Nottingham). Additionally, there was a dynamic reading by Richard Bradbury of his new novel Riversmeet about the 184–47 Douglass visit (Sponsored by the Collegium for African American Research). A roundtable discussion involving representatives from the Black and Asian Studies Association, the Collegium for African American Research, MESEA, the British Association of American Studies, MELUS and the Society for Caribbean Studies debated the importance of Black British, African American and Caribbean studies in British schools and universities.

The workshop attracted over fifty delegates, including five postgraduate scholars and four undergraduates, and provided an invaluable forum for discussing the impact and legacy of visiting African American abolitionists, whilst also providing an opportunity to assess the study of slavery and abolition in the contemporary academy. Debates between academics and archivists provided fresh insights into the nature of slavery and the archive, and papers from exhibition curators underscored the challenges involved in finding innovative methods of presenting cutting-edge research on slavery to a wider public audience. In the spirit of engaging the public, the symposium concluded with a public lecture by Professor Blackett on the topic of Liverpool and the Transatlantic Abolitionists, delivered at the International Slavery Museum, and sponsored by, the Centre for the Study of International Slavery, Liverpool. The organisers would particularly like to thank BAAS for a conference award that helped an independent British scholar, Marika Sherwood, to bring her work on Transatlantic Abolition to the conference.

Gary Cape

The University of Stirling

Reports from Eccles Centre Fellows

Matthew Jones, University of Nottingham

As an Eccles Centre Fellow during 2007, I was able to exploit the wide range of resources available at the British Library for the study of American foreign policy in its full, international context. My research project, which has now come to fruition as a complete book manuscript with the title After Hiroshima (to be published by Cambridge University Press), involved examining American nuclear history in East and South East Asia between the dropping of the first atomic bombs on Japan in 1945, and the so-called ‘Americanization’ of the Vietnam War in 1965. Alongside the more obvious explanation of the evolution of American strategic thought, and the place of nuclear weapons in containing the threats seen from Communist expansion in the region, that I hoped to offer in the book, I also wanted to see whether, and if so how, the accusation that the prospective use of the bomb against Asian peoples had a racist dimension affected the way Americans judged the political consequences of any resort to nuclear weapons in the various crises they faced. Moreover, there was the task of evaluating the evidence I could find that this allegation was indeed circulating around Asia in the years after Hiroshima. My overall aim was to shift the focus away from emphasising the strategic/military aspects of nuclear use, to considering the political damage that American nuclear policies caused to the US image in Asia.

For the ‘American-centred’ area of my work, the Library’s holdings of the Declassified Documents Reference System (DDRS) allowed me to access invaluable primary sources on American foreign policy which only many research trips to the presidential library system in the United States could otherwise produce. On microfilm, I could use the records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the post-war years. Easiest to exploit of all, however, were the digital resources maintained in the series of National Security Archive document readers, including one covering US nuclear history between 1955 and 1968. Collections of Congressional hearings and other documents also allowed a wider appraisal of American opinion outside the ‘official’ realm. My sense of an Asian voice in these debates was enhanced by trawling through many of the Library’s newspaper holdings for countries such as India, Burma, Malaya, and Sri Lanka; though I was restricted to English-language sources here, I was at least able to glean an idea of how nuclear issues were being reported in the region itself. My book will be incomparably richer for the opportunities opened up by a prolonged period of work at the Library

My growing familiarity with the Library’s holdings through the Fellowship also allowed me the chance to identify areas where the collections could be bolstered or improved. By working with the Social Science subject librarian, Jennie Grimshaw, we were able to procure an extra set of microfilm for the Joint Chiefs of Staff series (covering the years 1954–60 for the Far East), and also, more significantly, make a successful bid for the online version of DDRS. This considerable resource, far more accessible than the earlier microfiche version, represents a major enhancement of the Library’s provision in the area of post-war US foreign policy, and will bring considerable benefit to the wider community of scholars working on many aspects of twentieth-century American history (DDRS also produces many documents relating to domestic political issues, including, for example, FBI records).

I also felt the need to bring some of the knowledge I had gained of the Library’s holdings during my time as a Fellow, and the tremendous opportunities for research they represented, to a larger group of younger scholars and graduate students. Hence, with the help of Phil Davies and his staff at the Eccles Centre, and along with Dr Steven Casey from the LSE, in November 2008 I organised and ran a special workshop at the British Library’s Conference Centre on the available sources for the study of American foreign policy and how they could be accessed and used. We had an excellent audience of PhD students for this event, many coming from outside London, and the feedback afterwards, reflected in the discussion we had on the day itself, was extremely positive. To me this was a fitting culmination of my experience as an Eccles Centre Fellow: by bringing together the knowledge I had gained during my work at the Library with contacts made with people in a position to enhance Library resources and those who could help disseminate the information, it was possible to spread some real benefits to younger scholars and encourage them to exploit the major research resources the Library has to offer.

Ellen McWilliams, Bath Spa University

I was very grateful to receive an Eccles Centre Visiting Fellowship in North American Studies and used my time in the British Library to work on my forthcoming book, Margaret Atwood and the Female Bildungsroman (Ashgate 2009).

In reading Margaret Atwood’s work in relation to the Bildungsroman, the book examines the coming of age of a writer, a genre, and a national literature. It is mainly concerned with Atwood’s reclamation of a colonised national and female identity and the effect of that reclamation on a subsequent generation of Canadian women writers. The idea of the Bildungsroman has developed as a literary concept from its eighteenth-century German origins and gained new currency amongst women writers in the second half of the twentieth century. While some writers were most concerned with appropriating a tradition that had previously excluded women, others – and I argue that Atwood is the best example of this – were less interested in perpetuating the genre in its traditional form than in contesting and renegotiating its problematic prescriptions of femininity and its investment in an ideal of exclusively masculine perfectibility. Margaret Atwood’s early fiction is the most striking example of this renegotiation, and shows how Atwood rewrites the traditional expectations of the genre.

The main interest of the later sections of the book is in providing a sketch of the directions taken by contemporary women writers who draw on the female Bildungsroman as a model in their work and this is where my time at the British Library proved to be invaluable. The range of texts surveyed includes novels by writers influenced by Margaret Atwood, and writers whose work makes for an interesting comparison to Atwood. It explores more recent developments in Canadian literature, focusing on the Anglo-Canadian tradition and the work of Gail Anderson-Dargatz, Sandra Birdsell and Ann-Marie MacDonald and also looks at Canada’s changing postcolonial identity, as defined and redefined in the work of writers such as Joy Kogawa, Dionne Brand and Native Canadian writers such as Jeannette Armstrong, Beatrice Culleton and Lee Maracle. This chapter clinches the main argument of the book: that Atwood’s engagement with coming of age narratives constitutes a key aspect of her writing and that it carved out an imaginative space within which other women writers could work. As the Canadian collection in the British Library holds the complete works of these authors and related criticism, having access to the collection for an extended period was hugely beneficial to the final stages of my research.

Michèle Mendelssohn, University of Edinburgh

As a small child in Montréal, I remember being filled with unadulterated joy when taken to our modest local library. The pure, heart-thumping excitement as I looked at all the books, neatly and enticingly arranged, just waiting to give themselves up to my curiosity.

The British Library improved on my childhood memory. My first experience of it came while writing a PhD on Henry James and Oscar Wilde. My mother had teased a younger me about being ‘un rat de bibliothèque’. As the older me sat in the happy silence of the BL’s reading room, glimpsing rows and rows of kindred spirits (fellow ‘rats’), she knew there was no better place to be.

Best of all, rather than sitting cross-legged on the library floor, my spine leaning on the books’ spines, I could sit comfortably at a clean, well-lighted desk while the books I had ordered would be fetched for me. Fetched. For. Me. Unbelievable. This seemed to me the height of luxury and, I’m glad to say, it still does.

Imagine my delight when I was awarded an Eccles Fellowship to spend a month at the BL to research my second book, A Race for Beauty: The Cultural Politics of Aestheticism. The book will offer a new vision of Aestheticism as a literary and cultural enterprise enmeshed in the national and racial politics of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century America and Britain. Using the double lens of race and transcultural analysis, the book will reveal the pervasive racial and national anxieties that gripped both sides of the Atlantic and demonstrate how they transformed and reformed art and literature – from Arnold and Bellamy to Whistler, Wilde and Zangwill.

My time at the BL was very productive. It enabled me to advance my project considerably. Thanks to arrangements made by Michael Boggen and Jean Petrovic at the BL, I was able to spend time with American newspapers and Wildeiana from the Hyde-Eccles collection. Looking over Wilde’s literary papers and scrapbooks helped me get a sense of the nuanced way in which Wilde used race, and was in turn racialised. I was also able to look at the Library’s extensive electronic holdings of American newspapers and periodicals. Moreover, having access to the vast (and very costly) American databases that my own university had not been able to purchase was very helpful.

As researchers, we so often work alone. One of the wonderful things about the BL is the sense of community that it fosters. Indeed, I encountered fellow researchers and old friends from near and far – from London and Birmingham, to Harvard and Stirling. In addition, being in London rather than Edinburgh allowed me to forge links with some of my southern colleagues and to discuss collaborative projects.

The unsung heroes of the BL community – the guards, librarians and cafeteria staff – were unstintingly friendly and helpful. By the end of the month, it was with some sadness that I showed the contents of my regulation BL plastic bag to the guard for the final time.

The fellowship enabled me to write a chapter of my book as well as a paper titled ‘Black on White: Reading Oscar Wilde’s Body’ which I presented at University of Oxford in the autumn. I will have research leave in 2009–10. I plan to continue research for this project at the Tanner Humanities Centre at University of Utah.

I cannot emphasise enough how valuable the Eccles Fellowship was to me. This month was a gift of time for what I believe to be an important project. As we know, time is a very precious commodity in academic life. At a time when funding for the humanities is increasingly at risk, I am very grateful that the Eccles Centre and the BAAS remain committed to supporting original research.

In The Conduct of Life, Emerson writes of the world’s ‘marvellous balance of beauty and disgust, magnificence and rats’. I’m glad to say that, for this particular rat de bibliothèque, the fellowship that the Eccles and BAAS so generously offered me was both marvellous and magnificent.

Stephen A. Royle, Queen’s University Belfast

The Eccles Centre Visiting Fellowships in North American Studies at the British Library allow successful applicants to work in the British Library’s North American collections for a month – a period which can, as in my case, be taken in a series of shorter visits. I am based in Belfast and was able to fly cheaply to London on four occasions to conduct research on Vancouver Island in the mid-nineteenth century. My overall project is a book called Company, Crown and Colony: The Hudson’s Bay Company and Territorial Endeavour in Western Canada, to be published by the London house of IB Tauris. This is based largely on an interrogation of primary sources, so the Fellowship did not obviate the need for me to inspect the relevant repositories in Canada: the British Columbia Archives in Victoria and the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives within the Archives of Manitoba in Winnipeg. I also needed to make site visits, although there is little on the ground left from the period under study.

The BL houses four categories of material of interest to my study.

Original documents

Vancouver Island was a British Colony, with its own independent administrative existence from 1849 to 1866, the first ten years of that period being under the supervision of the Hudson’s Bay Company under licence from the British Crown. The BL houses some important original documents such as Add MS 48547, a book of notes kept by Foreign Office officials regarding dealings with the United States in the 1840s over the territories on the west coast.

Maps

As a geographer, I need maps. The BL has a significant holding of historical maps of Vancouver Island. One set, entitled Vancouver’s Island Colony, is a series of sheets from 1859 on the populated or potentially populated districts of Vancouver Island Colony and was a particular joy to discover as I had come across descriptions of the surveys for these maps in the documentary records. Extracts from the maps will certainly be reproduced in the book.

Microfiche

The BL has a microfiche holding, Mic.F.232, which is an extensive collection of material on North America. I first asked for a record using just Mic.F.232, to be informed that there were many thousand entries under this number and I would need to refine my request! This is copied material, mostly from printed sources, but it had two uses for me. Some entries I never found anywhere else and the reference in the book will be to the microfiche in the BL. One was the card for a horse race meeting held in Victoria in 1861 – evidence for the maturity of a city that had started out as a Hudson’s Bay Company fort in 1843. Other material is available elsewhere, but to be able to inspect it in London meant that I did not have to spend short (and expensive) time on it in Canada, which was of great benefit. Some was better studied in the original, given that microfiche are not always easy to read or handle. One case here would be the many entries from the British Parliamentary Papers, a full set of which are housed in my own university’s library.

Books

The book collection was of tremendous benefit to my study, of course. Reading some volumes again saved me time in Canada. These included the minutes of the Vancouver Island Council and the minutes and correspondence of the later-established House of Assembly. Inspection of these was made in the BL before my principal visit to the archives in Canada and informed me in advance of the key issues being discussed in the colony and aided understanding and interpretation of the documentary record there.

There were several contemporary books about the First Nations in the area, some with distinctly non-politically correct titles such as Sproat’s Scenes and studies of savage life. This actually displayed a rather sympathetic approach to the First Nations from a man who set up a settlement on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Indeed, he gave them a voice, one with pathos. One conversation was with a local chief:

‘They say more King-George men [i.e. British; Americans were ‘Boston men’] will soon be here, and will take our land, our firewood, our fishing grounds; that we shall be placed on a little spot, and shall have to do everything according to the fancies of the King-George men’.

‘It is true that the King-George men are coming—they will soon be here; but your land will be bought at a fair price’.

‘We do not wish to sell our land, or the water, let your friends stay in their own country.’

There were travellers’ accounts, especially upon, but not restricted to, the Fraser River gold rush on what became mainland British Columbia which had major impacts upon Vancouver Island; polemics against the Hudson’s Bay Company; reports from residents of this most remote of British colonies. Each had their merits, to be discovered only from their reading; the titles were sometimes misleading. Thus it was a disappointment to discover that in a volume called Perils, pastimes and pleasures of an emigrant in Australia, Vancouver’s Island and California Vancouver Island was mentioned in the title but nowhere else. By contrast, the unpromising presentation and flowery language of the 1928 volume The pioneer women of Vancouver Island, 1843–1866 concealed a properly conducted oral history largely based on interviews with elderly people who had been brought up on Vancouver Island and presented valuable detail about the lives of women in the colony not to be found in company and colonial records.

In sum, my weeks in the BL were very rewarding, and I would like to end by expressing my appreciation to the Eccles Centre, the British Association of Canadian Studies and the British Association of American Studies for their support.

Eccles Centre Postgraduate Award Reports

Adam Burns, University of Edinburgh

I am very grateful to BAAS and the Eccles Centre their generous postgraduate award, which helped me to carry out research for my PhD thesis for the whole of May 2008 at the British Library. My thesis explores the role of William Howard Taft in the debates over the nature of US imperialism in the Philippines during the first two decades of the twentieth century. As a student at the University of Edinburgh, I have access to a good selection of materials in both our university library and the National Library of Scotland. However, the British Library offers a selection of materials on American history unrivalled outside of the United States. Given that travelling from Edinburgh to London is an expensive and time-consuming business, the award allowed me to commute to the library daily while staying with family nearer to London and covered the costs of my travel.

In terms of particular resources that the British Library holds, the William H. Taft papers on microfilm are a truly invaluable resource for me, as well the papers of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, which are also available. The American history secondary resources at the library that are of particular use to me are also extensive, including various bills and committee reports concerning the Philippine Islands. In addition to these, there are a number of rare and difficult to obtain books relating to key thematic concerns within my research such as the history and theory of race, imperialism and immigration. Finally, there are the extensive online resources available at the library, providing access to a number of useful databases, digital publications and online documents. The library’s reading rooms certainly provide the perfect scholarly environment for a sustained period of research.

My period of research at the British Library contributed substantially to my early thesis chapters and also, importantly, provided me with a good knowledge of the scope of the resources in my field. This was particularly useful when I carried out a further three-month period of research later in the year at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. For any Americanist, a research trip to the British Library could not be anything other than a very useful addition to their studies, and I would definitely recommend that postgraduates in any field of American and Canadian Studies think about applying for this award.

Matthew Carter, University of Essex

I wish to express my gratitude to the Eccles Centre and BAAS in turn for their generosity in awarding me one of the travel scholarships. As a PhD student, research trips to London tend to fall on the ‘too-expensive’ side of things, but thanks to the Eccles Centre I was able to make a number of trips to the British Library during the formative months of my thesis. These trips proved extremely useful in collating the vast wealth of academic and popular literature produced in relation to my research topic: ‘Presentations of the Hero in Post-Cold War Hollywood Westerns’. The numerous journal articles available at the library on the history and mythology of the American West contributed to my earliest chapter drafts, providing a solid foundation of background information leading into Hollywood’s use and exploitation of frontier mythology in the twentieth century.

Generally speaking, my thesis concerns those Westerns produced after the Cold-War period – specifically 1992 onwards. Beginning with Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, I go on to outline the role of the gunfighter as ‘hero’ in the wake of the revisions both from within the genre itself and in historiography from the school of New Western History. My thesis places the lone hero against such notions of tradition and ‘generic evolution’, critically assessing these notions through a contextual analysis of the wealth of Westerns being produced in the twenty-first century, together with their relationship with such political-cultural issues as gender, sexuality, and race.

I have to say that the British Library’s North American collections were extensive and insightful and the staff both polite and accommodating. Without the generosity of the Eccles Centre travel scholarship, it is highly unlikely that I would have been in the financial position to undertake any such research trips. In short, I would like to think that these awards will continue to be offered for suitable candidates in the future so that other students can benefit, as I have, from valuable and sustained research trips to the British Library.

Michael J. Collins, University of Nottingham

Owing to the generous support of the Eccles Centre Postgraduate Fellowship Award in North American Studies I was able to spend three weeks at the British Library in May 2007 researching my PhD Thesis: ‘“A Multitude of Gaudy Appearances”: Ritual, Transatlantic Performance and the Melodramatic Mode in the Nineteenth-Century American Short Story’. As I am a graduate student living in Nottingham (with an equivalent research student’s budget!) sustained visits to London to use the British Library’s North American Collections can often be prohibitively expensive. The Eccles Centre Postgraduate Fellowship helped immensely by covering all accommodation and travel costs for this period.

My thesis concerns the rise of the transatlantic theatre circuit in the antebellum period and its impact upon Irving, Hawthorne, Melville and Poe’s treatment of ritual and performance in their short fiction. I show how the formal and theoretical influence of melodrama, in both its incarnations on the stage and in fiction, alters the relationship these writers have to other dominant genres, namely romanticism and sentimentalism. I argue that the presence of a melodramatic mode in their work articulates an increasing interest in the power of ritual performed in the public sphere as a means to repair political and social divisions between Britain and America following the War of 1812 and conflict over ownership claims to the Oregon Territory. I show how this focus on performance, ritual and Anglo-American solidarity questions the ‘romantic nationalist’ literary claims of the Transcendentalists and other movements.

In the North American Collections at the British Library I found numerous resources that have helped to support this claim. Since my research focuses on how short fiction participates in a wider culture of the transatlantic public sphere, the collection of ‘Little Magazines’ held on microfilm was invaluable. In addition to copies of the Broadway Journal edited by Edgar Allan Poe I was easily able to locate long-forgotten magazines and collections of short fiction that cast new light on the work of canonical writers, such as The Masonic Review and others. Being able to gain access to these materials alongside the collections of British literature held at the British Library has enabled my project to develop a stronger comparative dimension than would not have been possible without the support of the Eccles Centre.

Clare Elliott, University of Glasgow

I wish to thank the Eccles Centre for the 2007 Award in North American Studies for Outstanding Proposal of Research in American Literature. I am deeply grateful to the Eccles Centre for granting this award in the final year of my PhD. My thesis, entitled ‘William Blake’s American Legacy: Transcendentalism and Visionary Poetics in Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman’, explored Emerson’s and Whitman’s early interest in Blake’s poetry. At that stage in my research it was crucial that I examined a number of sources held by the British Library in order to develop important aspects of my main argument.

The Eccles Centre Award allowed me to conduct research on the influence of William Blake on Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman. I spent several days in the British Library consulting 1830s editions of The Harbinger and a particular edition of The Dial in which Emerson had included marginal notes during his trip to England in 1857/8. Quite inspiringly, I was also able to consult Emerson’s Library, by Walter Harding (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1967), which includes notes Emerson made in his copy of Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience. Various sources consulted contributed, by and large, to the final chapter of my doctoral thesis and doubtless strengthened the historical and analytical case made there. I was also able to finalise my bibliography by consulting some recent criticism on Emerson and Whitman.

Although not used directly in the thesis, further material examined during the trip was subsequently important to research for a journal article which has since been published, ‘William Blake and America: Freedom and Violence in the Atlantic World’, Comparative American Studies 7, 3 (2009). Having now successfully completed my PhD, and begun to publish my research, I would like to register my gratitude here for the valuable support I received. In future, I would be delighted to present my research at an Eccles Centre or British Library seminar or conference.

James McAteer, University of Ulster

Having begun my research as a mature, part-time, PhD candidate I was delighted to learn of the Eccles Centre Post Graduate Award in North American Studies which I applied for and received in 2007. I discovered early on in my research that researchers need access to people and documents and the Eccles Award provides just that. I am grateful for this prestigious award which enabled me to travel to, and study in the British Library in London – something I otherwise could not have done.

At that time I had just started my research into the policy development process in the social economies of Quebec and Northern Ireland. Although Quebec and Northern Ireland may seem unlikely comparators due to, for example, the number of jurisdictions each region enjoys within its devolved administration, population size and the number of people employed in the social economy, many similar issues have been raised in relation to policy development in both regions. In my research I am examining policy development in the social economy with a view to developing a framework from which future approaches to policy development may be analysed. Using findings from policy document analysis, key informant interviews and comparisons between policy developments in both regions, this research will use existing theories in a new way, to arrive at a framework within which theory, policy and practice in the social economy may become more closely integrated.

In facing the challenge of research the Eccles Centre Post Graduate Award in North American Studies facilitated my use of the British Library and made me aware of the Eccles Centre’s important documents and website. Using the award I was able to spend several days working with the British Library’s extensive resources, examining, for example, House of Commons papers in relation to social policy and the social economy. I also made good use of the Community Development Journal and the Journal of Global Social Policy. I was particularly interested in the work of Graefe (2006) ‘The Social Economy and the American Model: Relating New Social Policy Directions to the Old’ in which he uses Quebec as a case study to outline views, from several quarters, on how the social economy should be developed, and how these views relate to neo-liberal welfare policies. During my visit I was also able to view some of the British Library’s superb exhibitions.

This award has benefited me greatly by not only providing access to a wonderful resource but by giving me the confidence and knowledge that crucial back up is available in the form of the Eccles Centre and its staff. I would like to thank the Eccles Centre for this award.

Mark Storey, University of Nottingham

In 2007 I was the fortunate recipient of an Eccles Centre Postgraduate Award in North American Studies, which enabled me to spend an extended visit at the British Library. Working mainly in Special Collections, the purpose of my visit was to consult primary materials relating to my PhD in late nineteenth-century American literature. In this respect the British Library’s holdings are impressively comprehensive, and in addition to the specific works I had gone to consult I also stumbled upon some unexpected finds.

My research focuses on the impact of urban modernity on representations of rural life in postbellum fiction. My particular interest whilst I was at the British Library was to examine texts from the period that revealed contemporary attitudes and sentiments towards urban and rural life, especially in non-fiction writing. I managed to get hold of numerous texts that were unavailable elsewhere in the UK, and the library’s extensive collection of nineteenth-century American books and periodicals enabled me to examine a range of works that would have been impossible to gather together anywhere else in the country. Amongst the works I was able to consult was a first edition of Matthew Hale Smith’s celebrated social commentary on New York life, Sunshine and Shadow in New York (1868). Long before Jacob Riis and Stephen Crane exposed the conditions of slum life in the city, Smith’s sensationalist tract revels in the seedier aspects of urban living (he reserves his most outraged tone for his detailed exposé of the city’s sex industry), and from this perspective is a classic example of anti-urban feeling in the nineteenth century. In a similar vein I was able to examine a number of rare but socially important texts, including sermons by Orville Dewey and Henry Penciller’s highly romanticised and popular account of country living, Rural Life in America (1836). The library also holds a number of important periodicals, so I was able to productively browse through the back catalogue of the Atlantic Monthly – an important publisher of many now-forgotten American writers.

These and many other original sources I worked with in my time at the library have provided invaluable social context to the wider concerns of my thesis. As a source of American material, the British Library proved to be an immensely fertile field and I am very grateful to the Eccles Centre for their generous support that made this pleasant discovery possible.

Rafael Torrubia, St Andrews University

‘Maybe it is the Harlem resilience. The Harlem bounce-back.’ This quote from Black Arts movement luminary Larry Neal first came to my attention in the reading room of the Schomburg Centre for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York. Three thousand, four hundred and seventy one miles away, and four months earlier, I had already seen the evidence to back up Neal’s claim. The research which I undertook at the British Library has now provided a vital component of my current PhD thesis which seeks to develop a more sophisticated view of the Black Power movement in twentieth-century America by analysing the movement’s cultural legacy.

A central aspect of the PhD is the necessity of presenting a clear continuity between forms of African-American cultural development throughout time, and the importance of these forms in fostering individual self-definition, and by extension, militancy and ‘empowerment’. The British Library’s bountiful resources on the Harlem Renaissance were essential to fully analysing an exceedingly important link in the cultural changes experienced by African-American society, representing as they do a period which saw the genesis of a great deal of defining cultural and militant thought. The collection was particularly valuable in that the disposition of the sources available not only provided cultural links to the Black Power movement but elucidated its militant antecedents in the plantation period via several collections of folklore compiled during the Renaissance.

The composition of the collection enabled me to bring a truly international range of sources to bear on the thesis, as the items in the Library’s possession reinforced the significance of those resources in the United States, particularly the Larry Neal papers held in the Schomburg Centre, Harlem. The month of access to the collection provided by the award enabled a synthesis of these previously disparate sources in a manner that has provided the PhD with a transatlantic research base which immeasurably enriches and deepens the historical analysis.

My studies of the collection held at the Library also enabled the construction of a much clearer historical linkage between the works, ideologies and personalities of the Harlem Renaissance, and their influences upon the militancy and cultural expression of the Black Arts movement, the Black Power movement and militant cultural protest as a whole. What I uncovered, through the wealth of manuscripts and first editions made available to me, was not merely a Renaissance, but as Neal noted, a militant Resilience, a vibrant bounce-back, which has enriched my PhD beyond what I could have hoped for. For this, I can only tender my most sincere thanks to the library staff, the Eccles Centre and BAAS for their support and generosity.

Mei-Chuen Wang, Cardiff University

My doctoral thesis focuses on several works of postmodern Canadian historical fiction, exploring how they employ narrative strategies to launch epistemological and ontological questioning of history and to expose the power politics involved in historical representation. I also investigate how these works make use of historical events in order to challenge or reinforce certain Canadian national myths. These works have to be understood in the broader context of the proliferation of Canadian historical fiction since the 1980s, a phenomenon which I believe is closely related to the unsettled postmodern and postcolonial condition of Canada. From the very beginning, my research project has depended heavily on the Canadian holdings in the British Library. With the help of the Eccles Centre Postgraduate Awards in North American Studies, I was able to spend one month in the British Library reading through the materials necessary for my research. Even though I can try to get hold of them through inter-library requests, there is still one major difficulty that cannot be overcome. My research relies very much on journals, such as Canadian Literature, Essays on Canadian Writing, and Studies in Canadian Literature, but not all the tables of contents of these journals are available online. Inter-library loans are helpless if I cannot provide the details of articles I need to refer to. As a result, a research visit to the British Library was indispensable since it has a rich collection of these materials.

I am very honoured and grateful for being given one of the Eccles Centre Postgraduate Awards in 2008, which allowed me to finish the research visit essential to my thesis programme. I had unlimited access not only to the academic journals mentioned above but also to literary magazines that publish new Canadian writing. Together with books in the collection of American Studies, they allow me to become more familiar with the newest research results on Canadian literature and to gain a general idea of what tendencies and changes are taking place in this field. They also help me catch up with what new historical fictions are emerging and understand how they will affect my current research and help formulate my future research projects. This research visit enabled me to collect large research data in a short period of time and to make good progress in the writing of my doctoral thesis. Thanks to the Eccles Centre for their kind sponsorship.

Daniel Wood, University of Reading

In 2008 I was incredibly fortunate to be a recipient of the Eccles Award which funds research undertaken at the British Library. Whilst I had used the voluminous resources at the library on numerous occasions before, I was delighted to have received funding to permit me to make much more extensive use of the materials at the library. The award was particularly useful in allowing me to spend significant time with the Congressional Record – now readily accessible in electronic form, which makes hunting for vital information incredibly efficient and rewarding – from which I have augmented existing arguments and developed new trains of thought that have added to the richness and diversity of my PhD thesis on the Brannan Plan. Having chosen such an obscure topic, the British Library has proved to be a veritable godsend as its wealth of books and articles continually surprises me, to the extent that I discovered resources that even the towering National Agricultural Library in the United States did not house.

My thesis is constructed around the premise that a deep and involved understanding of the nuances and political and social pressures that helped to shape American agricultural policy in the late 1940s and early 1950s has the ability to alter our current perceptions of the Fair Deal. The journey to provide evidence for such an assertion has encountered numerous dead ends and a proliferation of ideas and assumptions that have been forcibly rejected by historical documents. Such trials, though, have only added to the scope and diversity of documents that I can call upon to support, deny or re-evaluate my arguments and ideas. The British Library has played a huge part in allowing me to write such a statement: it is an easily accessible and endlessly rewarding source from which to probe even the most fledgling of ideas that have yet to take on any discernible shape or structure.

I am in the process of writing my thesis now, and am constantly overwhelmed by the wealth of material that I have amassed over the previous two and a half years, both from resources on these shores and in America. It is no exaggeration to say that without the Eccles Award my thesis would be devoid of a substantial amount of material, and would be much less compelling for it. I hope that future recipients of the award will find it as beneficial as it has been to my work and that it will alert them to the helpful and informed staff and the seemingly endless resources that are housed with the walls of the British Library.

EAAS News

Call for papers: European Association for American Studies Conference, Dublin, 2010

The call for papers for next year’s EAAS conference can be found in the latest issue of the EAAS Newsletter, http://www.eaas.eu/newsletter/ASE62min.pdf, pages 12–23. A total of 24 workshops are calling for participants. The deadline for making proposals to workshop chairs is 15 October 2009.

Conference and Seminar Announcements

The NAACP: A Centennial Appraisal Conference

Marcus Cunliffe Centre for the Study of the American South, University of Sussex, 24–25 September 2009

This year sees the one hundredth anniversary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the United States’ oldest, most durable and arguably most effective African-American civil rights organisation. From its inception, it has contributed consistently to the ongoing black freedom struggle in America through its hard-fought campaigns against lynching, discriminatory housing, disfranchisement, unequal employment and, most famously, segregated public schools. Until recently, however, the NAACP has followed a stranger career in the historiography of the civil rights movement. Scholars have paid less attention to the organisation than they have to the non-violent direct action of Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference or the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee’s emphasis on grassroots organising.

Hosted by the Marcus Cunliffe Centre for the Study of the American South at the University of Sussex, the two-day ‘NAACP: A Centenary Appraisal’ conference will explore the organisation’s complex, evolving and always surprising history by bringing together leading scholars from the United States, United Kingdom and Germany. Working at the cutting edge of civil rights historiography, these scholars will discuss and debate the NAACP’s first hundred years and map out new areas for study beyond 2009. Speakers will include: Professor David Garrow (Cambridge), Professor Manfred Berg (Heidelberg), Professor Carol Anderson (Emory), Professor Peter Ling (Nottingham), Professor Greta de Jong (Nevada-Reno), and Dr. Stephen Tuck (Oxford). For a full list of presenters and paper titles, please see the programme listing on the conference website.

Conference venue is the White Hart Hotel, 55 High Street, Lewes BN7 1XE

Fee: £50 (£30 postgraduate) conference day rate (accommodation not included)

Registration forms and further details about local accommodation are available on the conference website:

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/cunliffe/1-7-3.html

Call for papers: International Dickinson Conference

Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford, 6-8 August 2010

The Emily Dickinson International Society will be hosting next summer’s international Dickinson conference on the theme ‘“were I Britain born”: Dickinson’s British Connections’.” Preference will be given to papers that focus on Dickinson’s transatlantic reading, connections with specific British writers, her British reception, and transatlantic influences on Dickinson’s thought and writing, but papers on all related topics will be welcomed. Abstracts of 250 words should be sent to Paul Crumbley (paul.crumbley@usu.edu), Jed Deppman (jdeppman@oberlin.edu) or Cristanne Miller (ccmiller@buffalo.edu) by 15 October 2009.

Call for papers: Transatlantic Exchanges International Conference

University of Plymouth, UK, 14–17 July 2010

Separateness and Kinship : Transatlantic Exchanges between New England and Britain 1600–1900

Keynote speaker: Lawrence Buell

This three-day conference will explore issues arising from the relationship between Britain and New England in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in the light of recent developments in the reading of transatlantic connections. In the run up to the 400^th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower, and in the context of new critical perspectives on transatlantic studies, such as postcolonial theory with its emphasis on the whole Atlantic rim, feminism, discussions of displacement and debates about national identity, what does it mean in the early twenty-first century to revisit with an interdisciplinary perspective the cultural and ideological exchanges between Britain and New England 1600–1900? The conference will include contributions from literary scholars, art historians and specialists in the history of architecture.

The conference will be held at the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom. Those wishing to reserve a place should register their interest by contacting artsresearch@plymouth.ac.uk. Details of booking and payment information will appear on the conference website later this year.

The conference organisers invite submissions of proposals for panels or individual papers. Proposals for entire sessions should include (1) a paragraph describing the session as a whole; (2) a one-page abstract of each paper; (3) a one-page CV for each participant. The conference prefers four presenters per session, excluding the chair, although submissions for panels of three will be considered. Proposals for individual papers should include a 300-word abstract and a one-page CV.

All submissions should be sent as Microsoft Word attachments to Robin Peel (rpeel@plymouth.ac.uk).

Submissions deadline: 1 March 2010.

New Members

Correction: Kevyne Baar Apologies for inadvertently reassigning Kevyne Baar’s gender in this section of the spring 2009 issue. Kevyne is in fact female, not male.

Stefanie Albers is a lecturer in English literature at the Univeristy of Duisburg-Essen in Germany and is completing her PhD on aesthetic discourses in contemporary Anglophone fiction. Her research interests include modernism and postmodernism, Victorian literature, literary theory and popular culture.

Torsten Caeners studied English and American studies and computational linguistics at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, and has worked as a lecturer there ever since. His research interests are in popular culture, especially TV series as a means of cultural commentary.

Martin Dines is a lecturer in suburban and cultural studies at Kingston University. His research interests focus on representations of suburbia, and LGBT writing and politics. He is author of Gay Suburban Narratives in American and British Film and Fiction: Homecoming Queens (forthcoming 2010). He is currently working on the relationship between suburbia and constructions of white ethnicities in postwar fiction.

Emma Dodds is a PhD student at Loughborough University, researching the transatlantic connections within the American literary response to industrialisation and mechanisation.

David Eldridge gained his PhD in history from Cambridge University, for a thesis on Hollywood’s representations of the past and the intellectual understanding of history among 1950s filmmakers (since published as Hollywood’s History Films (2006)). He has been a lecturer at the University of Hull since 2000, and Director of American Studies since 2007. He is author of American Culture in the 1930s in Edinburgh University Press’s Twentieth-Century American Culture series, and is currently working on two projects – one concerning the impact of censorship on historical films, the other examining cultural representations of Pearl Harbor.

Joanna Freer is a PhD student in the Department of American Studies at the University of Sussex. Her thesis deals with Thomas Pynchon and his relationship with 1960s counterculture and its literature.

Gabriela Astrid Frei is a DPhil candidate in history oat the University of Oxford. She works on the influence of Alfred T. Mahan on British naval strategic thinking at the end of the nineteenth century. More generally she is interested in perceptions of sea power in the context of the theory of war and how this influenced war planning before the First World War.

Euan Gallivan is a doctoral candidate in the School of American and Canadian Studies at the University of Nottingham, writing a thesis on the relationship between the literature of the US South and the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. His research focuses on the fiction of William Faulkner, Ellen Glasgow and Cormac McCarthy. An article on McCarthy’s The Road and Schopenhauerian ethics is due to appear in the forthcoming issue of the Cormac McCarthy Journal.

Maya Heller is a doctoral candidate at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Her field is William Faulkner and visual art. Her interests cover literature and film, twentieth-century American literature and aesthetics.

Nick Kitchen is a PhD candidate in the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics. His doctoral thesis focuses on United States grand strategy debates in the 1990s and is supervised by Professor Michael Cox. His research interests lie primarily in the fields of contemporary American foreign policy and neoclassical realist theory. Nick is a founding fellow of the LSE IDEAS Transatlantic Project and teaches in the International Relations Department at LSE. He has an MRes in International Relations from Keele University and an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University.

Katrin Korkalainen holds an MA from the University of Oulu, Finland. Her master’s thesis, ‘Reconstructing History Through Fiction: Realism and the Historical Imagination in Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers and Hungry Hearts’, won the award for the best thesis in English philology in Finland 2006–7. She is now a doctoral candidate at the University of Oulu, conducting further research in the same field. Her interests include realism and reality in literature and history; the use of literature in historical research; American realism; literary history; early American immigrant literatures; imagology; the five senses; time and space.

Antonia Mackay holds an MA from Oxford Brookes University, where she has applied to do a PhD. Her masters thesis focused on gender identity in 1950s American literature, poetry and culture. Her proposed doctoral research will assess the ways in which Cold War spatiality is affected by feminist corporeality to encompass city spaces and marginal identity formation; suburban spaces and gender as proscribed through technology; and pastoral spaces and Southern and utopian identities and architecture.

Stephen E. Mawdsley studies American medical history, with particular attention to the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (March of Dimes) and polio. He holds an BA and an MA from the University of Alberta and is currently enrolled in a PhD programme at the University of Cambridge.

Wendy McMahon wrote a doctoral thesis about the exiled Cuban author Reinaldo Arenas, who moved to the United States in the Mariel boatlift of 1980. Her current work examines Cuban/American cultural relations and the literature of the various Cuban-American communities in the US.

Alys Moody is a doctoral candidate in English literature at the University of Sydney. Her thesis discusses the relationship between writing and the room in Paul Auster and Samuel Beckett. More generally, her research interests cover twentieth-century American and British literature, and some nineteenth-century authors. She is employed as an English language lectrice at the Université de Paris VII-Denis Diderot.

Nico Pizzolato received a PhD from University College London in 2003 with a thesis on labour migration and workers’ struggle in the car factories of Detroit and Turin in the 1960s, focusing on the experiences of southern Italians in Turin and African Americans in Detroit. His articles on this topic have appeared in a variety of journals. After teaching for some years in Italian universities he is now a lecturer in nineteenth-century American history and race relations in the United States at Queen Mary, London. His new research project is about peonage and civil rights in campaigns in the American South.

Laura Pollard is a PhD student at the University of East Anglia, researching American musical theatre 1957–1991 and commerical theatre production conditions during that period. Her articles have appeared in Studies in Musical Theatre and Journal of American Drama and Theatre.

Maureen Speller is reading for an MA in postcolonial studies at the University of Kent. Her interests are in early colonial settlement, immigrant experiences in nineteenth-century America, border studies and Native American literature.

Thomas Strange holds a BA and an MA from the University of Sheffield and is a postgraduate student at the University of Manchester. His PhD thesis focuses on the potentially revolutionary role of black preachers in the late antebellum South and he has further research interests in slave religion and the idea of religious resistance.

Linda Toocaram received a BA in American and English literature at the University of East Anglia, with a year at the University of New Mexico, and an MA from King’s College London, where she is now conducting doctoral research on the Mexican author Cherrie Moraga. Her main interests lie in the areas of literature as political activism, nationalism, postcolonialism, idigeneity and queer identities. She has published reviews for The European Legacy, Journal of American Studies and American Studies Today Online.

Corin Willis received a PhD in Film Studies at the University of Warwick in 2003 and is currently a senior lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University. His teaching interests include Hollywood, silent and contemporary African American cinema. His research centres around cinematic applications of blackface and crosses over into topics such as the minstrel show, jazz and African American history. He has written book chapters on The Jazz Singer (1929) and the use of blackface in Hollywood’s depiction of jazz.

Members’ News

BAAS member Dr Sam Edwards has been awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Award for the academic year 2009–10. Sam completed his PhD thesis, which examined American commemoration of the Second World War, at Lancaster University in 2008. He has also taught American Studies at Lancaster for the past five years. Sam will take up the award in January 2010, and he will be based at the University of Pittsburgh, where he will benefit from working with Dr Kirk Savage, a leading authority on the subject of American war memorialisation.

Members’ Publications

Lincoln Geraghty, University of Portsmouth, published American Science Fiction Film and Television (Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2009) and (as editor) Channeling the Future: Essays on Science Fiction and Fantasy Television (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2009).

Alison Kelly, editor of American Studies in Britain, published Understanding Lorrie Moore (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2009).

John Wrighton, Aberystwyth University, has published a new book exploring the interrelationship between ethical imperative and poetic practice in American poetry from the Ojectivists to e-poetry: Ethics and Politics in Modern American Poetry (London and New York: Routledge, 2009).

Awards Opportunities

The American Studies Network (ASN) Book Prize

At the EAAS Conference in Dublin in 2010, the American Studies Network, a group of 18 European centres involved in the study of the United States, will again award its biennial prize for a remarkable monograph published in English in the field of American Studies.

The criteria are as follows:

• The monograph (not an edited volume) should have been published in 2008 or 2009
• The author must be a European scholar who through membership of her/his national American Studies organization is a member of EAAS

Three review copies of the book should be submitted before 1 November 2009 to:

Dr. Axel R. Schäfer

David Bruce Centre for American Studies

Research Institute for the Humanities

Claus Moser Research Centre

Keele University

Keele, Staffordshire

ST5 5BG

UK

The Parish Student Dissertation Prize, 2009

British American Nineteenth Century Historians (BrANCH) and the Peter J. Parish Memorial Fund are pleased to announce their annual student dissertation prize for the best pieces of work on American nineteenth century history.

The prize will be awarded for the best dissertation (up to 15,000 words) by a currently registered undergraduate or postgraduate student, or by a person who received his or her undergraduate or postgraduate degree in 2009, at a university or equivalent institution in the UK.

The word limits exclude footnotes and bibliography. The work should offer some originality, either in its research or approach or argument, relating to the history of the United States between roughly 1789 and 1917. The value of the prize will normally be £200.

Candidates should submit THREE copies of their dissertation by the closing date, and must include a letter from an institutional representative, tutor, teacher or supervisor attesting that the candidate is registered for an undergraduate or postgraduate degree, or received the appropriate degree in 2009. Candidate’s names should appear only on the covering letter and letter from the institutional representative. Please also include a full postal address.

All dissertations will be assessed anonymously by a sub-committee appointed by the BrANCH committee.

The closing date for submissions for the 2009 prize is 31 October 2009. The results will be announced in February 2010.

Please send dissertations and enquiries to:

Dr James Campbell (BrANCH)

School of Historical Studies

University of Leicester

University Road

Leicester LE1 7RH

james.campbell@le.ac.uk

Or see the BrANCH website: http://www.br-anch.org

Editorial

‘It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.’

President-Elect Barack Obama, 4 November 2008

By the time this edition of American Studies in Britain is published, Barack Obama’s victory speech will have been supplanted in recent cultural memory by his inaugural address, and attention will have turned from his plans to his early performance as president. On election day Obama numbered two wars – in Iraq and Afghanistan – among the challenges he faced. Since then, the war in Gaza has made the task of promoting peace and stability between nations and faiths more daunting than ever, to say nothing of the economic problems confronting the new president. For Americanists the change in administration is a fascinating moment which will open countless avenues for research and teaching. As world citizens we have to hope that it will also prove to be, in Obama’s phrase, a defining moment and that the 44^th US president will be able to accomplish the promised transformations.

For British academics (to turn from the sublime to the ridiculous, perhaps) another major recent event has been RAE 2008. Eight institutions were rated for American Studies and Anglophone Area Studies, with some excellent individual results and a creditable overall national profile. The method of assessing research output remains controversial, and the large numbers of Americanists who are affiliated to departments of every description other than American Studies will be conscious how small a proportion of our research activity is represented under the official subject heading. This is by no means to belittle the invaluable research and teaching in our designated subject centres. But a crucial function of BAAS and its officers is to promote awareness of the full extent and volume of Americanists’ work, much of which goes unreflected in the statistics.

As usual, this newsletter amply illustrates the vitality of scholarship relating to America through details of research projects, collaborations, conferences and other activities. It is a mark of the good health of BAAS and the distinction of many of its members that a new honorary fellowship will be awarded at the annual conference in Nottingham in April, along with the numerous other BAAS awards and prizes, details of which are posted on the website and regularly circulated via the mailshot. The length of the new members section in this issue shows that BAAS continues to attract supporters in a range of disciplines and at various stages of their careers from postgraduate studies to retirement, both here and overseas. The entries describing new members’ backgrounds and research interests make fascinating reading, as do the detailed research-trip reports (one with accompanying illustration) from recipients of BAAS travel grants and prizes. In the next issue of this newsletter it would be nice to be able to include more details of members’ publications. The association’s collective research productivity far exceeds the small number of (excellent) books mentioned in this issue, so please notify me of any releases in 2008 or 2009 and I will announce them in the next newsletter. Equally, in looking through the long and wide-ranging conference programme for Nottingham, I noticed some changes in panellists’ institutional affiliations. This newsletter can spread the word about moves and promotions through the members’ news section, so please remember to email me about significant job changes.

We hope to get the autumn issue of ASIB out by mid-September. To this end, and bearing in mind that many of us will be on holiday in August, the copy deadline for ASIB 101 is Friday 31 July. Please also note the change of my email address for matters relating to ASIB: alisonjkelly@btinternet.com

Alison Kelly

54th Annual Conference

University of Nottingham

Thursday 16 April – Sunday 19 April 2009

Provisional Programme (Please note that this schedule is subject to change; conference registration forms are included at the end of this newsletter)

Thursday 16 April

2:00-4:00pm            Conference registration and coffee and tea

2:45-4:00pm            Library session

‘Copyright in the Age of Content: What Every American Studies Academic Needs to Know’

Tim Padfield (Information Policy Consultant at the National Archives), ‘Archives and Copyright’

Matthew Shaw (British Library), ‘From Pirates to Google Books: Copyright in the Old and New Worlds’

Ben White (British Library), ‘Copyright – the Here and Now’

4:00-5:00pm            Plenary lecture

Allison Graham (University of Memphis)

‘Dreams from the Road to Nowhere: Reinventing the Southern Narrative in the “Smack-Dab Center” of the Country’

5:00pm            Reception and American scene prints exhibition (hosted by the University of East Anglia)

Introduction: Douglas Tallack (University of Leicester)

Lakeside Arts Centre, University Park

8:00pm            Dinner

6:00pm-1:00am Bar

Friday 17 April

9:00-10:30am            SESSION 1

Frank Sinatra

Chair: Sharon Monteith (University of Nottingham)

Karen Mc Nally (London Metropolitan University), ‘Narrative vs Star Image: Frank Sinatra and the World War II Veteran in Suddenly’

Kathryn Castle (London Metropolitan University), ‘Citizen Frank: Frank Sinatra and the FBI’

Roberta Pearson (University of Nottingham), ‘Frank Sinatra in Fifties Television’

Political Culture in Revolutionary and Antebellum America

Chair: TBC

Tom Rodgers (University of Warwick), ‘Tyranny, Popular Sovereignty, and American Revolutionary Coercion’

Allison M. Stagg (University of London), ‘“The Times – A Political Portrait”: Political Caricature after the American Revolution, 1789-1801’

Gwyneth Mellinger (Baker University), ‘The Silent Bargain: The Straight Norm within the American Society of Newspaper Editors’

Mark Twain

Chair: Will Kaufman (University of Central Lancashire)

Thomas Ruys Smith (University of East Anglia), ‘“The Mississippi was a virgin field”: Mark Twain and Postbellum River Writings, 1865-1876’

Peter Messent (University of Nottingham), ‘Friendship’s Limits: Clemens, Howells and the Deaths of Susy and Winny’

Alexis Haynes (Keuka Collage, New York), ‘Mark Twain and the Global Imagination: The Aesthetics of Circumnavigation in Following the Equator’

Reimagining the African American Diaspora: Trauma, Representation and the Great American Forced Migration

Chair: Richard Follett (University of Sussex)

Calving Schermerhorn (Arizona State University), ‘The Great American Forced Migration in Literature and Culture’

Ben Schiller (University of East Anglia), ‘Negotiating Trauma: The Limits of Resistance in the Shadow of Diaspora’

Lisa Merrill (Hofstra University), ‘“Human flesh and blood, like yourselves”: Henry Ward Beecher’s Staging of Mock Slave Auctions’

The NAACP at 100: New Links, New Directions and New Contexts

Chair: Simon Topping (University of Plymouth)

John A. Kirk (Royal Holloway, University of London), ‘“Indissolubly Linked”: The NAACP’s Teachers’ Salary Equalization Campaign, African American Women’s Activism, and World War II’

Jenny Woodley (University of Nottingham), ‘“Pictures Can Fight!”: The Cultural Rivalry Between the NAACP and the Communists in the 1930s’

George Lewis (University of Leicester), ‘With No Deliberate Speed: the NAACP’s Battle with the Putnam Letters’

Political Intellects and the Renegotiation of Jewish American Identity in the 1940s and 1950s

Chair: Anthony Hutchison (University of Nottingham)

Nadja Janssen (University of Sussex), ‘From Exile to Home: Jewish Intellectuals, Commentary and the Renegotiation of Jewish American Identity After 1945’

Richard O’Brien (Leeds Metropolitan University), ‘Saul Bellow, Trotsky and “The Mexican General”’

David Gooblar (University College London), ‘“You’re what Grammy Hall would call a real Jew’: Jewish-American Identity in Portnoy’s Complaint and Annie Hall’

Hispanic American Writing

Chair: Aishih Wehbe-Herrera (University of Edinburgh)

Stella Bolaki (University of Edinburgh), ‘“On the Other Side of the Mirror”: Illness, Performance, and Political Imagination in Guillermo Gómez-Peňa’s Brownout 2’

Francisca Sánchez (University of Aberdeen), ‘European Influences on Nineteenth Century Californio Writings: Victor Hugo, Cervantes, and Ruiz de Barton’

Aishih Wehbe-Herrera (University of Edinburgh), ‘Anglos vs Californios?: (Un)doing Masculinity in María Amparo Ruiz de Barton’s The Squatter and the Don’

Arabs, Cubans and Transnational America

Chair: Sarah MacLachlan (University of Manchester)

Jenna Pitchford (Nottingham Trent University), ‘The Iraqi Image: Representations of Iraqi Identity in US Iraq War Literature’

Wendy McMahon (University of Essex), ‘“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose”: Loss, Language and Place in Reinaldo Arenas’ “American” novel, The Doorman’

Ikram A. Elsherif (Gulf University for Science and Technology), ‘“I got slapped for not knowing I was Arab”: Marginality in Leila Ahmed’s A Border Passage’

Second- and Third-Wave Feminist Activists in the United States

Chair: Sue Currell (University of Sussex)

Sinead McEneaney (University of Essex), ‘Women, Welfare and the Stirrings of Liberation in Cleveland, Ohio, 1964-69’

Sylvia Ellis (University of Northumbria), ‘“Enhancing the Quality of the Educational Experience”: University and College Women’s Centres in the United States from the 1940s to the Present’

Helen Mitchell (Northumbria University), ‘Establishing “A Place of One’s Own”: The Women’s Centre at the University of Connecticut’

10:30-11:00am            Coffee and tea

11:00am-12:30pm             SESSION 2

Contemporary Fiction, Cultural Memory and Episodes in American Radicalism

Chair: Anthony Hutchison (University of Nottingham)

Peter Kuryla (Belmot University, Nashville), ‘Bombers and Starfish: Political Radicalism and Gender Trouble in American Pastoral and The Book of Daniel: A Novel’

Richard H. King (University of Nottingham), ‘Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead as Historical Novel and a Novel of Ideas’

Sarah E. Churchwell (University of East Anglia), ‘On Moral Grounds: Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead, Home, and American Cultural Memory’

Arab-American Studies

Chair: Douglas Tallack (University of Leicester)

Patrick McGreevy (American University of Beirut, Lebanon), ‘Arab-American Encounters and the Globalisation of the Higher Education Industry’

Paul Jahshan (Notre Dame University, Zouk, Lebanon), ‘Washington Irving’s Tales of the Alhambra and Early Nineteenth Century American Constructions of the Oriental’

Youssef Yacoubi (Bard College, New York), ‘Diasporic Criticism: From Orientalised Transcendentalism to Post-orientalism’

Backing Dr. King: The Support Networks of the SCLC

Chair: TBC

Clare Russell (University of Nottingham), ‘Upheaval in the “Old South”: A Study of Grassroots Organizing in Protest Events –Savannah (1963) and Charleston (1969)’

Johannah Duffy (University of Nottingham), ‘Passing the Plate: Personal Appearances of Dr. King and the Donations Flows to SCLC’

Peter Ling (University of Nottingham), ‘What did the South give to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference?’

Dissent and Identity in Early America – Moving Away from a History of ‘Puritan New England’

Chair: Matthew Pethers (University of Nottingham)

John Donoghue (Loyola University), ‘Samuel Gorton and the Common Law: Secular Dissent, the “custom of the country”, and Abolitionism in Early America’

Charlotte Carrington (University of Cambridge), ‘“Mine-Host of Ma-re Mount” and his “Land of Milk and Honey”: A Reappraisal of Thomas Morton and his World’

Alison Stanley (King’s College London), ‘Why Buy A Bible You can’t Read?: Religious Identity and Scriptural Translation in Seventeenth Century Puritan New England’

Adapting America: Issues of Form, Culture and Property

Chair: Mark Gallagher (University of Nottingham)

Charles J. Shindo (Louisiana State University), ‘Displacing Magnolia: The Adaptation of Edna Ferber’s Showboat from Novel to Musical Theater’

Rayna Denison (University of East Anglia), ‘American Heroes in Japanese Hands: Anime Depictions of Batman in Batman Gotham Knight (2008)’

Ian Gordon (National University of Singapore), ‘Smallville: Superheroes, Adaptation, Derivative Works and Intellectual Property Regimes’

Prize-giving, Identity and Subversion in American Fiction

Chair: Ian Scott (University of Manchester)

Gordon Hutner (University of Illinois), ‘Contemporary American Fiction from the Point of View of Prize-giving’

Katy Masuga (University of Washington), ‘Subversive, Transnational Modernist Literature - American Writers in France’

Corina Crisu (University of Bucharest), ‘Ukrainian Ways of Being American: Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything Is Illuminated’

African American Icons in Britain

Chair: Mark Whalan (University of Exeter)

Dr. Kasia Boddy (University College London), ‘Jack Johnson and the “race of sportsmen”’

Graeme Abernethy (University College London), ‘Malcolm X in Britain’

Francisca Fuentes (University of Nottingham), ‘Transatlantic Mourning: The British Response to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Death and Funeral’

Paul Auster

Chair: TBC

Stefanie Albers (University of Duisburg-Essen), ‘A Matter of Fragmentation?: The Public and the Private in Selected Works by Paul Auster’

Alan Bilton (University of Swansea), ‘In the Kingdom of Shadows: Paul Auster and Silent Film’

Alys Moody (University of Sydney), ‘America Inside: Paul Auster’s Man in the Dark and the American Writer after Bush’

US Elections Roundtable

Chair: David Waller

Professor George Edwards, Professor Philip Davies, Dr. Ross English and Dr. James Boys discuss the outcomes of the U.S. elections of November 2008.

12:30-1:30pm            Lunch

12:30-1:30pm            Postgraduate lunch

1:30-3:00pm            SESSION 3

Race, Racism and Performance

Chair: TBC

Hannah Durkin (University of Nottingham), ‘“Tap Dancing on the Racial Boundary”: Bill “Bojangles” Robinson’

Niveen Kassem (University of Newcastle), ‘The Known World: Edward Jones and the Changing Faces of Moses’

Alexa Weik (Université de Fribourg), ‘Mysteries of the Mountain: Environmental Racism and Cosmopolitan Commitment in Percival Everett’s Watershed’

Grassroots Movements in the Twentieth-Century United States: A Reappraisal

Chair: George Lewis (University of Leicester)

Daniel Scroop (University of Sheffield), ‘Antimonopoly and Democratic Culture in the Twentieth-Century United States’

Axel Schäfer (Keele University), ‘The Sixties and the Evangelicals: Perspectives on the Countercultural Origins of Grassroots Conservatism’

Kendrick Oliver (University of Southampton), ‘When Does a Grassroots Movement Matter, and When Does It Not?’

Feminist Writing, Trauma and Visual Culture

Chair: TBC

Barbara Tomlinson (University of California), ‘Feminism at the Scene of Argument: The Deployment of Affect in Feminist and Anti-Feminist Writing’

Wendy Ward (Clinton Institute, University College Dublin), ‘Snapshots for a Surreal America?: Reconsidering the Melancholic Resistance of Susan Sontag’s Fiction’

Alison Gibbons (University of Nottingham), ‘Temporal Revision and Traumatic Resolution’

American Scene Prints

Chair: Douglas Tallack (University of Leicester)

Jody Patterson (Smithsonian American Art Museum), ‘From the Reactionary to the Radical: Rethinking American Realism During the “Red Decade”’

Warren Carter (University College London), ‘The Artist as Worker: Radical Responses to the New Deal Federal Art Projects’

John Fagg (University of Nottingham), ‘Genre Scenes in 1930s Prints’

The Short Story, Trauma and Affect in Recent US Fiction

Chair: TBC

Alan Gibbs (University College, Cork), ‘Don DeLillo’s The Body Artist: A New Phenomenology of Trauma’

Adam Kelly (University College Dublin), ‘Twenty-First Century American Fiction: Sincerity, Manipulation, Affect’

Su Mee Lee (Saekyung International College), ‘Reading Don Lee’s Yellow as a Short Story Cycle’

American Celebrities and Showbusiness Culture

Chair: Roberta Pearson (University of Nottingham)

Laura Pollard (University of East Anglia), ‘“Oh God, I need this show”: 1970s America Dreams of Showbusiness’

Kathryn Cramer Brownell (Boston University), ‘“A New Deal in Entertainment”: Franklin Roosevelt and the Politicization of American Celebrities’

Jenel Virden (University of Hull), ‘The Chaplains and the Showgirls: US Army Chaplains and the USO’

African American and Native American Masculinity and Identity Politics

Chair: TBC

Malcolm McLaughlin (University of East Anglia), ‘Ole Mongoose and the Glass Mountain: Archie Moore’s ABC Youth Delinquency-Deterrent Program and Conservative Community Activism in the 1960s’ 

Rebecca Cobby (University of Nottingham), ‘Harlem’s “boy mayor” and the “good-acting champ”: Male Heroism and National Identity in Gordon Parks’ Photographs of Red Jackson and Muhammad Ali’

Kim Warren (University of Kansas), ‘Modernity on the Gridiron: Indians v. Whites in the Battle for Masculine Citizenship’

Politics and Representation in Film

Chair: TBC

Andrew Dix (Loughborough University), ‘Johnny Depp in Exile’

Jindriska Blahova (University of East Anglia), ‘“There is no place for peace-mongers”: Charles Chaplin and Czechoslovak Communist Propaganda’

Claire Jenkins (University of Warwick), ‘Suburban Heroes: The Superhero Family in The Incredibles and Sky High’

Hollywood and Indiewood

Chair: TBC

Carl Wilson (Brunel University), ‘Kaufman, Jonze, Gondry, and the “Indiemercial”: From the Mainstream of the Margin to the Margin of the Mainstream’

IQ. Hunter (De Montfort University), ‘The Golden Age of Cult films maudits’ 

Cornelia Klecker (University of Innsbruck), ‘Skip and Rewind: When Time Gets Out of Line in Mainstream Film’

3:00-3:15pm            Coffee and tea

3:15-4:30pm            BAAS Annual General Meeting

4:30-5:30pm            Eccles Centre Lecture

Janet Beer (Oxford Brookes University)

5:30pm            Reception hosted by the University of Nottingham

Coaches to Nottingham Castle

8:00pm            Dinner

6:00pm-1:00am Bar

Saturday 18 April

9:00-11:00am            SESSION 4

Progressivism and the New Deal in Intellectual and Cultural History

Chair: Mark Whalan (University of Exeter)

Kate Sampsell-Willmann (Georgetown University), ‘Lewis Hine and the Birth of Social Documentary Photography: the Pittsburgh Survey’

Sue Currell (University of Sussex), ‘Let Us Now Praise Knives and Forks: the UnFortunate Deconstruction of Consumerist Politics’

Collin Meissner (University of Notre Dame), ‘Capital Crimes: Money and the American Scene’ 

Guy Barefoot (University of Leicester), ‘Memory Gaps: Researching the Serial Audience in 1930s USA’

Stepping Out: Women, Visibility and the Public Sphere in the Late Nineteenth Century

Chair: Lindsay Traub (University of Cambridge)

Janet Floyd (King’s College, London), ‘Space, Performance and Visibility: the Singer on Stage in the Late Nineteenth Century’

Rowena Edlin-White (University of Nottingham), ‘Penelope’s Progress: Kate Douglass Wiggin and her Contemporaries in Britain, Ireland and Europe 1880-1910’

R. J. Ellis (University of Birmingham), ‘“Str[iking] an attitude”: Surveillance of Fashionable Space in Emma Dunham Kelley-Hawkins’

Rethinking the American Presidency

Chair: TBC

Sam Edwards (University of Lancaster), ‘“From Here Lincoln Came”: The “Special Relationship” in Anglo-American Commemoration of WWII’

Roger Johnson (University of Sussex), ‘The Library on the Hill: Myth and History at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum’

Keith Nottle (University of Nottingham), ‘Serial Campaigner: Backed Bush, Hired by Reagan (1979/1980)’

Carl Pedersen (Copenhagen Business School), ‘Stranger in a Strange Land: Barack Obama and American National Identity in the 21^st Century’

The Archives Strike Back: Recovering the Transnational Identities of African Americans and Chinese Americans

Chair: TBC

Carla L. Peterson (University of Maryland), ‘“Blacks in Gotham: Transnational Identities and Negotiated Lives’

Jean Pfaelzer (University of Delaware), ‘Digging in the Archives: The Forgotten Roundups and the Hidden Resistance of Chinese Americans’

Zita C. Nunes (University of Maryland), ‘Looking for José Clarana: Hidden Histories and Scripts’

Katrin Korkalainen (University of Oulu), ‘Domestic Battlefields and Public Hunting Grounds: Sound, Time, and the Immigrant’s Struggle’

African American Culture

Chair: TBC

Tessa Roynon (University of Oxford), ‘A Mercy: An Analysis of Toni Morrison’s New Novel’

John Howard (King’s College London), ‘Oprah’s Mississippi Roots’

Emma Jeffrey (University of Sussex), ‘The Complexities of Establishing an Anti-Establishment Publishing House: Clarence Major and the Fiction Collective’

Barry Shanahan (Clinton Institute, University College, Dublin), ‘“Clocking The Wire”: Hip-Hop and Representation in the Work of Richard Price’

Writing into the Twenty-First Century: Examining Contemporary American Fiction

Chair: Sarah MacLaughlin (University of Manchester)

Anne-Marie Evans (University of Sheffield), ‘Marriage and Materialism in Manhattan: Re-Imagining Female Consumerism in the Contemporary Novel’

Anthony Warde (University of Sheffield), ‘No Road to Run: Mapping Motifs in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road’

Elizabeth Boyle (University of Chester), ‘Vanishing Bodies: “Race” and Technology in Nalo Hopkinson’s Midnight Robber’

Colin Howley (University of Sheffield), ‘“Invisible Views”: Blackness, Urban Bodies and Community in John Edgar Wideman’s Two Cities: A Love Story’

Race and Representation

Chair: Will Kaufman (University of Central Lancashire)

Ian Brookes (University of Nottingham), ‘From Ball of Fire to A Song Is Born: Jazz Changes and Racial Representations in 1940s’ Hollywood’

Corin Willis (independent scholar), ‘Cracking the Minstrel Mask: African American Jazz and Blues Expressivity in Stormy Weather (1943)’

Kate Dossett (University of Leeds), ‘Taking Haiti Back: Black Masculinity and African American Memory in 1930s American Theatre’

Emma Kilkelly (University of Exeter), ‘Mental Automatism, Double-Consciousness and Social Schizophrenia: Minstrelsy’s Legacy of Mental Illness’

1960s Politics and Patterns of Activism

Chair: Robert Mason (University of Edinburgh)

Sandra Scanlon (University of Sheffield), ‘“Tell it to Hanoi!”: Student Support for the Vietnam War’

Alexander Dunst (University of Nottingham), ‘Richard Hofstadter, Paranoid Politics, and the Last Defence of Modernity’

Patrick Hagopian (University of Lancaster), ‘The Real Administration and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial’

Julian Killingley (Birmingham City University), ‘The Had a Dream – Litigation for Social Change and the Limits of Rights Discourse’

African American Rights at Home and Abroad

Chair: Sinéad Moynihan (University of Nottingham)

Cara Rodway (King’s College London), ‘“Vacation and Recreation Without Humiliation”: The Rhetoric of Roadside. Segregation in African-American Travel Guides’

Mark Helbling (University of Hawaii), ‘Alain Locke’s Cosmopolitan Project: France and America’ 

Derek Charles Catsam (University of Texas), ‘From America’s Black Promised Land to South Africa’s Dark City: Bus Boycotts in Harlem and Alexandra in the 1940s’

Holger Droessler (Ludwig-Maximilians University), ‘Searching for Order in the “White Atlantic”: Racism, Nationalism, and Interracial Relationships’

11:00-11:30am            Coffee and tea

11:30am-1:00pm             SESSION 5

Representing the Blues in Photography, Film and Literature

Chair: David Murray (University of Nottingham)

Nick Heffernan (Nene College), ‘“I’m the bluesman; he’s from Long Island!”: The Politics of Crossover in the Hollywood Blues Movie’

Richard Ings (independent scholar), ‘The Improvisational Image: The Kamoinge Workshop and the Jazz of Photography’

Paul Oliver (independent scholar), ‘Richard Wright and the Blues’

Transnationalism

Chair: TBC

Maeve Pearson (University of Exeter), ‘Shuttles and Pilgrims: The Transatlantic “Children” of Henry James and Frances Hodgson Burnett’

Tara Deshpande (University of Leeds), ‘George Lippard’s Transnational Nightmare’

Chen Xu (Hangzhou Dianzi University), ‘Zane Grey as a Successful Popular Western Author’

The 1952 Presidential Election and US Foreign Policy

Chair: Robert Mason (University of Edinburgh)

Steven Casey (London School of Economics), ‘The Korean War and the 1952 Presidential Election’

Mara Oliva (Institute for the Study of the Americas), ‘China Policy and Presidential Politics’

Bevan Sewell (University of Nottingham), ‘Putting Brazil in its Place: The Impact of the 1952 Election on US-Brazilian Relations’

Immigration and White Ethnicity

Chair: TBC

Joe Merton (University of Oxford), ‘“Ethnics All”: The 1976 Presidential Election and the Importance of Being “Ethnic”’

Ann Schofield (University of Kansas), ‘Transnational Folk Culture: The Returned Yank Revisited’

Sinéad Moynihan (University of Nottingham), ‘Who are the New Irish?: Race and Immigration in Contemporary Irish-American Culture’

American Theatre

Chair: Heidi Macpherson (De Montfort University)

Garry Maciver (University of Cambridge), ‘Tennessee Williams and the American Scene 1939-1942: The Early One Act Plays as Theatrical Snapshots’

Jina Al-Hassan (University of Edinburgh), ‘Female Violence on the Modern American Stage: The Example of Maurine Dallas Watkins’s Chicago (1926)’

Theresa Saxon (University of Central Lancashire), ‘“A Pair of Handsome Legs”: Display and Desire on the American Stage’

Iconographies of Race and Nationality

Chair: TBC

Paul Williams (University of Exeter), ‘The Great American (Graphic) Novel?: War, Racism, History and Ennui in Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan’

Robert Jacobs (Hiroshima Peace Institute), ‘Target Earth: Cartoon Images of Globalism in the Ashes of Hiroshima’

Gifra-Adroher (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin and its Spanish Illustrators’

Roundtable Discussion: ‘”Mainstream America” Explored through Concerns with Difference’

S.A. Deiringer, A.E. Rowe, R.H. Proppe

Dept. of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge

Cold War Culture

Chair: Martin Halliwell (University of Leicester)

Christine Bianco (Oxford Brookes University), ‘Modern Art for Middle America: Mass Magazines, Abstract Painting, and Cold War Culture in the 1950s’

Mary Robb (University of Edinburgh), ‘Music, Politics and Society: Miriam Gideon and the Composers Circle in New York City during 1945-1955’

Rebecca Arnold (Royal College of Art), ‘Wife Dressing: Designing Femininity in 1950s America’

Postwar Race, Gender, Nationalism and Sexuality

Chair: TBC

J. E. Smyth (University of Warwick), ‘Jim Crow, Jett Rink, and James Dean: Reconstructing Ferber’s Giant (1952-1956)’

Anna Creadick (Hobart & William Smith Colleges), ‘From Queer to Eternity: Sexual Dis-locations in a Postwar Blockbuster’

Linda Toocaram (King’s College London ), ‘Queer Aztlán: Translating Cherríe Moraga’s nationalism’

1:00- 2:00pm            Lunch

2:00-3:30pm             SESSION 6

Nineteenth Century American Thought and Culture

Chair: Theresa Saxon (University of Central Lancashire)

Michael Collins (University of Nottingham), ‘The Child of Nature, The Wonder of the Age: Master Betty’s Performance in Herman Melville’s “The Fiddler” (1854)’

David Greenham (University of the West of England), ‘Emerson and Shakespeare’

Orphanhood and Agency in Contemporary American Novels

Chair: Maeve Pearson (University of Exeter)

Liz Kella (Södertörn University), ‘Making a Difference: Indian Orphans in Works by Linda Hogan and Barbara Kingsolver’

Maria Holmgren Troy (Karlstad University), ‘Genre as Cultural Memory in Octavia Butler’s Orphan Narratives’

Helena Wahlström (University of Gavle), ‘Re-inventing the American Adam in Michael Cunningham’s Specimen Days’

Modernist Poetry

Chair: Mark Whalan (University of Exeter)

Danielle Barrios (University of Ulster), ‘Hart Crane’s Bridge in the Twenty-First Century: Poetry, Technology, and the Evolution of American Identity’

Niall Munro (Oxford Brookes University), ‘“Some combination of eye and sympathy and hand”: Hart Crane’s Visual Culture’

Sarah Barnsley (Goldsmith’s, University of London), ‘William Carlos Williams and Mary Barnard’s Poem of America’

Bigotry and the White House

Chair: Phil Davies (Eccles Centre)

Raymond Arsenault (University of South Florida), ‘The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Roosevelts, and the 1939 Lincoln Memorial Concert’

Jeffrey S. Demsky (Miami Dade College), ‘Bigot in Chief: Examining the Parlor Talk of Richard Nixon’

Stephen J. Whitfield (Brandeis University), ‘The Antisemitism of Richard Nixon’

Ecocritical Interventions and the Urban Poor

Chair: TBC

Helen Bralesford (University of Nottingham), ‘A Moving Picture? Image and Illustration as Environmental Strategy in Terry Tempest Williams’ Leap’

Daniel Cordle (Nottingham Trent University), ‘“Legacy Waste”: Reading the Nuclear and Cold War Contexts of American Literature Since 1945’

Drew Lyness (University of Wyoming), ‘Pathologising Poverty: The Cultural Camouflage of America’s Urban Poor’

Aesthetics in American Culture

Chair: TBC

Gordon J. Marshall (Haliç University), ‘From “Typing” to Literature: Kerouac’s “Original Scroll” and Post-1945 Print Culture’

Nasser Hussain (University of York), ‘Crossing America: Going Nowhere All at Once with Allen Ginsberg’

Anne Bettina Pedersen (University of Southern Denmark), ‘Aesthetics of Americana/Auteurs of Americana’

American Fiction

Chair: TBC

Darren Richard Carlaw (University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne), ‘New York Gentrification and the Twentieth Century Walking Narrative’

Kate Charlton-Jones (University of Essex), ‘Richard Yates’s Revolutionary Road’

Ecaterina Patrascu (Spiru Haret University), ‘(Re)/(Dis)Embodiment of Reality: The Dilemma of History in British and American Postmodern Fiction’

Crime Fiction

Chair: TBC

Helen Oakley (University of Nottingham), ‘Cross-cultural Encounters: The Crime Fiction of José Latour’

Steven Powell (University of Liverpool), ‘Los Angeles in the Fiction of James Ellroy’

Maria Ramon-Torrijos (University of Castilla-La Mancha), ‘The Dynamics of Lesbian Crime Fiction’

Community, Culture and Violence in the Antebellum Slave South

Chair: James Campbell (University of Leicester)

Greg Smithers (University of Aberdeen), ‘Studs: Slave Breeding and African-American Masculinity in the Antebellum South’

Lydia Plath (University of Warwick), ‘“When he was brought back to the bluff the people met and hung him”: Lynching, Vigilantism and Mob Violence in the Antebellum South’

Tom Strange (University of Sheffield), ‘“Old Lady put the pig’s foot further on the bed”: The Problems of Hidden Messages within the Slave Spiritual’

3:30-4:00pm            Coffee and tea

4:00-5:00pm            SESSION 7

American Poetry

Chair: Ian Bell (University of Keele)

Tim Kendall (University of Exeter), ‘Frost’s Originality’

Amy Morris (University of Cambridge), ‘“You should have disappeared years ago”: The Poetic Return of Mina Loy’

Richard Rorty and American Literature

Chair: Richard King (University of Nottingham)

Áine Kelly (University of Nottingham), ‘Stanley Cavell, Richard Rorty and the Inheritance of American Philosophy’

Filomena Vasconcelos (University of Porto), ‘Subverting Representation: Rorty’s Antirepresentationalism and a Possible Reading of E. A. Poe’s Poetics’

Representing Nature in American Culture

Chair: TBC

Lu Li-Ru (Huafan University), ‘Expanding the Boundary of Nature Writing: Alexander Wilson’

Christina Matteotti (King’s College London), ‘The Colonial Compulsion to Collect: Capturing an “Authentic” Indigeneity’

Religion and Contemporary Politics

Chair: TBC

Christopher Boerl (Royal Holloway College), ‘A House Divided: An Examination into the Impacts of a Fragmented Evangelical Vote’

Marie Gayte (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle), ‘The United States and the Vatican: A Quest for Morality?’

American Belief, Romance and Ben-Hur

Chair: TBC

Barbara Ryan (National University of Singapore), ‘Ben-Hur: Man, Boy and Buchan’

James Russell (De Montfort University), ‘Entertainment and Enlightenment: Ben-Hur (1880) and American Belief at the End of the Nineteenth Century’

Philip Roth

Chair: Catherine Morley (University of Leicester)

Rachael McLennan (University of East Anglia), ‘Serious Impersonations: Philip Roth’s Anne Franks’

Alex Hobbs (Anglia Ruskin University), ‘Masculinity and the Family in Phillip Roth’s The Plot Against America’

New Perspectives on Nineteenth-Century Culture

Chair: Maeve Pearson (University of Exeter)

Magnus Ullen (Karlstad University), ‘Uncanonical Hawthorne’

M. Kjellman-Chapin (Emporia State University), ‘The Figure and Formal Rupture: Whistler and the Constitutive Blank’

Walt Whitman

Chair: TBC

K. A. Harris (University of Sheffield), ‘“Well, you’ve come to be disillusioned have you?”: Transatlantic Pilgrimages to Walt Whitman’

Lindsay Tuggle (University of Sydney), ‘“Specimen” Collection: Walt Whitman and the Civil War’

Nature and Social Science in American Thought

Chair: Martin Halliwell (University of Leicester)

Hing Tsang (University of Lincoln), ‘Classical American Notions of Subjectivity and Agency: America’s Native Dialogic Tradition’

Robin Vandome (University of Nottingham), ‘Revisiting the “Organization of Knowledge”: Disciplinary Formations in the Nature Sciences around 1900’

5:00-6:00pm            Plenary lecture

Journal of American Studies Lecture

George Lipsitz (University of California), ‘The Bitter But Beautiful Struggle: Why American Studies Matters Now’

6:00-7:00pm            Reception, West Concourse, Portland Building

7:30pm            Banquet followed by Dr. Jazz

Sunday 19 April

9:00-11:00am             SESSION 8

Folklore, Folk Music and the South

Chair: Peter Kuryla (Belmont University, Nashville)

Will Kaufman (University of Central Lancashire), ‘Woody Guthrie and Stetson Kennedy’

Phil Langran (University of Lincoln), ‘Recycling the South: Music and the Work of William Gay’

Rachel Clare Donaldson (Vanderbilt University), ‘“Of, By and For the American People”: Alan Lomax, Moses Asch and Musical Education’

Chris Dixon (University of Queensland), ‘No More Songs: Phil Ochs and the Cultural Critique of Post-war America’

Transatlantic Relations

Chair: Bevan Sewall (University of Nottingham)

Ian Scott (University of Manchester), ‘Twilight of the Gods: The United States, the Cold War and the Decline of English Football in the 1950s’

John Killick (University of Leeds), ‘American Shipping in the Civil War; the Cope Line Experience’

Finn Pollard (University of Lincoln), ‘“Old feuds, old grudges, old hatreds”?: A Matter of Life and Death, Anglo-American Relations and the American Revolution’

François Lalonde (Boston University), ‘Reestablishing the Transatlantic Diplomatic Dialogue: The Eisenhower Administration and the Atlantic Community, 1957-1960’

US Hegemony: Rethinking Empire in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries

Chair: Maria Ryan (University of Nottingham)

David R. Bewley-Taylor (Swansea University), ‘The Beginnings of the End? US Hegemony and the Decline of the Global Drug Prohibition Regime’

Steve Hewitt (University of Birmingham), ‘American Counter-terrorism through the Rewards for Justice Program, 1984-2008’

Adam Burns (University of Edinburgh), ‘To End an Empire?: William Howard Taft and Philippine Retention, 1912-1916’

Ariane Knuesel (University of Zurich), ‘“A war between east and west, between the yellow peoples and the whites”: The Yellow Peril and US National Identity in the 1930s’

1920s and 1930s

Chair: Ian Bell (University of Keele)

James Harding (University of Sussex), ‘The Truth About Visual Training: Efficient Eyes in John Dos Passos’ U.S.A.’

Catherine Gander (King’s College London), ‘The Road Through the Depression: Muriel Rukeyser’s The Book of the Dead and the 1930s Documentary Road Narrative’

Catherine Rottenberg (Ben-Gurion University), ‘Spaces of Ambivalence: Blacks and Jews in New York City’

Eric J. Sandeen (University of Wyoming), ‘Robert Adams beyond the Suburbs: Picturing Endurance and Transformation in the Contemporary American West’

William Faulkner

Chair: TBC

Nehama Baker (Tel-Aviv University), ‘Faulkner’s Requiem for a Nun as a Work of Mourning – An Alternative to Postmodern Melancholy’

Euan Gallivan (University of Nottingham) , ‘The Touch that Abrogates: Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and the Value of Pity in Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!’

Sämi Ludwig (UHA Mulhouse), ‘William Faulkner’s Geometrics of Redemption: From Circles and Rectangles to Triangles’

Josh Toth (MacEwan College), ‘Coloring the Water: Faulkner, McBride and the Curing of Ambiguity in American Literature’

New Perspectives on the NAACP

Chair: George Lewis (University of Leicester)

Mark Newman (University of Edinburgh), ‘Desegregation in the Diocese of Galveston-Houston, 1945-1988’

Simon Topping (University of Plymouth), ‘“Of Mr Walter White and Others….”: Walter White, Partisan Non-partisanship and the NAACP, 1938-1952’

Lee Sartain (University of Portsmouth), ‘“A little more dead than last year”: The Baltimore NAACP, 1914 to 1935, and Why the Establishment of a Branch Took So Long’

Women and Corporeality

Chair: Heidi Macpherson (De Montfort University)

Ellen Matlok-Ziemann (Uppsala University), ‘Old Career Women and Young Spinsters Representations of “Old” Women in American Fiction’

Carol Smith (University of Winchester), ‘Hillary, Sarah, Carrie & Michelle: Sex and the City and the Failure of American Feminism’

Ann Hurford (University of Nottingham), ‘Witchy Women and Bad Boys: Transformation and Difference in Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic and the Probable Future’

Mary Lo Ying Wa (University of Hong Kong), ‘The Representation of the Female Body in an American Female Bildungsroman’

Fantastic Females: The Representation of Women in Aspects of American Popular Culture

Chair: TBC

Jennifer Woodward (Edge Hill University), ‘Deluge (Felix E. Feist, 1933) and the Transformed Manifestation of the Female Fantasy Figure’

Peter Wright (Edge Hill University), ‘“That’s like kissing a sword-blade”: Jirel of Joiry, C. L. Moore and the Origins of Feminist Sword and Sorcery’

Andrea Wright (Edge Hill University), ‘A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing: The Representation of Women in 1980s Sword and Sorcery Cinema’

Jenny Barret (Edge Hill University), ‘Fear and Loathing (and Admiration): The Ambiguities of the Dominatrix in Comics’

The Gay Imagination, Travel and Hospitality

Chair: TBC

Pei-chen Liao (National Taiwan University), ‘The Travail of Travel in the Age of Globalization: No/Mobilized Hospitality in Hari Kunzru’s Transmission’

Michael Bibler (University of Manchester), ‘Queer Ethics and the Southern Gothic in Truman Capote’s “The Thanksgiving Visitor”’

Max Carocci (Birkbeck College), ‘Native Americans and the Gay Imagination’

Alfonso Ceballos Munoz (Cadiz University), ‘“Still Crazy After All These Years”: The Evolution of Gay AIDS Plays on the American Stage’

11:00-11:30am            Coffee and tea

11:30am-1:00pm             SESSION 9

Race and Transatlanticism in Twentieth-Century American Literature and Film

Chair: TBC

Douglas Field (Staffordshire University), ‘James Baldwin and Africa’

Ruth Maxey (University of Nottingham), ‘Brave New Worlds?: Miscegenation in Transatlantic South Asian Writing and Film’

Jing Yang (University of Hong Kong), ‘Interracial Romance in the Postcolonial Orient’

Issues in Asian North American Studies

Chair: TBC

Judith Musser (La Salle University), ‘The Representation of Japanese American/Canadian Internment Camps in Literature and Film’

Subarno Chattarji (Swansea University), ‘“The New Americans”: Creating a Typology of Vietnamese American Identity’

Su-ching Wang (University of Washington), ‘Black-Asian Interracial Formation in the United States: A Comparative Reading of Chester Himes’s If He Hollers Let Him Go and John Okada’s No-No Boy’

Narratives of Risk: Games and Gaming in American Culture

Chair: Elizabeth Evans (University of Nottingham)

John O’Brien (University of Leeds), ‘Gambling in American Literature: A Short History’

Michele Gemelos (University of Cambridge), ‘Games People Play : Don DeLillo’s Falling Man and Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland’

Ben Williamson (University of the West of England), ‘Real Sad Kids: Literary Youth, Computer Games, and Consumerism’

Contemporary American Fiction, the Marketplace and the Suburbs

Chair: Catherine Morley (University of Leicester)

Brian Jarvis (Loughborough University), ‘The Fall of the House of Finance: Uncanny Economics and American Gothic Fiction’

Martin Dines (Kingston University), ‘Suburban Gothic and the Ethnic Uncanny in Jeffrey Eugenides’s The Virgin Suicides’

Madeleine Lyes (Clinton Institute, University of Dublin), ‘“It Should Frighten Your Shoes”: Critical Urban Messiness in the New York Fiction of Donald Barthelme’

New Perspectives on African American History

Chair: TBC

Dawn-Marie Gibson (University of Ulster), ‘Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam at a Crossroads’

Oliver Gruner (University of East Anglia), ‘The Many Faces of Malcolm X (1992): Film, Politics and the (Re)construction of History’

Alan Rice (University of Central Lancashire), ‘“Choc’late Soldiers From the USA” (1942 -2008): The Cultural Implications of Black GI’s in Europe’

Poor Whites, New Orleans, and Strategies of the Global South

Chair: Taylor Hagood

Sarah Robertson (University of the West of England), ‘Invoking the Agrarians: Poor Whites and the Global Southern Community in Rick Bragg’s Memoir Trilogy’

Owen Robinson (University of Essex), ‘Gateways and Telegraphs: Nineteenth-century Travellers and Global, Southern New Orleans’

Taylor Hagood (Florida Atlantic University), ‘“The Prince With That Hearth-broom”: Faulkner’s “Knight’s Gambit” and the Movement of Southerners Across the Global Grid’

Race, Slavery and Reconstruction

Chair: TBC

Andrew Heath (University of Sheffield), ‘Capitalism and Race in the Making of a Transatlantic Radical: The Career of John Campbell, 1840-1861’

Carole Emberton (State University of New York), ‘Natural Born Killers: Debating Violence and the “Militant South” after the Civil War’

James Campbell (University of Leicester), ‘Attempted Lynchings and Police Brutality in New York and Pennsylvania, 1890-1919’

Surrealism and Modernist Writing

Chair: TBC

Ruth Hawthorn (University of Glasgow), ‘“Come back to that calm country”: The Limits of Nostalgia in Randall Jarrell’s Lost World’

Emma Kimberley (University of Leicester) , ‘Cultural Politics and the Preservation of Memory in Contemporary American Poetry’

Joanna Pawlik (University of Manchester), ‘“The Surrealist transformation of America”: The Chicago Surrealists’ Revolt’

Youth Identity and Counterculture

Chair: TBC

Alex Seago (American International University), ‘From Resistance to “Cool Hunting”: Reformist Interpretations of Counterculture’

Richard Nowell (University of East Anglia), ‘Dressed to Kill: Tailoring the Canadian Teen Slasher Film for Hollywood’

Alex Goody (Oxford Brookes University), ‘Technologies of Death: Phonograph, Computer, Cyberspace’

1:00-2:00pm            Lunch

Conference Close

BAAS Requests and Notices

BAAS Database of External Examiners 

The Secretary of BAAS, Catherine Morley, holds a list of potential external examiners. If individuals would like to put their names forward for this list, please email her on cm260@leicester.ac.uk. Include the following information, in list form if possible:

• name and title
• affiliation with complete contact details including address, telephone, fax, and email externalling experience (with dates if appropriate)
• current externalling positions (with end dates)
• research interests (short descriptions only)

By providing this information, you agree to it being passed on to universities who are seeking an external for American Studies or a related discipline. Should you wish your name to be removed in the future, please contact the Secretary.

Any university representative interested in receiving the list should also contact the Secretary. BAAS only acts as a holder of the list; it does not ‘matchmake’.

Paper copies can also be requested by sending a letter to:

Dr Catherine Morley

BAAS Secretary

Centre for American Studies

University of Leicester

University Road

Leicester, LE1 7RH

US Studies Online

US Studies Online is a journal for postgraduates at British and international universities, and publishes a broad range of work within a refereed environment. The issues reflect the eclectic and multi-disciplinary nature of American Studies, covering a range of topics including history, politics, art, literature and film.

However, we like to keep an open mind, and this year may see a special, themed edition, allowing readers to view the variety of approaches within one topic or field of American Studies.

Thanks to the high quality of papers at the recent BAAS postgraduate conference in Exeter, the Spring 2009 edition of US Studies Online looks set to maintain the standards of previous issues, with a variety of articles that best represent the conference theme, ‘America: Real and Imagined’.

In the meantime, we are always seeking new articles from postgraduates and we look forward to seeing submissions for upcoming issues.

Articles should be 5000-6000 words long and may not be under consideration by any other publication. For details on submission procedures, referencing and formatting see: http://www.baas.ac.uk/resources/usstudiesonline/enotes.asp

Submissions can be made electronically to Felicity Donohoe at: usstudies@baas.ac.uk

British Records relating to America in Microform (BRRAM)

British Records relating to America in Microform is one of the long-standing and continuing academic partnerships with which the British Association for American Studies is concerned. Originally conceived in the 1960s, before the connection with BAAS arose, the BRRAM series was founded by Professor Walter Minchinton, lately of the University of Exeter, in conjunction with E. P. Microform Ltd., a commercial firm based in Wakefield, Yorkshire. In 1991 a contractual relationship was established between BAAS and the firm, now Microform Academic Publishers (MAP), a division of Microform Imaging Ltd. The academic control of the scheme is vested in an advisory committee of the British Association for American Studies. Professor Richard Simmons (University of Birmingham) became General Editor in the early 1990s and, after his retirement in 2002, I was appointed in his place.

The purpose of the BRRAM Series is to make manuscript documents, and occasionally printed sources, available on microfilm for research purposes. Individual scholars and university libraries both benefit from the dissemination of material in the series. There is also an intention to bring greater accessibility to archives in an editor’s particular field of research, thereby broadening the scope of informed scholarly debate as well as serving the needs of library and archive communities by ensuring the long-term preservation of documents. Material is selected for its literary or historical importance from the vast resources of university and public libraries and other archives in the United Kingdom. The process of selection is determined partly by the significance of a particular collection and partly by the willingness of archives and/or private owners to make their material available for wider use through microform. Documents already filmed by other commercial companies are not considered for the BRRAM series.

The General Editor handles the academic selection of material, with the help of a Special Editor who is offered a contract to produce a specific title. The logistics of the publication process, including copyright permissions and advertising, are dealt with by Dr Roderic Vassie, Head of Publishing at MAP, and by the firm’s technical and administrative staff in Wakefield. Dr Vassie and I regularly consult over the titles selected and their progress. It is not all plain sailing, especially when contractual problems arise; but we work hard to resolve such difficulties. Our aim is to release two or three new titles per year, usually ensuring that they cover varied types of documents. Packaging groups of titles from the back catalogue is also undertaken. Provided the necessary permissions exist, MAP can make titles available on request in digital formats as well as microform. Titles can be purchased in their entirety or in parts. A full list of titles in the series is available at www.microform.co.uk/academic/

Wherever possible, whole collections are chosen as titles. We try to avoid microfilming parts of collections, though this is sometimes necessary if only sections of an archive have relevance to American Studies. Some projects are large, requiring a significant amount of filming; others are smaller in scale, including titles where only one microfilm reel is produced. The titles appear with a printed guide (also available as a PDF file on the company’s website) in which the Special Editor introduces the documents filmed and places them in their historical or literary context. A checklist of items included as part of each title is appended to the introduction. Care is taken to list the material filmed in the order that it appears on the reels. A set of these introductory guides and contents’ lists is deposited at the Rothermere American Institute, Oxford.

Titles in the BRRAM series are selected for their connection to American Studies and for their significance for scholarly research. American Studies is interpreted in a broadly conceived way. There is no restriction on chronological period. Geographically, the titles cover primarily the United States and the thirteen colonies that were its antecedents, but they also deal with Canada, the West Indies and Latin America. Because the original manuscripts are located in UK archives, a good many titles have an Anglo-American orientation. Sometimes, too, as for example in the titles concerning slavery or missionary endeavours, there is an African dimension. Thus the series fits well with the current emphasis on transatlantic studies in many History and American Studies departments. It provides documentary evidence that could be mined by students for dissertations as well as primary source material for more advanced scholars.

Among recent titles are several on transatlantic slavery, on Anglo-American literary relations, and on modern Anglo-American political and diplomatic relations. The titles on slavery and the slave trade include Jamaican material in the Slebech Papers at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth and the Pembrokeshire Record Office; documents from the Liverpool Central Library concerning the slave trade; the Goulburn papers relating to Jamaican sugar plantations at the Surrey History Centre, Woking; the Edward Long Papers on Jamaica at the British Library; and the Samuel Martin Papers on Antigua, also from the British Library. The most recent literary title in the series comprises the voluminous papers of the British circle of Walt Whitman followers from Bolton Central Library. Twentieth-century Anglo-American political and diplomatic relations are represented by the correspondence of Arthur Murray, 3^rd Viscount Elibank, at the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh. We would be happy to hear from qualified scholars who would like to offer a new title in the series. Interested parties should contact either Professor Kenneth Morgan, Department of Politics and History, Marie Jahoda Building, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH (e-mail: kenneth.morgan@brunel.ac.uk) or Dr Roderic Vassie, Head of Publishing, Microform Academic Publishers, Main Street, East Ardsley, Wakefield, Yorkshire, WF3 2AP (e-mail: rvassie@microform.co.uk).

Kenneth Morgan (Brunel University)

News from the Centres

Postgraduate Studentships 2009, School of American & Canadian Studies, Institute of Film & Television Studies, University of Nottingham

AHRC studentships (subject to the outcome of the University’s bid to the AHRC under the Block Grant scheme) and School studentships are available for MA, MRes, and PhD programmes. Applications are invited from highly qualified students across all areas of American & Canadian Studies and Film & Television Studies, including literature, history, politics, cultural and performance studies and new media studies.

In the first instance, you should apply for a place on your chosen programme of study at:

http://pgapps.nottingham.ac.uk/

All applicants will be considered for both AHRC (if eligible) and School studentships and asked to supply additional information in support of their application for a studentship. The deadline for this additional information is 23 March 2009. Fees paid at Home/EU rate. Maintenance grants in line with national levels set by the AHRC, which for 2008/09 are: MA/MRes £9,040; Phd 12,940.

For further information and informal advice, please contact:

For American & Canadian Studies

Dr Graham Thompson, School of American and Canadian Studies graham.thompson@nottingham.ac.uk

For Film & Television Studies

Professor Roberta Pearson, Institute of Film and Television Studies roberta.pearson@nottingham.ac.uk

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/american

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/film

‘America: Real and Imagined’: Report of the British Association of American Studies Annual Postgraduate Conference

University of Exeter, 15 November 2008

On Saturday 15 November 2008, Exeter University’s School of Arts, Language and Literature (SALL) hosted ‘America: Real and Imagined’, the sixth annual Postgraduate Conference of the British Association for American Studies (BAAS). Organized by SALL postgraduates Adam Hallett, Gareth James, Andrew Nelson and Lewis Ward, the conference received funding from both BAAS and the US Embassy, while attracting over fifty postgraduate delegates from Seattle to Berlin, with SALL staff also chairing panels during the day.

‘America: Real and Imagined’ invited papers on ideas of the American West across a range of disciplines and historical periods. The keynote was provided by Professor Judith Newman, Head of the School of American and Canadian Studies at Nottingham University, in a speech titled ‘Blowback: Andre Dubus III’s House of Sand and Fog’. Newman covered the reception of the Iranian-American book in the context of ‘not knowing’ and multiplied perspective within the novel as an extension of the miscommunication between America and the world.

The following nine panels then dealt with topics in diverse areas. These included the broader impact of migration and assimilation, covering the consequences of Westward mobility in Laverne and Shirley and Goodfellas, as well as the experiences of nineteenth-century literary travellers within the American West. Various notions of heroes and heroism were also represented by the gendered implications of neo-Western narratives, Chester Himes’ pulp fiction and the intertextual politics of Oliver Stone’s 1980s films Salvador and Platoon.

Historical reflections also extended to the relationship between spirituality, myth, literature and the West. In terms of spirituality, papers developed studies on Thomas Pynchon’s Mason & Dixon, black preachers in the antebellum South and Richard Watson Gilder, while studies of mythology moved between Dr. Strangelove’s nuclear anxieties, the cultural role of guns, and E.L. Doctorow’s de-mythologizing text Welcome to Hard Times. Moreover, aspects of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s My Kinsman, Major Moleineux and Main Street, Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and Anne Sexton’s poetry on fatherhood were explored as examples of American literature’s engagement with the West.

The conference also incorporated political ideology, represented by papers on Louis Farrakhan’s National of Islam, and Saul Bellow’s radical repudiation, as well as a survey of Republican figures and representations that included the John Wayne film Chisum, the Ronald Reagan Library and the political strategy of James A. Baker III during the 1970s. Additionally, panels on the ‘eclectic’ and ‘urban’ frontiers presented unusual angles on queer bodies in the American West, American Girl Scouts, the gentrification of the San Francisco Mission District, and the photography of Roy DeCarava and Stan Douglas within Harlem and Vancouver.

The twenty-five papers presented therefore provided a fascinating cross-section of current postgraduate research within American Studies, demonstrating the lively interdisciplinary approach to the field and the potential for the future. The high quality of the papers has since been commented on by delegates, while further praise has been made of the value of the event for developing and showcasing what promises to be a thriving area of research for the future.

Travel Award Reports

BMI-Woody Guthrie Fellowship

Will Kaufman, University of Central Lancashire

In 2008 I was fortunate to receive a BMI-Woody Guthrie Fellowship awarded jointly by the Woody Guthrie Foundation and the BMI Foundation. The award afforded me a month’s research at the Woody Guthrie Archives in New York. Under the guidance of archivist Tiffany Loiselle and the Archives’ director, Nora Guthrie – Woody’s daughter – I had access to notebooks, letters, manuscripts and artwork, all of which shed light on Guthrie’s emergence from the Dust Bowl in the 1930s, his growing involvement with radical politics and his place in American musical history.

[INSERT PIC]

[CAPTION: Will Kaufman, 2008 BMI-Woody Guthrie Research Fellow, with Nora Guthrie, Executive Director of the Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives. Photo courtesy of the Woody Guthrie Archives.

I was first of all utterly amazed at how much the man wrote down, and not only in notebooks or on stationery. There were songs written on the backs of menus and placemats, letters written on torn-up paper bags and strips of giftwrap, poems written on handbills and leaflets. One thing that struck me was Guthrie’s acute visual sense (when he fled the Dust Bowl for California, it was initially as a sign painter rather than a musician). In his writings, he would often illustrate a point with drawings, frequently adding a bright swath of watercolour to a set of lyrics or a letter, as though even the most private communication was meant to be a work of art. I recall that at the bottom of one letter he drew a little billboard that said ‘This Space for Rent to a Decent Artist’.

I was able to see through successive drafts the genesis and development of many of Guthrie’s songs including ‘This Land Is Your Land’, ‘So Long, It’s Been Good to Know You’ and the rest of the Dust Bowl Ballads as well as union songs, love songs, anti-lynching songs and campaign songs. At times, Guthrie’s orthography reflected the pressures of particular moments. A number of song lyrics became increasingly jarred and jagged on the page, sometimes ending with the hurried notation: ‘Finish later. Train too rough’. One letter from 1941 ended with the brief postscript: ‘Some feller from the Dept. of Interior is here in town. He just called and said he’d heard my records and wants to come out to the house and talk about a documentary film to be shot up along the Columbia River. Hope he gives me a job. Will let you know’. This marked the beginning of Guthrie’s momentous Columbia River project, out of which came such songs as ‘Roll On Columbia’, ‘The Grand Coulee Dam’ and ‘Pastures of Plenty’. Had he written that note in the age of e-mail, I would of course never have seen it.

More sobering was the progressive deterioration of Guthrie’s handwriting in his later letters, reflecting the increasing hold of Huntington’s Disease. By the end of the 1950s he could hardly hold a pen. He was still typing away, though; a substantial amount of his work was typewritten, betraying the fact that ‘the Dustiest of the Dust Bowlers’, as he called himself, was actually a well-trained typist. Studs Terkel memorably recalls a 1941 visit from Guthrie in Chicago:

At four in the morning my dream was interrupted by the click, click of my portable typewriter, my Royal. It was Woody, who had just ambled home, touch-typing like crazy. I turned over and slept dreamlessly. A few hours later as Woody snored softly, innocently in the adjoining room, I was picking sheets of paper out of the wastebasket. There must have been at least thirty pages, single-spaced. Verse, prose, fragments of songs, impressions, wild, vivid images of his night at a South Side tavern. They danced off the pages. It was Joycean, poetic and crazy and wild. It was sort of ‘Ulysses in Nightown’, with interior thoughts and everything. (Studs Terkel, And They All Sang. London: Granta, 2006, p. 212)

I feel extraordinarily privileged to have spent this time in the Woody Guthrie Archives. The experience was invaluable and I am keenly aware that I only scratched the surface of a treasure trove. I wish to record here my gratitude to Nora Guthrie and to Ralph N. Jackson, president of the BMI Foundation, for making this research trip possible.

Founders’ Award

Caroline Blinder, Goldsmiths, University of London

The BAAS Founders’ Award enabled me to travel to Chicago, Illinois and then onwards to Syracuse, New York during August 2008. My aim was to visit several photographic archives and collections relating to photographers of the 1930s, in particular the photojournalist Margaret Bourke White and the documentary photographer Dorothea Lange.

As part of an ongoing interest in American photography and documentary aesthetics, my work on Bourke White and Lange constitutes a significant chapter in a larger book project in which I examine the intersections between writing and photography in a specifically American context. I am particularly interested in how photography in the first half of the twentieth century sought to establish an operative idea of the vernacular, in which personal aesthetic vision could be combined with a sense of national specificity. In questioning the respective agendas of two canonical photo-texts from the 1930s, Margaret Bourke White and Erskine Caldwell’s You Have Seen Their Faces (1937) and Dorothea Lange and Paul Taylor’s American Exodus (1939), I hope to examine the relationship between textual apparatus and accompanying images in each project.

While some work has been done on the two photo-texts independently, there has been very little genuinely critical and/or comparative study. It has always struck me that although a few years apart, You Have Seen Their Faces (1937) and American Exodus (1939) – both photo-textual collaborations between partners in a joint literary and photographic documentary effort – nevertheless suffered very different reputations. Dorothea Lange and Paul Taylor’s American Exodus was heralded as a classic of concerned journalism – a reputation which largely has gone unchallenged– while Bourke White and Erskine Caldwell’s You Have Seen Their Faces has often been critiqued as a gratuitous and politically suspect exercise in exposing the American sharecropper’s plight in the 1930s.

My aim for this particular research trip was therefore to find material relating to Bourke White, which would enable me to compare these works as different exercises in photography as a medium for political change. I tried to keep in mind the ways in which the books were received by a Depression Era public conscious of emerging from a decade of deprivation; that is to say whether they were read as vernacular studies of a predominantly regional nature or seen in more politicised terms as didactic and polemical works of art. What I want to examine, amongst issues of propaganda versus art photography, is how the professional reputations of the two female photographers influenced the books’ reception and how the camera’s role was partly sanctified by its subject, namely the disenfranchised Southerners of the Depression Era and the onward Western movement of the ‘Oakies’ in Lange’s case.

In May 2006 I visited the Dorothea Lange archives at the Oakland Museum of Art and was able to amass some material relating to Lange’s notes and writings. In August 2008 I went to the Margaret Bourke White Archives at the University of Syracuse after having spent some time at the Centre for New Deal Studies at Roosevelt University in Chicago. The centre contains a significant amount of sociological material relating to the Works Progress Administration and the Farm Security Administration and their efforts to document the Depression through data collection and to some extent photography. As it turned out, the centre contains mostly material relating to Roosevelt himself and therefore provides more of an insight into the President’s cultural and literary background during his New Deal period in the 1930s than into the actual apparatus established to enact the New Deal. While there was not as much photographic material as I had hoped I did gain access to part of Roosevelt’s private collection of books, which contained – not unsurprisingly – both Bourke White and Lange’s photographic efforts; proof, it appears, of the immense stature they had in terms of political and journalistic integrity at the time.

At the Margaret Bourke White Archives I spent most of my time examining the private correspondence between her and the writer Erskine Caldwell with whom she collaborated on You Have Seen Their Faces. Most of the correspondence was, however, of a private nature and did not yield much information on what working methods they had adopted during their field trip, nor was there much information regarding their editorial decisions overall. Instead I was able to access an extensive series of scrapbooks collected by Caldwell relating to the reception and reviews of You Have Seen Their Faces. Other correspondence was useful as well because it illuminated Bourke White’s stature, not merely as a commercial photographer, but as a woman engaged in civil rights advocacy and the Writers’ Union; an organisation that for nearly a decade maintained a vigorously leftist affiliation with many prominent American writers. While the chapter outlined in my grant application primarily focused on the reception of Bourke White and Lange, my research last summer will enable me to put this into the context of their political affiliations and interests on a wider level.

Student Travel Award

Helen Mitchell, Northumbria University

In 2008 I was fortunate enough to receive a postgraduate travel award from BAAS. This was a tremendous bonus which enabled me to extend my research trip to the New England and has helped considerably toward completing my thesis, currently titled ‘A Place of Our Own: The Historical Evolution of Campus-Based Women’s Centres in the New England Area of the U.S.A’.

Much of my time was spent in Harvard’s Schlesinger Library where the holdings contain extensive materials relevant to the status of women on university campuses and the activism generated by second-wave feminists in order to create women’s centres. The main aim here was to trace the story of the Harvard women’s centre. This proved difficult due to the fragmented nature of the activism and the fact that there were five attempts at creating a women’s centre at Harvard in various buildings and by numerous different women’s groups before the first Harvard funded and recognised women’s centre opened in 2006. The archival material was rich and extremely revealing. For example, I found some excellent correspondence between the activists and the university administration as well as various reports and proposals submitted to Harvard.

Also while at Harvard, I was able to make use of the papers of Margaret Dunkle, which were particularly useful. Together with Bernice Sandler, Ms Dunkle contributed to Women’s Centers: Where are They? (1974) and the collection contained questionnaires from women’s centres used as part of that study. This has not only provided a broad view of the range of services offered by women’s centres at the time but also much information as to the level of finance available to each centre and the networks created between the centres themselves and various community based organisations and other campus-based centres with similar interests.

My trip then extended south to the University of Connecticut where I had been invited to make use of the private archive held by the women’s centre on their campus. This women’s centre was established in 1972 after a strong surge in activism by women who were affiliated to the university and also those from the local community. The archive contained annual reports, letters, journals and newspaper articles relating to the activities of the activists. I was also fortunate enough to meet and interview some of the activists who were responsible for setting up the centre and others who have been involved with running it over the years. This was the most incredible experience of the trip. To be able to speak to these amazing women and to hear their stories and witness the camaraderie that still exists between them today is something I shall remember for a very long time.

The University of New Hampshire held an archive which added a different dimension to my work in that the women’s centre here was a student organisation that had no permanent physical space on campus. It was established in 1973 and has records running to 1986, showing a huge commitment by activists, especially in consideration of the constantly changing nature of the student body and the lack of monetary resources.

In conclusion, I wish to thank BAAS and also Northumbria University for jointly providing the resources for this extremely valuable research trip. I am confident that the rich data I collected have added considerable depth to my thesis.Short-Term Travel Award

Becca Weir, University of Cambridge

A generous short-term travel award from BAAS helped fund an eleven-week research trip to Massachusetts. During the period April-July 2008 I was able to visit several archives, where I collected a wealth of material for my PhD project, currently titled ‘Written War: Reportage and the Literary, 1861-1866.’

Although literary critics have tended to label the Civil War ‘unwritten,’ many Americans experienced reading as a war experience. Personal and newspaper correspondence enabled these ‘war readers’ to participate in the conflict at a distance, and lent the newspaper a new status as the literature appropriate to war. Taking the new significance of the media in Civil War America as a starting point, my thesis explores the relationship between war reportage in the press and ‘literary’ representations of the conflict in poetry, fiction and drama. In a series of case studies, I reorientate the work of canonical writers like Emily Dickinson, Herman Melville and Walt Whitman in the context of popular war literature, and argue that war poetry printed in newspapers constituted a particularly significant site for the negotiation of relationships between individual and nation.

Many of the newspaper titles essential to my project are not available outside the United States; local and specialist titles are particularly rare. The American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, MA, has one of the best collections of Civil War newspapers in the country, including regimental newspapers like the Corinth War Eagle and newspapers published in U.S. army hospitals such as the Crutch and the Cartridge Box. I was based at the AAS for six wonderful weeks, during which I surveyed more than forty Union and Confederate titles, both local and national.

At the AAS, I gathered material for a chapter on battlefield correspondence written by ‘specials’ (on-the-spot reporters), with a particular focus on letters from soldier-correspondents in local newspapers, and another chapter on the cultural work of war poetry published in northern and southern newspapers. The soldier-correspondents’ letters revealed a series of fascinating contrasts with the reports of ‘specials’ in the national press. These conversational pieces problematise clear-cut oppositions between print and script, and public and private spheres.

I was also surprised to discover the status of fact in many of the newspaper poems, as reflected in accompanying footnotes and introductions. Such frameworks, although excised from anthologies of Civil War poetry, shaped the meaning of the poems in important ways. Other highlights included the parodies, quotations and adaptations of Tennyson’s ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and the revelation of one poem’s journey over 500 miles from Richmond’s The Southern Illustrated News to a newspaper in Illinois.

Although the helpfulness of the AAS staff has become legendary, I was nevertheless amazed by their enthusiasm and willingness to share their expertise. Under their guidance, I was able to make the most of a remarkable collection. In addition to the newspaper titles I set out to survey, I saw scrapbooks, broadsides and little-known anthologies which enriched my understanding of how and why a variety of readers and writers used poetic form to shape the meaning of the war. As I was allowed to take my own photographs, I brought back far more material than would have been otherwise possible. The research community at the AAS also provided me with the opportunity to present and discuss my work with other researchers in my field; I would like to thank them for their comments and good humour.

I divided the weeks that remained between superb collections of African American and Confederate newspapers at the Boston Athenaeum, and manuscripts at the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Schlesinger Library and Houghton Library. These materials helped me to map the experiences of a variety of war readers and writers – from one combatant’s appreciative letter to a popular poet, to diarists who eagerly transcribed sections of the latest news, to the mother who wrote to a son reported missing and assumed dead. I also read draft letters from a soldier-correspondent to the editor of the Boston Journal (complete with annotations and amendments), which gave me an invaluable insight into the conventions of battle reportage as perceived by occasional writers for the press.

Halfway through my trip, I was able to present a paper at the ALA conference in San Francisco and present a paper, where the Whitman Society ran panels on ‘Whitman and Periodicals’ and ‘Whitman and the Civil War’. The experience was nerve-racking – I had not presented at a conference of this size before – but the feedback from my panel was positive and helpful. Over four productive days, I engaged with some of the latest research in my field and began conversations which have continued to inform my work since my return.

Overall, the visit enabled me to work with a wide range of materials, and developed my understanding of the newspaper’s significance in Civil War America, and the relationship between war reportage and literary form. Again, I would like to thank BAAS for providing the support that made this trip possible.

Reports from Eccles Centre Fellows

Faye Hammill, University of Strathclyde

I spent the whole of August 2008 at the British Library and it was an invaluable research opportunity. I work on both American and Canadian literature, and whilst the National Library of Scotland and Edinburgh University Library have extensive Canadian holdings, my access to American material is far more limited. Without the Eccles Fellowship, I would have had to decline the opportunity to write a chapter for the North America volume of Modernist Magazines: A Critical and Cultural History, currently being edited by Andrew Thacker and Peter Brooker for OUP. The chapter was entitled ‘Modernism and the Quality Magazines: Vanity Fair; New Yorker; Esquire; American Mercury’. The American Mercury in particular is difficult to obtain elsewhere, and I read through numerous volumes dating from the 1920s and 1930s. I also needed to consult volumes of The Smart Set from the 1910s and 1920s, since this was an important predecessor of the magazines I was writing about. It was wonderful to have immediate access to complete runs of these magazines, as well as to all the related secondary works which I needed. The library reading rooms, together with the quiet Writers and Scholars room, provided an ideal working atmosphere, and this enabled me to write up a good proportion of the research as I was going along. I have now submitted the chapter. This research also contributes to my book-in-progress, a cultural and literary history of sophistication, which is contracted to Liverpool University Press, and contains a substantial section on sophisticated magazines.

I appreciated the opportunity to talk to library staff, including Jean Petrovic, Carole Holden and Dorian Hayes, who were very helpful. I also spent some time with another visiting fellow, Michèle Mendelssohn, whose research area overlaps with mine, and with Meichuen Wang, holder of a postgraduate Eccles fellowship, who is completing her PhD on Canadian literature at Cardiff University. I am immensely grateful to Phil Davies, BAAS and BACS for this award, and will certainly be recommending to colleagues in my field that they apply for one in future.

Awards Opportunities

Fulbright Awards

Over the last six decades more than 27,000 Americans and Britons have crossed the Atlantic to participate in the US-UK Fulbright programme. Famous names such as Sylvia Plath and Milton Friedman, Shirley Williams and Ian Rankin are alumni of the programme. The ‘special relationship’ has been strengthened and redefined through this exchange in each decade.

The US-UK Fulbright Commission has announced a first wave of new awards that will increase by 30% the number of scholarships it gives by 2010 to over 60. The new awards include new postgraduate scholarships, Fulbright research awards and a new category of distinguished chair awards.

New Fulbright Partnership Scholarships will also be available for academic year 2010/11. There will be an award offered each year under the following partnership agreements:

Fulbright-Bristol University Award

Fulbright-Coventry Award in Automotive Design

Fulbright-Glasgow University Award

Fulbright-Leeds University Award

Fulbright-Liverpool University Award

Fulbright-Sussex University Award

Fulbright-Warwick University Award

Fulbright-University College Falmouth Media Award

Fulbright-King’s College London Research Award

Fulbright-Multiple Sclerosis Society Research Award

Fulbright-University of the Arts London Distinguished Chair Award

Fulbright-Glasgow Urban Lab Distinguished Chair Award**

Fulbright-Leeds University Distinguished Chair Award

The Fulbright-Multiple Sclerosis Society Research Award is for a British researcher to study in the US. All the other awards are for American postgraduates to study in the UK.

For further information please contact Penny Egan on 020 7539 4411 during office hours or on her mobile 07885 398 050. www.fulbright.co.uk

Congressional Research Awards

The Dirksen Congressional Center invites applications for grants to fund research on congressional leadership and the US Congress. A total of up to $30,000 will be available in 2009. Awards range from a few hundred dollars to $3,500.

The competition is open to individuals with a serious interest in studying Congress. Political scientists, historians, biographers, scholars of public administration or American studies, and journalists are among those eligible. The Center encourages graduate students who have successfully defended their dissertation prospectus to apply and awards a significant portion of the funds for dissertation research. Applicants must be US citizens who reside in the United States.

The awards program does not fund undergraduate or pre-Ph.D. study. Organisations are not eligible. Research teams of two or more individuals are eligible. No institutional overhead or indirect costs may be claimed against a Congressional Research Award.

There is no standard application form. Applicants are responsible for showing the relationship between their work and the awards program guidelines. Applications which exceed the page limit and incomplete applications will NOT be forwarded to the screening committee for consideration.

All application materials must be received on or before February 1, 2009. Awards will be announced in March 2009.

Complete information about eligibility and application procedures may be found at the Center’s Web site: http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_grants_CRAs.htm.

Frank Mackaman is the program officer: fmackaman@dirksencenter.org.

The Center, named for the late Senate Minority Leader Everett M. Dirksen, is a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit research and educational organisation devoted to the study of Congress and its leaders. Since 1978, the Congressional Research Awards (formerly the Congressional Research Grants) program has paid out $747,465 to support 369 projects.

Cindy Koeppel

ckoeppel@dirksencenter.org

The Dirksen Congressional Center

2815 Broadway

Pekin, IL 61554

Conference and Seminar Announcements

CFP: Liberating Sojourn 2: Transatlantic Abolitionists 1845-1860

Symposium: University of Liverpool, 23-25April 2009

Keynote speakers: Richard Blackett (Vanderbilt University); Jean Fagan Yellin (Pace University)

In commemoration of the 150^th anniversary of Frederick Douglass’s second visit to the United Kingdom, 1859-1860, we invite proposals for papers focusing on black abolitionists in Britain and Ireland in the period 1845-1860. Liberating Sojourn 2 expands on the colloquium concentrating on Douglass’s first transatlantic voyage held at Keele University in 1995, and will take place in Liverpool, the former slave port from which Douglass began his second UK tour.

The juncture of Douglass’s return trip to Europe on the eve of the US Civil War offers an opportunity to review contemporary shifts in the transatlantic abolitionist movement and international reform community, and to consider afresh the various encounters, transformations and tensions resulting from the circulation of black abolitionists, reformers and ex-slaves, and their work, beyond the Americas. The aim of the symposium, therefore, is to bring together international scholarly perspectives on Douglass’s second visit, as well as on the activities of other abolitionist campaigners and sojourners in the period. These include, but are not limited to: Harriet Jacobs, Henry Box Brown, William and Ellen Craft, William Wells Brown, Henry Highland Garnet, James McCune Smith, Martin Delaney and Sarah Parker Remond.

Literary, historical, cultural and interdisciplinary approaches are encouraged. Papers are invited across a range of subjects, examples of which might include: race, gender and reform; African Colonization; popular entertainment and racial performance; travel; religion and ethical culture; reform movements; resistance and revolt; constitution and law; blackness and empire (Portuguese, Spanish, British, American); nationalism; romanticism; the economics of slavery and anti-slavery; liberalism; philosophy and freedom; literary and political afterlives.

There will be a session on Abolitionists in the North West of England, and on Comparative Luso-Iberian perspectives. In addition, there will be a dedicated teaching session and proposals for papers with a specific pedagogical focus are welcome. Topics might include:

• practical approaches to teaching Douglass in 2009
• interdisciplinary teaching: a case study
• teaching abolition and transatlantic studies in literary, historical, American or Latin American studies programmes
• teaching textual and material culture in partnership with libraries and archives
• texts and technology: using web 2.0 technology to teach transatlantic studies
• using archives and independent research in the classroom

The preferred deadline for proposals of no more than 250 words was 23 January 2009 but late applicants should contact Alan Rice (arice@uclan.ac.uk). Papers should be 20 minutes in length. Completed papers should be sent to individual panel chairs by 1 April 2009.

Liberating Sojourn 2 is associated with the Commemorating Abolition initiative based at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) – see www.uclan.ac.uk/abolition. Following on from the 200^th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in 2007, this project engages undergraduates in archival research into the visits of transatlantic abolitionists to Northern Britain. An exhibition of the findings of this research will feature at the colloquium.

Panel sponsors include the English Subject Centre, the British Association for American Studies, the UCLAN Centre for Research Informed Teaching, the Centre for the Study of International Slavery in Liverpool and the Institute for the Study of Slavery at the University of Nottingham.

CFP: Before and after 9/11: American Political Poetry from 1989 to 2009

A one-day conference at the University of Leicester, 19 June 2009

The twenty-year span from the end of the Cold War to 2009, a period that has 9/11 almost at its mid-point, has been a fertile one for American poetry. Especially in the wake of 9/11 and the ‘war on terror’ poets have re-engaged with politics: recent poems have commented on Guantanamo, the political responses to 9/11, the war of image and rhetoric waged by the government against the American people and America’s role in Iraq. Poets have also tackled environmental and cultural policies. Post-Cold War politics has had an undeniable impact on contemporary poetry, but can poetry, with its minority audience, exert any influence in return?

Jorie Graham has said that one of the fundamental aims of poetry should be to provide a language that will counter the meaninglessness of the targeted language used in politics. She perceives the 21st century reader as one who ‘doesn’t trust language any more as a medium for truth – because of advertising, because of government, because of the atrocities language has carried in its marrow’. Poets such as Robert Hass, Claudia Rankine, Mark Doty and Bob Perelman, to name only a few, have added their voices to this sense of political disillusionment, shaded by different ideals of what poetry can achieve.

We invite papers that investigate any aspect of American poetry’s engagement with politics, from Canada and Latin America as well as the United States, taking into account poems written about or in response to American political decisions in the decades either side of the turn of the 21st century. We are especially interested in papers that explore formal and ideological developments in American poetry across this period, either through the investigation of changing priorities and themes or through developments in the work of specific poets.

Papers could address:

• the capacity of poetry to counter politics effectively
• the idea that poetry can make things happen
• the similarities between the uses of language in poetry and in political life
• comparisons between the poet and the politician as public figures, especially in Latin America
• poetry after 9/11
• political poems about the environment or the construction of cultural memory
• poetry that politicises ideas on gender and/or sexuality
• the political aims of language poetry
• resistance through formal innovation
• responses to the images of 9/11 and the Iraq war

Please submit 200 word proposals for 20 minute papers to Emma Kimberley (ek36@le.ac.uk) by 15 February 2009.

CFP: Toni Morrison: New Directions

Symposium: University of Durham, 25 June 2009

‘Don’t be afraid. My telling can’t hurt you in spite of what I have done […] One question is who is responsible? Another is can you read?’

Toni Morrison, A Mercy (2008)

We invite proposals for contributions to a one day symposium intended to examine the work of the contemporary African American novelist and critic Toni Morrison. The main emphasis of this event will be on exploring new approaches to Morrison’s body of writing as well as on the author’s own more recent publications. With the arrival of the novel A Mercy (2008), and other twenty-first-century publications such as The Book of Mean People (2002), Who’s Got Game?: Three Fables (2003), Love (2003) and the collection What Moves at the Margins: Selected Nonfiction (2008), a fresh opportunity for reflecting on Morrison’s current position, reception and output is offered. The recent appearance of a second special issue of Modern Fiction Studies on the author (2006), The Cambridge Companion to Toni Morrison (2007) and Toni Morrison: Conversations (2008) might also suggest the meeting of a critical juncture.

We welcome a wide spectrum of responses but possible topics might include:

• comparative work considering Morrison alongside other writers
• new theoretical approaches to the fiction
• exploration of the author’s recent work (i.e. post-Jazz publications)
• examination of the different modes and genres employed by Morrison (for example, her writing for children; her non-fiction and critical commentary; her involvement in the Margaret Garner opera)
• interdisciplinary and/or ‘non-literary’ approaches
• Morrison as public intellectual and / or Morrison’s self-fashioning
• studies of the reception of Morrison and/or the responses of different readerships
• teaching Morrison/teaching Morrison in different contexts (including outside of the US)

Proposals of no more than 250 words should be sent to Jenny Terry (j.a.terry@durham.ac.uk) and Kate Nicol (Kathryn.Nicol@ucd.ie) by 20 February 2009. Papers should be 20 minutes in length.

Toni Morrison: New Directions is seeking British Academy funding and we hope to be able to support the attendance of postgraduate speakers. The University of Durham and University College Dublin are collaborative partners in the organisation of the event.

CFP: ‘The Continuity of Change: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on North America’

Graduate School of North American Studies, John-F.-Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, Free University Berlin, 10-11 July 2009

Sparked by the compelling rhetoric in the US presidential election campaign of 2008, this conference examines the concept of change within an interdisciplinary perspective. We invite inquiries into the different implications of ‘change’. We ask to what extent and in what ways change appears as a recurring theme in North American history, culture, literature, politics, society, and economics.

Change brings with it a multitude of associations. We would like to discuss change in terms of both leaving something behind and entering a yet undefined future. Continuity and rupture, promise and threat, progress and stagnation, opportunity and crisis! These are various interpretations of change, an idea deeply engrained in the history of American society and culture. Change is thus a concept of transition and functions as a middle ground, a vantage point from which one looks both forward and backwards.

Possible areas include but are not limited to:

• concepts and rhetorics of change
• foreign policy and international relations
• social and political movements
• economic boom and recession
• religion and society
• social change and communication
• literature, culture, and the arts
• ethnic and racial identities

We invite papers by graduate students as well as by established scholars. Abstracts of 200- 300 words should be sent to continuityofchange@googlemail.com by 28 February 2009.

Panelists will be notified in early April.

CFP: 8^th Annual Transatlantic Studies Association Conference

13-16 July 2009, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, UK

Plenary speakers:

Frank Costigliola, University of Connecticut, ‘W. Averell Harriman and Archibald Clark Kerr: A Comparative of Politics, Personalities and Reactions to the Rigours of Living in Moscow’

Simon Duke, European Institute of Public Administration, ‘Normative cynicism in EU-US relations’

Sabine Boeck, Bremen University, ‘Transatlantic Slavery and Modern Feminism’

Panels, Sub-Panels & Panel Leaders:

1. Literature and culture: Peter Wright tearsofajester@hotmail.com and Alan Rice arice@uclan.ac.uk

New transatlanticisms: Africa and the Americas: Thea Pitman T.Pitman@leeds.ac.uk and Andy Stafford A.J.Stafford@leeds.ac.uk

2. Planning and the environment: Tony Jackson a.a.jackson@dundee.ac.uk

EU-US environmental policies: comparing EU member states and US states: Paul Luif PaulLuif@compuserve.com

3. Economics: Fiona Venn vennf@essex.ac.uk, Jeff Engel jengel@bushschool.tamu.edu and Joe McKinney joe_mckinney@baylor.edu

4. History, security studies and IR: David Ryan david.ryan@ucc.ie and Alan Dobson a.p.dobson@dundee.ac.uk

Intellectuals, policymakers and US interventionism in Europe: Kaeten Mistry kaeten.mistry@gmail.com

What president for Transatlantica? A comparative historical assessment of American chief executives and their impact on transatlantic relations: David Haglund haglundd@post.queensu.ca

Anglo-American relations: Steve Marsh marshsi@cardiff.ac.uk

NATO: Ellen Williams d.e.williams@reading.ac.uk, Luca Ratti ratti@uniroma3.it, Ralph Dietl r.dietl@qub.ac.uk and Oliver Bange bange.preuss@t-online.de

Special relationship: 400 years of Dutch-American relations: Kees van Minnen ca.v.minnen@zeeland.nl and Giles Scott-Smith gp.scott_smith@zeeland.nl

Isolationism and internationalism in transatlantic affairs: Simon Rofe jsr13@leicester.ac.uk

5. Interdisciplinary perspectives on transatlantic relations: Priscilla Roberts proberts@hkucc.hku.hk, Taylor Stoermer stoermer@virginia.edu

Proposals to the appropriate panel leaders with a 300-word abstract by 1 May 2009.

For further information see: www.transatlanticstudies.com

Cormac McCarthy Society Conference 2009

28 June – 1 July 2009, CAPITAL Centre, University of Warwick

The CAPITAL Centre at the University of Warwick, in partnership with the Cormac McCarthy Society, is pleased to announce the Cormac McCarthy European Conference 2009.The conference will bring together academics from around the globe for a series of papers, workshops and seminars dealing with all aspects of Cormac McCarthy’s work, including fiction, criticism, stage and film. For further details please go to:

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/capital/cormac/

Salzburg Seminar American Studies Alumni Association (SSASAA)

Globalization and American Popular Culture

Friday 25 September – Monday 28 September 2009

The globalization of American popular culture has been the subject of much critical attention in recent years – particularly in debates questioning whether American culture bears primary responsibility for increasing global cultural homogenization or has facilitated the development of a fascinatingly complex global cultural heterogeneity. American cultural influences have had a major effect on other cultures and continue to play a crucial role in the cultural dynamics of globalization. Questions will include: What does ‘American popular culture’ mean in an era in which cultural industries are thoroughly international in terms of ownership and the cultural commodities they produce? For example, of the remaining ‘majors’ in the music business, only one could be described as remotely ‘American’. Jazz is often considered to be the classical music of America, yet is this phenomenon misinterpreted by nationalist parameters? US cinema has been part of a transatlantic cultural exchange, but with regard to production this exchange has been limited to economic and cultural elites. National television industries are more resistant to US influence than national cinema industries, although in the last five years ‘quality’ American TV has become far more prominent in European countries. There will be discussion about US nationalism in cinema and electronic games in the context of the US’s use of the New International Division of Cultural Labor to obtain and maintain its geopolitical objectives, emphasizing the role of the state in the export and textuality of these culture industries. Participants will also discuss two contradictory directions in which American mass cultural forms have been taken at the European receiving end – the appropriation of an American mass cultural vernacular to produce statements which can be seen as cultural resistance; and the use of American cultural influence to commodify, or commercialize, European ventures in the area of public history (the Disneyfication of public history). The purpose of the symposium is to examine the above issues in depth by exploring the dynamics and impact of American popular culture on national and local cultures, on national cultural industries, on American cultural diplomacy, and on the process of globalization.

Speakers:

Ron Clifton (chair), Retired Counselor in the Senior Foreign Service of the United States

Rob Kroes, Former Chair, American Studies Program, University of Amsterdam; Former President, European Association for American Studies

Toby Miller, (Keynote Speaker), Professor and Chair, Media & Cultural Studies, University of California Riverside

Roberta Pearson, Professor of Film and Television Studies, Institute of Film and Television Studies, University of Nottingham

Alex Seago, Chair, Social Sciences, Richmond American International University

Reinhold Wagnleitner, Associate Professor of Modern History, University of Salzburg

For further information, contact Ms. Marty Gecek, Symposium Director, mgecek@SalzburgGlobal.org

All You Jim Crow Fascists! Woody Guthrie’s Freedom Songs

Will Kaufman’s new musical presentation explores Woody Guthrie’s anti-racist songs and activism. Conventionally known for his championing of the poor white Dust Bowl migrants, Guthrie also left an extensive body of songs condemning Jim Crow segregation, race hatred and racial fascism. Most of these songs were never recorded, but they are the legacy of Guthrie’s own personal transformation from casual Oklahoma racist to committed civil rights activist working and singing with the likes of Lead Belly, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and Paul Robeson in the 1940s and 50s. It is both a harrowing and heartening legacy, demonstrated through live performance and historical commentary.

Will Kaufman is a Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Central Lancashire. To book this live musical and spoken-word presentation for your students, seminars or conferences, please contact Will at wkaufman@uclan.ac.uk. As ever, no fee requested – only expenses.

New Members

Kaleem Ashraf holds degrees in English from King’s College London and in Linguistics from UCL. He is now doing an interdisciplinary PhD at the University of Sheffield which explores fictional representations of black speech in a range of African American writers. He is the author of six articles on Richard Wright to be published in a US literature compendium in 2009, was a visiting lecturer at King’s College London in 2005-6 and has presented at the BAAS postgraduate and annual conferences. He is also the presenter of ‘Americaetc – a podcast in American Studies’, http://americaetc.googlepages.com

Kevyne Baar received a PhD in Human (Social) Science for a thesis entitled ‘Investigating Broadway’, about the HUAC hearings into theatre. He works as a project archivist at the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University, where he is also an adjunct professor in the history department. His work centres on the entertainment industry and the period of the blacklist, concentrating most specifically on their labour unions and the women who were involved.

Laura Bekeris received a degree in English and American literature from Keele University in 2007, has since completed an MA at the University of Manchester and is now reading for a PhD there. Her main interest is in the relationship between financial fluctuations and contemporary discourses surrounding questions of value in the period 1880 to 1920.

Matthew Bentley is a postgraduate student at the University of East Anglia. His main interests include Native American history and masculinity in the nineteenth century, and his PhD combines these by examining the development of masculinity within the Native American boarding school system.

Rich Crownshaw teaches nineteenth-, twentieth- and twenty-first-century American literature at Goldsmiths, University of London. He holds a PhD from the University of Sussex for a thesis on representations of the Holocaust in American literature and culture. His research interests are in American cultural memory and trauma.

Benjamin Dettmar received his BA in American Studies from the University of Wales, Swansea and his MPhil from the University of Glasgow. He is currently at work on a PhD in American Studies at Michigan State University, where his research focuses on images of visual identity, specifically bumper stickers and political placards. He is a teaching assistant in the department of history and works for MATRIX, Michigan State University’s humanities and technology research centre, as well as for the Journal for the Study of Radicalism.

Nikolai Duffy is a senior lecturer in American literature at Manchester Metropolitan University. His main research focuses on intersections between American poetics, philosophy, politics and public space. He also has an active research interest in notions of American democracy and theories of crowds. He is currently finishing a book exploring writing, translation, transnationalism and ethics in the work of the poet Rosmarie Waldrop.

Hannah Durkin is a first-year PhD student at the University of Nottingham specialising in representations of the African American dancing body in early sound-era Hollywood. She recently completed an MA in American Studies at Nottingham with a dissertation on the films of Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson.

Tim Foster is doing a PhD at the University of Nottingham on representations of suburbia in recent US fiction. He holds a BA in American Studies from the University of Nottingham and an MA in United States Studies from the University of London.

Catherine Gander is a temporary lecturer in the American Studies Department, King’s College London, where she recently completed a PhD on Muriel Rukeyser and the sources of documentary. Her research interests include modern American poetry, documentary, culture and literature of the 1930s and 1940s, and literary and philosophical relations. She will be presenting a paper on the road narrative in Rukeyser’s The Book of the Dead at BAAS 2009 and is currently developing a research proposal on the road narrative in leftist poetry of and beyond the Depression.

Nicholas Gebhardt is a lecturer in American Studies in the Institute for Cultural Research at Lancaster University. His research interests include the history of jazz, American popular music, post-WWII musical avant-garde, relationships between American and European composers, the history of the entertainment industry, and cinema and history. He is working on a cultural and ideological study of the life of the popular musician in the period between the 1880s and the 1920s.

Alison Gibbons is reading for a PhD at the University of Sheffield on multimodal novels with a focus on four contemporary American authors: Mark Z. Danielewski, Steve Tomasula, Jonathan Safran Foer and Debra di Blasi.

Sarah Graham has taught in the Department of English and the Centre for American Studies at the University of Leicester since 2003. Her research focuses on gender, sexuality and trauma in American texts since the Modernist period, with special interest in AIDS narratives and representations of adolescence. She is currently working on a study of Chuck Palahniuk, Jeffrey Eugenides and Michael Cunningham. Her past publications include two books on J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye (both 2007) and articles on war trauma in the poetry of H. D. and on Jewish American writers.

Eva Gyetvai holds an MA in American Studies from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, where she taught courses in African American literature. Her MA thesis was entitled ‘The Aesthetics of Self-Reliance in Toni Morrison’s Novel, Sula’. She is now researching twentieth-century African American literature in the English department at the University of Exeter and has published articles on Morrison’s Sula and Jazz in 49^th Parallel, Americana and Interdisciplinary Humanities.

Joseph Harris holds a history degree from the Univeristy of Glasgow and is now studying for an M.Litt. in American Studies at the same university. His main research areas are nineteenth-century religious culture and intellectual history; he intends to research religious print media during the mid-nineteenth century for his master’s dissertation.

Jina Al Hassan is a postgraduate student at the University of Edinburgh, completing a PhD thesis on American drama which draws on original archival research at the Public Library for the Performing Arts in New York. Her research interests are Modernist writings by American women, especially in drama and journalism, modern American poetry and the American 1920s. She obtained an MA as a International Fulbright Scholar at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and after finishing her PhD she plans to return to her native Syria to take up a post as an assistant lecturer in American literature.

Andrew Heath is a lecturer in American history at the University of Sheffield. He received a doctorate in US history from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008 and has research interests in the American city, class formation, and imperial expansion in the era of the Civil War.

David Hering is a PhD student at Liverpool University writing a thesis on David Foster Wallace, Mark Z. Danielewski and Thomas Pynchon. Other research interests include literature and film, American Gothic fiction, encyclopedic narratives and connections between literature and architecture. He has an essay on Danielewski forthcoming in an edited collection entitled Architexture, and a review in the Journal of American Studies. He teaches undergraduate courses on close reading and literary theory.

Steve Ickringill taught US history at the University of Ulster for over thirty years. He was at various times Chair and Treasurer of the Irish Association for American Studies and Vice-President of the European Association for American Studies. He has published on sports history, connections between Scotland, Ulster and North America, and European responses to the Spanish-American War.

Trevor Jones has pursued an interest in American history and politics since retiring from a previous career and now holds a BA in contemporary history and an MA in strategic studies. His current interests are in US foreign policy, especially the relationship between the United States and Israel.

Niveen Kassem is a PhD student at Newcastle University, researching gender, identity and violence in contemporary African American fiction.

Aine Kelly is a PhD student at the University of Nottingham, focusing on the philosophical writings of Wallace Stevens, Stanley Cavell and Richard Rorty.

Victoria Kingham holds a BA in English from Birkbeck College London and an MPhil in American literature from Cambridge University for a dissertation about American cultural criticism as exemplified in Gilbert Seldes’ 1924 work The 7 Lively Arts and the 1917 magazine The Seven Arts. She has an AHRC studentship with the Modernist Magazines Project and is researching a PhD at De Montfort University on material and commercial aspects of American modernist magazines in the period 1915-17.

François Lalonde is a PhD candidate in the history department at Boston University. His research interests are centred on the history of Cold War transatlantic relations. His dissertation explores the triangular diplomatic relationship between France, the United Kingdom and the United States from the Suez Crisis until 1963. François obtained his BA and MA from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

Lee Lavis entered higher education after serving in the British Army. He holds a certificate in foundation studies from Queen’s University Belfast and a BA in American studies from the University of Ulster. He was awarded the Ulster University Dean’s, final exam and dissertation prizes, a Del PhD scholarship and a place on the Trent Lott Leadership Initiative. His current research focuses on the racial segregation of federal soldiers during the US Army’s 1962 civil disturbance deployment to the University of Mississippi.

V. Sarah Martin is a PhD student at the University of Leicester working on Don DeLillo.

Gayte Marie was a research fellow at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in spring 2007 and is a PhD candidate at Paris Sorbonne Nouvelle University, researching United States diplomatic and religious history in the twentieth century with a thesis currently titled ‘The United States and the Vatican: Analysing a Rapprochement 1981-1986’.

Megan Riley McGilchrist holds a BA from St Mary’s College, California, an MA from Lone Mountain, San Francisco, and a PhD from the University of Derby. Her research interests are in Wallace Stegner, Cormac McCarthy, western landscape, eco-criticism, feminist issues in western fiction, numinosity in landscape and the history of California. Her chapter ‘The Adversarial Feminine in McCarthy’s Western Landscapes’ appeared in Cormac McCarthy: Uncharted Territories in 2003.

Brooke Newman’s research interests lie in the comparative hsitory of coerced labour, race-ethnicity and gender in the British Empire, the plantation societies of the Caribbean, and the Anglo-American Atlantic world. She is particularly interested in the reciprocal influences between metropolitan Britain and colonial Barbados, Jamaica and the Lewward Islands during the era of plantation slavery. Her current book project examines how the socio-legal construction of mastery as a racialised and gendered identity in the West Indian colonies impacted British society, culture and evangelism during the eighteenth century.

Will Norman is a lecturer in North American literature at the University of Kent. His interests include literary modernism and mid-century intellectual and literary culture. He is currently adapting his doctoral thesis, on the relationship between aesthetic time and history in the work of Vladimir Nabokov, for book publication. He is also researching a new project on the response to popular culture by European émigrés in America between 1933 and 1953. In 2007 he won the BAAS Ambassador’s Postgraduate Essay Prize for an article on Nabokov and mass culture, which is forthcoming in the Journal of American Studies.

Kjirsten Oligney is a third-year doctoral student at the University of Oxford. HIS/HER thesis, ‘”What God Hath Joined”: Theology and Marriage in Nineteenth-Century America’, concerns the intersection of religious and gender history under Richard Carwardine. HE/SHE isa native of Texas, and will be teaching at Gordon College near Boston, Massachusetts, in spring 2009.

Sven Seamark holds a BA in American Studies from Canterbury Christ Church University and is currently studying for a master’s on the South West American writer Edward Abbey at the University of Kent in Canterbury. His interests centre around environmental history and industrial America, along with rural and folk movements in America.

Mohammed Shareef is a PhD student at the University of Durham. His research concerns US foreign policy towards the Middle East, taking his native Iraq as a case study. The project covers both terms of the George W. Bush presidency and aims to identify the changes in and consistent aspects of US Middle East policy as well as addressing the intellectual and policy roots of contemporary strategy.

Gregory Smithers is a lecturer in American history at the University of Aberdeen, specialising in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He is the author of Science, Sexuality, and Race in the United States and Australia, 1780s-1890s (2008) and, with Clarence E. Walker, of The Preacher and the Politician: Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama, and Race in American History (2009 forthcoming). He is currently working on sexuality and African American memories in the American South, focusing on the controversial subject of ‘slave breeding’ during the antebellum era and drawing on personal accounts and oral histories.

William Strayton is retired. He holds a BA in Literature and Philosophy from Middlesex Polytechnic.

Andrew Struan is a doctoral candidate in the Department of History at the University of Glasgow, focusing on the idea of empire in the eighteenth-century Anglo-American community. His MPhil (Res) examined the role and position of the commander in chief of the British Army in North America from 1763 to 1775. His main interests lie in perceptions and conceptions of the British Empire on both sides of the Atlantic during the eighteenth century.

Lo Ying Wa holds a BA from Hong Kong University and an M.Phil., also from HKU, for research on ‘Woman as the “Schizophrenic” Subject: A Cross-Cultural Approach to the Female Bildungsroman of Madness Written by Sylvia Plath, Toni Morrison and Maxine Hong Kingston’.

Paul Williams is head of social sciences at North Devon College. He studied at the universities of Exeter, Wales and Leicester. His main research in terests have been in Early Modern urban history but through his teaching he is now focusing on American post-war history and culture.

Members’ Publications

Andrew Hook, Emeritus Bradley Professor at the University of Glasgow, has published a new edition of his foundational book Scotland and America: A Study of Cultural Relations 1750-1835 through Humming Earth. The new edition is available in hardback and paperback, and features a new preface by the author, an updated bibliography and a foreword by Richard Sher.

Cheryl Hudson (Rothermere American Institute) and Gareth Davies (St Anne’s College, Oxford) (eds.) have released Ronald Reagan and the 1980s: Perceptions, Policies, Legacies (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).

Heidi Slettedahl Macpherson, De Montfort University, is pleased to announce the appearance of Transatlantic Women’s Literature (Edinburgh University Press, 2008). Available in all good bookshops.

Catherine Morley, University of Leicester, has recently published The Quest for Epic in Contemporary American Fiction: John Updike, Philip Roth and Don DeLillo (New York: Routledge, 2008).

Martin Halliwell, University of Leicester, and Catherine Morley have recently published the edited collection American Thought and Culture in the 21st Century (Edinburgh: EUP, 2008). The collection includes eighteen new essays which address issues such as leadership, foreign policy, propaganda, digital media and 9/11 culture. The authors look back to the Clinton years and earlier periods of 20th-century American life, but they also look forward to the new horizons and challenges of a global future. Contributors include Liam Kennedy, Nancy Snow, Howard Brick and Dominic Sandbrook.

Neil Wynn, University of Gloucestershire, has several recent publications to mention. his second Historical Dictionary, A Historical Dictionary of the Roosevelt-Truman Era, appeared in summer 2008. Published by Scarecrow Press in America, the 500+ page volume follows his earlier Historical Dictionary from Great War to Great Depression (2003). It was also announced this September that the volume of essays edited by Neil, Cross the Water Blues: African American Music in Europe (Mississippi University Press, 2007), has been awarded a Certificate of Merit in the 2008 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research category. Neil also saw his article on ‘Joe Louis: Brown Bomber’ appear in Matthew C. Whitaker, ed., African American Icons of Sport: Triumph, Courage and Excellence (Greenwood Publishing, 2008).

Fellowship Opportunities

Newberry Library Fellowships in the Humanities, 2009-10

The Newberry Library, an independent research library in Chicago, Illinois, invites applications for its 2009-10 Fellowships in the Humanities. Newberry Library fellowships support research in residence at the Library, and all proposed research must be appropriate to the collections (excluding the Terra Foundation Fellowship and certain short-term awards). Our fellowship program rests on the belief that all projects funded by the Newberry benefit from engagement both with the materials in the Newberry’s collections and with the lively community of researchers that gathers around those collections. Long-term residential fellowships are available for periods of six to eleven months to postdoctoral scholars who must hold the Ph.D. at the time of application. The stipend for these fellowships ranges from $25,500 to $70,000. In 2008-9 the Library inaugurated a new Terra Foundation for American Art Fellowship in Art History carrying an academic-year stipend of $70,000 for a full professor (or its equivalent outside the academy) and $50,400 for all other awardees.

Short-term residential fellowships are intended for postdoctoral scholars or Ph.D. candidates from outside the Chicago area who have a specific need for Newberry collections. The tenure of short-term fellowships varies from one week to two months. The amount of the award is generally $1600 per month.

Applications for long-term fellowships are due January 12, 2009; applications for most short-term fellowships are due March 2, 2009. For more information or to download application materials, visit our website at: http://www.newberry.org/research/felsh/fellowshome.html

If you would like materials sent to you by mail, write to the Committee on

Awards, 60 West Walton Street, Chicago, Il 60610-3380. If you have questions about the fellowships program, contact research@newberry.org or (312) 255-3666.

Editorial

Anniversaries have been very much a theme of 2008, particularly in France, which remembered the 1968 student riots and general strike, and the USA, where 1968 was a tumultuous year of assassinations and civil unrest. At this year’s EAAS conference in Oslo I got talking about May 1968 to a senior French Americanist who wryly recalled working stolidly away at his part-time office job at the Sorbonne while throughout the Latin Quarter his fellow students engaged in street battles with police. On the other side of the Atlantic, student protests included an anti-Vietnam hunger strike at Boston and Harvard, civil rights demonstrations at Columbia and Berkeley, and an anti-segregation rally at the University of South Carolina which sparked a violent police response known as the Orangeburg massacre. Following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr, in Memphis, Tennessee on 4 April, there was rioting in 125 American cities, notably Washington DC, Baltimore, Louisville and infamously Chicago, where Mayor Richard Daley ordered a shoot to kill policy on arsonists and President Lyndon Johnson sent in 5,000 troops to quell the violence. Chicago was the scene of unrest again in August 1968, when police clashed with Vietnam War protestors at the Democratic National Convention, exacerbating the problems of a party already rocked by the assassination in June that year of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

Americanists in Britain have marked these momentous events, and related political and cultural movements, with a variety of forums evaluating their significance at the time and subsequently. The continuing resonance of the sixties for the present-day students is illustrated by events such as the multidisciplinary postgraduate conference at the Rothermere American Institute entitled ‘1968: American Politics, Culture and Society in a Year of Upheaval’ which explored the paradoxes, contradictions and repercussions of an era generally remembered as radical and countercultural but which also saw an explosion in mass mainstream culture and a resurgence of conservatism. Our community’s lively scholarly interest in the links between past and present aspects of US culture and society is amply attested in this issue of American Studies in Britain through details of other recent and forthcoming conferences, research trips, fellowships, publications, projects and activities.

I had another reason for looking back to 1968 on a recent visit to the University of Birmingham Special Collections Library to examine the BAAS archive. I found that the annual conference in April 1968 was held at Churchill College, Cambridge, with papers under appropriately challenging titles such as ‘What the Hell is going on in the Arts in the USA?’ Still quite new in my role as editor of American Studies in Britain, I was particularly curious to know more of the newsletter’s evolution, which is patchily documented by a fascinating collection of back issues in one of the boxes. Originally known as the Bulletin and taking the form of stapled typescript bound in rough paper, the newsletter was initially compiled by the first secretary of BAAS, Marcus Cunliffe, but by its fifth issue (September 1957) had acquired a dedicated editor in George Shepperson. From 1959 the Bulletin was dedicated to publication of scholarly articles and reviews (evolving in 1967 into our familiar Journal of American Studies, published by CUP) while a separate Newsletter assumed the role of disseminating American Studies news. At first this Newsletter was an even more homespun publication than the original Bulletin, comprising uncovered typescript stapled only at the top left corner. To judge by the archive, it was not until issue 21 (January 1970) that it switched to a smaller size and acquired a typographical cover.

Among the Newsletter’s early editors was (then Dr, later Professor) Charlotte Erickson, who died this year at the age of eighty-four and is honoured in these pages. In her first editorial (January 1966) she elegantly explains how she came to relieve the ‘overworked’ Alan Conway of his editorship upon his appointment as secretary of BAAS and delicately reminds readers that the Newsletter can only serve its purpose if they send in their announcements. ‘[M]embers are often modest or otherwise hesitant about forwarding their own news,’ she says. ‘I don’t have good connections with very many grape-vines, and will appreciate your help.’ The same mixture of good humour and firmness characterises a taped interview with Charlotte conducted some twenty-four years later (June 1990), in which she reflects on her terms as editor of the Newsletter in the sixties, secretary in the seventies and chairman in the eighties. Asked how she would summarise her priorities as chairman, she answers succinctly: ‘Defence and consolidation.’ The interview and her contributions to the Newsletter in a variety of capacities amply demonstrate her steadfast, principled and enduring commitment to the Association.

Charlotte Erickson’s successors as editor from 1968 onwards experimented with a variety of contents, formats and reproduction processes, until in 1998 Susan Castillo expanded the Newsletter’s remit and introduced a new glossy, illustrated, colour cover. Thanks to Susan the BAAS newsletter this year celebrates an anniversary of its own, because it was under her editorship, in Autumn/Winter 1998, that it acquired its present title, thus making the current issue the tenth anniversary edition of American Studies in Britain.

Alison Kelly

alison.kelly@rai.ox.ac.uk

Copy deadline for issue 100 is 16 January 2009

BAAS Annual Conference: University of Nottingham

16–19 April 2009

The 54th Annual Conference

Call for Papers 

There is no main focus or theme for the conference, which is designed as a forum for research papers on any subject relating to the United States of America and to early America. Paper and panel proposals on any topic within American Studies, broadly defined, are welcome. The conference will feature papers across a wide range of disciplines including literary studies, history, film, television and media studies, political science, cultural studies, visual culture and art history, among others. We are also extremely keen to receive proposals which adopt an interdisciplinary focus.

Located in the centre of England and near to East Midlands Airport, Nottingham is renowned not only for the legendary Robin Hood but also for its close proximity to Eastwood, the birthplace of D. H. Lawrence, and Newstead Abbey, Lord Byron’s ancestral home. The city offers a wealth of museums, galleries and cinemas including Nottingham Castle, the Playhouse, the Theatre Royal, the Broadway Cinema and Media Centre as well as the newly opened Contemporary Art Exchange. Situated to the west of the city centre, the location for the conference is the 330 acre University Park, notable for its famous lake, woodland areas and extensive parkland which is the home to a theatre, a performance hall and two art centres. For further information about Nottingham, please see http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/

We would like to invite proposals for 20-minute papers of a maximum of 250 words which should also include a provisional title. These will be arranged into panel groups. We also invite proposals for panels and roundtable discussions, involving two or more people and sharing a common theme and/or interdisciplinary focus. The conference will include papers from national and international scholars across the spectrum of the research community, ranging from postgraduates to senior scholars.

Proposals for BAAS 2009 at the University of Nottingham should be submitted by 13 October 2008 at the latest, preferably by e-mail attachment to: baas2009@nottingham.ac.uk

Dr Celeste-Marie Bernier

School of American and Canadian Studies

University of Nottingham

University Park

Nottingham

NG7 2RD

Tel: +44 (0) 115 8467600

Fax: +44 (0) 115 9514261

BAAS Annual Conference: University of Edinburgh 2008

The fifty-third BAAS annual conference took place at the University of Edinburgh between 27 and 30 March 2008. About 300 delegates attended the conference, which featured almost 200 papers in nearly 80 panels over ten sessions.

The first day of the conference started with a reception at the Scottish Parliament, sponsored by Christopher Harvie MSP. Rt Hon Alex Salmond MP MSP, Scotland’s First Minister, spoke about Scotland’s connections with the United States, mentioning his own undergraduate dissertation about Abraham Lincoln and the 1860 presidential election.

The Cambridge University Press/Journal of American Studies lecture was delivered by Byron E. Shafer of the University of Wisconsin – Madison. In ‘Where are We in History? Political Orders and Political Eras in the Postwar United States’, Shafer placed the politics of the 2008 campaign within the longer-term perspective of post-World War II history. Brenda Gayle Plummer, also of the University of Wisconsin – Madison, gave a plenary lecture called ‘Peace Was the Glue: Europe and African American Freedom’, based on research for her forthcoming book, America’s Dilemma: Race, Civil Rights, and Foreign Affairs. The Eccles Centre Lecture was ‘John Cage was All the Rage’ by Peter Dickinson, emeritus professor of the University of London and Keele University. A composer and pianist as well as a musicologist, Dickinson used extracts from Cage’s works in explaining and contextualising their innovative qualities.

The conference benefited from the generosity of the US Embassy, especially in supporting the subsidies for postgraduate conference fees. In developing the conference programme, the organisers worked with a number of other US-related scholarly associations; the American Politics Group, the British Group of Early American Historians, and Historians of the Twentieth-Century United States all cross-sponsored panels in partnership with BAAS.

Robert Mason, University of Edinburgh

Conference Organiser

Chair’s Report

Annual General Meeting, held at the BAAS annual conference, University of Edinburgh, Friday 28 March 2008

When I attended my first BAAS conference as a postgraduate in Sunderland in 1993, I was still a little unsure what American Studies actually was; it wasn’t a subject that had much profile in my undergraduate work back in Minnesota, where being American wasn’t something that we actually studied. However, my PhD supervisor, Professor Judie Newman, assured me that BAAS was a good thing, and worth getting involved in. As always, her advice has proved invaluable, and as I reflect on my first year as Chair of BAAS, I am happy to report that American Studies continues to thrive in the UK, providing opportunities for postgraduates through to professors to pursue interesting areas of intellectual enquiry. BAAS plays a significant role in this pursuit and dissemination of knowledge on US culture, history, literature, politics, to name but a few of the academic areas that make up this interdisciplinary field, not least in the ways in which we offer both intellectual and financial support for school children, teachers, undergraduates, postgraduates, conference organisers and individual researchers. This year alone, BAAS will award 32 prizes worth a total of £41,000. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the US Embassy and also of individual BAAS members who regularly contribute to our Short Term Travel Award funds or who donate anonymously in other ways.

As we await the results of the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, I am happy to report that the research culture of the UK’s American Studies subject community is in a very healthy state, and will be measured not only by the results of Unit 47, American Studies and Anglophone Area Studies, but also by the contributions made to RAE submissions in Politics, English, History, and other subpanels. American Studies has always extended beyond its boundaries, with American Studies research being carried out in most UK universities, though not always under an explicit American Studies banner. Part of BAAS’s remit is to facilitate the wide circulation of information about American Studies in the UK, and to ensure that the work that our members do receives the exposure that it deserves. This year we were able to acknowledge the important work undertaken by Peter Boyle (Nottingham) in relation to setting up the original BAAS Teaching Assistantships by renaming them after him.

American Studies experts in the UK continue to secure a whole range of awards, fellowships and prizes. They are selected to serve on AHRC peer review panels, and many have received promotions within their home universities or achieved career progression by moving to other institutions.

For example, over the past year our members have received much-deserved promotions, including the following individuals:

Neil Campbell has been promoted to Professor of American Studies at Derby. Dick Ellis has been promoted to Professor at Birmingham. Mark Phythian has been appointed as Chair of Politics in the field of international security and global foreign policy at the University of Leicester. Neil Wynn was made Professor of American Studies at the University of Gloucester.

Professor Tim Woods has been appointed Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Aberystwyth, and Dr Jenel Virden has been appointed Head of Humanities at Hull.

Dr Rebecca Earle has been promoted to Reader at Warwick. George Lewis has been promoted to Reader in American History at Leicester and has been named the new Director of the Centre for American Studies at Leicester starting in January 2009. Jay Prosser has been promoted to Reader in Humanities at Leeds.

Professor Margaret Walsh (Nottingham) has been awarded a Leverhulme Emeritus Professorship.

Professor Martin Halliwell has been invited to join the AHRC Postgraduate Panel 3 (English Language and Literature) for a full three-year term, from 2007 to 2010. Martin has also been appointed Head of School of English at Leicester from autumn 2008.

BAAS members have received important and high profile AHRC awards in the last year, including Dr Matthew Jones, Professor Peter Messent and Professor Douglas Tallack (all at Nottingham) and Dr Alan Rice (UCLAN).

Alan Rice and Duco Van Oostrum (Sheffield) were awarded National Teaching Fellowships for their contributions to American Studies.

Will Kaufman (UCLAN) was awarded a prestigious Woody Guthrie Research Fellowship, which will allow him to spend time in the Guthrie Archives in New York this summer. Many other BAAS members receive both small and large grants and awards.

On a sadder note, we say goodbye to long time BAAS member Dr Robert Harrison (University of Wales Aberystwyth), who died in May 2007.

As Chair of BAAS, I attended many functions on the community’s behalf over the past year, including inaugural lectures such as Susan Castillo’s at King’s College London, an AHRC event in London in June 2007 and another in Edinburgh in October, the UKCASA AGM in December, and the JAS editorial board meeting. I am happy to say that BAAS and JAS continue to work together well, and that there are plans to digitise all of the back issues of JAS in order to aid American Studies scholarship. I met with Penny Egan, Executive Director of the Fulbright Commission, in order to plan ways of working together more closely on areas of mutual interest. On a more social note, I attended a luncheon with former President Jimmy Carter on 21 June 2007 at the Rothermere American Institute, where he was offered the George Oglethorpe medal, and the Ambassador’s 4th of July barbeque at Winfield House. I returned to Winfield House on 20 September to meet the new Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission, the Honourable Richard LeBaron, the new Minister-Counsellor for Public Affairs, Mr Barrie Walkley, and the new Defence and Naval Attaché, Rear Admiral Ron Henderson.

More importantly, perhaps, on behalf of BAAS, the officers and members of the Executive Committee work extremely hard to protect and enhance American Studies in the UK. We aim to ensure that the voice of American Studies is heard as universities, funding bodies and the government make their decisions. Thus, we respond to a variety of consultation exercises, often with little notice. Over the last year, this has included responding to the following:

• a HEFCE review of specialist library funding
• a consultation on the contribution that BAAS makes to knowledge transfer activities
• the AHRC’s proposals on block grant
• the AHRC’s plans to move to a new panel structure
• a Joseph Rowntree report on Ethical Guidance
• British Library consultations on research outputs in India and China, and on the collection policy of US patents
• a survey on the economic impact of American Studies for a British Academy/LSE project intitled ‘Maximising the Impact of the Humanities and Social Science Research’
• QAA subject benchmarks
• the European Reference Index for the Humanities
• the Research Excellence Framework

We also respond, again at short notice, to media requests, finding speakers who are willing to discuss the US elections, the cultural significance of hula hoops, gang violence, the relevance of Flag Day and other matters. We support the development of other related organisations and societies, including HOTCUS, Historians of Twentieth Century United States, members of whom are attending this conference, and the Transatlantic Studies Association.

I would like to thank all of the members of the BAAS Executive Committee, including Ian Bell, Paul Blackburn, Susan Castillo, Richard Crockatt, Philip Davies, Dick Ellis, Martin Halliwell, Will Kaufman, George Lewis, Sarah MacLachlan, Jo Metcalf, Theresa Saxon, Ian Scott, and most especially the other officers, Jude Davies, Catherine Morley, and Graham Thompson. I am also very grateful to Sue Wedlake, Michael Macey and Ambassador Tuttle at the Embassy of the United States, for their support of American Studies in Britain.

BAAS conferences remain just as engaging and stimulating as my first, where I met other postgraduates who remain important friends and American Studies allies. These conferences are vital to Britain’s American Studies community, and they succeed because of a tremendous amount of preparation and hard work. I am very grateful Robert Mason and his colleagues at Edinburgh for organising such an excellent conference.

Minutes of 2008 BAAS AGM

The 2008 AGM of BAAS was held on Friday 28 March at the University of Edinburgh at 3.15 p.m.

Elections:

Secretary            Catherine Morley                                    (to 2011)

Treasurer            Theresa Saxon                                                (to 2009)†

Committee            Will Kaufman                                                (to 2011)*

Robert Mason                                                (to 2011)

Mark Whalan                                                 (to 2011)

Andrew Lawson                                    (to 2009)†

PG Rep            Michael Collins                                     (to 2010)*

*Not eligible for re-election to this position.

†Fulfilling an unexpired term due to a resignation from the office.

The Treasurer, Graham Thompson, circulated copies of the draft audited accounts, which he asked the AGM to approve. As well as the accounts, GT circulated the Trustees’ Report which now takes into account the new regulations (the Charities Act of 2006 and The Statement of Recommended Practice, Accounting and Reporting by Charities [SORP] 2005). The purpose of the new format report is to allow the Charity Commission to see what the charity is doing and its plans for the future, and to make sure that it is fulfilling its public benefit requirements. BAAS has no difficulty in fulfilling the charity definition of public benefit given its focus on education. However, from next year a statement will need to be included in the accounts about how the charity provides public benefit. One of the principles of the public benefit test is that where benefit is to a section of the public, the opportunity to benefit must not be unreasonably restricted by geographical or other restrictions or by ability to pay any fees charged.

GT informed the AGM that the key figure this year is the healthy deficit of £21,503, compared to a surplus of £4,515 in 2006. GT reassured the AGM that this largely due to the fact that BAAS paid out £17,000 in Eccles Centre Awards during 2007, although the money for these awards was received in 2006 and therefore inflated the 2006 accounts. This situation will not occur in 2008, since the Eccles Centre funding will be both received and awarded during the current accounting period. The deficit is also partly due to the fact that all travel awards were increased to £750 from £500 in 2007. Furthermore, other funding (from the US Embassy) for conferences and prizes was down over £8,000.

GT noted that subscriptions were up by almost £6,000 and he also reported on membership figures; there are currently 523 fully paid up members (including 190 postgraduates), which compares with 435 at this time last year and 384 in April 2006.

Richard Crockatt proposed that the accounts be approved; Nick Selby seconded the motion, and it was carried forward unanimously.

GT reported on progress made with Gift Aid, which has been an ongoing issue over the last few years. Since 2000, membership subscriptions and donations have been eligible for Gift Aid, and BAAS can claim back 22/78^th for those who have signed legitimate Gift Aid declarations. However, the audit trail has been uneven for this and as a result, GT sent out letters earlier this year with the new template for Gift Aid declarations. On the basis of the forms back, he has now submitted another claim to the Inland Revenue for £3,225.54. In all, combined with the amount claimed last year, it should bring in approximately £8,000. This sets the BAAS Gift Aid ready to claim on a rolling basis.

Finally, GT reported that he had issued all BAAS members with membership numbers in Autumn 2007. All members without numbers should contact GT for details.

The Chair offered a comprehensive verbal report, which is reproduced in full above.

Conferences:

Sarah MacLachlan began her report by acknowledging what a huge success the Edinburgh conference had been so far, and offered public congratulations to Robert Mason and his team for the hard work they had put in before and during the conference. SM noted that this year she had visited the 2009 conference site in Nottingham with Celeste-Marie Bernier, the 2009 Conference Organiser. The conference will be based at the University of Nottingham (16–19 April 2009) and preparations are already well underway. SM noted that the call for papers was available in conference packs and members were asked to consider submitting proposals early to allow for planning.

The 2010 conference will be held at the University of East Anglia, organised by Thomas Ruys-Smith. SM also announced that the University of Central Lancashire is now confirmed for the 2011 conference and that Manchester had expressed interested in hosting the 2012 conference. Finally, SM invited suggestions for future conferences.

Publications:

Martin Halliwell began his verbal report by reminding the AGM that minutes of all meetings are published on the website, so that individuals may keep updated about current activities. He then reported on some of the highlights of the year in relation to the Publications Subcommittee. In relation to BRRAM, new microform releases include ‘Records Relating to the Liverpool Slave Trade in the Liverpool Record Office’ and ‘The American Correspondence of Arthur C. Murray with Franklin D. Roosevelt’. Forthcoming releases will include ‘The Canadian Papers of the 4^th Earl of Minto’ and ‘The Manuscripts of Samuel Martin, a sugar planter in C18th Antigua’ (with an introduction by Natalie Zacek from the University of Manchester). MH noted that Ken Morgan continues to be very active in developing the BRRAM catalogue and is looking to expand the number of large American research libraries that have a standing order to take all the BRRAM titles.

In relation to the BAAS EUP series, which is edited by Simon Newman, Carol Smith and EUP Senior Commissioning Editor, Nicola Ramsey, MH noted that the team has been busy in 2008 with the ever-expanding series. New additions to the series are: Mark Hulsether’s book Religion, Culture and Politics in the C20th United States (co-published with Columbia UP) and Rebecca Tillett’s Contemporary Native American Literature. Celeste-Marie Bernier’s African American Visual Arts is in press and scheduled for publication in September 2008. SN and CS are always happy to discuss ideas and proposals and ask that interested parties approach them directly.

MH noted that the JAS Editor, Susan Castillo, and Associate Editor, Scott Lucas, have been working very hard in 2008, streamlining the JAS editorial processes, including the introduction of a new manuscript review form for the journal’s reviewers. In 2007 Simon Newman and Carol Smith joined the JAS Editorial Board, followed in early 2008 by Paul Giles. In late 2007 Bevan Sewell took over as Editorial Assistant after a long and diligent stint by John Matlin. Finally on JAS, MH noted that it is planned to have JAS available on JSTOR – likely to be late 2008.

MH reported that Alison Kelly (Rothermere American Institute) took over as Editor of American Studies in Britain from Catherine Morley in summer 2007. CM’s last issue as Editor was in autumn 2007 and AK’s first as Editor was spring 2008 (no. 98). MH noted that thanks are due to both CM and AK for maintaining this really important publication within the American Studies community.

MH informed the AGM that Elizabeth Boyle continues as Editor of US Studies Online. Issue 11 was published in November 2007 and EB is working on Issue 12, which will include a number of papers first aired at the 2007 Manchester BAAS Postgraduate Conference.

MH reported that Graham Thompson has continued to maintain the BAAS Website in 2007–8, in addition to his Treasurer duties. GT has agreed to continue with the website in the short term, but BAAS members interested in becoming the Web Officer should contact MH. BAAS would be able to supply training for this role.

MH thanked GT for his work on the Website and Clare Elliott for her proficient and always easy-to-navigate BAAS web bulletins. Clare has also agreed to continue with this role for the short term. Finally, MH thanked colleagues on the Publications Subcommittee for the work they have done in 2007–8.

Development:

Richard Crockatt began his verbal report by noting that most important issue facing the Development Subcommittee in 2007–8 has been the recruitment challenge faced by the subject nationally. In figures reported to the June 2007 Executive Committee meeting, it was noted that numbers of students entering coded American Studies programmes in 2006 showed a halving as compared with 1996. The sharpest drop has come since 2003. This is a real challenge for the Development Subcommittee. RC observed that even acknowledging that these figures do not take account of joint programmes or American subjects undertaken as part of degrees in, for example, History, English and Politics, the figures are striking enough to have provoked comment in national newspapers. The subcommittee has responded to this challenge partly through involvement (along with the University of Birmingham) in the production of a CD-Rom ‘Discover American Studies’ (further details below). RC also noted that, as Chair of the Development Subcommittee, he undertook a survey of heads of departments and programmes about possible use of the CD-Rom for recruitment purposes; he wrote the text for ‘Why American Studies?’ which has been placed on the BAAS website as an aid to recruitment to the subject.

RC offered thanks to the American Embassy for their continued support, noting that in 2007–8 the Embassy had continued its generous support of BAAS activities, in particular for awards and conference support. During summer 2007 the Embassy instituted a new and more rigorous procedure for application for grants, involving a form requesting specific information about items of proposed expenditure rather than general headings. A separate financial form was also required for each grant. In this round of applications, the following grants were applied for and received: the Ambassador’s Awards received £2,830; £5,000 was made available to facilitate attendance of postgraduates at the annual BAAS Conference; £2,050 was granted to support administration and related costs of the BAAS conference. All of these grants amount to a grand total of £9,880 in Embassy support.

RC noted that much time and energy had gone into the production of the ‘Discover American Studies’ CD-Rom, funded by a grant from the US Embassy and carried out at Birmingham University by Sara Wood under the overall supervision of Dick Ellis. A comprehensive presentation of the project was given at the September 2007 meeting of the Development Subcommittee, the response to which was that ‘all agreed that the project was of high quality and worth investing in’. Following consultation with heads of American Studies departments and programmes about how they could use the ‘Discover American Studies’ CD-Rom, it was agreed that BAAS would purchase a significant number of copies to be distributed among departments and programmes for recruiting purposes. A final version is now ready for distribution in time for the 2009 university admissions round. The subcommittee wishes to thank DE and SW for the hard work which has gone into the production of the CD-Rom.

RC reported that he had also attended the spring meeting of the Language, Linguistics and Area Studies (LLAS) Subject Centre Advisory Board. It was felt important for BAAS to retain active membership in LLAS. During further discussion of LLAS at the January 2008 Development Subcommittee meeting, it was noted that LLAS planned to set aside funds for teaching proposals in area studies, strengthening the reasons for BAAS representation. The question has been raised whether the BAAS Development Subcommittee Chair should continue to attend LLAS Advisory Board given that two other BAAS Executive Committee members were members of the LLAS Advisory Board in other capacities. It was felt that it was still important to retain the present level of BAAS representation since two of the three BAAS members on the LLAS Advisory Board were not specifically representing BAAS.

RC noted that postgraduate participation at the annual BAAS conferences continues to be impressive and the separate annual Postgraduate Conference attracts increasing numbers, indicating a high level of motivation and activity on the part of postgraduates in American Studies. The Manchester 2007 BAAS Postgraduate Conference was a great success, with a record attendance of 103 postgraduates. The quality of the papers is reported to have been very high. Plans for the 2008 BAAS Postgraduate Conference at Exeter University are well advanced. RC extended warm thanks to Jo Metcalf for coordinating postgraduate business in an efficient and enthusiastic manner.

RC also reported that Paul Blackburn took over the Schools’ Liaison brief during the year. PB concurred with the conclusion of Sara Wood’s research (undertaken for the CD-Rom ‘Discover American Studies’) that what schools most needed was teacher champions, visits from academics to schools/colleges, and schools conferences. RC noted that sixth formers from Parrs Wood Sixth Form Centre attended the Manchester postgraduate conference, described by them as ‘excellent’. RC extended warm thanks to PB for the work he has undertaken in his first months as Schools’ Liaison Officer.

Awards:

Ian Scott began his verbal report by thanking the partners and associates who help financially or in an organisational or administrative capacity, especially the US Embassy, the Eccles Centre at the British Library, the University of New Hampshire, and the University of Virginia at Monticello. IS also thanked members of BAAS who donate funds to support the Short Term Travel Awards. IS also extended further thanks to all the anonymous judges (from within and outside the Executive Committee) who contributed to the successful business of the Awards subcommittee. IS noted that BAAS would distribute 32 awards (not including honourable mentions) for 2008, encompassing awards to A-level students and established scholars, worth over £41,000. He noted that this bodes well for the discipline. IS concluded by urging members to continue to apply for the STAs, the PG Awards and the Founders’ Awards, the PG Essay Prizes, and the Eccles Centre Awards.

Libraries and Resources:

Dick Ellis began his report by extending thanks to Matthew Shaw for his work on the production of the BLARs journal. The next issue will focus on resources in film and cinema. DE also thanked Sue Wedlake and the Embassy for their continued support, as well as thanking Phil Davies and the Eccles Centre at the British Library. DE noted that BLARs continues its work in mapping out and supporting libraries and resources, especially developments in digitalisation and the e-environment. DE concluded his report by extending his thanks to all the members of the BLARs subcommittee.

EAAS:

Phil Davies reminded the AGM of the EAAS conference in Oslo in May, details of which members had received in the newsletter and via the BAAS e-list. PD also reminded the AGM of EJAS and encouraged the membership to submit to this valuable resource. He concluded by recommending registration for the EAAS e-list to the AGM

AOB:

There was no any other business.

The AGM concluded at 4.15pm.

Professor Charlotte Erickson (1923–2008)

In 1963 I had to choose a topic for my B. Litt. and because I had been awarded a scholarship that would take me to Berkeley and because there seemed to have been little work done on British migration to the west coast of the United States, I decided to study British migration to California up to 1870. There were three great presences in the United Kingdom in the field of migration studies in the early sixties, Charlotte Erickson, Maldwyn Jones and Frank Thistlethwaite. I soon became acquainted with their work and particularly came to admire Charlotte’s publications. They were clearly produced by a scholar of high intelligence, prodigious energy, a love of archival work and an innovative mind. She was someone to emulate.

I met Charlotte thereafter at various conferences and meetings organised by the British Association for American Studies and similar bodies but did not come into close contact until 1968 when she was appointed the External Examiner of my thesis, Max Beloff being the internal. During the examination I became aware of how seriously Charlotte took her responsibilities. She had read the thesis with great care and had much to say and to ask. To my chagrin she had found the only inaccurate statistic in a work crammed with figures but to my delight she obviously felt the work had some merit. As the examination proceeded I began to feel that the thesis was going to be accepted subject to minor corrections and I also began to sense that Max Beloff was beginning to become restive as Charlotte continued to probe my findings. After a while his body language said that he thought the event should come to a close but he could not stop Charlotte. He tried looking at his watch, but to no avail. He murmured the word train but that did not stop her. Eventually he told Charlotte that she had to finish if she was going to get back to London by her chosen train. He got up and offered her her coat, helped her into it, opened the door and stood waiting not entirely patiently. Charlotte finally took the hint and passed through the door. I sometimes remember that she continued the flow of remarks and comments as she was led away down the corridor towards the main entrance and that her voice grew ever fainter as she went. But that cannot have been the case.

I next came into close contact in 1983 when Charlotte became Chairman of the British Association for American Studies – and she always insisted on being called Chairman. I was then Treasurer of the Association and during her tenure moved to become Secretary, so I worked closely with her in what was a very vibrant organisation. She was an excellent Chairman as far as her fellow officers were concerned, hard-working, efficient, reliable and committed. She had been an early officer of the Association herself and so knew what was required. Since those early years the Association had broadened the range of its activities and had consequently become more reliant on external funding, especially on grants from the American Embassy. Charlotte was a little shocked at the extent of the dependency and had to be assured that the money came without attached strings. Her commitment to the independence of the Association led me to remark to a colleague that she was ‘the conscience of BAAS’. Naturally this was relayed to her but fortunately it pleased her mightily. She valued her reputation for independence and incorruptibility.

Charlotte took on the Chairmanship of BAAS even as she was planning to move from the LSE to Cambridge. It was a mark of her dedication to American Studies in the United Kingdom that she agreed to take on the Chairmanship when the move gave her every reason for refusing. For a while she felt that the move to Cambridge had not been entirely a happy one, particularly as the college she joined valued fellows not by their eminence but by the date of election and so early visits found her in a small room in a back quad sharing with two others. She wondered how the college expected her to do any work. Most of the undergraduates had better quarters.

In 1990 when she became Emeritus Professor she was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, marking the level of her international reputation. She showed her continuing support for the subject of American Studies in the United Kingdom by giving a substantial sum to the BAAS Short-term Awards scheme, which had been set up to provide grants to help graduate students pursue research in the United Sates. At the end of her career she was thus thinking of those at the beginning of theirs. Generous, courteous, committed – that was Charlotte Erickson.

Robert Burchell

Center for Urban Policy Research, Rutgers University

Dr Robert Harrison (1944–2007)

Dr Robert Harrison died on 6 May 2007 after a long illness. Dr Harrison had been a member of the Department of History and Welsh History at Aberystwyth University for over thirty years, and had lived near Aberystwyth, at Llandre, with his wife, Jean, and his sons, Matthew and Stephen.

From his native Sunderland, where his mother, Beatrice, still lives, Robert Harrison took his first degree at St. John’s College, Cambridge in 1966, and completed his PhD in 1971, the same year in which he joined the Department of History (later the Department of History and Welsh History) at Aberystwyth. His numerous publications on nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American politics, particularly on Congress and on the District of Columbia, made a very significant contribution to the field. They include: State and Society in Twentieth-century America (1997); Congress, Progressive Reform, and the New American State (2004); ‘An Experimental Station for Lawmaking: Congress and the District of Columbia, 1862–1878’, Civil War History 53 (March 2007); ‘Welfare and Employment Policies of the Freedmen’s Bureau in the District of Columbia’, Journal of Southern History 72 (February 2006); ‘From Biracial Democracy to Direct Rule: The End of Self-Government in the Nation’s Capital, 1865–1878’, Journal of Policy History 18 (Spring 2006); and ‘Race, Radicalism and Reconstruction: Grass-Roots Republican Politics in the District of Columbia’, American Nineteenth Century History 3 (Fall 2002). An active participant in the research community of American history, Robert was a long-standing member of BAAS and closely involved in the British American Nineteenth Century Historians’ organisation (BrANCH), organising two major conferences on American history in 2000 and 2004.

His colleagues at Aberystwyth remember Robert not only as a researcher, but as an energetic and committed lecturer, teaching a broad range of courses in American history for both History and American Studies degrees. For a number of years Robert oversaw the American Studies degree board and was a forceful advocate for the importance of American history within the teaching syllabus. He was as powerful an advocate for his students and many benefited from his calm, quiet, often wry, but always self-effacing support and expertise. Robert’s teaching interests, as well as his writing and research, extended into historiography; he was a mainstay of the Department’s work in this area and contributed three separate pieces for a recent collection of essays on historiography (essays on professionalisation in American history, sociology and history, and ‘new social history’, in Making History (Routledge, 2004)).

Robert will be remembered by those who worked with him on a daily basis as an excellent colleague, entirely dependable and calmly efficient. During his illness, Robert continued to work, almost until the last, with the same quiet professionalism and generosity of spirit that had served him and those who knew him so well. He is greatly missed by all who knew him: friends, colleagues and students alike.

Phillipp Schofield

Aberystwyth University

Requests and Notices

Call for a new Editor for U.S. Studies Online: The BAAS Postgraduate Journal

This summer Dr Elizabeth Boyle will complete her term as Editor of U.S. Studies Online: http://http://www.baas.ac.uk/resources/usstudiesonline/issue.asp?us=12. Therefore the British Association for American Studies (BAAS) welcomes applications for a new Editor of U.S. Studies Online for a term of two years.

This peer-reviewed online journal enables postgraduate students at British and international universities to have their work published in a high-quality refereed environment. Each issue covers a broad range of topics, drawing upon the interdisciplinary nature of American Studies to incorporate History, Politics, Cultural Studies, Literature and Film. The editor works with the editorial board (see http://http://www.baas.ac.uk/resources/usstudiesonline/default.asp) to produce two issues a year. S/he will be expected to attend the annual BAAS postgraduate conference (this will be held at the University of Exeter in November 2008), papers from which constitute one issue, and to develop good contacts throughout the BAAS postgraduate network. S/he must be a postgraduate or an early career scholar and be a member of BAAS. Knowledge of and skills in managing online resources will be useful.

Please send a letter of application with a curriculum vitae and arrange for one academic reference to be sent to the Chair of the BAAS Publications Subcommittee, Professor Martin Halliwell on mrh17@le.ac.uk or to the Centre for American Studies, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH.

The application deadline is Monday 22 September 2008. The successful candidate will be notified in autumn 2008.

BAAS Database of External Examiners 

The Secretary of BAAS, Catherine Morley, holds a list of potential external examiners. If individuals would like to put their names forward for this list, please email her at cm260@le.ac.uk. Include the following information, in list form if possible:

• name and title
• affiliation with complete contact details including address, telephone, fax, and email externalling experience (with dates if appropriate)
• current externalling positions (with end dates)
• research interests (short descriptions only)

By providing this information, you agree to it being passed on to universities who are seeking an external for American Studies or a related discipline. Should you wish your name to be removed or your details updated in the future, please contact the Secretary.

Any university representative interested in receiving the list should also contact the Secretary. BAAS only acts as a holder of the list; it does not ‘matchmake’.

Paper copies can also be requested by sending a letter to:

Dr Catherine Morley

Centre for American Studies

University of Leicester

University Road

Leicester, LE1 7RH

EUP/BAAS Series 

Simon Newman and Carol Smith edit the BAAS/EUP paperback series. We are delighted to announce the publication of the latest title in the series, Celeste-Marie Bernier’s African American Visual Arts. We are happy to discuss ideas for proposals in all fields of American Studies, and we are particularly interested in commissioning titles in the following areas: slavery in the nineteenth century (Revolution–Civil War) ; immigration ; the press; sport in American culture; the Cold War (politics, culture, society); foreign policy (post-45 to present; First World War; contemporary America (post 1960s); literary sub-genres (poetry, crime fiction, etc.); American film/cinema/ Hollywood; America at war; African Americans.

Contact Simon Newman (S.Newman@History.arts.gla.ac.uk) and Carol Smith (Carol.Smith@winchester.ac.uk )

Journal of American History Scholarship Records

The Journal of American History requests information about recent dissertations and publications in American History for inclusion in its periodically published compilation of recent scholarship. The doctoral dissertations can date back to 2005. Please submit the following information: author, title of dissertation, institution, location of institution and year of completion. If you have written a monograph or chapter in a volume published in the UK, which might not therefore have crossed the JAH’s radar screen, please send me the relevant publication information.

The same applies to journal articles in UK serials (although JAH is usually quite efficient in obtaining the contents of serials published in the UK). If you are uncertain whether your article or the contents of your journal are routinely included in the JAH recent publications list, please send me the relevant information just in case. For a journal article, please send the author, title of article, title of journal, volume, date and page numbers. JAH publishes its recent scholarship listing at regular intervals, so please feel free to send me relevant information for new dissertations or publications as they appear.

Patrick Hagopian (international contributing editor to JAH), Lancaster University: p.hagopian@lancaster.ac.uk

BAAS Conference Plenary in Print

Brenda Gayle Plummer’s opening plenary lecture at this year’s BAAS conference is now in print: ‘Peace Was the Glue: Europe and African American Freedom’, Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society, 10:2 (2008): 103–122.

EAAS News

should go through the BAAS representative to EAAS, Philip Davies (Philip.Davies@bl.uk).

The EAAS online journal, the European Journal of American Studies, encourages submissions from all American Studies approaches. http://ejas.revues.org/

BAAS members are also reminded about the availability of EAAS travel grants. For details and application procedure, see http://www.eaas.eu/travel_grants.htm.

European Association for American Studies Conference, Oslo, May 2008

Twenty-seven workshops formed the core of the EAAS conference held in May in Oslo, and provided a wide range of choice during every session of the meeting. British leadership was evident in a number of these: ‘Staging the Nation: The Theatre of American Identities’, chaired by Theresa Saxon (UCLAN); ‘Primitive Modernisms and Diasporic Americas’, co-chaired by Dick Ellis (Birmingham); ‘Nationhood and the Deployment of Sexuality’, co-chaired by Carol Smith (Winchester); ‘E Pluribus Unum in Wartime’, co-chaired by Jude Davis (Winchester); ‘Pluribus Unum or Pluribus Una? Europeans Represent the United States on Screen’, co-chaired by Melvyn Stokes (UCL). In addition Robert Lewis (Birmingham) delivered a parallel lecture, ‘E Pluribus Plures: Racial Intermarriage and the American Dilemma’. A high point of this year’s meeting was the awarding of the American Studies Network Book Prize to Jacqueline Fear-Segal (UEA) for her book White Man’s Club: Schools, Race, and the Struggle of Indian Acculturation.

The main business of the conference was hosted on the attractive Blindern campus, with some opening events hosted in imposing downtown buildings of the University. Generous hospitality was provided by the Mayor of Oslo, and (albeit to restricted numbers for security reasons) by the US Ambassador. The conference dinner was scarcely silver service, but was taken as part of a cruise through Oslo harbour in the late sunset of a lovely day; the ambience could hardly have been better.

Each two years the conference brings together a remarkable international gathering of Americanists. As in previous conference years a selection of papers will be collected into a conference volume. In addition the editors of the European Journal of American Studies used the conference to scout for contributions to the on-line journal. Experience shows that many other publications have resulted from the EAAS conference in the form of journal articles and edited volumes.

The EAAS conference organisers are always keen to increase the disciplinary, thematic and international representation at the meeting. The next EAAS conference will be held in Dublin, 26–29 March 2010. The conference theme is ‘”Forever Young”? The Changing Images of America’, which allows room for myriad approaches. If you have not taken part previously it is worth knowing that the submission process is rather different to that adopted by most conferences. The conference is made up of workshops, each with its own theme, and usually aims to consist of a couple of panels of three or four papers each featuring an international team of speakers. The call for participation comes in two parts. A call for workshop topic proposals will be made well in advance of the conference. Once a selection of workshop themes has been made, they are publicised and individual paper proposals within the topic areas are invited. Do start thinking early of the possibilities for themes that you might like to propose, and international partners who might also contribute in the same area.

Events at the Eccles Centre for American Studies @ the British Library

Reporting America, Reporting Britain: Alistair Cooke Event

Alistair Cooke, best known for his weekly BBC broadcast Letter from America, enjoyed an extraordinary life in print, radio and TV. To celebrate the centenary of his birth and publication of Reporting America, a new volume of previously unpublished Cooke reportage, a panel of leading British and American journalists including Mary Jordan (Washington Post) and Jim Sciutto (ABC News) will discuss how they report each other’s countries. Chaired by the writer and journalist Dominic Sandbrook. Reception following.

Event date: Monday 13 October

Time: 18:30 – 20:00

Location: Conference Centre, British Library

Price: £6 (£4 concessions) from British Library box office

US Presidential Election Debate

A debate between the Chairs of Republicans Abroad and Democrats Abroad; Sir Robert Worcester, founder of MORI, to moderate. The event is sponsored by the Eccles Centre for American Studies, the British Library, in association with Benjamin Franklin House, a museum and educational facility located in London in Franklin’s only surviving residence.

Event date: Wednesday 29 October 2008

Time: 19.00 – 20.00 (debate followed by reception)

Location: Conference Centre, British Library

Price: £8 (£5 concessions). For tickets email info@benjaminfranklinhouse.org or phone (0)20 7839 2006.

Workshop for Researchers: ‘”No More Secrets”: or, how to get the most out of the American foreign policy resources at the British Library’

Convenors: Professor Matthew Jones (University of Nottingham) and Dr Steven Casey (London School of Economics)

This workshop will introduce researchers, including postgraduate MA and PhD students, to American foreign policy primary sources at the British Library. It will highlight the Library’s printed document collections, newspaper resources, and microfilm holdings as well as its ever-expanding digital collections and will particularly emphasise materials on the twentieth century. The convenors will illustrate how these abundant and valuable resources can be used in a practical and applied way for discrete projects, and will use case studies of their own research experiences to show this in action. There will be opportunities for all those attending to discuss their own work and to discover how it might benefit from the resources the British Library can offer.

Event date: Monday 3 November 2008

Time: 3p.m. – 4.30 p.m.

Location: Conference Centre, British Library

The workshop is sponsored by the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library. Admission is free; booking is essential.

Contact eccles-centre@bl.uk or call 020 7412 7757.

BAAS/American Politics Group Annual Colloquium

This year’s colloquium comes just a few days after the US elections, and will look at the election results as well as considering the prospects for the new administration. Confirmed speakers include Dr Tim Hames, chief leader writer of The Times, and US Congressman John J. Rhodes (R – AZ, 1987–1993) together with a Democratic former Member of Congress.

This year’s Neustadt Prize for a book on US politics by a British author will be presented.

Event date: Friday 14 November

Time: about 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Location: US Embassy auditorium, Grosvenor Square, London.

Details will be available nearer the date from Dr Andy Wroe A.J.Wroe@kent.ac.uk

Watch This Space – Eccles Centre Events Coming in the New Year

Lecture by Timothy Garton-Ash

Co-sponsored with the Fulbright Commission, 20 January 2009

Event to commemmorate 200^th Anniversary of Lincoln’s birth

Co-sponsored with the US Embassy, 9February 2009

Will Kaufman & Woody Guthrie

To complement the Library’s Taking Liberties exhibition, 25 February 2009

Prospects for the New US administraion

Annual debate of the Academy of Social Sciences, 9 March 2009

Full details of these future events will appear on the centre’s webpages: http://www.bl.uk/ecclescentre

The Right Man? Assessing George W. Bush’s Legacy

Conference at the British Library sponsored by the Eccles Centre and the Institute for the Study of the Americas

Monday 2 March 2009

10.00–11.00 a.m.

Rating the Bush Presidency: Andrew Rudelavige

11.15a.m.–12.45 p.m.

Panel I: Bush in Government

The Executive Style of George Bush: TBC

Bush and Congress: John Owens

Bush and the Judiciary: Robert McKeever

12.45–1.15 p.m.

Lunch

1.15–2.45 p.m.

Panel II: Ideology and Ideas in the Bush Presidency

Bush as a Big-Government Conservative: Alex Waddan

Was Bush a Neoconservative in Foreign Policy?: Tim Lynch

Bush the Supply-Sider: Iwan Morgan

3.00–4.10 p.m.

Panel III: The Foreign Policy Legacy

Charting a New Course: Rob Singh

Counting the Cost: John Dumbrell

4.15–5.00 p.m.

Panel IV: The Electoral Dimension

The Significance of the 2008 Elections: Philip Davies

Eccles Centre Web Exhibition

‘Singing the Dream’: a new online exhibition of American sheet music at the British Library

It is well known that the British Library houses one of the world’s foremost collections of American books, manuscripts, journals, newspapers and sound recordings. Perhaps less well known, however, is its collection of American sheet music – a collection that provides a unique and fascinating insight into every aspect of American life: political, social and economic.

This exhibition, curated by the Eccles Centre, focuses on the major political events and social changes of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It includes songs about the war of 1812, the Mexican American War, slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the women’s suffrage movement, the temperance movement, the Spanish American War, presidential campaigns, and the rise of consumerism.

View the exhibition online at www.bl.uk/eccles/sing

Jean Petrovic, Eccles Centre for American Studies, the British Library

Reports from Eccles Centre Fellows

Professor Lane Crothers, Illinois State University

As Eccles Centre Visiting Professor in North American Studies at the British Library from September 2007 through February 2008 I was able to access several collections unique to the British Library. I drafted Chapters One and Two of my proposed book, The Essential Nation, and conducted substantial research and finished significant preparation for Chapter Three. I was also able to contact and interview several distinguished academic experts on British responses to terrorism, and to interview a number of British citizens about their experiences of living with terrorist incidents both in the past (the IRA bombing campaign) and recently (the attacks of July 7, 2005 and afterwards). This invaluable research led me to change some of the book’s organisation and enriched its analysis of the history of American war making and public opinion.

My visiting professorship also gave me the opportunity to make a number of presentations, both in the UK and in Turkey. I presented at the American Politics Group Colloquium held at the US Embassy, London, November 2007; at De Montfort University, Leicester, November 2007; at the C21st Curatorship Seminar, held at the British Library, London, November 2007; and at Kadir Has University, Istanbul, February 2008. In addition to the intellectual opportunities each of these presentations offered, I was able to establish professional relationships with colleagues across the UK and in Istanbul, and to interact with students in diverse academic settings. These were truly wonderful experiences, and I was pleased to be able to carry the work of the Eccles Centre to these environments.

A third accomplishment of my visiting professorship derived more from its status as ‘visiting’ than ‘professor’: the experience of living in London and navigating a culture that, while similar to that of the United States, is nonetheless different. I was further able to expand this cross-cultural experience with brief trips to Amsterdam and Rome in addition to my professional trip to Istanbul. London, of course, is a world capital city with unsurpassed opportunities for theatre, music and museums, and I enjoyed these cultural highlights. But the experience of ‘visiting’ also meant restaurants, navigating the tube, walking distances that no American would normally consider walking, and of course coming into contact with all of the world’s cultures, norms, mores and traditions in even a casual afternoon’s stroll. For a student of culture, this was an invaluable experience, and one that has enriched both my personal life and my understanding of how to teach when I return to the classroom.

As I hope this report makes clear, I found the visiting professorship to be both professionally and personally engaging, important and valuable. I appreciate the opportunity, and wish both the Eccles Centre and future visiting professors all the best.

Professor Simon Newman, University of Glasgow

I spent the period from mid-May to mid-July 2007 and then a further two weeks in September 2007 at the British Library as an Eccles Centre Fellow in North American Studies. This fellowship enabled me to complete my research into seventeenth- and eighteenth-century travel narratives, as well as my investigation of the published accounts of former slaves who were familiar with different parts of the British Atlantic world. The research is for a monograph exploring the transformation of labour in – and occasioned by – the British Atlantic world in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

I am very familiar with various archives and research libraries in the United States, but this project has afforded me my first opportunity to undertake significant research in the British Library. Even as an early Americanist, well aware that many of the primary sources for my period were generated and stored in the United Kingdom, I was amazed at the wealth of materials available there. Just as importantly, I found the new building at St. Pancras a wonderful place to work, whether in the Humanities reading rooms, the Rare Books reading room, or the Manuscripts and Maps reading room. I look forward to using the British Library as much as possible in the future, and I am very grateful for the Eccles Centre Visiting Fellowship.

Dr Jennifer Terry, University of Durham

The award to me of an Eccles Centre Visiting Fellowship in North American Studies at the BAAS annual conference in April 2007 presented a wonderful research opportunity. My proposal had centred on a long-planned monograph taking a comparative approach to twentieth century literary engagements with the black diaspora. The application’s success meant that I was able to spend a series of visits to London utilising the British Library’s American collections and, in particular, working with holdings relating to early and mid twentieth century US and Caribbean fiction. Research leave from my home institution during Autumn 2007 allowed greater than usual flexibility in travel and in all I had five week-long stays in London. During this period I made considerable progress in gathering and assimilating primary and critical materials of significance for my exploration of diasporic imaginaries.

An additional benefit was being able to attend both a lecture and a concert, part of the Eccles Centre’s regular programme of events, and to enjoy several of the exhibitions hosted by the British Library during the tenure of my fellowship.

I would like to offer my thanks to BAAS and the Eccles Centre for American Studies for their support of this scheme and my work, also acknowledging a debt to my sister, whose spare room in North London helped my funds to go further. ‘Shuttles in the Rocking Loom of History’: Mapping the Black Diaspora in African American and Caribbean Fiction will be forthcoming from Liverpool University Press in 2009.

Travel Award Reports

Abraham Lincoln Award

Daniel Peart, University College London

I was delighted to receive the inaugural Abraham Lincoln Award for the best proposal in the field of nineteenth-century US history and culture in the 2007–8 BAAS Short-Term Travel Grants competition. As a result, I was able to spend five weeks at the Library of Congress, Washington DC, during April and May 2008, collecting materials toward my PhD thesis, provisionally entitled ‘Popular engagement with politics in the United States, 1820–1825’. The early 1820s have been relatively understudied, and are often misrepresented as a period in which ordinary Americans simply lost interest in politics. I aim to challenge this interpretation, and also to engage with wider debates about the nature of popular involvement in antebellum politics, and the role of political parties in participatory democracy.

As this was my first visit to the US as part of my PhD, my goal was to collect as much relevant material as possible, both in order to advance my overall project and to allow me to identify possible case studies that would guide future research trips. In addition, the funding from BAAS allowed me to conduct research for a paper on the opposition to the establishment of slavery in Illinois in 1823–4, to be presented at the British American Nineteenth Century Historians Conference in September 2008.

Since I aim to explore what politics meant to ordinary Americans, I began with the most obvious source: personal diaries and journals. The almost uniformly awful handwriting of the authors, superior only to my own scrawled notes, limited the use I could make of unpublished papers in the Manuscript Division, but fortunately I also found a surprisingly large number in published form. These ranged in size and usefulness from scattered journal extracts in obscure local historical society periodicals to the three-volume diary of Maryland shop-owner Jacob Engelbrecht, spanning six decades from 1818 to 1878.

From private papers I progressed onto published pamphlets, of which the Library of Congress must surely have the largest collection in existence for my period. Moving between the General Reading Room, where the use of a digital camera allowed me to save a fortune on photocopying, and the Rare Book Reading Room, where photography is prohibited and the price of photo-duplication services forced me to work on my touch-typing skills, I was able to amass a huge amount of materials. Given the broad parameters of my topic, these ranged in subject from such weighty considerations as The Crisis, No. 1. Or Thoughts on Slavery, occasioned by the Missouri Question, to matters of local interest like Reasons, principally of a public nature, against a new bridge from Charlestown to Boston. I did not confine my search to pamphlets that explicitly engaged in political debate, but also drew much relevant material from genres such as election sermons, published addresses, and the proceedings of societies.

The biggest revelation of my trip was the extraordinary amount of source materials now available online. Using the Gales electronic database Sabin Americana, which to my knowledge is inaccessible from the UK, I was able to triple the amount of pamphlets I had collected in just a few days. Also of use were Gales Nineteenth Century United States Newspapers Digital Archive, Readex American Historical Newspapers, Readex American State Papers, 1787-1838, and ProQuest American Periodical Series. As these e-resources become available in the UK it will be much easier for researchers to collect US source materials without the time and expense of travelling to America.

In conclusion, I wish to again offer my thanks to BAAS, together with the Embassy of the United States of America, for providing me with this valuable, not to mention enjoyable, opportunity to visit the US and make use of the vast resources of the Library of Congress. I should also express my appreciation to BrANCH and University College London History Department, who both made additional financial contributions toward my trip, and to the library staff who ensured that I was never at a loose end throughout my stay. I am confident that the materials I have be able to collect as a result of the BAAS award will provide the core for my thesis, and I look forward to making many further research trips to the US in the future.

BAAS Founders’ Award

David Anderson, University of Dundee

Researching abroad is not without its challenges for an academic in provincial Scotland. Thus, to secure a Founders’ Research Travel Award from the British Association for American Studies to further a research project on homesickness among Civil War combatants was particularly welcome. The award allowed for a three-and-a-half week stay at the University of Georgia in Athens where I had access to a well-stocked library and could supplement extra materials through a fabulous Inter-Library Loan system. It would be remiss of me if I did not express my sincere gratitude to the archivists and librarians – especially those at the ILL – at UGA for their help and assistance. Thank you.

Prior to the trip I had presented initial research and early thoughts at the University of Dundee History Program Research Seminar (February 2008) and to the ‘Nostalgia and the Shapes of History’ Conference at Queen Mary, University of London (June 2008. In each instance my musings benefited from the criticisms and comments of colleagues and postgraduates in lively question and answer sessions.

My research trip, then, was focused principally on enhancing my work on homesickness (or ‘nostalgia’ as then-contemporary doctors termed it) among Union soldiers, with additional research on Confederate soldiers by way of useful comparison. The term nostalgia was coined in 1688 by Johannes Hofer, a Swiss doctor at the University of Basel, in his Dissertatio medica de nostalgia. Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, however, the curable disease gradually morphed into an incurable modern malaise and as medical advances gathered pace, nostalgia slowly began to fade from the clinical stage. Remarkably, however, it was not to be the final curtain-call for the ‘Swiss-disease’ as nostalgia returned to the spotlight once again in a noteworthy postscript faithful to its original guise.

Indeed, nostalgia became all too familiar to Union army doctors and surgeons during the American Civil War and they readily acknowledged the condition as a bona fide disease. Here I was able to examine some of their contemporary ruminations and post-Civil War and post-Reconstruction reminiscences (and those of nurses) along with sundry medical books and articles. It was interesting to note that they advanced rather broad and wide-ranging definitions of nostalgia, combining both the psychological and physiological effects of the malady. This was perhaps understandable given there were no experts during the Civil War who specialised in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.

Official medical records (namely the multi-volume Medical and Surgical History of the War of Rebellion) show the malaise ‘developed to a morbid degree’ among white federal soldiers throughout the duration of the war with some 5,213 cases identified, the statistics revealing 58 deaths. This contrasted with 334 cases and 16 deaths among black soldiers. I also sourced scattered but nonetheless intriguing evidences regarding the nostalgia of both Union and Confederate soldiers in The War of Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. 

Yet while wartime memoirs and biographies, military histories and campaign narratives, and the sundry diary entries and letters written between family members and friends are sprinkled with mention of ‘the blues’, ‘loneliness’, ‘homesickness’ and similar expressions of displacement, we do not yet understand the broader implications that ‘nostalgia’ had in relation to the wartime experiences of Civil War combatants. What predicated the nostalgia of the average soldier? What were the symptoms? Was there a remedy? Were there any marked differences between the sufferings of Union soldiers and those of their Confederate adversaries? Were soldiers the only ones who suffered from the affliction?

Given the recent explosion of interest in the social history of the era and current attention afforded to the history of medicine and the history of disability, these questions would appear to be significant and timely ones, but they have, at best, aroused only limited historical interest among historians of the Civil War. With this in mind, then, my intention was to spend the majority of my time in the States in pursuit of answers to these questions.

By the end of my visit I had accumulated a wealth of additional primary (and secondary) materials. These materials gathered will undoubtedly bolster and sharpen my preliminary thoughts regarding homesickness among Civil War soldiers as I embark on writing-up my research. Again, I would like to thank BAAS for their generous provision and continued support.

BAAS Founders’ Award 

Martin Halliwell, University of Leicester

The BAAS Founders Award funded my research trip in April 2008 to the Kansas State Historical Society Library in Topeka, Kansas and the Baylor Medical Library at Rice University, Houston. The research is part of an ongoing book project which charts the close, but often tense, relationship of medicine and psychiatry between 1945 and 1970. Psychiatry was the poor relation of medicine during World War II, seen by many simply as a subspecialty, at a time when there was a dire national shortage of psychiatrists. But during the war, and increasingly in the postwar years, psychiatry and psychoanalysis became potent forces both institutionally and culturally. Rather than making Freudian ideas central to the project – Freudianism was very often taken up piecemeal by practitioners and within popular culture – my current research examines other therapeutic practices and institutions in postwar America.

Arguably the most important institution at mid-century was the Menninger Clinic, which was founded in Topeka in 1919 and to which was added a sanitarium and school in the 1920s. The key period for the Clinic was after 1941 when it established itself as a Foundation run by Karl Menninger and his two sons William and Charles. The Menninger Foundation was pivotal in shaping psychiatry during the war years: William Menninger was Chief of the Army Medical Corps’ Psychiatric Division during the war and many émigré practitioners trained and worked with the Menningers. As a family-run group practice based in the Midwest, the Menninger Foundation was a direct challenge to one-on-one Freudian model of analysis and the concentration of psychoanalytic centres in New York City and Los Angeles. The Clinic was even used as the model for the psychiatric institutes in Alfred Hithcock’s film Spellbound (1945) and Vincente Minnelli’s The Cobweb (1955).

The Clinic in Topeka was in operation until 2003 when it relocated to Houston. The old Clinic building is located close to the Kansas State Historical Society Library, but is now derelict. I am very grateful to receive a Founders’ Award, which enabled me to consult the extensive records of the Menninger Foundation, including personal papers from the three Menningers, clinical records from 1940s and 1950s (some elements of which are still classified) and documents relating to Topeka as a centre for psychiatry. As well as recommending a visit to the Board v. Brown of Education National Historic Site in Topeka, I would highly recommend a fabulous second-hand bookstore, Lloyd Zimmer Books and Maps (www.ksbiblio.com), which specialises in psychiatric history.

The second leg of the research trip to the Baylor Medical Library in Houston enabled me to consult an extensive range of material on postwar family health and relate this to the Menninger’s family-run practice. I also visited the new Menninger Clinic situated to the west of Houston city centre.

John D. Lees Award

Adam Kane, University of Essex

As the fortunate recipient of the John D. Lees BAAS Short-Term Travel Grant I was able to spend 10 days in San Diego in February 2008.

My thesis revolves around the notion of economic policy as a weapon to win the Cold War, so I have conducted several research trips Washington and Boston. The award enabled me to make the longer and more expensive journey to Southern California in order to conduct an interview with former Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence J. Korb (who was visiting the area on naval business).

It was important for my work that I was able to interview Mr Korb as my area of study is founded primarily on his statement that the defence spending of the United States during the Reagan administration was ‘based not on military need but upon the strategy of bankrupting the Soviet Union’. It is my intention to find out if there is a link between the rejection of Keynesian economics (adopted by FDR some 50 years earlier) and the necessity of funding the massive expansion in defence spending Korb’s assertion would require. Or was Daniel Patrick Moynihan correct in arguing that there was no longer an active Soviet-backed conspiracy anywhere in the world, that the USSR was an empire on the brink of economic collapse, and that Reagan’s consuming obsession with the expansion of Communism was merely a smokescreen in order to cut welfare costs?

During my trip I was also able to use the Library of Political Science and State at the University of California (San Diego). The staff at UCSD could not have been more helpful in directing me around their key Political Science Abstracts, which encompass the years 1975–present. Their collection also contains a simple-to-access Public Affairs Information System (PAIS) database that lists articles, books and government publications on all issues of public policy, including politics, government, economy and law, which was relevant, informative and interesting. For research within political science disciplines and complementary fields I can wholly recommend a visit.

As I am also conducting research on Alexander Hamilton my trip was exceptionally useful because UCSD has an active Federalist Society which accepted me as a visiting scholar. The standard of discussion and debate at the informal seminars has renewed my faith in the future of American democracy. Even within a society with such a name it was surprising to find so many Constitutional adherents at UCSD (although it did explain the Ron Paul banners that covered any available wall space) and it was a pleasure to be able to participate in an open environment, unstifled by partisanship.

I would like to thank BAAS for its help in enabling my visit to San Diego, which has enriched my understanding of my work and given my thesis a greater depth.

Marcus Cunliffe Award

Michael J. Collins, University of Nottingham

Owing to the generous support of the BAAS Marcus Cunliffe Short-term Travel Award I was able to spend four weeks in the United States researching my PhD Thesis entitled: ‘“A Multitude of Gaudy Appearances”: Ritual, Transatlantic Performance and the Melodramatic Mode in the Short Work of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville and Edgar Allan Poe’.

My thesis concerns the rise of the transatlantic theatre circuit in the antebellum period and its impact upon Hawthorne’s, Melville’s and Poe’s treatment of ritual and performance in their short fiction. I show how the formal and theoretical influence of melodrama, in both its incarnations on the stage and in fiction, alters the relationship these writers have to other dominant genres, namely romanticism and sentimentalism. I argue that the presence of a melodramatic mode in their work articulates an increasing interest in the power of ritual performed in the public sphere as a means to repair political and social divisions that is a salient feature of a burgeoning transatlantic Victorian culture, which differs from an earlier ‘romantic nationalist’ literary moment.

To support this claim I went to the Library Company of Philadelphia for a period of three weeks with a view to investigating three specific cultural phenomena to which Melville, Hawthorne and Poe make specific reference in their short fiction and that provide the case studies for my thesis: the rise of ritual performance among transatlantic fraternal orders such as the Freemasons, the popular British and American accounts of the New York Astor Place Riots of 1849 as melodrama, and the emergence of tableaux vivants and domestic theatre as an antebellum and early Victorian ritual form.

Despite the comparative oddity of an English man in a Philadelphia library trying to decode British Masonic emblems in nineteenth-century American books, the staff aided me in every way they could and I left Philadelphia with reams of notes ready for inclusion in the thesis. Specifically, I discovered that whilst generic histories of the American theatre have focused on the Astor Place riots as beginning with a conflict between two actors representing two discrete national cultures (America and Britain), this standard account is contradicted by many of the contemporary pamphleteers who listed numerous reasons for the tragedy. In addition, the availability of information on transatlantic secret societies such as the Freemasonry, and specifically the nature and meaning of many of its most occult rituals surprised me. Due to an 1845 book usefully entitled ‘A Lexicon of Freemasonry: Containing a definition of all its communicable terms, notices of its history, traditions and antiquities, and An account of all the rites and mysteries of the ancient world’ the most bizarre moments in Poe’s short fiction now make a sort of weird sense!

The award came at an opportune time, as, in addition to the three weeks I spent in the Library Company of Philadelphia, I was also able to coincide my visit with the annual Futures of American Studies Summer School at Dartmouth College, which I attended as a delegate. The day was divided into two sessions of guest speakers and one session in which students presented their own research to each other and invited scholars. My seminar was convened by Eric Lott, whose own work on theatre and mistrelsy I admire. This allowed me not only to make the acquaintance of leading international scholars but also present my work on Americans to Americans, a nerve-racking but valuable experience.

Since my thesis requires both in-depth historical research into nineteenth-century American culture and relies heavily upon recent theoretical movements in Americanist scholarship, especially the emergence of the so-called ‘transnational’ and ‘affective’ methodologies, the Marcus Cunliffe Award allowed my trip to the US to be an enlightening and educationally balanced experience.

Peter Parish Award

Roger Johnson, University of Sussex

The Peter Parish Award provided me great assistance in taking a research trip to California, the results of which will be essential toward the completion of my DPhil thesis, currently titled ‘Ronald Reagan and the Mythology of American History’. The trip took me to the Ronald Reagan Library and Museum in Simi Valley, and then to Stanford University.

The Reagan Library served a dual purpose for me, one defined by its own double function as both an archive maintained by the US government, and a commemorative and educational institution run by the private Reagan Foundation. In the archives I was able to explore the relationship of the Reagan administration to history, looking at how it reacted to and involved itself in commemorative events such as the construction of the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, the fortieth anniversary of D-Day and the Statue of Liberty centenary celebrations. Also, focusing on the papers of the 1980 and 1984 inaugural committees, I considered how Reagan’s presidency was understood and promoted as an historical event, and Reagan as an historical figure, through the ritual ceremony of the presidential inauguration. Though a great proportion of Reagan’s papers have yet to be processed or are restricted, a significant amount proved to be useful, as did the extensive audio-visual collection.

The Library itself was also a central focus of my research, being as it is the foremost example of the commemoration of Reagan in America. Though again limited, some archival material was available relating to the history of the institution, detailing its construction, dedication, reception, the changing exhibits of the museum and the various speaking events and conferences hosted there. I was also able to interview the director of the Library and the Reagan Foundation, Duke Blackwood, giving me some insight into its purposes and processes. Further, I had the opportunity to closely observe the site, the museum, their exhibits and objects and the narratives of Reagan’s life and presidency which they create. From the reconstructions of Reagan’s childhood home and his Oval Office to the grand Air Force One Pavilion, from the prominently displayed section of the Berlin Wall to the simple and solemn site of Reagan’s grave, from the modest western architecture to the surrounding Californian panorama, the Library represents a memorial of Reagan which conforms in theme, style and message to his image and ideologies. While it self-consciously avoids an overtly partisan narrative, it is celebratory and generally non-reflective in its representation of its subject. Overall, it is a multifaceted institution, devoted to the preservation and documentation of history, and at the same time to the promotion of myth, while also seeking to involve itself in shaping the politics of the present, as exemplified by its recent hosting of two Republican primary debates.

The second leg of my trip brought me to the Stanford campus where I was able to use the collections at the Hoover Institution relating to Reagan’s prolific public commentary in the late 1970s, as well as to his 1980 campaign. Also, I was able to conduct further research into the history of the Reagan Library through Stanford’s own archives. These detailed the plans and controversies surrounding Stanford’s bid – initiated by the Hoover Institution – to house the Reagan Library on its campus, plans which were eventually abandoned in 1987. While revealing much about the internal conflict between the autonomous and conservative Hoover Institution and elements of Stanford’s regular faculty, this story is also demonstrative of how both Reagan’s historical legacy and presidential libraries in general were perceived within academia. While the historical importance of the contemporary period and the Reagan collection were appreciated, the commemorative and political function of presidential libraries were viewed with some suspicion. Stanford’s curtailed plans for a modest scholarly archive provide an interesting comparison with the expansive monument existing today in Simi Valley.

The trip provided me with valuable material relating to Reagan’s administration and, to some extent, his beliefs about and perception of American history. However, the strongest theme that emerged from my research concerned the Reagan Library, its changing and varied nature as both a memorial to Reagan and a presidential library, its uses and purposes, and how these relate to the changing perception of Reagan in America as a political, historical and mythic figure.

Student Travel Award

Emma Hoare, Jesus College, Cambridge

In April 2007 I was able to visit the Lilly Library, Indiana University, thanks to a postgraduate travel award from BAAS. My research there formed the basis of my MPhil dissertation on Sylvia Plath’s narrative responses to overbearing state control, and prompted a paper on her verso manuscripts which I gave at the 2007 Oxford Plath Symposium. Manuscript work was absolutely key to both my thesis and conference paper. I’m extremely grateful to BAAS for providing me with this opportunity, and also to the staff at the Lilly Library for offering me every assistance with my work.

Beyond having access to new or unedited material relevant to my thesis, what struck me most about working in the archive was how manuscripts provided unexpected commentaries on their texts. We can see cynical criticisms Plath pens alongside a commercially-oriented story; a note of laborious explication accompanying an early, heavily symbolic Christian narrative; in even older works there are teachers’ red-inked remarks, revealing the style Plath was encouraged to adopt: ‘Establish more quickly, and more clearly’. One manuscript, in particular, caught my attention: a sugary 1955 short story, ‘Home Is Where The Heart Is’, with nine morbid and often violent poems drafted on each page’s reverse. This led to my conference paper ‘Double Exposure: Plath’s Verso Manuscript’.

The main aim of my time in the archive, however, was to find resources relating to my MPhil dissertation. Two outbursts of socio-political hysteria greatly influenced Plath’s perception of the relationship between the individual and the state: the intense anti-German sentiment of the Second World War, and the fifties surveillance and accusation culture of McCarthyism. During both these periods, suspect individuals were subject to intense scrutiny, intimidation, interrogation and threat of punishment. Freedom of expression and constitutional rights were eroded, and supposedly protective state powers became oppressive.

It was Aurelia Plath’s introduction to Letters Home which first prompted me to look closer at Plath’s German heritage. Aurelia is tentative about asserting German associations and yet is also anecdotal about the problems it brought during the First World War and beyond. A generation later, Plath herself seems affirmative about her German connections and frequently introduces herself as being ‘of German-Austrian descent’. She makes persistent exertions to learn German, but the prolonged struggle reflected in the unedited correspondence is edited out of Letters Home, where references are considerably abbreviated or omitted. In this context, poems such as ‘Daddy’ and ‘Little Fugue’ can be read as linguistic, cultural and multi-generational battlefields, where two world wars afflict the perceived identity of Americans with German background.

The archive was similarly crucial to understanding Plath’s experience of McCarthyism; her repulsion at the administration’s aggressive rhetoric and the investigations directed at academics, her shared outrage with Eddie Cohen at the ‘witch hunts’. Various correspondents enclose news clippings for Plath: Yale declaring that freedom of expression is paramount and therefore would not be extended to those suspected of Communist associations, the Smith faculty rallying against accusations in 1954. Reading this material brought home to me that Plath completed her degree right in the midst of these political issues. This brings a new dimension to the paranoia, threat and sense of scrutiny which pervade texts such as The Bell Jar.

I went to the Lilly Library archive with a determinedly unromantic attitude. But it is hard to go through boxes of someone’s school work, scrapbooks, drafts and correspondence and tell yourself that it’s a morally irreproachable activity because it’s for a thesis. Admittedly, Plath did sell some manuscripts to Indiana University herself. Furthermore, my dissertation dealt with self-censorship under the threat of punishment; the cleansing of German accents and associations during the wars, and the necessity of watching your words under McCarthyism. In this sense it was vital to see what Plath’s various editors – including Plath herself – had deemed unsuitable for publication. Yet my dissertation was also about intense scrutiny, supposedly of a past era; the 78,000 personal tip-offs about unpatriotic neighbours and foreign voices the FBI received in 1939 as it compiled a list of potential dissidents; Plath’s teacher Wilson Crockett being questioned by the town board in 1951; Arthur Miller being told, during a 1953 visit to the University of Michigan, ‘everything you do is being written down and sent to the authorities’. I couldn’t be entirely immune to the fact that I was elbow-deep in someone else’s personal belongings while I made notes on this constant invasion of privacy.

It also made me appreciate how the notion of privacy was an electric issue for Plath even before the controversies of posthumous publication and biography. Plath’s speakers conceal themselves and adopt disguises but also claim to immolate themselves in exposure and revelation. This dynamic between prudent silence and intemperate speech only becomes really charged when one can appreciate the underlying threats; the threats of 1940s and 1950s America, a society where ideals of freedom of speech were shown to be hollow when the speaker was a potential ‘enemy alien’, a dissident, an ‘anti-American,’ and where punishment might range from alienation, to humiliation, to incarceration.

Student Travel Award

Victoria Kingham, De Montfort University

The working title of my PhD is ‘Periodical Culture, Commerce, and the Avant-Garde, New York 1915–1917’. It is AHRC funded as part of a larger academic enterprise, the Modernist Magazines Project at De Montfort University. I chose to specialise in American magazines, partly as a continuation of my American Literature Masters degree and partly because of their intense significance within a new, more nuanced understanding of modernism with which recent literary research is engaged. Visits to American libraries are essential as some of these journals are unavailable in any form outside America. It is also, I believe, important to see them in their original form; their physical quality, advertising, financial arrangements and so on all contribute to an extended understanding.

With the generous help of BAAS, I spent a most wonderful and productive month at the New York Public Library and the Beinecke Library at Yale University – a trip that would have been impossible without BAAS’s support. In my two weeks at the vast New York Public Library I was able to read the correspondence between the art buyer, John Quinn, and the editors of two magazines, The Soil (1916–17) and 291 (1915–16). The Soil was produced largely by Robert Coady, owner of an art gallery and book shop, listed as the magazine’s address, The Coady Gallery. 291 was edited by Marius De Zayas and produced from Alfred Stieglitz’s gallery space, ‘291’. Besides throwing up some interesting sidelines, the correspondence between Quinn and Coady and Quinn and De Zayas supported my idea that there was significant rivalry between the two galleries associated with these magazines, and that this was reflected in the magazines’ contents as well as their editorial, advertising and marketing matter. I was also able to read newspaper articles and editorials in the New York Sun relating to Coady’s gallery. I read, too, a unique publication by De Zayas and Paul Haviland which to my knowledge is unobtainable anywhere else, and which has a bearing on the content and ethos of both magazines. Other publications belonging in the avant-garde network of the time are held in the Berg Collection at NYPL. Rogue, for instance, was largely the product of a small but significant salon coterie. I read for the first time its backbiting, gossipy articles and editorials, but also the contributions of a number of writers important to the development of Modernism: Alfred Kreymborg, Djuna Barnes, Mina Loy and Carl Van Vechten.

Simultaneously I was able to experience New York, its geography, and its architecture (for the first time!) and get a first-hand idea of the American urban life which these writers, in their very different ways, acknowledged and celebrated in the early part of the twentieth century.

The Beinecke Library at Yale has some of the most extensive holdings, archives and special collections in the world. I was able to look at letters between Coady and Gertrude Stein, Coady and Katherine Dreier (an instrumental figure in American Dada), Alfred Stieglitz and Dorothy Norman, his biographer. Further, I was able to gather material for a whole new chapter on a very little-known magazine which has previously largely been ignored except for its publication of early Hart Crane poetry, but which shed significant light on the burgeoning New York literary scene of the time.

The Beinecke experience is impossible to fault. The librarians are approachable, knowledgeable and courteous, providing a service second to none. They allowed me to photograph material myself, which meant that I could bring back copies of far more of the magazine than I would have been able to obtain by paying for them, plus about 70 pages of my own notes and quotations. I could also obtain from the Beinecke very high-definition electronic copies, of at least the front cover and contents pages of certain other magazines, important to our Modernist Magazines project but completely unavailable in English libraries. These will be an invaluable addition to the project web site and anthology. With the help of this award, I was able to obtain accommodation very near the library, which also meant that I could really maximise my time. I paid a visit too to the Sterling Library (the central library of Yale University) to obtain brief information about a number of other magazines.

The periodicals and the intellectual and material culture surrounding and (sometimes) supporting them are unique windows to the interrelation of American literary, artistic and political life of the time with those of Europe and Britain. Scholarly examination of the complex interaction of what were, essentially, transatlantic cultural formations is currently a fruitful area for academic discovery and I am grateful to BAAS for allowing me the opportunity to make a small contribution to this field.

Conference and Seminar Announcements

CFP: Jack Kerouac, Kerouac’s On the Road and the Beats

University of Birmingham (UK), 11–12 December 2008

Marking the fiftieth anniversary of On the Road‘s publication in the UK in 1958 (following its 1957 publication in the US). The University of Birmingham has arranged for the 1951 original typescript manuscript of On the Road – the world-famous scroll of 1951 – to come to the Barber Institute at the University during December 2008 and January 2009. A series of events is planned to celebrate this, including a Film Event (during the evening of 11 December) timed to coincide with this two-day conference, which will likely include the UK premiere showing of One Fast Move and I’m Gone: Kerouac’s Big Sur, produced by Jim Sampas. 

The conference will take as its focus the ‘Beats’ and their relations to On the Road and its themes – travel, jazz, sexuality and gender, rebellion, disaffiliation and alienation, class and ethnicity.

Plenary speakers will include Tim Hunt (author of Kerouac’s Crooked Road), speaking on how being able to study the scroll ms. adjusts our perspective upon On the Road, and Matt Theado.

Please do come along to this exciting event. If you want to deliver a paper please submit a title and an abstract of between 100 and 250 words by 31 October 2008 to: r.j.ellis@bham.ac.uk

CFP: APG Annual Conference 2009

St Anne’s College, Oxford, 8–10 January 2009

The American Politics Group (APG) invites proposals for papers to be given at its 2009 Annual Conference at St Anne’s College, Oxford, from January 8th to 10th, 2009. The APG conference is the United Kingdom’s major annual meeting of professional scholars of US politics. Papers for this conference are invited on any topic relating to US politics. Proposals are especially welcomed on subjects pertaining to political institutions, national parties and electoral politics, state and local politics, public policy, foreign policy, political and socio-political questions, political history, and American Political Development. Papers are welcomed from graduate students as well as academic staff and on works in progress. Please send a synopsis of your proposal (maximum one side of A4) and brief c.v. (maximum two sides) to Dr Nigel Bowles (nigel.bowles@politics.ox.ac.uk), conference convenor, by 13 September 2008.

The APG awards the Richard E. Neustadt Paper Prize to the best paper in the field of US government and politics presented by a postgraduate student at the conference. The prize is worth £100 and is open to postgraduate students registered at UK universities and to papers authored singularly and jointly by postgraduates. Papers co-authored with established academic staff are not eligible. Papers authored by postgraduates who have a permanent academic post or are in a tenure-track post are not eligible. To be eligible for the prize, postgraduates must submit an electronic copy of their paper to Dr Andrew Wroe (a.j.wroe@kent.ac.uk), chair of the prize committee, no later than 31 December 2008. The quality of the written paper will be the primary determining factor in the committee’s decision. The winner will be announced at lunch on the final day of the conference.

CFP: Biannual Conference of the Nordic Association of American Studies

‘Cosmopolitan America? The United States in Transition’

University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Thursday 28 May–Sunday 31 May 2009

In ‘Trans-national America’ (1916), Randolph Bourne celebrated the United States as a ‘cosmopolitan federation of national colonies, of foreign cultures’, and concluded that ‘[a]ny movement which attempts to thwart this weaving’ together of foreign cultures ‘is false to this cosmopolitan vision’. Bourne’s essay has been rediscovered in recent years due to the ‘transnational turn’ in American studies. His use of the term ‘cosmopolitan’ has received less attention, but, like transnationalism, cosmopolitanism is achieving renewed prominence in scholarship both within and beyond American studies.

The 2009 NAAS conference organisers invite scholars from all areas of American studies and related subjects to join us in contemplating the conundrum of cosmopolitanism. Is the United States in transition to – or away from – Randolph Bourne’s ‘cosmopolitan vision’? Is cosmopolitanism actually desirable, or might patriotism be preferable? Is cosmopolitanism a viable alternative to ‘the clash of civilizations’? How does cosmopolitanism relate to US foreign policy? Does the 2008 presidential candidacy of Barack Obama, the biracial son of a Kansas mother and a Kenyan father, suggest a (re)emergent cosmopolitan America? Does Congressional resistance to the McCain–Kennedy immigration act suggest the limits of US cosmopolitanism? Has the influx of Hispanic and other non-white immigrants to the South generated a new form of regional or provincial cosmopolitanism? Does the prominence of writers such as Junot Dìaz, Francisco Goldman and Jamaica Kincaid – or the focus on border regions and bilingualism in the works of older writers like Cormac McCarthy – suggest a cosmopolitan turn in contemporary ‘American’ literature?

The conference organising committee invites proposals for workshops and individual papers. Proposals for individual panel presentations (15–20 minutes) should be no more than one page long; proposals for panels or workshops (90 minutes, including approximately 30 minutes for audience questions and discussion) should be no more than two pages.

Please send proposals to bone@hum.ku.dk by 1 October 2008.

Call for Papers: International Society for the Study of Narrative Annual Conference 2009

University of Birmingham (UK), Thursday 4 June 2009 – Saturday 6 June 2009

http://narrativesociety.bham.ac.uk/

Sponsored by the International Society for the Study of Narrative, the 2009 Narrative Conference offers a multi- and interdisciplinary forum for addressing all dimensions of narrative and representation. Plenary speakers will include David Lodge, Francis Smith Foster and Frank Ankersmit.

We welcome proposals for papers and panels on all aspects of narrative in any genre, period, medium and nationality. We are particularly keen to encourage participation from scholars in a range of disciplines, including, but not limited to: history, art history, literary studies, linguistics, philosophy, classical studies, modern languages, women’s studies, film studies and sociology.

Paper proposals: Please send a maximum 300 word abstract and brief curriculum vitae (250–300 words) for 20 minute papers. Proposals must include the title of the paper, presenter’s name and institutional affiliation; email address, mailing address and telephone number.

Panel proposals: Please send a maximum 700 word abstract summarising the panel’s rationale and describing each paper, and a brief curriculum vitae for each speaker (50–300 words). Proposals must include titles of papers and panel; presenters’ and panel organiser’s names and institutional affiliations; email addresses, mailing addresses and telephone numbers.

Please send proposals to Anna Burrells burrealz@adf.bham.ac.uk including ‘Narrative Conference Proposal’ in the subject line of your email by no later than 0.00 GMT on

31 October 2008. All submissions will be peer reviewed.

Registration: All speakers and delegates must register for the conference. Registration fees will be £140 for delegates and those giving papers, and £115 for students. Student places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

You need to join the International Society for the Study of Narrative in order

to attend the conference: http://narrative.georgetown.edu/

CFP: ‘Naked Lunch@50’ Symposium, Paris, July 2009

From 1 to 3 July 2009, the University of London Institute in Paris is hosting a three-day symposium to celebrate the 50th anniversary of William Burroughs’ landmark publication of Naked Lunch.

Proposals are invited in a range of formats: from short papers (15 minutes) to longer talks (30 minutes), from multi-media presentations to panel discussions and open mic debates. In English and in French, we are looking for original and innovative contributions from scholars and Burroughsians under the headings:

• The Untold Naked Lunch
• A Post-Colonial Lunch
• Naked Paris
• Naked Lunch Now.

Symposium sessions will run in parallel with one another and with other events including film-screenings, exhibitions and readings. All events will take place at the University of London Institute in Paris.

Proposals by 30 October 2008 to Prof. Oliver Harris: o.c.g.harris@ams.keele.ac.uk

Decisions will be made by the Symposium organisers as soon as possible after

that.

For those wishing to participate or attend, further information about the Symposium and about all other anniversary events is posted on the nakedlunch.org website.

CFP: American Tropics: Towards a Literary Geography

An International Conference at the University of Essex, 4–7 July 2009

By ‘American Tropics’ we understand an area including the southern USA, the Caribbean littoral of Central America, the Caribbean islands, and northern South America: what Edouard Glissant calls ‘the estuary of the Americas’, or what earlier scholars sometimes called ‘Plantation America’.

The American Tropics project at Essex seeks to understand the writing associated with this area through a study of particular places within it: cities, borders, regions, natural features. Each place is a zone of encounter, bringing together sets of writing in different languages and styles, from different literary and cultural backgrounds, all of which have in common that attention to the same place. The project therefore approaches literary history via literary geography.

We call for papers which engage with this project in a number of different ways:

• through attention to particular places and the writing associated within it;
• through consideration of the cultural features of particular places or regions within the American Tropics;
• through theoretical engagement with the ideas of literary geography or area studies as they pertain to this part of the American continent;
• through consideration of significant circuits (personal, commercial, cultural) within and beyond the area.

Colleagues are encouraged to look at the developing project at http://www.essex.ac.uk/literature/American_Tropics/index.htm

Informal enquiries to Peter Hulme at phulme@essex.ac.uk

Formal offers of papers (title plus 300-word synopsis) to Lesley Wylie at lwylie@essex.ac.uk

The deadline for the first call for papers in 1 October 2008.

America: Real and Imagined

British Association of American Studies Annual Postgraduate Conference

University of Exeter, Saturday 15 November 2008

Keynote Speaker: Professor Judith Newman (University of Nottingham)

The School of Arts, Languages and Literatures at the University of Exeter is pleased to be hosting the annual BAAS postgraduate conference. We will be hearing papers on all topics from all disciplines within the field of American Studies, including history, music, literature, philosophy, film studies, politics, sociology, popular culture, pedagogy and language.

This year’s theme is ‘America and the West’. Areas of enquiry will include, but are by no means limited to:

• the American West/America as the West
• American/Western myths
• American and Western politics
• America/the West as represented in visual media
• the West(ern) as genre
• cultures of/bordering the United States
• the imagined West
• mapping the West
• America and the heritage of classical antiquity.
• America and its allies
• East and West
• writing America and/or the West
• the movement of history
• Western/westernising narratives
• frontiers and borderlands

Registration is now open – please visit www.sall.ex.ac.uk/conferences for details. Any other queries, please email baas@ex.ac.uk.

Borders and Traffic: Comparative Perspectives on Teaching the Americas

Swansea University, 17 October 2008

The study of the Americas in UK higher education is often focused either on North America (usually the USA) or Latin America (usually through the study of Spanish). This partial focus not only leads to a neglect of either North or South America, but often excludes certain geographical areas of the Americas including Canada, Brazil and the Caribbean, as well as certain disciplines. This workshop aims to explore current practice and potential opportunities for comparative and interdisciplinary teaching across the Americas at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Register online at: http://www.llas.ac.uk/events/3055

There is no charge for employees/ postgraduates of UK Higher Education Institutions

American Film Lectures and Masterclasses

Sandra Shevey runs an ongoing programme of talks and masterclasses on topics relating to the American film industry.

• ‘Black Icons’ looks at the history of the Black cinematic Hollywood image, including stars such as Charles Gilpin, Paul Robeson, Fredi Washington, Sidney Poitier, Lena Horne and Dorothy Dandridge.
• ‘Hollywood’s Corporate Image’ reveals Hollywood’s suppression of its stars’ Black, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, Jewish and British identities.
• ‘Marilyn Monroe’ focuses on the superstar’s intensive rebellion against the system that made her.

For details of these and other events email sandra_shevey@yahoo.com

OAH Distinguished Lecturers

The Organization of American Historians publishes a list of distinguished lecturers travelling outside the US and available for guest lectures or consultation with faculty. The OAH lecture fee, which in the US starts at $1,000, is negotiable for any international lecture and, if possible, should be donated to OAH. Lecture hosts are also responsible for the speakers’ local or regional travel expenses.

Scholars visiting the UK in 2008–9 are listed below. For the full list, visit www.oah.org/lectures.

Gail Bederman, England, summer 2009

Karen Ordahl Kupperman, London, May 2009

Susan O’Donovan, Belfast, early October 2008

Peter S. Onuf, Oxford, August 2008 – August 2009

Jack N. Rakove, Oxford, early January through March 2009

Constance B. Schulz, UK, 18–21 September 2008

William G. Thomas, London, 15 August – 15 November 2008

New Members

Graeme Abernethy is a PhD student in the Department of English at University College London. A native of Vancouver, he studied previously at the University of British Columbia. His research is on the iconography of Malcolm X and the relationship between his photographic and literary representations.

Sarah Barnsley is Course Director for English Degree and Diploma Programmes (by distance learning) at the University of London, as well as a visiting tutor at Goldsmiths College, where she completed her PhD in 2006. She is currently completing a book manuscript, The Poetry of Mary Barnard, and has begun research for a critical biography which will examine the entire scope of Barnard’s literary output and her links with a literary circle including Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams and Marianne Moore. Sarah was awarded the H.D. Fellowship in American Literature for 2007–8 by the Beinecke Library at Yale to work with the library’s recently acquired Mary Barnard Papers. An article on Barnard’s late Imagism is forthcoming in Paideuma: Studies in British and American Modernist Poetry.

Barbara Bloss is Deputy Headteacher at Haydon School, where she has taught for twenty-five years, specialising in US and Comparative Politics. She is a reviser for Edexcel AS and A2 examinations and was Principal Examiner for papers 4, 5 and 6 (2000–4).

Janine Bradbury is taking an MA in American Literature at the University of Sheffield and plans to go on to do a PhD. She studied African American literature and history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and wrote an undergraduate dissertation on the gender dynamics of African American lynching narratives during the interwar period. Her current interests are the gendered legacies of slavery and racial violence in contemporary black literature and popular culture, and popular African American fiction of the 1980s and 1990s.

Kristen Brauer holds a BA from Gettysburg College, an MSc from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD from the University of Glasgow. Her research interests include postmodern theory and the conservative intellectual movement in the United States.

Corina Anghel Crisu, PhD, is a lecturer at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Bucharest. She has participated in numerous international conferences, training workshops and joint projects and has authored more than 30 academic articles in the field of American Studies and Comparative Literature. Her book Rewriting: Polytropic Identities in the Postmodern African American Novel was published in 2006. Her past awards include a Soros-Chevening Fellowship at Oxford University and a Fulbright Fellowship at Oregon State University. She is a member of the International Association of American Studies and the European Society for the Study of English. She is also a poet whose work has appeared in literary journals and anthologies worldwide and has been collected in a bilingual volume, Triptych (2004).

Tessa Croker graduated from Sussex University in 2007 with a BA in American Studies and History. She spent a year as an exchange student at the University of Pennsylvania, and is returning to the USA in September 2008 to read for an MA in American History at the University of New Hampshire with the support of a BAAS teaching assistantship. Her research interests lie in notions of utopia and success in America and the role these ideas play in shaping American identity.

Ian Evans holds a BA in American Studies from the University of Nottingham and is currently studying for an M.Res. there. His project looks at African American and Afro-Caribbean dialogues with European avant-gardism, internationalism and anticolonialism. Its specific focus is on adaptations of surrealism and Dada in the poetry of Aimé Cesaire, Bob Kaufman and Amiri Baraka.

Craig Fox read American Studies at Hull University and took an MA in History and Politics at York. His PhD thesis, also at York, examines the interwar Ku Klux Klan, and its interactions with mainstream community life, at a very local level. Craig’s research draws on unique membership records and other materials gathered during extensive archival work in institutions across the state of Michigan as well as at the Library of Congress.

Rebecca Fraser is a professional writer and broadcaster currently researching a book about early colonial New England. Previous works include a biography of Charlotte Bronte and A People’s History of Britain. She has recently written an introduction to Charlotte Bronte’s Shirley and The Professor for Everyman. From 2001 to 2008 she was president of the Bronte Society.

Michelle Gemelos recently completed her D.Phil. (at the University of Oxford) on British writing about New York City between the 1890s and 1930s. She was the Wilkinson Junior Research Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford (2005–2007), and is currently an undergraduate supervisor in English and American literature for various colleges at the University of Cambridge.

Ginevra Geraci completed a PhD entitled ‘Imagining the Other: the Representation of the Jew in Zora Neale Hurston, Chester Himes and Alice Walker’ at the Università Roma Tre in 2007.

Dena Gilby received her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1996 with a specialisation in classical art and subspecialities in American and early twentieth century European art. She is currently Associate Professor of Art History at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts. She presents and publishes in both American and Ancient art and her research interests include constructions of antiquity in contemporary art and advertising, identity politics and gender, identity and art production. Her most recent publication on American art is ‘Wild Western Lesbian Feminist Asian American Artist: Hanh Thi Pham’s Expatriate Consciousness’ (Aurora 8).

Annie Haight is Senior Lecturer in Education and an Honorary Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History at Oxford Brookes University. Her doctoral work at Oxford University was an exploration of the life and work of Phoebe Palmer, a mid-nineteenth-century American Christian Perfectionist and revivalist, drawing on ethnographic theories of community formation and status anxiety.

Thomas Halper is Professor of Political Science at the City of New York Graduate Center and Baruch College. He has written on popular culture, foreign affairs, health policy, the Supreme Court and other topics.

James Harding holds degrees from Keele and Cambridge and is a PhD candidate at the University of Sussex. His main research interests lie in twentieth-century American Modernism, particularly the work of William Faulkner and John Dos Passos. His doctoral thesis explores how modes of production at the material level interfere with modes of production at the semantic level. He is currently researching the relationship between the political left and Hollywood in Dos Passos’s U.S.A. trilogy.

Ian Hart is a final-year D.Phil. student at the University of Oxford, writing a thesis entitled ‘The quest to institutionalise: a social report in American government’. He is interested in the application of social science-derived knowledge to policy making during the 1960s and 1970s. He studied at Bristol University before taking MAs in Political Theory at Essex and Global Political Economy at Sussex.

Lynne Hibberd has an MPhil in American Film Studies (Birmingham) and a BA in History of Film Photography and Graphic Media (Manchester Met). She is currently researching a PhD in creative industries policy at the Centre for Cultural Policy Research at the University of Glasgow. Research interests include film and gender, Hollywood musicals, Scottish

film and TV and American independent cinema.

Simon Hill is a part-time PhD student and lecturer in the School of Social Science, Liverpool John Moores University. He is conducting a case study of Liverpool during the American Revolution, and has additional interests in the War of 1812, the Civil War and politics since 1968.

Hazel Hutchison is a lecturer in English at the University of Aberdeen. She is presently working towards a monograph on American writers in France during World War I and is interested in British and American thought and culture 1850–1930. Her publications include Seeing and Believing: Henry James and the Spiritual World (2006) and Teach Yourself Writing Essays and Dissertations (2007). She is currently editing Mary Borden’s The Forbidden Zone for Hesperus Press.

David James is Lecturer in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Literature in the School of English Studies at the University of Nottingham, where his teaching concentrates on Victorian poetics, Aestheticism and the fin de siècle, and modernist and postwar fiction. His longstanding research interests in literary geographies are reflected in his forthcoming monograph Contemporary British Fiction and the Artistry of Space. He is co-editor of New Versions of Pastoral (2008), and is currently writing Inheriting Modernism, a study of the transnational legacies of early twentieth-century fiction and aesthetics on contemporary Anglophone novelists.

Andrew Jones is responsible for Academic Sales and Marketing at Gazelle Book Services, a Lancaster-based distribution company specialising in US titles.

Eamon Kelly is Senior Lecturer in Cultural Studies at the School of Education, University of Wales, Newport, where he teaches on a variety of programmes including the BA in Documentary Film and Television. He holds a BA from Bristol Polytechnic, a PGCE from the Institute of Education, London, and an MA in American Cultural Studies from Exeter University. His research interests lie in representations of Black militancy in American documentary film.

Henry Knight wrote an M.Phil. on the selling of California in the period 1876–1929, drawing on archival research in various repositories in California. He is now studying for a PhD in American History at the University of Sussex, examining promotional imagery of California, Florida and other ‘semi-tropical’ locations from 1876 to 1929. He is particularly interested in how constructions of race, ethnicity, nature and American identity influenced the popular imagery used to attract settlers and visitors to these places.

Steven Powell is studying for a PhD on the fiction of James Ellroy at the University of Liverpool.

Eva Rus completed a full-time PhD in American Studies at the University of in December 2007. Her thesis, entitled ‘Contemporary Feminst Subjects: An Analysis of Autobiographical Practice in Textual/Visual Self-Representation’, theorised contemporary feminist self-representation in both writing and visual art as a performative act that constitutes subjectivity in the interplay of memory, experience, identity, embodiment and agency. Eva received her undergraduate degree in Anglo-American Language and Literature from the University of Padua, Italy, in 2003. From 2005 to 2008 she worked as a co-editor of the Birmingham-based electronic journal 49th Parallel: An Interdisciplinary Journal of North-American Studies.

Reena Sastri teaches modern poetry at the University of York. Her research field is modern and contemporary American poetry and she is the author of James Merrill: Knowing Innocence (Routledge, 2007). Her current work involves poets including Robert Lowell, Rita Dove and Louise Gluck.

Calvin Schermerhorn is a PhD student at the University of Virginia researching how members of enslaved families in the American Chesapeake sought to preserve ties against an intensifying interstate slave trade, 1820–1860.

Stephen Shapiro is Associate Professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies, University of Warwick. His numerous publications include, in 2008, The Culture and Commerce of the Early American Novel: Reading the Atlantic World-System, How to Read Marx’s Capital and critical editions of Edgar Huntly and Arthur Mervyn. Future plans include critical editions of Wieland and Ormond (both 2009) and a study of the cultural effects of the consolidating middle class in the first two decades of the United States.

Dan Silverman is Director of Sixth Form at Alexandra Park School, London.

Matthew Smith holds a BA in American History from the University of Liverpool, and master’s degrees in Educational Psychology (College of Saint Rose) and Political Science (Syracuse University). He is currently a PhD candidate in American history at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, writing a dissertation on the US–Filipino relationship in the interwar years. His research interests centre around US diplomatic, military, imperial and colonial history in the Pacific during the twentieth century. He was a Goekjian Scholar at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs in 2006/7, and is currently a teaching associate for the Maxwell School.

Lise Sorensen is a third-year PhD student at the University of Edinburgh. She holds a master’s degree in English Literature (Nation, Writing, Culture) from the University of Edinburgh and a BA from Concordia University, Canada.

Alison Stanley is doing a PhD in American Studies at King’s College, London. She studied for her M.Litt. in Glasgow, and spent some time at the University of Oklahoma, working with experts in Native American studies. Her primary interests lie in Early American literature and history; she is currently researching language exchange and translation in seventeenth-century New England.

Philip Stogdon holds a BA from Sussex and an MA from the University of London, where he is now reading for a PhD. His thesis is on the early twentieth-century American writer James Agee, and his research interests cover Thoreau, American Modernism (particularly Wallace Stevens) and, among more contemporary writers, John Cheever, Barry Hannah and Lucia Berlin.

Eleanor Thompson is a PhD candidate in US History at Merton College, University of Oxford. She is primarily interested in the cultural and intellectual history of the United States in the first half of the twentieth century. Her research concerns the social reconstructionist wing of the progressive education movement in the interwar years.

Matthew Tomiak holds a BA from the University of Hull and spent a year at the University of Washington, Seattle. He recently completed an MA at King’s College, London, with a thesis entitled ‘The Legitimacy of Dissent: The Seattle 1999 WTO Demonstrations, the American Media and the Nature of Political Protest in the US before 9/11’. He presented a paper based on this research at the SASA conference at the University of Glasgow in 2008.

Alex Waddan is Senior Lecturer in Politics and American Studies at the University of Leicester. His primary research interest is in the development of US social policy.

Members’ Publications

Lincoln Geraghty, University of Portsmouth, is editor of The Influence of ‘Star Trek’ on Television, Film and Culture and joint editor with Mark Jancovich of The Shifting Definitions of Genre: Essays on Labeling Films, Television Shows and Media (both published by McFarland, 2008).

John A. Kirk, Royal Holloway, University of London, is editor of An Epitaph for Little Rock: A Fiftieth Anniversary Retrospective on the Central High Crisis (University of Arkansas Press, 2008).

Fellowship Opportunities

Terra Foundation for American Art Fellowships at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.

Terra Fellowships at the Smithsonian American Art Museum seek to foster a cross-cultural dialogue about the history of art of the United States. They support work by scholars from abroad who are researching American art or by US scholars, especially those who are investigating international contexts for American art. The fellowships are residential and support full-time independent and dissertation research.

The stipend for a one-year predoctoral fellowship is $27,000, plus research and travel allowances. The stipend for a one-year postdoctoral or senior fellowship is $42,000, plus research and travel allowances. Postdoctoral and senior fellows are eligible for a substantial stipend supplement to assist with relocation, research, and housing costs. The standard term of residency for fellowships is twelve months, but shorter terms will be considered; stipends are prorated for periods of less than twelve months.  

Applications are due January 15, 2009

For applications and general information, visit AmericanArt.si.edu/fellowships or email SAAMFellowships@si.edu.

Awards Opportunities

2010 OAH David Thelen Award

The Organization of American Historians sponsors a biennial award for the best article on American history published in a foreign language. Entries must have been published during the preceding two calendar years. The winning article will be published in the Journal of American History, of which David Thelen was editor 1985-1999.

Please send five copies of each submission to the address below, accompanied by a one- to two-page essay (in English) explaining why the article is a significant and original contribution to our understanding of American history. Deadline for entry is 1 May 2009.

Edward T. Linenthal, Editor, Journal of American History

David Thelen Award Committee

1215 East Atwater Avenue

Bloomington, IN 47401

USA

The application should be marked ‘2010 David Thelen Award Entry’ and should also include the following information: name, mailing address, institutional affiliation, fax number, email address, and language of submitted article.

The final prize decision will be made by the David Thelen Award

Committee by 1 February 2010.

For full information please visit the website:

http://oah.org/activities/awards/thelen/index.html

Publishing Opportunities

New Journal Announcement: 21

21 is a peer-reviewed, online journal exploring contemporary and innovative fiction. Issue 1 (September 2008) contains essays and articles on authors including J.G. Ballard, Anne Enright, A.M. Homes, Tim O’Brien, Annie Proulx, Jenefer Shute and Graham Swift:

Elizabeth Baines, ‘A Confusion of Realities’

Brian Baker, ‘Iterative Architecture: A Ballardian Text’

Kym Brindle, ‘Authentic Illusion: Author[ity] and New Frontiers’

Alison Kelly, ‘“Words Fail Me”: Literary Reaction to 9/11’

Paola Trimarco and Ursula Hurley, ‘Less is More: Completing Narratives in Miniature Fiction’

Rob Spence interviews Charles Lambert, whose The Scent of Cinammon and Other Stories follows his acclaimed debut novel, Little Monsters. Ailsa Cox writes on the Edge Hill Prize, awarded this year to Claire Keegan for Walk the Blue Fields, while there is more on the short story with a round-table discussion from editors and publishers, Anthony Delgrado, Duncan Minshull and Ra Page.

21 is edited by Rob Spence and Ailsa Cox at Edge Hill University, and may be accessed via our website, http://www.edgehill.ac.uk or contact us via 21@edgehill.ac.uk. We welcome submissions c. 5000 words which should be submitted as a Word attachment and formatted according to MHRA guidelines.

Tribal Fantasies: ‘Native Americans’ in the European Imagination 1900-present

The history of European appropriation of Indigenous lands and cultures in the Americas is long and frequently bloody. In the twentieth century, however, as European countries ceased to have formal colonial interests in the Americas, so direct contact between Native and European largely ceased. But the image of the Native American, as much a product of the colonial imagination as any deep understanding of the disparate indigenous cultures of the Americas, has proved enduring.

This collection aims to investigate European re-imaginings of Indigenous American peoples and cultures in the last century. We invite abstracts of 250–350 words on any such re-imagining, including (but by no means restricted to):

• depictions of tribal/indigenous culture and/or religion in European literature, art and film
• ‘American Indian hobbyist’ movements
• use of tribal/indigenous imagery in political movements
• the influence of tribal/indigenous design on European fashion
• Native American cartoons
• Native Americans as symbol of American hegemony
• Native Americans as symbol of resistance to American hegemony
• images of the Native in 20th century philosophy
• the New Age industry
• tribal rhythms in popular music
• the Ostern / Red Western

We welcome contributions from all European countries and would be particularly interested in transnational or trans-European articles.

Essays will be 6,000–8,000 words, referenced MLA endnote style.

Please send abstracts to both James Mackay at james.mackay@cytanet.com.cy

and David Stirrup at D.F.Stirrup@kent.ac.uk, by Monday 29 September 2008.

Lost and Found: The Recovery of American Literature

We are looking for contributions to the collection Lost and Found: The Recovery of American Literature. A survey of the nation’s literary history would identify a vast body of work that has been read by one generation of readers but lost from the view of the next. This could be due to the economics of the publishing industry, shifting political and social values, or changes in literary taste and criticism. This volume will consider American literature in the twentieth century that has been thought lost but later recovered and appreciated for its literary significance, or its reflection on a particular historical time or cultural movement. However, the volume will also consider books that have yet to be recovered. A process of loss and recovery raises interesting questions: What is it to be lost and found? What does the process tell us about the way literature and criticism operate in different historical moments? How and why has scholarship accepted or rejected such a process of recovery? Are current theories of trauma and testimony connected with that process?

Possible topics may include (but are not limited to)

• changing notions of American culture and identity
• canonical/marginal American writing
• prison writing
• 1930s
• the Lost Generation
• nostalgia and memory
• grief, trauma, and testimony
• theories of loss
• the loss of literature
• lost writers and marginal voices

Essays must be between 5000 and 6000 words (double spaced) in length and should avoid, where possible, using alienating jargon. Citations should conform to the Chicago Manual of Style 15th Edition (Humanities). Please include with your essay a 200-word biography and your full name and contact information, including e-mail, address, and phone number.

Submissions can be sent electronically in an attachment (MSWord only) to both emails below. Essays must be received by 1st December 2008.

Enquiries are warmly welcomed to either Dr Robert Ward or Dr Colin Winborn:

Robert.ward@cumbria.ac.uk

colin_winborn@hotmail.com

Call for Contributors: Routledge Annotated Bibliography of English Studies

Contemporary Literature Section (American Literature)

Routledge are proud to announce the launch of the Routledge Annotated Bibliography of English Studies (ABES), a unique reference tool for those working in the field of English Literary Studies.

Routledge ABES is a specialised online bibliography providing annotated entries on all of the most significant research in literary studies published each year. It contains scholarly annotations on all the best new criticism, from which users can find out about a publication, how it might be of use to them, and whether it would be relevant to their work.

The database is organised around eight key sections: Medieval; Renaissance and Early Modern; Eighteenth Century; Romanticism; Nineteenth Century; Modernism; Postcolonial; Contemporary Literature.

Routledge are currently inviting applications to contribute to the Contemporary Literature section. In order to maintain the distinction between ABES’ postcolonial and contemporary coverage, this section deals mainly with writing from the United Kingdom and Ireland, Canada and the USA – though the critical studies represented can originate from anywhere in the world. The section includes work on both established and up-and-coming authors, and covers all the major genres of contemporary writing, including fiction, poetry, drama, non-fictional prose, travel writing, literary theory and life writing.

As a contributor to Routledge ABES you would be called upon to create annotations to some of the best new research in literary studies, helping to provide an indispensable guide for the rest of the literary studies community. Your work would be fully acknowledged, with contributors able to provide a short biography and a link back to their own website or profile.

Each section is headed by a dedicated section editor, who edits and oversees the records in that section. If you are interested in becoming a contributor to Routledge ABES, please contact the Contemporary Literature section editor:

Dr Christopher Ringrose

The Centre for Contemporary Fiction and Narrative

The University of Northampton

St George’s Avenue

Northampton

NN3 3AW

Email: chris.ringrose@northampton.ac.uk

Editorial

THE EDITOR’S RESIGNATION SPEECH

August 8, 1974

Good evening.

This is the fifth time I have spoken to you from this Editorial office, where so many decisions have been made that shaped the history of this publication. Each time I have done so to discuss with you some matter that I believed affected the interest of BAAS.

In all the decisions I have made in my editorial life, I have always tried to do what was best for ASIB and for BAAS. Throughout long and difficult periods choosing cover images or wrangling with printers, I have felt it was my duty to persevere, to make every possible effort to complete the term of office to which I was appointed.

In the past few months, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough base to justify continuing that effort. I now believe that my purpose as Editor of American Studies in Britain has been served, and there is no longer a need for my tenure to be prolonged.

I would have preferred to carry through to the finish whatever the personal agony it would have involved, and my family unanimously urged me to do so. But the interests of BAAS must always come before any personal considerations.

From the discussions I have had with the Executive Committee and other departmental leaders, I have concluded that I might not have the resources that I would consider necessary to back the very difficult decisions and carry out the duties of this office in the way the interests of BAAS would require.

I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But as Editor, I must put the interest of ASIB first. ASIB needs a full time Editor – particularly at this time with problems we face with at home and abroad.

Therefore, I shall resign the Editorship effective at noon tomorrow. Dr Alison Kelly (alison.kelly@rai.ox.ac.uk) of the Rothermere Institute will be sworn in as Editor at that hour in this office.

As I recall the high hopes for ASIB with which we began this term, I feel a great sadness that I will not be here in this office working on your behalf to achieve those hopes in the coming years. But in turning over direction of ASIB to Dr Kelly, I know that the leadership of ASIB will be in good hands.

In passing this office to Dr Kelly, I also do so with the profound sense of the weight of responsibility that will fall on her shoulders tomorrow, and, therefore, of the understanding, the patience, the cooperation, she will need from all BAAS members.

As she assumes that responsibility, she will deserve the help and the support of all of us. As we look to the future, the first essential is to begin healing the wounds of our discipline, to put the bitterness and divisions of the recent past behind us, and to rediscover those shared ideals that lie at the heart of our strength and unity as a great and as a free Association.

So, let us all now join together in affirming that common commitment and in helping our new Editor succeed for the benefit of all BAAS members.

I shall leave this office with regret at not being able to continue, but with gratitude for the privilege of serving as your Editor for the past two and a half years. These years have been a momentous time in the history of BAAS. They have been a time of achievement of which we can all be proud, achievements that represent the shared efforts of the members.

But the challenges ahead are equally great, and they, too, will require the support and the efforts of BAAS and the people working in cooperation with the newly elected Executive Committee.

For more than seven years in academic life I have shared in the history of this Association. I have fought for what I believed in. I have tried to the best of my ability to discharge those duties and meet those responsibilities that were entrusted to me.

Sometimes I have succeeded and perhaps sometimes I have failed, but always I have taken heart from what Theodore Roosevelt once said about the man in the arena, ‘whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again because there is not effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deed, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy causer, who at the best knows in the end the triumphs of high achievements and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.’

I pledge you here tonight that as long as I have a breath of life left in my body. I shall continue in that spirit. I shall continue to work for the great cause of BAAS to which I have been dedicated throughout my years as a postgraduate representative, Editor of US Online, Executive member, Editor of ASIB, and now as Secretary.

To have served in this office is to have felt a very personal sense of kinship with each and every ASIB reader. In leaving it, I do so with a fond farewell and gratitude to all who have contributed to the success of this newsletter.

NOTE: The Editor spoke at 9.01 p.m. in the ASIB Office.

The address was broadcast live on radio and television, but nobody was listening.

Catherine Morley

Department of English

Oxford Brookes University

Gipsy Lane Campus

Oxford, OX3 0BP

E-mail: catherinemorley@brookes.ac.uk

BAAS Annual Conference: University of Edinburgh 2008

The 53^rd Annual Conference

Call for Papers

There is no overarching theme for the conference, which is a forum for research papers on any subject relating to the United States of America and to early America. Paper and panel proposals on any topic within American Studies, broadly defined, are welcome. The conference will feature papers across a wide range of disciplines, including history, literary studies, political science, cultural studies, film and media studies, and visual culture and art history, among others.

Edinburgh is among the finest cities in Europe. Its Old Town and New Town are World Heritage Sites, and its cultural and historical riches include the castle, museums, and five galleries. The city’s physical setting is notable for its beauty. An example of this beauty is the conference’s location, which is next to Arthur’s Seat and Holyrood Park. For further information about Edinburgh, please see www.ed.ac.uk/explore/city

Proposals for 20-minute papers should be a maximum of 250 words and should include a provisional title. These will be arranged into panel groups. We also invite proposals for panels and roundtable discussions, involving two or more people and sharing a common theme. The conference will include papers from people across the spectrum of the research community, from postgraduates to senior scholars.

Proposals for BAAS 2008 at the University of Edinburgh should be submitted by 15 October 2007 at the latest, preferably by e-mail attachment to: baas2008@ed.ac.uk

Dr Robert Mason

BAAS Conference Secretary

School of History and Classics

University of Edinburgh

50 George Square

Edinburgh EH8 9JY

Tel: +44 (0) 131-650 3770

Fax: +44 (0) 131-650 3784

BAAS Annual Conference: University of Leicester, 2007

Chair’s Report

Annual General Meeting, held at the BAAS annual conference, University of Leicester, Friday 20^th April 2007

As we approach the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, I am glad to be able to report that the research culture of the UK’s American Studies subject community is in a very healthy state. American Studies experts continue to secure a whole range of awards, fellowships and prizes, are selected to serve on AHRC peer review panels, and are promoted within their home universities. Over the past year Jude Davies has been promoted to a Readership in American Studies at the University of Winchester; Kevern Verney, has been appointed to a chair in American History at Edge Hill University; Peter Rawlings has been appointed to a chair in American Literature at the University of the West of England; John Howard has been appointed to a chair in American Studies at King’s College London; Trevor Burnard has been appointed to a Chair in American History at the University of Warwick; Susan-Mary Grant has been appointed to a Chair in American History at the University of Newcastle; Heidi Macpherson has been appointed the Dean of Humanities at De Montfort University; and Janet Beer has been appointed Vice-Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University.

The officers and members of the Executive Committee of BAAS continue to work extremely hard to protect and enhance American Studies in the UK. We spend an ever-increasing amount of time attending meetings, responding to consultation documents, and ensuring that the voice of American Studies is heard as universities, funding bodies and the government make their decisions. To give you a sense of these kinds of activities, I can report that over the past year BAAS committee members have, on your behalf, attended AHRC consultations on reform of postgraduate funding; written formal responses to these proposals; participated in a special meeting on American Studies at the AHRC headquarters in Bristol; responded to the AHRC consultation on its strategic plan; responded to the QAA on its new benchmark statements for English, History, and Politics; responded to the Department for Education and Skills consultation document on reform of research assessment; responded to an ESRC consultation on their 3+1 postgraduate funding scheme; responded to the RCUK consultation on academic peer review; responded to HEFCE on its review of funding for the Institute for the Study of the America; attended a variety of other HEFCE, AHRC, British Academy, and Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences events; worked on an American Studies alumni questionnaire in order to furnish information for the American Studies recruitment CD-ROM currently under development; developed new prizes and fellowships for the American Studies community, and attended inaugural lectures, social events and so forth in order to represent the American Studies subject community.

As a subject community, American Studies continues to have a louder, and certainly a more persistent voice than our size might appear to warrant. That is because of the tremendous amount of work undertaken by the officers, the executive committee members and the sub-committee members. While much of this work is not as high profile as various other BAAS activities, it is essential. Our loud voice enables us to have as much input as possible, and to ensure that the concerns of American Studies are well represented.

Moreover, such activities represent a growing part of the work of BAAS officers and committee members, not just because of the increasingly bureaucratic nature of academic life, but also because the public profile of American Studies is of a subject under threat and in decline. News reports in the Times Higher Education Supplement and the Education supplement of the Guardian have indicated a significant decline in undergraduate student enrolments; American Studies departments and programmes are under threat as universities reorganize administration and undergraduate teaching; the number of American Studies Units of Assessment that will be submitted for RAE 2008 is likely to be lower than 2001; the number of prospective PhD students receiving AHRC funding has declined, and so forth.

What I have found most frustrating over the past three years has been the dissonance between these trends and my direct and first hand experience of the healthy and in many ways very successful teaching and research culture of American Studies in the UK. Even in places where departments have been closed, the courses that constituted American Studies usually remain popular, albeit now under the rubric of other departments. Research and publication remains of the very highest quality, with members of the UK American Studies community winning the Abraham Lincoln Prize, being short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize, and winning the last two biennial European American Studies Network book prizes. And more than anything else, the work presented at and the conversations occurring within this conference illustrate the health of the disciplines. American Studies remains strong, but a great deal of work is required to ensure that this is recognized.

I would like to thank the officers, members and associates of the BAAS Executive Committee, including Susan Castillo, Richard Crockatt, Jude Davies, Martin Halliwell, Will Kaufman, Hannah Lowe, Sarah MacLachlan, Catherine Morley, Ken Morgan, Ian Ralston, Theresa Saxon, Ian Scott, Jenel Virden, Michelle Smith, and most especially Heidi Macpherson, Graham Thompson and Carol Smith. I am also very grateful to Phil Davies and to Judie Newman for their wise counsel, and to Ambassador Robert Tuttle, Sue Wedlake, Michael Macey and Sarah-Jane Mayhew at the Embassy of the United States, for their support of American Studies in Britain.

I attended my first BAAS conference at Nottingham as an undergraduate assistant a quarter-century ago: sitting, drinking and chatting in the bar of my undergraduate hall of residence with Malcolm Bradbury and a host of other scholars was less intimidating than it was exciting, and the experience was enhanced when conference secretary Pete Messent prevailed on me to break into the by then closed bar to procure a bottle of single malt so that the conviviality could continue. (I hasten to add that Pete later replaced the bottle). BAAS conferences remain just as engaging and exciting, and are of vital importance to Britain’s American Studies community. They succeed because of a great deal of preparation and hard work, and I am very grateful to George Lewis and his colleagues here at Leicester, for organizing such an excellent conference.

Professor Simon Newman

Minutes of 2007 BAAS AGM

The 2007 AGM of BAAS was held on Friday 20 April at the University of Leicester at 4:40pm.

Elections:

Chair                                                Heidi Macpherson                        (to 2010)

Secretary                                    Catherine Morley                        (to 2008)†

Committee                                    Ian Bell                                    (to 2010)

George Lewis                                    (to 2010)

Sarah MacLachlan                        (to 2010)*

EAAS Rep                                    Philip Davies                                    (to 2012)*

*Not eligible for re-election

†Fulfilling an unexpired term due to a resignation from the office.

The Treasurer circulated copies of the draft audited accounts, which he asked the AGM to approve. He informed the AGM that the format of the accounts was different this year; the Trustees’ Report, which used to consist of the Chair’s address to the AGM, is now a longer document to take into account the new regulations (the Charities Act of 2006 and The Statement of Recommended Practice, Accounting and Reporting by Charities [SORP] 2005). The purpose of the new format report is to allow the Charity Commission to see what the charity is doing and its plans for the future, and to make sure that it is fulfilling its public benefit requirements. BAAS has no difficulty in fulfilling the charity definition of public benefit given its focus on education.  One of the effects of the new reporting requirements is that the accountant’s bill has gone up. GT drew the membership’s attention to particular sections of the Report:

• On p. 11, conference funding appears to be down substantially this year, but this is related to the extra money received the previous year for the 50^th Anniversary celebrations.
• There is a substantial amount of new money coming into BAAS for the Eccles Centre fellowships. This is restricted income.
• Subscriptions are up by £2700 and membership is up 51; the rise in membership may partly be accounted for by the new ability to pay via PayPal. Since July 2006, BAAS has generated over £1700 from PayPal subscriptions.
• BAAS currently holds a surplus of £4515 compared to £2402 in 2005.

GT also reported on membership figures; there are currently 435 fully paid up members, which compares to 384 at this time last year.

Dick Ellis proposed that the accounts be approved; George Conyne seconded the motion, and it was carried unanimously.

GT reported on progress made on Gift Aid, which has been an ongoing issue over the last few years. Since 2000, membership subscriptions and donations have been eligible for Gift Aid, and BAAS can claim back 22/78^th for those who have signed legitimate Gift Aid declarations. However, the audit trail has been uneven for this and as a result, GT sent out letters earlier this year with the new template for Gift Aid declarations. On the basis of the forms back, he has now submitted a claim to the Inland Revenue for £4466.84 plus interest, which is based on the return of 78 forms. GT estimated that if three quarters of BAAS members to sign the form, we can generate approximately £4500 each year. GT will now work on covering all the back years and will send a further mailshot out later this year. In response to a question from the floor, GT acknowledged that you cannot sign a declaration form if you do not pay income tax.

The Chair offered a comprehensive verbal report in which he noted that in the run up to the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, the research culture of the UK’s American Studies subject community is in a very healthy state. American Studies experts continue to secure a whole range of awards, fellowships and prizes, are selected to serve on AHRC peer review panels, and are promoted within their home universities.

Congratulations were extended to the following BAAS members in relation to appointments, promotions, and awards.

• Kevern Verney has been appointed to a chair in American History at Edge Hill University; Peter Rawlings has been appointed to a chair in American Literature at the University of the West of England; John Howard has been appointed to a chair in American Studies at King’s College London; Jude Davies has been promoted to Reader at the University of Winchester; Trevor Burnard has been appointed to a Chair in American History at the University of Warwick; and Susan-Mary Grant has been appointed to a Chair in American History at the University of Newcastle. In addition, Heidi Macpherson has been appointed Professor and Dean of Humanities at De Montfort University; and Janet Beer has been appointed Vice-Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University. 

The Chair noted that the officers and members of the Executive Committee of BAAS continue to work extremely hard to protect and enhance American Studies in the UK, spending an ever-increasing amount of time attending meetings, responding to consultation documents, and ensuring that the voice of American Studies is heard as universities, funding bodies and the government make their decisions. Over the past year, BAAS Committee members have undertaken the following work on behalf of BAAS. They have:

• attended AHRC consultations on reform of postgraduate funding and written formal responses to these proposals;
• participated in a special meeting on American Studies at the AHRC headquarters in Bristol;
• responded to the AHRC consultation on its strategic plan;
• responded to the QAA on its new benchmark statements for English and History (with BAAS member Alex Waddan responding on behalf of BAAS in relation to the Politics benchmark; thanks were extended to him);
• responded to the Department for Education and Skills consultation document on reform of research assessment;
• responded to an ESRC consultation on their 3+1 postgraduate funding scheme;
• responded to the RCUK consultation on academic peer review;
• responded to HEFCE on its review of funding for the Institute for the Study of the America;
• attended a variety of other HEFCE, AHRC, British Academy, and Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences events;
• worked on an American Studies alumni questionnaire in order to furnish information for the American Studies recruitment CD-ROM currently under development;
• developed new prizes and fellowships for the American Studies community;
• and attended inaugural lectures and social events in order to represent the American Studies subject community.

This work, whilst not always high profile, is essential in ensuring that the American Studies voice is heard nationally, particularly at a time when the public profile of American Studies is of a subject under threat. News reports in the Times Higher Education Supplement and the Education supplement of the Guardian have indicated a significant decline in undergraduate student enrolments; American Studies departments and programmes are under threat as universities reorganize administration and undergraduate teaching; and the number of American Studies Units of Assessment that will be submitted for RAE 2008 is likely to be lower than 2001. However, as the Chair reported, there is a dissonance between these trends and his direct and first hand experience of the healthy and in many ways very successful teaching and research culture of American Studies in the UK. Even in places where departments have been closed, the courses that constitute American Studies usually remain popular, albeit now under the rubric of other departments. Research and publications remain at the very highest quality, with members of the UK American Studies community winning the Abraham Lincoln Prize, being short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize, and winning the last two biennial EAAS Network book prizes. And more than anything else, the work presented at and the conversations occurring within this conference illustrated the health of the disciplines. American Studies remains strong, but a great deal of work is required to ensure that this is recognized.

The Chair concluded by thanking the members of the BAAS Executive Committee, including Susan Castillo, Richard Crockatt, Jude Davies, Martin Halliwell, Will Kaufman, Hannah Lowe, Sarah MacLachlan, Catherine Morley, Ken Morgan, Ian Ralston, Theresa Saxon, Ian Scott, Jenel Virden and the BAAS officers, Heidi Macpherson, Graham Thompson and Carol Smith. Thanks were also extended to Michelle Smith at the University of Manchester for helping to administer the Awards Committee, to the previous chairs, Philip Davies and Judie Newman for their wise counsel, and to Ambassador Robert Tuttle, Sue Wedlake, Michael Macy and Sarah-Jane Mayhew at the Embassy of the United States, for their support of American Studies in Britain. Final thanks were extended to George Lewis and his colleagues at Leicester, for organizing such an excellent conference.

Conferences:

Sarah MacLachlan began her report by acknowledging what a huge success the Leicester conference had been so far, and offering public congratulations to George Lewis, Martin Halliwell, and their team of postgraduates for the hard work they had put in before and during the conference. SM noted that this year, she had visited the 2008 conference site in Edinburgh with Robert Mason, the 2008 Conference Organizer. The conference will be based in the Pollock Hall area of Edinburgh, 27-30 March. She noted that a call for papers would be distributed shortly, and members were asked to consider submitting proposals early to allow for planning.

The 2009 conference will be held at the University of Nottingham 16-19 April, organized by Celeste-Marie Bernier. SM reported that negotiations were underway for the 2010 conference and that the successful applicant would be announced shortly.  She also announced that the University of Central Lancashire had submitted a bid for the 2011 conference, and that Manchester had expressed interested in hosting the 2012 conference.  SM then invited suggestions for future conferences.

Finally, SM noted the Committee had agreed a new subsidized conference rate for retired members for the Edinburgh Conference, in line with the postgraduate fees.

Publications:

Carol Smith began her verbal report by reminding the AGM that minutes of all meetings are published on the website, so that individuals may keep updated about current activities that way. She then reported on some of the highlights of the year in relation to the Publication Subcommittee. In relation to BRRAM, the long awaited release of the Edward Long papers and the Bolton Whitman papers were both released. Ken Morgan continued to negotiate with various sources, in particular the Darien scheme papers from the National Library of Scotland. Future plans included records relating to Liverpool merchants and the slave trade in the Liverpool Record Office. KM is also interested in the recruitment of additional Special Editors. A call was sent out in ASIB and anyone who is interested should contact KM at Brunel.

In relation to the BAAS EUP series, CS noted that it continued to be a vibrant, well used and well read series; there were currently two forthcoming publications: Hulthsether’s Religion, Culture and Politics in 20 Century North America which will be published May 2007, and for which a US co-publication has already been agreed, and Tillet’s Native American Literature, to be published in November 2007. SN and CS as editors are always happy to discuss ideas and proposals and ask that interested parties approach them directly.

CS noted apologies from the JAS editor, Susan Castillo, who could not attend the conference, and she reported that the main business of the subcommittee this year in relation to JAS was nominating the editor (Prof. Castillo) and associate editor (Prof. Scott Lucas). The latest issue of JAS was the first under their editorial control though due to a misprint, the former editor was listed on the inside cover. The following individuals were appointed to the Board: Prof. Ian Bell, Prof. Sabine Brock and Dr. Marina Moskowitz. Other appointments will be announced shortly. Thanks were extended all those who continue to serve for the benefit of the community and as reviewers, for the future health of the subject.

In relation to other publications, the latest issue of ASIB was produced earlier in the spring, with the deadline for the autumn issue being 11 August. ASIB had been fortunate to have an excellent editor in Catherine Morley. Elizabeth Boyle continues to refine the process of submission and refereeing for the postgraduate journal, US Studies Online and CS is pleased announce that they are moving to three issues a year with deadlines of April (the postgraduate conference issue), August and December.

Because of his role as Treasurer, GT had announced that he wanted to step down as webster, and the officers agreed that this was a good time to advertise for a joint webster and mail base co-ordinator. AGM members were asked to note that the position had been advertised on the web with a deadline of 1June 2007. CS formally thanked GT and Clare Elliot for their hard work.

CS noted that this was her last report as Publications subcommittee chair, and she thanked all members of the subcommittee for the work that they did.

Development:

Richard Crockatt was unable to attend the AGM and sent his apologies. A written report was read out on his behalf by the Vice Chair. As announced at the last AGM, the subcommittee structure changed this past year, with the awards business of the old Development subcommittee given to a new Awards Subcommittee, in recognition of the substantial growth in awards business. In relation to the awards that the Development Subcommittee continued to oversee, for conference support, there had been a downturn in applications, with only 2 successful applications this year; these were for the development of the South West American Studies Forum (May 2007) and for the annual postgraduate conference. In the absence of any other requests made during the year, RC plans to establish whether the availability of funds for such purposes is publicized well enough. It is expected that the bid form will be put on the website for easier access.

In relation to postgraduate business, the postgraduate representative, Josephine Metcalf, had been involved in forging closer links amongst European postgraduates; JM acquired a list of postgraduate representatives in continental European countries and gained permission to display this list on the EAAS website.  The November 2006 BAAS postgraduate conference in Nottingham was reported to have been very successful. The venue for the 2007 conference is to be Manchester University. On a less happy note, concern has arisen about the success rate of postgraduate applications to the AHRC and it appears that none from American Studies departments were successful in the 2006 round.

Schools’ Liaison remains an important aspect of the work of the Development subcommittee. A teachers’ lunch was to be held at the conference. In addition, the teachers’ representative, Hannah Lowe, wrote a report, “Issues Affecting the City and Islington Student Recruitment to American Studies Undergraduate Degree Courses”. The findings of the report received wider circulation with the publication of HL’s summary of the report in the first 2007 issue of ASIB. HL was congratulated by the Committee on the high quality and usefulness of the report. There was general agreement that the “widening participation” work between King’s College, London and the City and Islington Sixth Form was a good model for getting the message out about American Studies. In the coming year the subcommittee intends to seek ways of building on the conclusions of HL’s report.

The Subcommittee was also looking at ways to ensure closer links with the LLAS. One LLAS project was the “Why Study American Studies?” CD project which had funding from the US Embassy. At this point, Sarah Wood (Birmingham) gave a short presentation on the CD roms. She noted that the project coordinators (including Dick Ellis) were grateful to BAAS for their support and contacts, their help in setting up filming opportunities, and for writing short essays for the CD rom. Thanks were also extended to the US Embassy. SW distributed a handout with contact details for anyone who wanted to contribute to the CD. She particularly wished to solicit photographs of the USA; the plan was for the CD to be visually dynamic. The coordinators had identified employability as a key issue and one of the crucial resources used was the BAAS survey of career destinations. Thanks were extended to Will Kaufman for his help in soliciting short introductory essays.

All the members of the subcommittee were thanked for their contributions during the year.

Awards:

IS began his report by thanking the anonymous judges who contributed to the successful business of the Awards subcommittee. IS noted the new awards of the Wyoming Teaching Assistantship in American Studies and the new Eccles Fellowships. He also reported that SN had visited the US this spring and had set up a number of other exciting opportunities for links between institutions; thanks were offered to him for his efforts. Thanks were also extended to Philip Davies for his backing of the Eccles awards. IS noted that BAAS would distribute 29 awards (not including honorable mentions) for 2007, encompassing awards to A level students and established scholars, worth approximately £29,000 (excluding the Teaching Assistantship award). The US Embassy was thanked for their support, as were individual members of BAAS who donate funds to support the Short Term Travel Awards.

Libraries and Resources:

IR reported that the subcommittee had dealt with three main items over the past year. The first was the new journal, Resources for American Studies, which was for the first time distributed with ASIB in 2006. Thanks were offered to everyone who had helped to make that possible. The feedback on the new journal was highly positive and this publication can now claim to be making an informed and valuable contribution to the study and resourcing of American Studies in the UK. Members were invited to consider how they could make contributions to the journal’s content, with reviews of new resources or details of special collections. Thanks were offered to Matthew Shaw at the British Library for his work as editor (matthew.shaw@bl.ac.uk) and to all those who had contributed to the content or advertising revenue through contacting publishers.

IR reported that the second major business for the subcommittee was the special collections database project. The intention is to collect information on special collections, which will then be set up on the BAAS website. The request, via email shots to BAAS members, to identify special collections or new long-term projects sadly received little response, though the subcommittee is still committed to the project. A decision was taken to establish American Studies in Britain pages on Wikipedia to present an open forum to which members could contribute. There was considerable debate about the proposal, but the subcommittee agreed to proceed on the understanding that it was clear that these pages did not constitute an official BAAS or BLARS site. The pages can be view and be added to at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Studies_in_Britain. BAAS members are encouraged to contribute to these pages in order to make them as fully representative of the work done in American Studies in the UK as possible. IR and Matthew Shaw (who organized the pages) would like to be informed if members add things to the site.

IR reported that the final item of major business for the year was the membership of the subcommittee. At the moment, there are only three academics on the subcommittee. There will be three vacancies at the end of this academic year, including the position of Chair (IR is stepping down after 4 years). In order to maintain closer links between the academic community and the library resourcing community, IR noted that he would like to see these vacancies taken up by academic staff, especially the chair of this subcommittee. Members who wanted to get involved in the subcommittee were asked to contact IR at the conference or afterwards.

Thanks were extended to all members of the subcommittee, the US Embassy for support in publishing the journal, and colleagues on the Executive Committee.

EAAS:

JV reported that she had just returned from the EAAS board meeting in Wittenberg on Monday. The current membership of EAAS is 3972 from all the various constituent national associations. She also reported that the new EAAS website is www.eaas.eu.  She noted that the major item for the meeting was selecting the workshop proposals and parallel lecture proposals. As Secretary General, JV was in charge of this process. There were 68 workshop proposals and 17 parallel lecture proposals. BAAS members who had successfully applied to chair workshops were Dick Ellis (Birmingham), Theresa Saxon (Central Lancashire), Carol Smith (Winchester), and Jude Davies (Winchester); Robert Lewis (Birmingham) was offered a parallel lecture slot.

JV reported that the Oslo conference organizer visited the board meeting and has already produced a tentative schedule, which includes a Mayor’s reception at the City Hall, followed by a reception the next night at the US Ambassador’s residence, which may be a garden party (weather permitting). On the 3^rd night, a sightseeing coach will take delegates around the city, and this will be followed by a cruise banquet. The organizer has been able to negotiate hotel prices of 50-100 euros per night. There are budget airlines which fly to Oslo (i.e. from Stansted for BAAS members). Another option is an overnight ferry from Copenhagen. JV is going to Oslo to visit the venue in January or February 2008. Workshop chairs will shortly send out CFPs. One request is that PowerPoint presentations are kept to a minimum.

JV reported that the next two board meetings have been arranged: the 2008 board meeting will be in Oslo before the conference, and 2009 meeting will be held in Zürich. The next conference venues have been confirmed as well: Dublin in 2010 and Halle in Germany in 2012.

JV noted that the first official issue of the online journal European Journal of American Studies (EJAS) came out recently. It has 6 articles (4 literature/culture articles and 2 history/political science articles). Two more articles are coming on line in the next few weeks. There will be two issues a year. There is an active editorial committee but they are looking for more people who will peer review, since every article is double peer reviewed. For more information, members should look on the EAAS website and contact the journal editors directly.

JV reported that there is one new member of EAAS: Bulgaria. Their association’s acronym is BASA. JV reported that the board is still considering how to organize the EAAS board membership into “clusters” since the board is becoming very large. At present the plan is to ask for voluntary mergers, and this will be revisited next year.

JV noted that the American Studies network book prize is being advertised now. Eligible texts are monographs (not edited collections) that have been published in 2006 or 2007. The author has to be a European-based scholar and a member of EAAS through membership of his or her national association. The deadline is 1 November 2007. Information on where to send books is available on the web.

Finally, JV noted that this was her last report as EAAS representative, but that she would continue to work with EAAS as Secretary General; thus BAAS has 2 voices on the board. Thanks were extended to Committee members and individual BAAS members for their help over the years in ensuring that BAAS had a strong voice in EAAS.

AOB: 

There was no other business.

The AGM concluded at 5.45pm.

Remembering Graham Clarke (1948-2007)

Graham Clarke, Professor of Photography and Visual Arts at the University of Kent, who took early retirement last September, died on 16 February this year.  We hope that many Guardian readers among you will have seen the vivid family-oriented obituary written by his sister, Norma Clarke, in that newspaper’s Other Lives series (Guardian, 1 June 2007).  The following brief memoirs record some of his more public achievements.

—At Kent

Graham Clarke came to the University of Kent in 1974 from the University of Essex to teach in what was then the Board of Studies in English & American Literature.  Like other appointments in English and History to the university that year, Graham was to contribute both to the teaching and research of his home discipline of English and to the relatively new programme in American Studies, which in the early 1970s was being built upon the combined interest of those teaching the history, literature and politics of the United States, and which by the late 1970s had a full year abroad in the USA for all students.  Like many Americanists, Graham was also a Modernist: his teaching took him into many quarters of nineteenth and twentieth century English and American literature.  He was, however, above all, a meticulously close reader of poetry and this gift drew praise from many of his students in his early years at Kent.  His enthusiasm for American poetry from Dickinson and Whitman to the present, particularly by way of the great American Modernists and the poets of the Black Mountain School, led to the introduction of a graduate course on ‘American Modernism’, which remains one of his many legacies to the Kent syllabus.

Graham was also a colleague with considerable enthusiasm for the inter-disciplinary character of American Studies at Kent, and his interests in art, film, and, latterly, photography were instrumental in the expansion of the American Studies programme to include an Art & Film ‘pathway’ that, in recent years, has attracted some of the best students on the course..  These interests in the visual arts led Graham from the English department into History and Theory of Art, though he retained throughout his connections with American Studies.  Graham was made a Professor of Photography and Visual Arts, in part in recognition of the scholarly importance of his book, The Photograph: A Visual and Cultural History (1997) for the Oxford History of Art series.

Graham made a point of supporting and encouraging the work of his colleagues at Kent.  One of his earliest works as editor, The American City: Literary and Cultural Perspectives (1988), gathered a preponderance of contributions from Kent colleagues as did The New American Writing (1990).  Many of these same colleagues also produced several volumes for two of Helm Information’s series, ‘Critical Assessments’ and ‘Literary Sources and Documents’, for which Graham acted as general editor.  Graham also established the Panopticon in the courtyard of Rutherford College at Kent which became an open-air arena for the display of photographic images, some by local photographers, others from further afield, a venue popular with both the general public and members of the university.  Nor should it be forgotten that, with financial assistance from the Faculty of Humanities at Kent, Graham was the driving force behind two day schools on The Great Gatsby and The Crucible aimed at local sixth-formers, the lectures for which were collected as pamphlets under the imprint of the wittily-named AmeriKen Press.

Henry Claridge and Julian Hurstfield, University of Kent

—As a Scholar

I worked with Graham on several publications, but I did not know him, as a person, anywhere near as well as I would have liked.  I wanted to pay tribute partly because he started his career as an Americanist – though he didn’t come to many BAAS conferences (he just wasn’t a conference-goer) – and partly because his research and writing in visual culture is ultimately an enrichment of the interdisciplinary tradition exemplified by the best work in our field.

Graham’s writing on photography is particularly impressive.  The Photograph (1997), manages both to compress a good deal of known material into a readable form and to make some original observations.  His introduction to it characterizes the book as more a series of essays than a history, and it does have a circling, probing – even raiding – feel to it that might be associated with the essay as a form, but it is also a coherent history.  It is enlivened by an awareness of relevant critical theory, nicely nuanced in expression, and enriched by fresh archival research on certain key figures and topics, such as Alfred Stieglitz (on whom Graham also published his last book, an excellent short study).  The most winning feature of The Photograph is the way the basically chronological account of each of photography’s main genres is punctuated and deepened by readings of a range of specific images.  The choice of these exemplary texts is both innovative and apt, and Graham’s interpretations live up to the criteria for reading photographs that he himself advances in his initial chapters.  He is especially illuminating on the traditions of American photography. It is not surprising that The Photograph was well reviewed and has found many readers both in and beyond the academic world.  Similarly, Graham’s editing of a collection of essays on The Portrait in Photography (1992), including a probing contribution of his own, ushered into existence a book that has become a standard reference in the field.

Graham’s work on painting and landscape, although extensive, has perhaps not had quite the same impact, but this is possibly because it has had to jostle for position in a more crowded field.  Nevertheless, his 3-volume set of primary historical material on The American Landscape (1993), including his own commentaries, is very valuable, as is the parallel set on The American City: Literary Sources and Documents (1996).  Finally, if I may “declare an interest”, so to speak, an essay on American domestic typology he contributed to a collection I co-edited for Cambridge UP, Views of American Landscapes (1989), was truly groundbreaking: I have no doubt that his contribution was a significant factor in CUP’s recent decision to reprint the book.  Things connect: in Graham’s final months he was working on a project on the painting of the American National period, and was developing ideas first tested in that essay.  He intended to identify the cultural bases for the constituents of an emerging “American eye”.  It was entirely typical of him that, despite his deteriorating health, due to alcoholism, he kept writing to the end, and was in the process of applying for grants to visit US archives.  I believe that, had he lived, he would once more have produced a lively and provocative book.  His death marks a loss not only, obviously, to his loving family and friends, but to learning.

Mick Gidley, University of Leeds

BAAS Requests and Notices

BAAS Database of External Examiners 

The Secretary of BAAS, Catherine Morley, holds a list of potential external examiners. If individuals would like to put their names forward for this list, please email her at catherinemorley@brookes.ac.uk. Include the following information, in list form if possible:

Name and title

Affiliation with complete contact details including address, telephone, fax, and email Externalling experience (with dates if appropriate)

Current externalling positions (with end dates)

Research interests (short descriptions only)

By providing this information, you agree to it being passed on to universities who are seeking an external for American Studies or a related discipline. Should you wish your name to be removed or your details updated in the future, please contact the Secretary.

Any university representative interested in receiving the list should also contact the Secretary. BAAS only acts as a holder of the list; it does not “matchmake”.

Paper copies can also be requested by sending a letter to:

Dr Catherine Morley

BAAS Secretary

Department of English

Oxford Brookes University

Gipsy Lane Campus

Oxford, OX3 0BP

Change of Timing for the AGM 2008 

In a change to the usual practice, the BAAS Executive Committee have decided to hold the AGM on the first full day of the Annual Conference, Friday, 28 March 2008. The conference begins with registration on the afternoon of the 27^th.

Elections will be held for the Secretary of BAAS (three year term), three members of the Committee (also three year terms; one current incumbent is ineligible for re-election), the Postgraduate representative (two year term, non-renewable) and any offices that fall vacant before the AGM due to resignations from the Committee. Anyone currently serving on the Committee who wishes to stand for a different office will need to resign his or her post in order to stand in the elections.

Elections can only take place if the meeting is quorate; please make every effort to attend.

The procedure for nominations is as follows: nominations should reach the Secretary, Catherine Morley, by 12.00 noon on Friday 28 March 2008. Nominations should be in written form, signed by a proposer, seconder, and the candidate, who should state willingness to serve if elected.  The institutional affiliations of the candidate, proposer and seconder should be included. All candidates for office will be asked to provide a brief statement outlining their educational backgrounds, areas of teaching and/or research interests and vision of the role of BAAS in the upcoming years. These need to be to the Secretary at the time of nomination so that they can be posted in a prominent location and available for the membership to read before the AGM. Those standing for election are expected to attend the AGM.

Downloadable nomination forms will be available from the website in early January and will be printed in the next issue of ASIB. The Secretary requests that those who send forms to her through the post or via email also keep a copy and bring it with them to the conference, in case of delays or missing post. All forms will need to be signed.

Dr Catherine Morley

BAAS Secretary

Department of English

Oxford Brookes University

Gipsy Lane Campus

Oxford, OX3 0BP

EUP/BAAS Series 

The Edinburgh University Press /BASS book series continues to be a vibrant success in publishing books in all areas of American Studies in Britain with co-publishing deals in America. Recent publications are The Civil Rights Movement, Mark Newman and The Vietnam War in History, Literature and Film, Mark Taylor. Forthcoming are The Twenties in America, Niall Palmer, The Civil War in American Culture, Will Kaufman and Contemporary Native American Literature, Rebecca Tillett.

The series editors (Simon Newman – S.Newman@history.glas.ac.uk and Carol Smith – Carol.Smith@winchester.ac.uk) welcome new proposals at any time. They will be happy to advise and shape proposals and are particularly seeking books on the American short story, American music (all types) and the American city and its representations.

U.S. Studies Online: The BAAS Postgraduate Journal 

US Studies Online is seeking articles on American literature, culture, history or politics for upcoming issues.  US Studies is a refereed journal and submission guidelines can be found at our website:

http://http://www.baas.ac.uk/resources/usstudiesonline/enotes.asp

EAAS News

EAAS Conference Oslo, Norway, May 9-12, 2008

Theme: “E Pluribus Unum” or “E Pluribus Plura”?

The motto “E Pluribus Unum” mostly subsumes an institutional and political will.  But, from all historical data and possibly even more from contemporary dissensions, it appears that the social and cultural realities of America might well illustrate the possibility for an “E Pluribus Plura” version of the formula.  How does the United States negotiate the inner tensions that, because of its constitutive diversity, might threaten its unity?  How do traditions (political, artistic, literary…), modes of consensus building (from myth to national icons and patriotic assertions of exceptionalism), the feeling of a wished-for common good counteract potential strife and the tensions of particular interests and particular groups, make up for the aporias of nationhood and communitarian feeling, of ideological consensus and a tradition of dissent?  Could it be that there are indeed several “Americas”?  Is being an American necessarily being in many ways double?  Can the politically unifying, centripetal power of the State, hidden under the neutral Unum, accommodate the centrifugal forces that might generate a societal and cultural “plura” out of the hallowed political and territorial “pluribus”?  Do diversities imply, for their survival and development, a “middle ground”, a “mainstream”, a “tradition” – some kind of American norm?  Seen in light of the various subdisciplines of our fields, these are some of the questions that might generate the wished-for contributions to this Conference.

Deadlines:

September 1, 2007: Workshop paper proposals (with 150-200 word abstract) to be sent to Workshop Chairs.

September 15, 2007: Deadline for sending the tentative list of speakers and titles of workshop papers to be included in the October 2007 issue of ASE.

December 1, 2007: Deadline for submitting FINAL titles of papers and names and addresses of speakers.

January 10, 2008: Deadline for information to be included in the 2008 biennial conference program.

Please send all information via e-mail to the EAAS Secretary General, Jenel Virden, at virden@eaas.info

News from Centres

American Studies Resources Centre (JMU) Annual Report 2006-2007 

This academic year has marked the 20^th anniversary of the establishment of the American Studies Centre in Liverpool. To celebrate this, the ASRC has not only continued to expand and develop its existing services, but has also held two special events. Details of these are contained in this report.  (An article,‘20 years Ago Today’ also published in the 2007 edition of the ASRC’s journal, American Studies Today, regarding twenty years of our work, is copied at the end of this report for your information.)

Conferences and celebratory events

On January 24th 2007 the ASRC’s Annual Schools Conference had as its topic The Depression, Roosevelt and the New Deal. A capacity audience of sixth form and Access students were presented with lectures (at the Conference Centre of the Liverpool Maritime Museum) from Frank Lennon, former Head of American Studies at Liverpool Hope University, on President Hoover and The Depression; Dr. Jenel Virden from the University of Hull, who evaluated the impact of the New Deal and Dr. Niall Palmer of Brunel University, who discussed Roosevelt, Congress and the Supreme Court. This was followed by Dr. Will Kaufman, of the University of Central Lancashire, who assessed the effect of the Depression through the music of Woody Guthrie – also giving a live performance on the guitar, banjo and fiddle of not only Guthrie’s music, but other musicians of the period.

This conference was followed by the first of the ASRC’s celebratory lectures. Dave Cotterill, Director of the film documentary ‘Cunard Yanks’, accompanied by Billy Harrison and Ritchie Barton (two of the central figures in the film) presented an illustrated lecture on the background to and making of the film, to an audience in the Dean Walters Building of John Moores University. In June, the film received its British premier to a capacity audience at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. Dealing with the import and absorption of American culture by the young men who worked on Cunard liners on the New York-Liverpool run from the late 1940s to the 1960s, the film specifically considered how music and fashion had helped shape the emerging youth culture of Liverpool.

The second event involved a repeat performance by Dr.Will Kaufman on the life and work of Woody Guthrie. Entitled Hard Times and Hard Travellin’, Will Kaufman performed to a capacity audience in the Joe H. Makin Theatre of John Moores University. (The number of requests the ASRC received for tickets could have filled the theatre twice over! A full report of this is carried on the ASRC web site at: http://www.americansc.org.uk/Online/Hard%20times.htm)

It is hoped that Will Kaufman will return for a further performance in the 2007-8 academic year.

ASRC Web site (ARNet) and American Study Today magazine

By Late June 2007 the ASRC web site, ARNet, had received a rolling total of well in excess of twelve million hits. The busiest month this academic year was March, with 74,000 hits. The continued addition of new articles, book reviews and an updating of other online sections by Resources Coordinator Dave Forster and Research Assistant Helen Tamburro, further contributed to the success of this valuable resource.  The ASRC journal, American Studies Today was again distributed to schools and colleges involved with the study of American topics in September 2006. The 2007 edition is in its final stages of preparation and will be the biggest since publication began over fifteen years ago.

Requests and student visits to the ASRC

The level of requests from students, lecturers and others that the ASRC has dealt with this year has remained at the same high levels of previous years. In addition, requests from the media, particularly from independent documentary and film makers, have increased. Ian Ralston was also interviewed by the Press Association and BBC radio following the Virginia Tech. shootings.

2007-2008

Next academic year will see further significant changes. Major building work on extending the ASRC into an adjoining room and completely refurbishing its facilities has already begun. This is in order to permit the housing of the extensive JMU Special Collections Archive. Details of this broad ranging collection of materials will be announced by JMU and the ASRC early in the new semester.

The Annual Schools Conference, to be held in November 2007, will consider Civil rights, Black Nationalism and the response of the Presidency and the Supreme Court. Details will be posted on the ASRC web site.

In September Dr. Rodrigo Andres, of the Department of English at the University of Barcelona, will spending a semester attached to the ASRC. Rodrigo is the author of Herman Melville: Poder y Amor entre Hombres (Herman Melville: Power and Love between Men) (Valencia: PUV, 2007) and at present  is working on a book on Herman Melville’s letters to Nathaniel Hawthorne, and on an essay about Melville’s sisters. He has also published essays on Charlotte Perkins Gilman, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tillie Olsen, Sena Jeter Naslund, gay studies, queer theory, and new masculinities. He is a member of the research group funded by the Spanish Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs / Woman’s Institute “Construyendo nuevas masculinidades: la representación de la masculinidad en la literatura y el cine de los Estados Unidos” (Constructing new masculinities: representations of masculinity in American literature and cinema). As well as continuing his own research, Rodrigo will be contributing to the ASRC’s guest lecture programme.

Finally, thanks go all those who helped make this another successful year. Particular thanks go to Resources Coordinator Dave Forster for his work on the ASRC web site and magazine and Research Assistant Helen Tamburro for her invaluable work in coordinating the distribution of review texts, updating of the ASRC web site pages and dealing with the numerous requests for information via email. Thanks for support must also go to the Public Affairs Office of the US Embassy (in particular Sue Wedlake and Michael Macy), the British Association for American Studies (BAAS), the Eccles Centre at the British Library, the speakers at ASRC conferences and lectures, contributors to the web site and magazine and others too numerous to mention.

Ian Ralston (ASRC Director)

First published in American Studies Today 2007, below is an article looking back on twenty years of the ASRC activities

The American Studies Centre at Liverpool John Moores University: 20 years of Resourcing American Studies.

2007 marks the 20^th anniversary of the establishment of the American Studies Resources Centre (ASRC). Initially based at Liverpool Community College and backed by support from the US Embassy and BAAS, the ASRC moved in 1997 to the Aldham Robarts Centre of John Moores University and was formally reopened by (then) US Ambassador Philip Lader. (Letters of support for the ASRC came from President Bill Clinton, Senator Barbara Boxer, Representative Sonny Bono and Mayor of Palm Desert, Buford Crites, amongst others.) Looking back over this period a massive change in the nature of the Centre’s work is clearly apparent; a change that reflects the significant shifts that all those involved in resourcing any academic area have faced.

Initially established to support the study of the US in UK schools and colleges, the ASRC quickly expanded its remit to include students and colleagues in the HE sector, as well as establishing an international profile. The nature of the resources held in the late eighties, while covering all aspects of the study of the US (including a large collection of hard copy texts), mainly consisted of tape-slide, tape filmstrip, slide, video, study pack and photographic collections. This was backed up with annual student and teacher conferences. Communication with educational establishments was by letter, phone and the circulation of a newsletter (later to become American Studies Today magazine.) Despite what now seem like archaic systems, the ASRC built up an extensive database of users. Cataloguing was completed with the use of early Apple computers that were more prone in deciding for themselves what should be done rather than the operator’s intentions. It was, however, in the very early nineties, following a visit from an American colleague and USIA advisor, that the ASRC was introduced to the Internet. We remember all too clearly the amazement at the description of what this and something called ‘email’ could achieve. At this point, outside of the developing information technology departments at some universities, few had heard of the Internet. Prior to this our only involvement with technological developments (other than the breakdown prone Apple computers mentioned earlier) had been the ASRC’s work with the sadly ill-fated NERIS (National Educational Information Service) CD-Rom project.

However, the ASRC quickly explored the possibility of developing a presence on the ‘net’ and became one of the first organisations in the American Studies field to establish an Internet site and exploit its potential. An early website was set up but without any full understanding of its true potential. Gradually, and as use of the Internet spread, the ASRC developed its web site (the Rothermere Centre later described it as “…the best of the lot…”) to respond to the needs and feedback of users.

The ‘newness’ of the power of the net was quickly emphasised by a series of events. One article placed on the site (about the abortion issue) by an American academic working in the UK, created such a flood of responses, including threats of violence from around the world, that the writer asked us to pull the article. When we showed the responses the ASRC had received, the academics astonished comment was “…I didn’t realise people outside the UK could access or read this..” Another article, about a small town in the Deep South, not only produced a flood of emails from ‘concerned citizens’ but also became a major news item in that town’s local press. Just prior to this, a new ‘host’ server provided facilities that allowed us to closely monitor the hits the site received, therefore enabling us to plan and focus the range of articles, book reviews and other information offered to a much greater degree. All of these changes and the growing use of the Internet by educational establishments had an impact on the ‘traditional’ resourcing services the ASRC offered.  The original AV materials, apart from notable exceptions such as video (and now DVD) were clearly obsolete to some degree or other. The number of ‘written’ requests from schools also almost completely vanished but only to be replaced by a deluge of emails from not just the UK but also internationally. Although many of the subscription databases that HE now enjoys were out of the financial reach of many schools and colleges, the ASRC found itself increasingly guiding schools (as well as colleagues in HE) over other sources of information and research. One additional point worth noting regarding the internet was a side effect of our cyberspace presence; that was an increasing demand for ASRC conferences, increased calls to provide ‘outside’ lectures (particularly to schools) and a greater contact with national and international media organisations. This area has continued to show a steady and increasing growth. Through its own contacts and also those provided by the Cultural Affairs Office of the US Embassy, speakers at ASRC conferences and events have included many notable figures; the poet John Ashberry, the former SDS (Students For a Democratic Society) leader and now writer, Todd Gitlin, the film director Alex Cox, the film critic Roger Ebert and the writers and academics Johnella Butler, John C.Walter and James and Loise Horton. Support from BAAS colleagues (too many to note here!) has also been invaluable in the continued development and presentation of our Schools Conference programme. The ASRC was also involved in the first Straw-Powell exchange programme in 2001 which saw two young British students spending a busy week in the US as guests of Secretary of State Powell. This event received extensive media coverage both in the US and the UK. The ASRC also continued to establish close contacts with colleagues in the US and throughout the world, including the Salzburg Seminar in Austria.

Thanks go to BAAS, Sue Wedlake at the Public Affairs Office at the US Embassy, all members, past and present, of the ASRC’s UK and US Advisory Panels as well as David Forster (ASRC Resources Coordinator and Web Manager), Helen Tamburro (ASRC Research Assistant), Maire Daley and Louise Hesketh for their invaluable support over the years.

What the next twenty years will hold, well, it’s impossible to say but it’s clear that the ‘digital revolution’ will continue to change not only the work of the ASRC, but all those involved in the study and resourcing of American Studies. It is also the case that as the US remains the major world force in both politics and culture, the ASRC’s work will continue to be of relevance for years to come.

Ian Ralston (ASRC Director)

Note: In October 1998 the ASRC’s web site received a total of 2,670 hits. This increased significantly, year on year. In October 2000, 15,417 hits were recorded and in October 2006 the figure was 69,839. The total number of recorded hits from February 1998 (when the ASRC began monitoring its performance on the internet) to January 2007, was close to 11 million.

American Studies at Leicester 

The Centre for American Studies at the University of Leicester celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2007 which coincides with the 50th year since the University’s Royal Charter in 1957. This was a fitting year, then, for the Centre to host the 52nd Annual BAAS Conference in April, attracting 270 international delegates and three excellent keynote speakers: Stephen J. Whitfield (Brandeis), Richard H. King (Nottingham) and Linda K. Kerber (Iowa). In 2007 Leicester also held the American Politics Group Conference (January) and a special event ‘50 Years in Space’ (April) at the National Space Centre Leicester to commemorate a half century since the launch of Sputnik, with keynotes including Christopher Frayling (Royal College of Art), Michael Neufeld (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum) and Scott Lucas (Birmingham).

Leicester has made a number of new appointments in 2007 to strengthen and develop its teaching and research, particularly in American history and politics. In US politics, Mark Phythian, an expert in international security, has moved from Wolverhampton to Leicester to take up a Chair in Politics, while Adam Quinn whose expertise lies in US foreign and security policy has joined Leicester from Birmingham. In American history James Campbell and Andrew Johnstone both begin tenured posts, developing the Centre’s research in slavery, crime and punishment, and US internationalism. The recent appointment of Caroline Dodds from Cambridge, who works on Aztec culture, broadens the scope of American research to include South America. Within the Centre for American Studies, George Lewis has recently been promoted to Reader in American History and Alex Waddan to Senior Lecturer in US Politics.

Recent publications from American Studies staff at Leicester include James Campbell, Slavery on Trial (Florida); George Lewis, Massive Resistance: The White Response to the Civil Rights Movement (Hodder); Sarah Graham, Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye (Continuum); Martin Halliwell, American Culture in the 1950s (Edinburgh); Mark Phythian and Peter Gill, Intelligence in an Insecure World (Polity).

Further details about American Studies at Leicester can be obtained from: www.le.ac.uk/americanstudies

Martin Halliwell

The Eccles Centre for American Studies @ the British Library 

Recent and forthcoming activities:

Who’s Afraid of American Religion? by Alan Wolfe

Wednesday 5 September

Alan Wolfe considers the relationship between religion and politics in the US today; the separation of church and state, the implications of a multi-faith society and the manner in which contemporary religions are practiced. Alan Wolfe is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College.

Event time: 18.30-20.00

Price £6.00 (concessions £4.00)

An Evening for Jack Kerouac

Monday 17 September

September 2007 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Jack Kerouac’ seminal novel On the Road. This novel, one of the most influential works of American literature, was written down in a sustained burst – and typed on a single, 120ft “scroll” of paper – over just three weeks in a New York City loft in 1951. The manuscript was finally published in 1957, and made Kerouac an icon of the counter-culture.

In celebration of Kerouac and his most famous book, the British Library presents an evening of readings, music, film, and conversation. The event will feature contributions from Carolyn Cassady, wife of his long-term associate and inspiration, Neal Cassady, and Kerouac’s partner at the time of writing On the Road; David Amram, prominent American composer, musician, and collaborator with Kerouac; as well as guest, speakers, performers and readers including John Ventimiglia from The Sopranos.

Ticket-holders are also invited to a special screening at 17:30 of Pull My Daisy, a film created by Robert Frank, with spontaneous narration by Kerouac and music by Amram.

Introduced by the composer.

Event time: 18.30-21.00 (plus film screening at 17:30)

Price £10 (£7.50 concessions)

1,000 Places to see in the USA & Canada by Patricia Schultz

Tuesday 18 September

Patricia Schultz’s latest travel volume takes her from her base in New York City to explore destinations throughout North America. In this talk she will re-introduce the audience to places they think they know, introduce them to locations they might otherwise never find, and invite them to share the adventures she had when researching this book.

Patricia Schultz is the author of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die and Executive producer of the Travel Channel’s reality show of the same name. She has also written for Condé Nast Traveler, Islands, and Harper’s Bazaar.

Event time: 18.30 – 20.30

Price £6 (concessions £4) includes lecture and reception

To Book:

Online Box office ~ http://boxoffice.bl.uk

Phone ~ 01937 546546  (Mon-Fri, 09.00-17.00)

Race, Religion and Rock ‘n Roll – How Bruce Springsteen Saved My Life

Tuesday 2 October, 18.30-20.00

Sarfraz Manzoor, in the British Library Conference Centre

Sarfraz Manzoor was three years old when he emigrated from Pakistan to Britain in

1974. His teenage years were a constant battle to reconcile being both British and

Muslim. Frustrated by real life, he sought solace in TV and music, but it was when his best friend introduced him to Bruce Springsteen that his life changed forever.

Retracing his journey from Lahore to Luton to Ladbroke Grove he pays tribute to the power of music to transcend race and religion – through the minor frustrations of his childhood to his response and analysis of the tragedies of 9/11 and 7/7. The evening will be chaired by author and columnist Dominic Sandbrook.

Attendees are invited to partake in a brief iftar of dates and water, followed by a selection of halal canapés and juices. Sarfaz Manzoor, is the author of recently published Greetings from Bury Park, Race, Religion and Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Price £6 (concessions £4). Book through the British Library box office.

Jennie Churchill ~ Winston’s American Mother

Wednesday 3 October, 18.30-20.00, in the British Library Conference Centre

Jennie Churchill’s biographer, Anne Sebba talks about the subject of her new book.

Living in London reinforced Jennie’s sense of American identity although in fact she had left New York as a young girl and moved to Paris first, then London. But, once here, she was viewed as strange and different and soon chaired a number of Anglo-American women’s charities and committees. She was also the founder and editor of the Anglo-Saxon Review and instilled in Winston from the first the importance of understanding his American heritage.

Price £6 (concessions £4).  Book through the British Library box office.

Ken Vandermark at the Conway Hall, Red Lion Square (Holborn tube)

Thursday 25 October, 19.00 pre-concert talk, 20.00 concert begins

Chicago-based jazz improviser Ken Vandermark, and composer Andrew Morgan plus a full line up of supporting musicians.

7pm   pre-concert talk with Ken Vandermark, David Ryan, Andrew Morgan.

8pm   concert begins

Price £10 (concessions £5). Tickets available at the door.

‘Identities and Encounters’: the 52nd Postgraduate Conference

University of Manchester, 17th November 2007

On Saturday, 17th November, 2007, the University of Manchester will host the British Association of American Studies annual Postgraduate Conference. The event gives graduate students working in the area of American Studies and related disciplines a valuable opportunity to present their work, meet other researchers and contribute to the academic dialogue in this growing and dynamic field of scholarship.

We are pleased to announce that our plenary speaker this year is Prof. Lizabeth Cohen of Harvard University.

Further details on registration for the conference can be downloaded from

http://www.arts.manchester.ac.uk/subjectareas/englishamericanstudies/baas2007/

Registration deadline: 27th October 2007

Travel Award Reports

Stella Bolaki, University of Edinburgh

My visit to the United States in order to present a paper at the 30^th anniversary conference of the National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) proved to be successful in every way I can think of but would not have been possible without the generous travel grant offered to me by the British Association for American Studies.

The conference was held in St. Charles, 40 miles west of Chicago, Illinois, from June 28 to July 1 2007 and its theme “Past debates, Present Possibilities, Future Feminisms” offered an expansive platform for examining current scholarship, pedagogy and activism in the field of women’s studies. The president and executive director’s welcoming speech promised an even larger and more varied conference this year than in previous ones and this promise was fully kept. The general conference had a variety of formats such as panel and paper sessions, workshops and roundtables. My paper was part of a panel on women writing community in American short story sequences and examined in particular the work of Latina author Sandra Cisneros, who was also the keynote speaker of the conference. Therefore, the highlights of the conference for me were Cisneros’s inspiring speech and a tribute panel on This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color (edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa), intended to honour past scholarship that has set new directions for the field. As my research has focused on novels of development by women of colour, I found these two sessions moving and intellectually engaging.

The different formats of the main conference and the diverse range of sessions provided a healthy variety and a balanced focus on topics like theory, teaching and activism in the field of American and women’s studies though I have to admit that it was difficult to choose from 360 sessions as most of them were running concurrently. There were, however, some larger all-conference sessions that I attended which were particularly helpful. “Engaging scholarships” was a series of sessions intended to address the conference theme and sub-themes, and “presidential sessions” highlighted emerging trends in feminist theory or revisited central questions that have long shaped the field. For the first, I attended a session on im/migration and mobility featuring Dr. Laila Farah, a Lebanese-American feminist performer-scholar who performed and discussed her production “Living in the Hyphen-Nation”. As my research addresses themes like ethnic and postcolonial identities, displacement, and mobility, this was more than useful. For the second, I attended a workshop on Latina immigrants, which contributed to a clearer understanding of the immigrant experience in the United States.

A panel on the future of women’s studies programs by young faculty shed light on issues like interdisciplinarity and intersectionality and provided some very interesting ideas for pedagogical approaches to multiculturalism and feminist studies. A series of videos and films on adolescent girls, disabled women and older women (Girl House Art Project, Beyond Disability: The Fe Fe Stories, and Look Us in the Eye: The Old Women’s Project) provided insights on the various stages of life and experiences of marginality and empowerment, relevant to my doctoral research on life writing and female development in American fiction, and the exhibit “Visceral Mappings: Transdiasporic Art Practices” hosted by the conference, which brought together artists of African, Jewish, Native, Chicana, Italian, Egyptian, Taiwanese, Indonesian, Indian, Greek, and Korean diasporic origins, linked diaspora with the body and with the domestic space of the house; intersections which I am currently exploring. My research also benefited from personal discussions with people who had posters in the exhibit area on themes related to coming of age in the twentieth century. Posters combined graphic and text and presenters were interacting on a one-to-one basis with the attendees viewing the poster. I should not forget the creative writing series which I attended and which counterbalanced nicely some of the more heavily theoretical papers.

This year’s NWSA conference had for the first time individual mentoring sessions for those seeking career advice, especially useful for people like me who have recently completed their dissertation, as well as a student pre-conference geared to the needs of postgraduate students and new faculty. There were also scheduled meetings for networking with other international members and groups with similar research interests. The feedback from these sessions was more than generous.

Other than the paper and professional sessions, the conference featured a wide range of activities such as a brilliant performance of Aqua Moon’s choreopoems (Aqua Moon is a writing, performance and artistic team that tries to bridge the gaps between the streets, hip-hop feminism, performance, activism and academia), a half-hour performance of the critically acclaimed play Jane: Abortion and the Underground by the 20 Percent Theatre Company about an underground abortion service that operated in Chicago from 1969 to 1973, a reception, and a dance.

Though the conference venue was outside Chicago and the schedule was tight, I had the chance to see a bit of the centre of the city. Other than the Art Institute of Chicago, famous for its Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works, I got the chance to visit the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum showcasing works from both Mexico and Mexican-American communities. I was also fortunate to arrive there during the “Taste of Chicago”, a two-week festival that takes place in Grant Park, where visitors can get a taste of Chicago’s signature foods and listen to jazz and blues.

Presenting my work at the conference helped me consolidate ideas as well as generate new ones for future projects so I recommend NWSA and its activities to people with interests in the field of women’s studies and with a focus on largely American topics. This trip, however brief, allowed me to become familiar with the organisation’s events, and to meet many new people with similar interests, thus expanding networking and professional possibilities. I am positive that I will come back to future conferences and I look forward to getting more involved. I would like to thank the presenters and the people who offered advice and feedback and acknowledge the support of my supervisor Andy Taylor with my application to BAAS. Of course without the generosity of the British Association for American Studies, I would not have been able to realise this trip so I would like to take the opportunity and thank the Association again for their help and overall encouragement.

Jacqueline Cahif, University of Glasgow

I wish to thank BAAS for the generous award that enabled me to travel to Philadelphia to conduct research for my doctoral thesis. My work focuses on Philadelphia prostitutes living in the early national period. While early North America was often thought to be the land of plenty, economic suffering was a stark reality, and alongside widespread poverty, prostitution flourished. As a city of mariners and a major port of immigration, prostitutes found a readily available market in Philadelphia’s sailors, foreign visitors and itinerant men. Specifically, the aim of my thesis is to address questions related to the medical aspects of prostitution. The key questions I am addressing are how prostitutes responded to disease, and what medical choices infected women had recourse to within in the medical marketplace, both conventional, by formally trained physicians, and unorthodox, by local quacks.

The majority of my time in Philadelphia was spent accessing primary sources at the City Archives. This repository holds a wealth of materials, in particular a comprehensive set of records from the city’s almshouse. A large part of my thesis will focus on diseased women who resorted to public welfare within the institutional setting. Philadelphia’s almshouse functioned as both a workhouse and hospital, and was thus the main port of call for those who were destitute or afflicted with venereal infection.  These records included Daily Occurrence Dockets, a vast and rich set of entries by the almshouse Guardians of the Poor, which reveal various aspects of the lives of those who entered the workhouse and hospital. The entries from the late eighteenth century are notable for the colourful language used by the Guardians, and thus gave me significant understanding about the attitudes of Philadelphians towards prostitution during the period. The later dockets from the early nineteenth century are less colourful yet more biographical in nature than the earlier ones. I also examined a range of registers, which provided some biographical details about almshouse patients. These allowed me to trace and piece together information about various women from the Daily Occurrence Dockets, which were sparse on biographical details. These records included various receiving ward registers and censuses, and the Weekly Return of Patients in Sick and Surgical Wards. In addition, records such as the Medical Wards Case Books and Syphilis Costs Accounts were informative with regards to how venereal patients were treated for their infection.

The sheer range of resources from the almshouse at first appears rather daunting, making it hard to know where to start. However, the staff were friendly and helpful on a daily basis, always on hand to pull out more materials for me. This made the process a simple and enjoyable one for me. They also allowed me to use my digital camera, which enabled me to gather as much material as possible.

I also visited the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, which holds a vast range of unpublished archival materials. This allowed me to tap into many contextual resources relevant to the lives prostitutes and those women often associated with them. The HSP holds a rich collection of newspapers which span three hundred years. The Public Ledger, Philadelphia’s 19^th century penny paper proved to be particularly fruitful in its scope of information on a whole host of issues related to prostitution. This included the frequent reports of the Mayor’s Court proceedings, City Police reports and those on incidents such as child abandonment, infanticide and street altercations amongst the city’s residents. Additionally, the Pennsylvania Gazette and the Gazette of the United States and Evening Advertiser were important advertising spaces for the sellers of medical books and medicines, often for the ‘cure’ of the ‘secret disease’.  These spaces were also used by local apothecaries and physicians as well as Philadelphia’s quacks advertising their services.

I also accessed materials related directly to prostitution, such as the records of Philadelphia’s Magdalen Society and the accounts of the Rosine Association. Both illuminated the world of Philadelphia’s reform asylums for ‘fallen women’. Also helpful were poverty records such as those the Northern Dispensary for Medical Relief of the Poor, which include admission lists for those afflicted with venereal diseases

While many materials of both archives are fragmentary in nature, taken together they are valuable in illuminating the often shadowy lives of such women. I am confident that I made effective use of the sources, and collected an abundance of information related to my thesis topic. Philadelphia is often referred to as the most historic city in America. In fact, the area downtown known as Olde City is famous for being the most historic square mile in America. Being able to walk around the city additionally allowed me to become more familiar with the spatial dimensions of the areas the women I am studying moved around in. Often, the almshouse records referred to the exact neighbourhood and street these women came from. This has proved invaluable to my primary research, giving me more of a sense of their world and the obstacles they faced. In short, this trip proved successful in facilitating the vital research that will form the foundation of my PhD thesis.

Ceri Gorton, University of Nottingham

I was delighted to be awarded the Malcolm Bradbury Award for my research trip to the United States and Mexico this April. I am in the final year of my PhD at the University of Nottingham, and undertaking this trip was essential to the completion of my thesis. My PhD offers a critical literary analysis of the fiction of Barbara Kingsolver and contributes towards new research in the field of American literary studies. It is important to note that to date there are no PhD theses on this critically acclaimed and popular author and my research will fill this gap in literary scholarship.

As well as the benefits of this trip to my primary research, my participation in the prestigious international American Culture Association / Popular Culture Association and American Comparative Literature Association conferences as a an American Studies scholar highlighted the vibrant range of research currently being undertaken in the UK in this interdisciplinary field. My trip comprised of three phases; delivering a conference paper at the ACA/PCA Conference in Boston, undertaking archival research at The Library of Congress in Washington DC and finally presenting another paper at the ACLA Annual Conference in Puebla, Mexico. I was also invited to chair a panel on Characterising the Celt: Post/Colonial Representations of Identity and Alterity at the ACLA conference in response to my interest in Welsh literature and postcolonialism.

The financial support I received from BAAS effectively funded the nine days of archival research at the Library of Congress, which was the main focus of my travels. Upon leaving the UK, my first stop was at the Annual ACA and PCA Conference in Boston, where I presented a paper on the Contemporary Southern Literature and Culture panel. My paper was entitled ‘Finding Her Selves: The Familiar Voices and Challenging Words of Barbara Kingsolver’s Southern Women’. More than 1500 delegates attended the conference and over the four days I attended numerous panels and networked with fellow academics in the field of American cultural studies. Presenting my research on Kingsolver to such an interdisciplinary international audience allowed me to test ideas, hone arguments and discuss ideas with experts in my field. My paper, and the amendments effected by the discussions in Boston, will now comprise a major part of the introduction to my PhD thesis. As such, this experience was invaluable to my thesis.

From Boston, I took the train to Washington DC, where I spent just over a week exploring the archives of the Newspaper and Periodicals Room at the Library of Congress. This reading room, located in the Madison Building of the library, houses hundreds of articles and publications either on or by Barbara Kingsolver, all of which I am unable to access from the UK. I unearthed interviews with Kingsolver, reviews of her work, and short stories and articles written by her, which are exceptionally useful to my research. Using microfilm machines and the recently digitised computer archives, I collected hundreds of pieces from journals, magazines and newspapers, many of which were in addition to my proposed checklist of articles. These varied from publications with a specialist focus and limited circulation like the Utne Reader, Library Journal, National Catholic Reporter and Audobon Magazine, to the mass circulation of daily newspapers like The Arizona Star and The Boston Globe. I was even able to locate Kingsolver’s first fictional and journalistic publications. The staff at the library were incredibly helpful and I have returned to Nottingham laden with Kingsolver-related publications which I look forward to integrating into my close textual analysis of her fiction as I finalise my thesis.

After my time in Washington DC, I attended the Annual Conference of the ACLA in Puebla, near Mexico City, where I had been invited to chair a panel and present a paper on re-imagined postcolonial identities. My paper was entitled ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Patagonia: Re-imagining Welsh Identity and Celtic colonialism in the fiction of Malcolm Pryce.’ This conference was particularly useful in focusing the theoretical frameworks and methodological approach of the longest chapter of my thesis, which focuses on postcolonial literary theory in relation to Kingsolver’s novel The Poisonwood Bible. Academics in the broad field of Comparative Literature proved an ideal audience for discussing the interdisciplinary approach both of my thesis and of Kingsolver’s fiction. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to BAAS for awarding me the funding to spend this month in the United States and Mexico. Both of the prestigious conferences I participated in on my trip have proved to be incredibly useful in terms of developing professional networks, honing my presentation skills and testing my thesis. As such, the trip was intellectually stimulating and provided me with the materials and inspiration essential for the completion of my thesis.

Mara Oliva, Institute for the Studies of the Americas

As one of the fortunate recipients of a BAAS short-term travel grant I was able to spend 3 weeks in the United States in April 2007 conducting archival research for my PhD thesis entitled: “How the American elite press interrelated with the Eisenhower administration foreign policy towards the People’s Republic of China”.

The mass media’s influence on the foreign policy making process is the subject of controversy between scholars who conceive it as having an agenda-setting function and those who see it as the handmaiden of official policy. I am engaged in a historical case study to throw light on this debate through the examination of the role of selected print media in shaping Eisenhower administration foreign policy towards the People’s Republic of China. The selection of China reflects its importance as a Cold War adversary. When, in 1949, the Nationalist regime was overthrown by the Communists and flew to the island of Taiwan, the “loss of China” became one of the great fault lines in the U.S. politics. The Republican right’s perception both of treason and corruption in high places of the Truman administration, the dangers of the supposedly “Europe first Cold War policy” of eastern internationalists, the war in Indochina, and the recurrent crises over the PRC threats to Taiwan during the Eisenhower administration, made China the focal point of the U.S. containment of Communism in Asia.

My project has two goals. First of all through a content analysis of four of the leading publications in the fifties: New York Times, New York Herald Tribune, Washington Post and Time magazine, I want to examine how the press portrayed China and U.S.-China news. Secondly, through the analysis of private papers of the media figures connected to my chosen sample of publications and of governments officials, I want to investigate how the print media and government officials interacted. I want to find out if the publishers and the editors influenced the administration agenda with regard to China policy or if, instead, the government used these publications as a propaganda tool to maintain public support. For instance, Henry Luce, owner and publisher of Time and Life magazines was a Republican and a member of the China Lobby, a powerful, political organisation opposed to the recognition of Communist China and its admission to the United Nations. Did his editorial stance become a voice of the administration? Or did he influence the government agenda to promote his ideological beliefs? Because of the Truman administration foreign policy, even Arthur Hays Sulzberger, publisher of the world’s reputedly most objective newspaper, The New York Times, decided to support Eisenhower in the presidential campaign of 1952. Did the New York Times’ endorsement of Eisenhower have any influence in shaping foreign policy issues of concern to its publisher? I think that the significance for archival sources in media and foreign policy studies has barely been explored and that an investigation of the private papers of these media actors and the administration key players can throw light on the interactions and mechanisms that politicians, publishers and editors used to shape the content of these publications to promote their shared or conflicting interests.

My trip began in Abilene, Kansas, at the Eisenhower Presidential Library. Once one of the most famous names in the West, Abilene was the end of the famous Texas Cattle Trail and western terminus of the railroad in the days of the big overland cattle drives, today this lovely town has a population of 6,500 and agriculture is still the main economic activity. It became home to Dwight D. Eisenhower when his family moved from Texas in 1892. President Eisenhower once said: “the proudest thing I can claim is that I am from Abilene”. My main difficulty in travelling to Abilene was how to get there once landed at Kansas City airport, since the town is right in the heart of Kansas and there is no public transport. I didn’t want to rent a car and I couldn’t afford to hire a taxi, however, I was lucky enough to find a blog on the internet where a couple of students, going to the Eisenhower Presidential Library, were looking for other students or researchers to share a private shuttle service. So after a 2 hours and 30 minutes trip by van, from the airport, through the fossil-laden plains and green prairies of Kansas, I safely arrived in Abilene.  I stayed at a charming B&B where I could appreciate the local hospitality and also great local food. I spent most of my week at the  presidential library and  thanks to the meticulous and invaluable work of the archivists I was able to examine all the President’s and other administration officials’ private documents with regard to the PRC, Taiwan and the press.  Eisenhower’s papers revealed details of the relationships that existed between the administration and the press, going through these documents I realised that the administration was actually off-limits for journalists and reporters and it was only dealing with publishers and editors, a fact further confirmed by several oral histories of some relevant journalists of the time. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles’ papers provided the most extensive record of the administration foreign policy towards the PRC and Taiwan, but also some interesting clues on his unhappy relationship with newspapers. Among the other relevant collections I consulted, James Hagerty’s papers, Eisenhower’s press secretary, proved to be disappointing since the collection consisted mainly of published press releases instead of “behind the scenes” information whereas the President’s special assistant’s, CD Jackson, papers illustrated in details the relationship between the administration and Time magazine.

Following my time in Abilene, I then moved on to Washington D.C. where I spent another fourteen days, working at the Library of Congress first and at the National Archives in College Park during the last week. After leaving the green prairies of Kansas, it was a bit of shock to get back to the city. However, even though accommodation and food price and the level of pollution and noise were much higher than in the rural Midwest, I was positively impressed by Washington D.C. I had heard many different conflicting opinions on it, but perhaps because I happened to be there during the cherry blossom festival, when they say the city is at its best, I found it a nice, young and very clean place. I stayed at another B&B, which was more expensive and probably less charming than the one in Abilene, but still within walking distance of the Capitol Hill and in a safe neighbourhood. At the Library of Congress I focused on tracking down and examining a number of private document collections belonging to some key media figures of the fifties. By far, the best of these collections was Roy Howard’s one, owner of the Howard-Scripps newspapers chain and friend of Generalissimo Chiang Kai shek. A friendship well documented by the long correspondence between Howard and the Generalissimo and his wife. The Reid family’s private papers, owners and publishers of the New York Herald Tribune, were particularly interesting with regard to the Presidential campaign of 1952, whereas, Harry Luce’ s papers turned out to be quite disappointing, as they consisted mainly of financial papers with no reference to his personal relationship with the President or any administration officials. In the breathtaking main reading room of the Library of Congress I also consulted the journal Editor and Publisher, which is a monthly journal, first published in 1884, covering the North American newspapers industry. It provided me with an interesting insight of the business in the fifties.

I spent the last week of my fieldwork trip at the National Archives in College Park where I was able to consult the Department of State official press conferences, press releases, daily summaries of opinion and most important of all the “background information conferences” the State Department held for reporters.

To conclude I would like to warmly thank BAAS for allowing me this incredible and stimulating opportunity, my trip to the U.S. was a great experience and as a result I have made considerable progress in my research.

Mark Taylor, University of Hull

Having received the Ruth and Keith Cox Award for 2006, I was able to travel to America in October to pursue my research into the ‘other massacre’ carried out by American troops on March 16, 1968 in the village of Son My in South Vietnam. The objectives of my research are: to explore the ways in which the massacre at My Khe 4 has been investigated; to consider the treatment afforded to the massacre by historians and the media and to establish the relationship between the events at My Khe 4 and the massacre at My Lai 4 which took place on the same day a few kilometres away. Although I have the good fortune to be able to consult a micro-film copy of the Peers Report in the library at the University of Hull, my visit to America afforded me the opportunity to study in much more detail the various investigations into the massacres in Son My and the responses of the US Army and the Nixon administration to what the Army’s investigators had discovered.

I divided my time between the US Army’s Military History Institute at Carlisle in Pennsylvania and the National Archive at College Park. The personal papers of Lt.- General Peers, who conducted the Army’s Inquiry into the cover-up of the massacres in Son My, are stored at Carlisle. The BAAS award enabled me to look at his correspondence with some of the other investigators, the text of some of the speeches he made after the conclusion of the Inquiry and a transcript of a de-briefing interview he gave upon his retirement from the Army in which he spoke about the investigation of the events at My Khe 4.

There are extensive holdings relating to the various investigations into the events in Son My at College Park. I was able to check the records of the initial investigation made by the Inspector General’s office, to follow the trails which led to the discovery that a second massacre had occurred, and to trace the responses of the Nixon administration to the discovery of what had happened in Son My. It was also useful to find records that dealt with the formulation of the charges against Thomas Willingham, the leader of the unit at My Khe 4, and with the dropping of those charges.

I had been disappointed to learn in the Los Angeles Times in August of last year that the records of the Vietnam War Crimes Working Group, to which researchers had been granted access for over a decade, were no longer available. Nevertheless, I was allowed to see some of the records pertaining to the administration and organisation of this group, which suggested some further avenues for my research.

Indeed, perhaps the most productive aspect of my visit was the number of ideas, which it stimulated for further research. I was able, for example, to identify the numbers of the CID files, which related to My Khe 4, information which enabled me to secure copies of these files from the US Army’s Crime Records Center. My stay in America was worthwhile and enjoyable and I would like to express my gratitude to BAAS for making it possible.

Conference and Seminar Announcements

21^st Century American Literature Seminars

Rothermere American Institute,

University of Oxford

The Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford, is pleased to announce for 2007-8 a series of termly seminars devoted to the theory and practice of American literature in the 21^st century. Dr Nicholas Lawrence, University of Warwick, will lead the inaugural seminar on Thursday 22 November at 5 p.m. He will be talking on ‘Premediated Violence: Cartoon Abstraction and Post-9/11 Cultural Form’ and expects to cover some or all of the following texts: Richard A. Grusin, ‘Premediation’; Charles Burns, Black Hole; Deborah Eisenberg, Twilight of the Superheroes; Art Spiegelman, In the Shadow of No Towers; Slavoj Zizek, ‘Welcome to the Desert of the Real’.

All are welcome and refreshments will be provided.

Contact Dr Alison Kelly, Rothermere American Institute

alison.kelly@rai.ox.ac.uk

American Treasures in the British Library

July – 20 September 2007

This summer the British Library highlights some of the American treasures in the collection with a small exhibition that opened on Independence Day. The Library has a large and important collection of books, maps and manuscripts dating from the Colonial period to the current day. Reflecting our long tradition of overseas collecting, the display includes items from the Colonial and Revolutionary eras, such as the Tax Stamps that sparked the revolution, the 17th-century ‘Massachusetts Language Bible,’ plus later artifacts including the Emancipation Proclamation, signed by Abraham Lincoln, the manuscript of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Marble Faun, and some fine examples of modern printing from the USA. The exhibition will be held in the Sir John Ritblat Gallery, The British Library, London.

Borderlands: themes in teaching literatures of the Americas

18 October 2007

Location: University of Birmingham

http://www.bham.ac.uk/about/maps/

This conference is being organised by the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies and the English Subject Centre.

Keynote speakers:

Marcus Wood, Professor of English, University of Sussex

Author: Blind Memory: Visual Representations of Slavery in England and America, 1780-1865 (2000), High Tar Babies (2001), and Slavery, Empathy and Pornography (2002).

Philip Swanson, Professor of Hispanic Studies, University of Sheffield

Author: Latin American Fiction: A Short Introduction (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004) The Companion to Latin American Studies (London: Arnold, 2003)

The physical border between the United States and Mexico has been presented by Gloria Anzaldua as a metaphor for physiological, sexual and spiritual borderlands ‘…which are physically present wherever two or more cultures edge each other, where people of different races occupy the same territory, where under, lower, middle, upper classes touch, where the space between two individuals shrinks with intimacy’ (Anzaldua 1999). This concept of Borderlands is an appropriate metaphor of the multi-lingual, multi-state, multi-racial American continent(s).

Literatures of the Americas are taught students to students on a range of degree programmes, including English literature, American/US Studies, Modern Languages, Canadian Studies, Latin American Studies, Caribbean Studies and Comparative literature. This conference seeks explore themes than run through contemporary and historical literatures across the Americas and how these impact on teaching.

Canadian Association for American Studies Conference 2007

The Americas: Drawing the Lines

Annual conference to be held on 8-11 November 2007 in Montreal.

Please visit our website for more information: http://myweb.dal.ca/js592681/CAAS2007/

EAAS Conference, Oslo, May 2008, Call for Papers

The latest EAAS Newsletter is now online at www.eaas.eu – EAAS Publications American Studies in Europe. Or direct at http://www.eaas.eu/newsletter/ASE58min.pdf.

From page 10 of the Newsletter you will find a complete listing of the 27 Workshops that have been accepted for the conference, all of which are now looking for a multi-national team of paper presenters. The programme gives a wide variety of opportunities to participate, but get your proposals to the Workshop chairs soon ~the final deadline is September 1st, 2007, but experience suggests that chairs like to hear early from colleagues who are interested.

The Fulbright Commission

Europe’s largest recruiting fair for US universities to be held in London, Saturday 29 September 2007.

With the rise of UK tuition fees, many students are now exploring the possibility of studying in the USA. During the 2005-2006 academic year, more than 8,000 students from the UK flew to the US to pursue undergraduate and postgraduate studies.  Fielding approximately 300,000 enquiries about educational and cultural exchange opportunities in the US in the past year, the US Educational Advisory Service (EAS) at the US-UK Fulbright Commission is well aware of this increasing interest and is pleased to announce its 29th annual London College Day. This year’s event will take place on Saturday, 29th September at The New Connaught Rooms, Great Queen Street, London WC2 from 10:00am to 3:00pm.

Europe’s premier US university fair, College Day attracted nearly 5,000 UK and international visitors last year and this year’s event promises to be just as successful.   With nearly 100 universities represented, College Day will provide a valuable opportunity for prospective students to learn about the American university system from admissions officers and alumni. Among the universities participating are Ivy League universities, liberal arts colleges, state universities, community colleges and American universities based in Europe. Any student considering studying in the USA is strongly encouraged to attend. With the introduction of an Internship and Work Experience Village in 2007, College Day will also provide an excellent opportunity for students and recent graduates to find out about work experience opportunities in the USA.

To attend College Day FREE OF CHARGE, attendees will need to register online at www.fulbright.co.uk/eas. Attendees not holding a registration ticket will be charged a fee of £2 on the door.

For further information about College Day or any aspect of study in the US, please call  +44 (0) 20 7404 6994 or e-mail EAS at education@fulbright.co.uk

The U.S. Educational Advisory Service (EAS) is the only officially recognised source of information on U.S. education in the UK and is part of the Education USA global advising network.

Contact Bridget Costello Educational Advisor and Events Manager

+44 (0) 207 539 4402 / bcostello@fulbright.co.uk

Michael Scott Kline Director of Information and Communications

+44 (0) 207 539 4403 / mkline@fulbright.co.uk

New World Cartographies: Mapping America 1500 – 1776

This conference, sponsored by the American Museum in Britain and the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford, will take place on Friday 2 November

& Saturday 3 November 2007 at the American Museum in Britain, Claverton Manor, Bath.

The symposium, which will be held in conjunction with an exhibition of maps of early

America at the Museum, will focus on cartographic representations (and misrepresentations) of America before the Declaration of Independence in 1776 which gave rise to the present-day United States. The plenary address will be given by Professor Matthew H. Edney. His talk is entitled ‘Colonial New England in Multiple Geographical Discourses’. Professor Edney is Director of the History of Cartography Project, Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin and Associate Professor and Faculty Scholar, Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education at the University of Southern Maine. Other themes will include: Theories of Cartography; Native American Cultures; Exploration and Empire; Historicizing Geography. This symposium will be of interest to those interested in the history of exploration and cartography, as well as those involved with the study of early American history, geography and culture.

Registration is now open. For more information, please go to:

http://www.rai.ox.ac.uk/seminars/

Ojibwe Art Exhibtion at the October Gallery

In September, the October Gallery, London, will be showing ‘Oshki-bawaajige – New

Dreaming’, an exhibit featuring the current work of three Native American artists who share an Objibwe heritage: Andrea Carlson, Frank Big Bear, and Star Wallowing

Bull. In addition to the exhibit, which will run from 13 September to 27 October, the Gallery will be hosting two talks, one to be given by Andrea Carlson, a public seminar and two film screenings of Native American films. We are hoping to expand our network of those informed and interested in Ojibwe art, history and culture.

Please feel free to contact the director, Chili Hawes at chili@octobergallery.co.uk for more information. The gallery is open on Tues – Sat, 12:30-5.30pm

Peaceful Multiculturalism or Culture Wars?

8th Annual International Conference of British and American Cultural Studies

The Department of English and American Studies

Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, University of Pardubice, 24 October 2007

The conference fee is 450,- Kc (will help to cover the proceedings + lunch )

NO FEE for the student participants.

Email: sarka.bubikova@upce.cz or Sarka Bubikova, KAA FF, Studentska 84, 532 10 Pardubice, Czech Republic

Please make the conference fee payable to account (na ucet):

KB Pardubice, cis.

uctu: 37030561/0100, variabilni symbol: 1170170002

(foreign participants can pay at the conference registration in cash)

Poetic Ecologies: Nature as Text and Text as Nature in English-Language Verse

Call for Papers

Université Libre de Bruxelles, 14-17 May 2008

In the last fifteen years, the emergence of ecocritical theory has meant a radical challenge to the anthropocentrism and dualism between Culture and Nature inherited from classical humanism.  Likewise, in its attempt to initiate a much more sustained dialogue between literature and the primacy of biological networks posited by Deep Ecology, ecocritical thought has also seriously questioned the very concept of “nature writing” as traditionally understood in the pastoral and Romantic traditions.

Within the framework of an ecocritical paradigm that is still constructing itself, this international four-day conference to be held in Europe’s capital city wishes to explore the multiple and changing forms of ecological and ecocritical consciousness in English-language verse, past and present.  As such, this forum will not only interrogate the very notion of ecology and ask what actually constitutes ‘ecocritical’ and ecologically-engaged poetic practice; various panels/sessions will also seek to shed light on the ever so complex issue of “Nature” versus “Text” and on the possible interrelationships between ecological texts and textual ecologies, between the systems of Nature and those of Culture.

The conference will not privilege any English-speaking poetic tradition in particular, but invites papers from all areas of the Anglophone world, from Canada to the Antipodes.  Poetry will be given precedence over other genres, but papers devoted to texts breaking down the traditional boundaries between prose and verse or exploring poetry within the framework of multimedia experimentation (including digital and performance poetry) are also welcome.  More theoretically-oriented papers whose insights are mainly based on poetics and poetic corpora will likewise be considered.  Contributions from poets addressing the questions of ecological/ecocritical aesthetics and compositional practice are equally encouraged.

Across the wide body of poetry produced in the English language, possible topics and areas of investigation include (but are not limited to) the following:

• “Ecological texts” versus “textual ecologies”
• “Shallow” versus “Deep” Ecology
• The influence of ecological systems on textual ecologies
• Nature as “representation” versus Nature as “process”
• Nature as “simulacrum” versus essentialist visions of the natural world
• The place of human consciousness in the ecological web
• Bioregional sensibilities and the sense of place/space
• Urban and suburban ecologies
• Enclosed versus open spaces
• The “wild” versus the “tamed”
• The concept of landscape: re-invented landscapes, underrepresented landscapes, the interaction between “mindscape” and landscape, “landscape” versus “environment”
• The poetic shattering of the realist-naturalist “mirror of Nature”
• Verse experiments transcending the pastoral legacy; experiments in “cooperative” writing with Nature
• Contemporary ecologically-engaged poetic practices and aesthetics
• The interaction between scientific and poetic discourses
• The fluid boundaries between human and non-human organisms
• The utopia of biocentrism; the myth of anthropocentrism
• Eco-metaphors and the problem of translating Nature into Language
• Evolving images/metaphors of Nature within a given culture; parallel and contrastive images/metaphors of Nature across different cultures and poetic traditions
• Postcolonial challenges to traditional understandings of categories like “wilderness,” “species,” and “dwelling”; re-invented images of the postcolonial wilderness and of the “natural Other”
• The possible intersections between postcolonial and ecological discourses of emancipation
• Ecofeminist perspectives
• Mysticism, “ecopieties” and nature religions from First Nations to postmodernity
• Judeo-Christian versus non-theistic discourses on Nature
• The search for a possible site of reconciliation between Nature and Culture

The conference will include a series of plenary lectures by noted scholars and poets as well as a number of parallel paper sessions.  To further enhance the sense of eco-community amongst the participants, the programme will also fuse praxis and pleasure by offering, on the Friday afternoon, an outing to the estate of Meise, which houses the national botanical gardens of Belgium, listed as one of the most important botanical collections in the world.

A selection of papers presented at the conference will be published in conference proceedings.

Twenty-minute paper proposals should be received no later than 31 October 2007.  Please kindly e-mail abstracts of approximately 250-300 words, together with a short biography, in RTF format to:

Dr Franca Bellarsi

Université Libre de Bruxelles

Department of Modern Languages and Literatures

fbellars@ulb.ac.be

Acceptance of proposals will be notified in the second half of November 2007 so as to allow the authors of selected submissions to apply for travel funding from their universities in due course. 

Rothermere American Institute: Esmond Harmsworth Lecture, 2007

The 2007 Esmond Harmsworth Lecture in American Arts and Letters will be given at the

RAI on Tuesday 9th October at 5pm by ROBERT VENTURI, the distinguished American architect who is also the author of “Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture,” “Learning from Las Vegas” and other key works of postmodern architectural theory. The title of his talk will be “Architecture as Paradox Within the Urban Complex: Viva Architectural Form as Symbolic and Architectural Technology as Universal in our Mannerist Time.” The lecture will be followed by a reception at the Rothermere American Institute, 1A South Parks Road, Oxford. Admission is free, but pre-registration is required. To guarantee a seat, please e-mail the Assistant Director, Tim Pottle, at assistant.director@rai.ox.ac.uk 

SASA Conference Call for Papers

The Andrew Hook Centre for American Studies at the University of Glasgow is hosting the ninth annual conference of SASA on February 8th, 2008. Proposals are therefore invited from staff and postgraduate students whose research focuses on the study of America. Proposals are invited from scholars in all disciplines, such as (but not limited to) literature, history, film, politics, religious studies and international relations.

Proposals must include a provisional title and contact details, and should not exceed the length of one page. Panel submissions as well as individual papers are welcomed. Proposals should be submitted no later than November 15th, 2007, by either email or post, to Rachael McLennan, who can be contacted for further information at the addresses below:

Dr Rachael McLennan

The Andrew Hook Centre for American Studies

University of Glasgow

1 University Gardens

Glasgow

G12 8QQ

sasa2008@arts.gla.ac.uk

Transatlantic Women: Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers in England, Call for Papers

Rothermere American Institute

Accommodation at St. Catherine’s College

Oxford University

16-20 July 2008

Proposals deadline: October 1 2007

Sponsored by the Harriet Beecher Stowe Society, the Catharine Maria Sedgwick

Society, and the Margaret Fuller Society

It is increasingly apparent that nineteenth-century women moved – culturally, intellectually, and geographically – in a transatlantic, even global world.  This conference will highlight and examine these literary and corporeal circulations.

England was the nation most visited and its authors most read by Americans; England also served as the frequent gateway, both in Americans’ reading and in their travels, to Europe.  Conference organizers solicit papers that examine the broad range of nineteenth-century American women writers’ engagements with England, especially, but also with Europe.  Possible topics include:

• Tourism, travel, destinations, geographies
• Mobility and labor: e.g., Nancy Prince in Russia, Jacobs in England, Alcott as travel companion
• Industrial site visits; educational, medical, and correctional institutions and movements
• Reform and activist engagements: Peace Congresses; Exeter Hall anti-slavery meetings; women’s rights and suffrage organizations: e.g., Ellen Craft, Julia Ward Howe
• Contacts, correspondences with English and European writers: e.g., Sedgwick
• Reading English and European texts in the US: e.g., Charlotte Grimke’s journals, Stoddard Translations, revisions of English and European writers
• English and European writers’ readings of American women writers
• Expatriates: e.g., Woolson
• Literary celebrity tours; ethnic and cultural performances at expositions: e.g. Stowe, Zitkala-Sa
• Transatlantic literary networking: e.g., Annie Fields, Frances Osgood
• Childhood travel or residence and later writings: e.g., Susan Fenimore Cooper, Sui Sin Far, Wharton
• Women journalists and periodical writers in England and Europe: e.g., Kirkland, Greenwood
• Discussions of English and European politics and political economy: e.g., Fuller
• Travel and religious belief, conversion, sectarianism, conflict
• The body abroad – health, invalidism, travel, sexuality, residencies: e.g., Alice James
• Tourism and whiteness, representations of race and ethnicity in Europe
• Genres: travel writing, fiction, autobiography, reform tracts, lyric poems, speeches, exposes, etc.
• Aesthetics, visual culture, performance art, exhibitions: commentary on art, landscape, architecture, music, theater, opera, ballet, folk performances, museums, commemorative and memorial sites
• Issues of publication, the quest for an international copyright law: e.g., Southworth

All conference participants must be members of at least one of the sponsoring author societies at the time of registration.  For further information about the conference contact the conference director: Beth Lueck, President of the Stowe Society, at lueckb@uww.edu

Email 250-word proposals and 1-page CVs by October 1, 2007 to the chair of the

program committee: Brigitte Bailey Brigitte.Bailey@unh.edu

Woody Guthrie: Hard Times and Hard Travellin’

An hour-long performance/lecture by Will Kaufman

Planning next year’s teaching? Woody sez: ‘Let me help you out.’ 2007 marks the 40^th anniversary of Woody Guthrie’s passing: a good time for a re-acquaintance with the man and his music. Woody Guthrie: Hard Times and Hard Travellin’ is an hour-long performance/lecture by Will Kaufman, setting Guthrie’s songs in the historical context of the American 1930 – the Dust Bowl, the Depression, the New Deal and the state of popular music itself. ‘No one can understand the American people without listening to Woody Guthrie. Will Kaufman’s doing important work here’ (Tom Paxton).

Will Kaufman is a Reader in English and American Studies at the University of Central Lancashire and has been a semi-professional folksinger and musician for over thirty years.

For more detailed information, including testimonials, please see:

http://www.uclan.ac.uk/facs/class/humanities/staff/kaufman1.htm

To book the presentation for your students, research seminars or academic conferences, contact Will at wkaufman@uclan.ac.uk

No speaker’s fee requested – just cover the expenses!

US Foreign Policy Conference, Chancellors Conference Centre,

University of Manchester, 20-21 September 2007

See: http://www.socialsciences.man.ac.uk/politics/events/

The link will permit you to look at the draft programme and to register for the conference and to book accommodation. Any problems or queries, email

Professor Inderjeet Parmar inderjeet.parmar@manchester.ac.uk

There are around 30 postgraduate bursaries available – each of which will pay the full two days’ conference fee (£150). E-mail Inderjeet.Parmar@manchester.ac.uk stating name, thesis title, supervisor’s name, department and university affiliation, and a couple of paragraphs on what they would get from attending the conference and how they would contribute to the event and the US FP WG in general.

Professor Inderjeet Parmar

Head of Politics

School of Social Sciences

The University of Manchester

Oxford Road

Manchester M13 9PL

Tel 0161 275 3056

Fax 0161 275 4925

New Members

Susana Araújo is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Sussex and the University of Lisbon, Her interests are contemporary literature, visual culture and politics. She has published widely on contemporary literature and on the relations between visual culture and politics. She has a book on Joyce Carol Oates forthcoming and is currently working on her second monograph on contemporary literature and visual culture.

Raymond Arsenault is the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History and co-director of the Florida Studies Program at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg. His primary scholarly interests include the American South in the 20^th Century, the Civil Rights movement, and environmental history.

Michael P. Bibler received his PhD from Tulane University and his work concentrates on the racialised constructions of queer relationships and identities in the literature of the American South. He has published articles in Mississippi Quarterly and the edited volume Perversion and the Social Relation (Duke). He is the co-editor of Just Below South: Intercultural Performance in the Caribbean and the US South (University of Virgina Press), and he has an article on Hurricane Katrina forthcoming in Southern Cultures. He is currently finishing revisions to a book manuscript which is entitled Cotton’s Queer Relations: Homosexuality, Race and Social Equality in the Literature of the Southern Plantation.

Stefania Ciocia teaches at Canterbury Christ Church University, in the field of twentieth-century and contemporary literature. Her background is broadly comparativist, as testified by her interest in cross-cultural influences in postcolonial writing on either side of the Atlantic (Derek Walcott and Caryl Phillips, in particular). Her main research project at the moment is a monograph on Tim O’ Brien for Liverpool University Press.

Joseph Crespino, assistant professor of history at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, is the author of In Search of Another Country: Mississippi and the Conservative Counterrevolution (Princeton, 2007).

Andrew Dix lectures in nineteenth- and twentieth-century American literature at Loughborough University. He has published essays and book chapters in Twain, Steinbeck and Sherman Alexie, and co-edited Figures of Heresy: Radical Theology in English and American Writing, 1800-2000 (Sussex Academic Press, 2006). He is currently completing Beginning Film Studies for Manchester University Press.

Brooke Mann Esparza is a third-year American Ph.D. student at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she also serves as course tutor, teaching nineteenth-century American literature. Her dissertation is on the fictional and editorial writings of Pauline Hopkins and Jessie Fauset, whose work highlights American racial politics, gender, and spatiality, and which elucidates the well-known Harlem Renaissance movement. Her other research interests include the African-American (ex)/slave narrative, Latin American and South African literature, especially the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Athol Fugard.

Rowena Edlin-White completed her PhD at the University of Nottingham in 2004, which focused on the writer Kate Douglas Wiggin (1856-1923). She is currently researching Wiggin’s associations with Britain and Ireland and lecturing in the UK and the US in celebration of the author’s 150^th anniversary. Rowena has published children’s fiction, adult non-fiction, and a selection of anthologies and articles.

Kristin Ewins is writing a thesis on politicised women’s writing of the 1930s at St Hilda’s College, Oxford.

Jessica Gibbs is a temporary lecturer in American History at the University of Reading. She completed her PhD in US Policy towards Cuba (1989-1996) in 2005 and is currently preparing her thesis for publication in Routledge’s Studies in US Foreign Policy series. It is provisionally titled United States-Cuban Relations Since the End of the Cold War. Her research interests include US foreign policy, particularly hemispheric relations and the links between domestic politics and foreign policymaking, US immigration and refugee policy.

Otared Haidar is a Syrian writer and journalist living the UK. She completed her DPhil in Arabic and comparative literature and theory at the University of Oxford in 2005. She teaches Arabic at the Oriental Institute at Oxford.

Oliver Harris is Professor of American Literature at Keele University, where he has taught courses on the Beat Generation, the 1960s counterculture, and postwar American cinema (Hitchcock, film noir, etc.). His research expertise is as a scholar and editor in the field of William Burroughs criticism and his publications include the monograph William Burroughs and the Secret of Fascination, an edition of Burroughs’s letters and two new editions of his early novels, Junky and The Yage Letters.

Ruth Hawthorn is currently undertaking a taught M.Litt in American Studies at the University of Glasgow.

Fabian Hilfrich is a lecturer in American History at the University of Edinburgh, focusing on US diplomatic and international history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He is especially interested in the cultural and ideological foundations of diplomatic history. He received his PhD from the Free University of Berlin for a thesis entitled “‘Nation’ and ‘Democracy’: Representations of the American Self in the Debates on American Imperialism (1898-1900) and on the Vietnam War (1964-1968)”. His current research examines transatlantic relations in the 1970s and their impact on multinational institutions such as NATO and the then EEC. His work has appeared in numerous edited volumes.

John Howard is Professor of American Studies at King’s College London.

Ian Hunter, who publishes as I.Q. Hunter, is Principal Lecturer and Subject Leader in Film Studies at De Monfort University, Leicester. He edited British Science Fiction Cinema (Routledge, 1999) and co-edited Pulping Fictions (1996), Trash Aesthetics (1997), Sisterhoods (1998), Alien Identities (1999), Classics (2000), Retrovisions (2001) and Brit Invaders! (2004). He has published widely on exploitation, horror and cult films and is currently writing a British Film Guide to A Clockwork Orange for IB Tauris.

Anthony Hutchison currently teaches American Thought and Culture at the University of Nottingham. He completed his PhD at Nottingham in 2004 on the relationship between the political novel and the US liberal political tradition. An expanded version of this work will be published by Columbia University Press in September 2007. He is currently pursuing research in the area of intellectual heterodoxy in the Anglo-American Left.

Brian Ireland earned his BA in Humanities and an MA in American Studies at the University of Ulster. In 2004 he graduated from the University of Hawaii with a PhD in American Studies. His dissertation was on depictions of the US military in Hawaii, specifically portrayals of the military in memorials, movies, newspapers, museums and in military writing. He is currently a lecturer in American history at the University of Glamorgan. He teaches a wide variety of subjects including American popular culture, the Vietnam War in literature, cinema and documentary, the US in the 1960s, the literature and cinema of the road genre, and the African American experience amongst other topics. Current and future research interests are the activities of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association in Cardiff in the early part of the twentieth century, the response of American Science fiction writers to the Vietnam War and the reaction of American socialists to the ‘Bonus March’ on Washington in 1932.

Aine Kelly did her primary degree at Trinity College Dublin and her Masters at Queen’s University Belfast. She is now a first year PhD student in the School of American and Canadian Studies at Nottingham. Her thesis moves between the poetry of Wallace Stevens and the philosophy of Richard Rorty and Stanley Cavell.

Daniel Koch is a third year doctoral student working on Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Revolutions of 1848 at Oxford University. He has also done work on the Oneida Community in upstate New York.

Anouk Lang is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Birmingham. She is working in the AHRC-funded project, Beyond the Book: Contemporary Cultures of reading in the UK, the US, and Canada. Her interests include literary modernism, postcolonial studies, Canadian literature and reading practices in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Nick Lawrence teaches American writing and culture at the University of Warwick. His research interests include: US literature and culture from the nineteenth century to the present, especially within a global context; Hawthorne and Whitman; Marxism, the Frankfurt School and critical media theory; post-9/11 literary and graphic culture; contemporary innovative poetry and ecopoetics. His recent work includes articles on Whitman, Hawthorne, Frank O’Hara, Ronald Johnson, and literary testimony. He has edited a special feature on the work of Bruce Andrews for Jacket magazine and has co-edited a bilingual anthology of innovative North American poetry for the Casa de Letras in Havana. He is the co-editor, with Marta Werner, of Ordinary Mysteries: The Common Journal of Nathaniel and Sophia Hawthorne (American Philosophical Society).

Mark Ledwidge has recently completed a PhD entitled ‘Race, African Americans and US Foreign Policy’ at the University of Manchester. He is currently the course convenor for an MA on contemporary US foreign policy at Manchester. He also teaches History at Edge Hill University, examining significant political, social and economic events of the twentieth century.

Kaeten Mistry is completing a PhD at the University of Birmingham on US foreign policy towards Italy at the origins of the Cold War, with particular emphasis on the concept of Political Warfare. He has recently published a piece on the subject in Cold War History. He has been educated in the UK, US and Italy, and has undertaken archival research in Europe and America. He also co-edits 49^th Parallel. His general research interests cover US foreign policy in the twentieth century, particularly the early Cold War.

Helen Mitchell graduated from Northumbria University in 2006 with a degree in Human Organisations. She is currently enlisted at Northumbria on a PhD programme, researching women’s centers in the US. She has recently returned from the research trip to the States where she examined the historical evolution of women’s centers.

George B. Murgatroyd holds a BA degree from the University of Leeds in English and Philosophy. He is currently writing a Masters thesis entitled ‘From the Jungle to the Streets of New York: The Portrayal of Black Culture and Characters in the Work of Eugene O’Neill and Carl Van Vechten’, I will continue his research at Lancaster University with a doctoral thesis which will analyse the interracial literary relationships of the Harlem Renaissance.

John O’Brien is currently a PhD student at the University of Leeds. His research focuses on the life writing and occasional writing of Norman Mailer, Grace Paley and Kurt Vonnegut. Other interests include the theory of laughter and literary humour.

Richard O’Brien is a doctoral candidate at Leeds Metropolitan University. His research focuses on Saul Bellow’s association with the Partisan Review and the New York Intellectuals during the 1930s-1950s. He is specifically interested in novelist’s politics and the extent to which his much-altered ideology emerged within his fictions.

Patrick O’Toole is currently a senior political science student at Stonehill College. He has spent the last several months working with Professor Ubertaccio completing a research agenda relating to the marketing strategies employed by American political parties in the 2002, 2004 and 2006 elections. His personal subject interests lie primarily in international conflict resolution and he plans to attend graduate school in Peace Studies upon completion of his undergraduate degree.

Jenna Pitchford is a doctoral research student at Nottingham Trent University. The working title for her thesis is ‘Writing Global Conflict: US Identity in Persian Gulf and Iraq War Literature’. She is currently planning a research trip for July 2007 to consult collections at the Library of Congress, Washington D.C. and the Thomas J. Dodd Center at the University of Connecticut.

Kevin Power is in the final year of a PhD on the fiction and non-fiction of Norman Mailer from 1948-1968. He is based at the School of English and Drama at University College Dublin.

Sebastian Rauschner is a PhD candidate at the cross-disciplinary Research Center for Biographical Studies in Contemporary Religion, based at the Faculty of History, Philosophy and Theology, University of Bielefeld/Germany. He holds an MA in Education from the University of Muenster/Germany and was a full-time visiting postgraduate (now part-time postgraduate student) at the Andrew Hook Centre for American Studies/University of Glasgow during the Fall/Winter term 2006/07. He will be completing his PhD on ‘The Fascination of Death and Melancholia in Post-Adolescent Youth-Cultures’ in December 2007, and an additional M.Litt in American Studies at Glasgow University in the Fall 2008.

Jarod Roll is a historian of the United States after the Civil War whose interests and writing focus on the intersection of race, work and protest in the political economy of rural America. He has a PhD (2006) and an MA (2001) in history from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, as well as a BA (2000) from Missouri Southern State College. His PhD dissertation ‘Road to the Promised Land: Rural Rebellion in the New Cotton South, 1890-1945’ explores how African Americans and white farmers created a grassroots radicalism to defend agrarian traditions against the rise of capital-intensive agriculture in the lowlands of southeast Missouri. Parts of this research have already appeared in the Journal of Southern History, Labor History, Radical History Review, and Missouri Historical Review. A native of the Ozarks, he has recently taken up a lectureship in American Studies at the University of Sussex.

Clare Russell is a doctoral candidate at the University of Nottingham, working on Professor peter Ling’s AHRC funded project on social capital in the SCLC’s Citizenship Education Program in South Carolina. In addition to civil rights history, she is interested in women’s studies (especially African American women’s history and women’s health) and social welfare.

James A. Russell holds a PhD in Film Studies from the university of East Anglia, published as The Historical Epic and Contemporary Hollywood (2006). This project was based in archival research carried out in Los Angeles and New York. He has published several other articles in film studies journals and edited collections. His research explores the influence and intersection of individual, social and economic factors on the production of Hollywood movies since the 1930s, and his latest work examines Hollywood’s attempt to address religious viewers in the US since 9/11.

Maria Ryan is a final year PhD student at the University of Birmingham. Her doctoral thesis examines the influence of neoconservative intellectuals and their networks on the state and extent of their contributions to post-Cold war ‘grand strategy.’ She has recently published articles on the CIA, neoconservatives and the politicization of intelligence as well as neoconservatives in the Reagan administration.

Robert Self is Reader in Contemporary History at London Metropolitan University. His recently published book, Britain, America and the War Debt Controversy 1917-1941 (2006), involved considerable archival research on both sides on the Atlantic. An article on the British ‘official mind’ and perceptions of the United States appeared in the June 2007 edition of the International History Review. This is part if a far larger comparative study of the belief systems and ‘mental maps’ employed by foreign policymakers n Whitehall and Washington when considering their counterparts on the other side of the Atlantic.

Bevan Sewell is currently studying for a PhD in American Foreign Policy at De Monfort University. She began this research after completing an MPhil at Birmingham. Her thesis is entitled ‘A Global Policy in a Regional Setting: the Eisenhower Administration, Latin America and Brazil, 1953-1961’ and is a re-examination of US foreign policy towards Latin America during the Eisenhower era. In researching the thesis, Bevan traveled to the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas, and to the National Archives at College Park, Maryland. Her wider research interests are in the origins of the Cold War and in re-

assessing the full range of aims and intentions underpinning US foreign policy in the post WWII period.

Jess Thomas is currently finishing her final year at St Martins College, Lancaster in English and Religious Studies. In the next academic year she is hoping to complete a PGCE and then undertake an MA. Her field of interest is American literature, which she hopes to study as a postgraduate.

David Turton is a PhD student in the School of English at the University of Sheffield researching the work on Thomas Pynchon in relation to Cold War culture and schizophrenia.

Robert Ward lectures in American Literature at the University of Cumbria. He received his doctorate from the University of Leeds in 2001 for a thesis on Nelson Algren. His interests include the 1930s, prisons, and cities, and he is currently writing a monograph on James Leo Herlihy for South Carolina University Press.

Anthony Warde received his BA and his MA from the University of Limerick. His research interests include contemporary American fiction and narrative theory. His publications include ‘One was a Woman, the Other, a Man: A Psychoanalytic Study of Sexual Identity in the Novels of Toni Morrison’ in The AnaChronisT, the literary journal of the Department of English Studies at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest (2005). He is currently conducting research for a PhD thesis titled ‘All is telling: Narrative as Theme, Technique and Theory in Cormac McCarthy’s post-Appalachian Novels’. This study proposes that Cormac McCarthy’s post-Appalachian novels (from Blood Meridian to The Road), although varied in their settings and subject matter, are linked by an emphasis on the essentiality of narrative; and that this privileging of narrative is reflected not only by thematic and textual indexes, but also by an implicit narrative ‘theory’ developed and espoused throughout these works.

Rebecca Weir is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge researching Civil War writing (1861-70), particularly newspaper reportage.

Members’ Publications

Peter Coates of the University of Bristol has recently published Salmon (Reaktion Books, 2006) and American Perceptions of Immigrant and Invasive Species: Strangers on the Land (University of California Press, 2007).

Richard Crockatt has recently published After 9/11: Cultural Dimensions of American Global Power (Routledge, June 2007).

Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones of the University of Edinburgh has recently published The FBI: A History (Yale University Press, 2007)

John A. Kirk of Royal Holloway has recently published Beyond Little Rock: The Origins and Legacies of the Central High Crisis (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2007) and the edited collection Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement: Controversies and Debates (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).

Members’ News

Peter Coates has been appointed to a Chair in American and Environmental History at the University of Bristol.

Edinburgh Critical Guides to Literature

Announcing the launch of a new series from Edinburgh University Press of critical texts which seek to initiate and deepen readers’ understanding of key literary movements, periods and genres, and to consider debates that inform the past, present and future of literary study. The first four titles in this broad series are released in September 2007 and will be very interesting to the American Studies community.

The four titles are:             Canadian Literature (Faye Hammill, Cardiff University)

Contemporary American Drama (Annette J. Saddik, SUNY)

Women’s Poetry (Jo Gill, Exeter University)

Gothic Literature (Andrew Smith, Glamorgan University).

For further details about the Edinburgh Critical Guides to Literature series, forthcoming titles and new commissions please contact the series editors: Professor Martin Halliwell, University of Leicester (mrh17@le.ac.uk) or Dr Andrew Mousley, De Montfort University (amousley@dmu.ac.uk).

Fellowship Opportunities

British Academy Fellowships for Study in the USA

The British Academy has partnership arrangements with three American institutions, the Huntington Library, the Newberry Library, and the American Philosophical Society. Fellowships are available providing airfare and a maintenance allowance for one-to-three months of research by postdoctoral researchers at the Huntington, the Newberry, or at any libraries in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. These awards are not particularly well known, and may not be as competitive as other British Academy awards. They should be of particular interest to BAAS members.

Information about the Huntington Library can be found at

http://www.huntington.org/LibraryDiv/LibraryHome.html

Situated in San Marino, on the western outskirts of Los Angeles, it is the most significant research library in the western United States, with particular strengths in literature; early American history; Native American studies; and western history and literature.

The Newberry Library is situated on the near north side of Chicago, and is an equally significant private research library, with particular strengths in the exploration and settlement of the Americas; the history, literature and culture of Chicago and the Midwest, and Native American studies. More information about the library can be found at

http://www.newberry.org/collections/L3coverdesc.html

The American Philosophical Society is adjacent to Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Its fellowship allows study at any research libraries in the greater Philadelphia area, including the libraries at the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University; the Library Company of Philadelphia; the Free Library of Philadelphia; and libraries within easy reach of the city including Princeton University and the Winterthur Museum and Library in Delaware.

More information about the awards and the application process can be found at

http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/intl/usa.html

The application deadline is 15 January for awards over the following research year (1 July to 30 June).

Brown University Fellowships

The John Carter Brown Library in Providence, Rhode Island, offers fellowships of varying lengths to doctoral candidates completing their dissertations and to more advanced scholars. Our definition of “Americana” includes printed materials about America as well as works by Americans.  We annually award about 33 fellowships of varying lengths for those in a wide range of fields.  A list of publications based on research here by previous fellows is available on our web site.

Stipends for short-term fellowships are $2,000 a month, $4,000 for long-term fellowships.  We have just opened a new scholars’ residence offering furnished accommodation at below local market rates.

Complete information is available on our web site www.JCBB.org or you are welcome to ask me for further details about our program.  If you have not been receiving our fellowship flyers and would like to, please let us know.

Nan Sumner-Mack Nan_Sumner-Mack@brown.edu

The Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford

The Rothermere American Institute is a centre for research in the field of American studies based at the University of Oxford, UK.  It houses a major library, seminar rooms, and offices for Fellows.  The Institute was opened in 2001 by former US President Bill Clinton.

We are now inviting scholars to apply for fellowships to commence from September 2008. We offer fellowships for up to one year; however appointments may be awarded for shorter time periods.

No stipends are offered, but new and efficient offices are provided to scholars, including computers, phones and access to administrative support. We also offer travel grants for research purposes with a value of up to £500. During the periods when the colleges of the University are in operation, we provide Senior Fellows with common room rights at one of the neighbouring colleges.

For more details and an application form, please visit our website at http://www.rai.ox.ac.uk/scholars/application.html, or contact the Assistant Director at the Rothermere American Institute, 1A South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3TG, United Kingdom.

Tel:  +44 1865 282 710

Fax: +44 1865 282 720

Email: assistant.director@rai.ox.ac.uk

Website: www.rai.ox.ac.uk

Selwyn College, Cambridge:

Keasbey Research Fellowship in American Studies

Selwyn College invites applications for a Keasbey Research Fellowship in American Studies tenable for three years from 1 October 2008.

The Fellowship is open to candidates in any area of American Studies. Further particulars, an application form, an equal opportunities monitoring form and forms for use by referees are available on the College website  http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/ or from the Master’s Assistant, Selwyn College, Cambridge CB3 9DQ (tel: +44 (0)1223 335890, Email: masters-assistant@sel.cam.ac.uk

The closing date for applications is Monday 8 October 2007.

Awards Opportunities

BAAS Annual Book Prize 2008

The British Association for American Studies is delighted to announce the fourth annual book prize. The £500 prize will be awarded for the best published book in American Studies this year. To be eligible for the 2008 BAAS Book Prize, books must be have been published in English between 1 January 2007 and 1 December 2007 and authors must be members of BAAS. The prize will be announced at the annual meeting of the British Association for American Studies at the University of Edinburgh, March 2008. Authors or publishers may submit the book, three copies of which should be sent by 21st December 2007 to:

Dr. Ian Scott, English and American Studies Subject Area, School of Arts, Histories and Cultures, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, MANCHESTER, M13 9PL

Edited collections not allowed, co-author pieces accepted.  

Peter Boyle BAAS MA Teaching Assistantships 2008-2010

Applications are invited for the Peter Boyle BAAS Teaching Assistantships in American History at the University of New Hampshire and in American Literature at the University of Virginia. For the first time in 2008, these awards are to be named after Peter Boyle who has been instrumental in their founding, as well as being a dedicated colleague working on behalf of BAAS for many years. Candidates will normally be final year undergraduates, but applications will also be accepted from recent graduates.

A Teaching Assistantship consists of the award for two years, which provides an income sufficient to cover living expenses, plus remission of tuition fees, while the recipient of the Teaching Assistantship pursues graduate study for an M.A. Teaching duties take up approximately half of the working time of a Teaching Assistant, consisting of taking about four tutorial groups for discussion sessions each week and marking essay and exams.

University of Virginia

Applicants should be students in English or American Studies at a British university who plan to pursue postgraduate work in American literature. The Teaching Assistantship involves taking part in discussion sections and marking essays and exams in undergraduate courses. The financial remuneration covers living costs quite comfortably, while at the same time there is remission of tuition fees for the M.A.

University of New Hampshire

Applicants should be students in History or American Studies at a British university who plan to pursue post-graduate work in American History. The Teaching Assistantship involves discussion sections and marking essays and exams in undergraduate courses. The financial remuneration covers living costs quite comfortably, while at the same time there is remission of tuition fees for the M.A.

Procedure

Applicants will be received by a BAAS panel, which will draw up a short-list for an interview in mid-December. Candidates should be prepared to attend interview at the University of Manchester between December 17-22nd. The recommendation of the panel needs to be ratified by the University of New Hampshire and the University of Virginia. The successful candidates will then be accepted, without the necessity of the very elaborate and expensive process that is involved in applying directly to an American university for a Teaching Assistantship. The successful candidates would begin their studies at the University of Virginia and the University of New Hampshire in September 2008 for the two years, 2008-2010.

Applicants should send the following by Friday, December 7th, 2007 to Dr. Ian Scott, English and American Studies Subject Area, School of Arts, Histories and Cultures, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, MANCHESTER, M13 9PL

(1) a curriculum vitae, (2) transcript of undergraduate work, (3) reason for applying (no more than 500 words), (4) two letters of recommendation (in sealed envelopes).

BAAS members are asked to encourage applications for the Peter Boyle BAAS Teaching Assistantships from suitably qualified students.  

BAAS Postgraduate Short-Term Awards and Founders’ Research Travel Awards for 2008-2009

BAAS would like to invite applicants interested in either one of these schemes to submit applications for the new round of awards to be formally announced at the annual BAAS Conference in Edinburgh in March 2008.

The Postgraduate Short-Term awards consider applicants at postgraduate level or who have recently completed a doctorate to submit proposals for a research trip, or conference participation, to North America. BAAS has a number of named awards as well as additional STAs to supplement such trips. A new named Abraham Lincoln Award has been added to the current roster of awards for 2008.

The BAAS Founders’ awards consider applications from established and senior academics who wish to pursue a research project by means of a trip to consult papers/archives etc in North America and/or who are presenting work at a conference that is part of an ongoing research agenda.

The details for both schemes can be found on the BAAS website at http://www/baas.ac.uk/awards/award.asp

The closing date for both awards schemes is Friday 14th December 2007.

All enquiries to: Dr. Ian Scott, English and American Studies Subject Area, School of Arts, Histories and Cultures, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, MANCHESTER, M13 9PL

Publishing Opportunities

New Journal Announcement: Writing Technologies

Issue 1.1 of Writing Technologies has just been published. Writing Technologies is an online, peer-reviewed academic journal, which publishes research on the relationship between technology and textuality. It focuses on the place of technology in both established and emerging literature (including not only its thematic treatment but also its role in the production and dissemination of texts), and assesses recent critical and theoretical debates about writing’s technological locations. The journal is published on a biannual basis, and can be accessed at: http://www.ntu.ac.uk/writing_technologies/index.html

We are seeking articles for volume 2.1 (March 2008), as well as for subsequent issues, and invite you to consider Writing Technologies as a location for your current and future research.

Dr Daniel Cordle – daniel.cordle@ntu.ac.uk

Dr Phil Leonard – philip.leonard@ntu.ac.uk

Call for Special Editors: British Records Relating to America in Microform (BRRAM) Series

Special editors are needed for new titles in the BRRAM series, published under the aegis of BAAS since the 1960s, with Professor Kenneth Morgan of Brunel University the current General Editor. The series comprises images from a wide range of primary sources on North America and the West Indies from collections around the British Isles. Projects at present being explored relate to manuscript materials on Canada from the National Library of Scotland. Ideas are also welcome for other unpublished collections, perhaps related to current doctoral or postdoctoral research. The principal duties of the special editor are to make a selection of documents to be microfilmed from a collection and to produce a introduction outlining the provenance, content and scholarly significance of the archive.

For further details, contact Dr Roderic Vassie (rvassie@microform.co.uk), Head of Publishing at Microform Academic Publishers.

BAAS Executive Committee Meeting: 8 April 2010

Minutes of the 262nd Meeting of the Executive Committee, held at the University of East Anglia on 8 April 2010 at 10.30am.

1. Present: H Macpherson (Chair), M Halliwell (Vice Chair), C Morley (Secretary), T Saxon (Treasurer), C Bates, I Bell, S Castillo, M Collins, P Davies, D Ellis, J Fagg, G Lewis, S MacLachlan.

Apologies: W Kaufman, R Mason, I Morgan and M Whalan.

2.  Minutes of the Previous Meeting

After some minor amendments, these were accepted as a true record and will now go on the website.

3.  Matters Arising

Action List Review

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

4.  Chair’s Business (HM reporting)

HM made the following announcements:

(a) Announcements

• Professor Peter Messent has received the American Studies Network Book Prize for his book Mark Twain and Male Friendship book (the prize is to be split between him and Professor Christopher Bigsby).
• US Ambassador Louis B Susman visited the University of Birmingham on 25 February and during his visit gave a talk on the achievements of and challenges facing Barack Obama’s foreign policy.
• The University of Birmingham’s library has agreed to house the Books Across the Sea collection in its Special Collections. The project commenced during the Second World War, in 1940, as a cultural and literary exchange set up to counter the loss of transatlantic published book transmission because of pressure on transatlantic cargo space for more strategic goods. Books Across the Sea was founded by Beatrice Warde to help draw the USA into the war following the fall of France by countering the effects of Nazi propaganda upon expatriate Americans, though, later it also catered for the reading appetites of US servicemen.
• The University of Northampton has benefited from a substantial donation made by one of their former students, Mr. James Byrom. He has directed that the money be used to support students’ visits to the USA, for the purposes of study, research or internships.
• HM announced the deaths of long time members of BAAS, Jack Pole and Allan Lloyd Smith.

(b) Correspondence

• HM received the February and March editions of the Academy of Social Sciences e-bulletin (which previously circulated by email).
• HM announced that King’s College London has entered into a formal consultation period regarding restructuring and redundancies. As noted in an earlier email circulated to the Exec, John Howard has explicitly connected this result with the efforts of the BAAS executive and other AS colleagues in their support of the Department.

(c) Invitations

• HM attended an ISA conference on 25 February. Iwan Morgan’s book The Age of Deficits was launched after the event.
• HM attended the meeting of Associate Fellows of the ISA (US Specialists) on 10 March. She undertook to ensure a free advertisement in ASIB regarding their book series (which has a heavy Latin American focus) for the benefit of members and to continue to work closely with the ISA regarding strategic links and opportunities.

(d) Consultations and Activities

• As requested at the last Executive meeting, HM nominated John Fagg to the LLAS board and his nomination was accepted. He replaces Will Kaufman on the board.
• The REF interim consultation results have been published and colleagues are invited to look them over. They seem to indicate that individuals will need to submit four outputs for the REF but have yet to announce the final deadline (likely 2013-2014). The Impact pilot study is ongoing at the moment (assessed in April and May) and results will be available in May.
• As Chair, HM has been invited to nominate individuals for Queen’s honours. The Association has been notified that nominations will be accepted from BAAS twice a year. HM suggested that colleagues forward any ideas to the Secretary and the new Chair, bearing in mind that nominations must remain anonymous. HM noted that it would be good to suggest someone to raise the profile of American Studies.
• HM noted that she had conducted a short review of the CD roms, how they were used and what feedback colleagues had. Not all of those individuals and institutions who received CD-roms responded to this request for information. However, 8 replies were received. Hull, Birmingham, Nottingham, UCLAN, Liverpool and Swansea give it out at Open Days and encourage students to pass on to careers advisers. Birmingham additionally gives it out to Schools outreach events and at meetings with careers advisers. The Eccles Centre gave the CD directly to teachers and to pupils who attended the Congress to Campus conferences and History teachers’ seminars and this seems to be an innovative way forward. The ASRC receives requests for the CD (and Get Set for American Studies) via its website. The Director of ASRC noted that she was aware of at least one student who wanted to do AS but was encouraged by her parents to read Law. However, after viewing the CD, she applied for and was accepted onto an AS programme. Colleagues from Hull noted that when they were giving them out, some candidates noted they already had one. Most respondents noted that they liked the project but were unable to assess what students thought, as they had not have any feedback. Representatives from Liverpool specifically thanked BAAS for the important role  the Association played in disseminating the CDs and in paying for colleagues to get them. Swansea indicated a desire for more; UCLAN noted that they still had over a third of their CD allocation yet to distribute. Swansea said their allocation lasted a year and a half, and they would like to receive more. DE noted that there are still about 1250 left and would arrange for more to be sent to Swansea, and he indicated that the possibility of reprinting exists. The Exec would need to make a decision about whether another expenditure round was seen as worthwhile at this point, or whether other initiatives might be given more support. Tom Smith’s schools project initiative (book included in the UEA conference pack) was deemed a possibly good way forward. MH noted that when he was recently in Hyderabad he took some CDs with him and the Indian academics were very interested in this (he suggested that we possibly send some over). TS asked about trying to garner feedback from students; she suggested putting something on the new website.

(e) MISC

• HM noted that she had been contacted by Martine Walsh about digitising the back issues of the Bulletin, which preceded the Journal of American Studies, in order to make the Archive on Cambridge Journals Online as comprehensive as possible for researchers, This relates to the years 1960-66, issues 1-12/13. They’ve managed to source most issues in the run, though are still searching for issues 1 and 8. In consultation with the officers, HM verbally agreed to extend permission to CUP to digitise those issues. HM is awaiting a formal letter of agreement, which she will forward to her successor.
• As usual, HM distributed various calls for papers and information to the website, and helped junior scholars find out more information on American Studies topics, including queries from the US. In particular this quarter she was also contacted by a variety of media outlets, including ‘Women’s Hour’, to nominate people to speak. This is an excellent way of ensuring that our members are able to show impact, along with the important impact database that Mark Whalan has begun to compile. The new website is also an opportunity for us to have and collect impact narratives.
• HM closed her report by extending thanks to everyone at the meeting and to former Exec colleagues for her 10 years on the committee—in particular, she thanked fellow officers, Martin Halliwell, Theresa Saxon, and Catherine Morley for working in partnership, for sharing the burden of consultations and other activities, and for providing advice and moral support during her time year as Chair. AM also thanked SM (for all her hard work for conferences), MC (no longer a PG), outgoing members IB and GL, and finally MH (who resigned his position to stand for Chair).

5.  Secretary’s Business

• CM noted that, as usual, her main role revolved around information flow. She regularly passed information on to Alison Kelly, Clare Elliot and Graham Thompson for ASIB, the mailbase and the website respectively. She helped direct people with research and awards queries to the appropriate sources.
• CM noted that she is waiting until after the AGM to pursue the newly designed BAAS leaflet. She will circulate it electronically before printing for committee approval. The design has been slow to allow the incorporation of the new web design and new logo.
• CM noted that most of her time this quarter had been given over to the website. She reported that Clear and Creative are still working on the website and it should be ready to go live shortly after the conference. It is almost complete and will be ready to show the AGM. CM and others will attend a training course on the maintenance of the website and report back to the next meeting.
• CM reported that she had worked closely with IB in preparing timelines for the various Awards to ensure that they would run smoothly in the future. She had also prepared posters and flyers for the Eccles Awards which will be included in the UEA Conference packs (circulated).
• Martine Walsh had written to inform the committee that the BAAS media contacts list has now been circulated around APG and HOTCUS’s distribution lists, and this has elicited several more responses. The list has also been picked up by the European Journal of American Studies to facilitate the allocation of articles for peer review, and also by Sue Wedlake at the American Embassy. She informed MW that it would prove helpful in directing the many media requests for American studies expertise that the Embassy receives.
• CM noted that she had dealt with a few email enquiries regarding the BAAS Exec. As yet, however, she noted that she had not received any Nomination Forms. CM asked colleagues to strongly advertise the AGM and the elections during the conference.

6.  Treasurer’s Business (TS reporting)

• The Treasurer noted that the bank accounts (as at 06/04/10) were as follows: General Deposit, £26,819.70; Short Term Awards, £1,882.46; Current, £3,903.31; making a total of £32,605.47. The amount in the RBS Jersey is £15,474.61 (to be resolved and closed soon) and the US Dollar Account has $9,448.51.
• TS reported that fully paid up members for 2010 currently stand at 294 including 118 postgraduates. This does not compare favourably to the position last year, which was 462 members (with 160 postgraduates). When those who haven’t so far updated their Standing Orders are included, the numbers rise to 481 (171 postgraduate), and with those who have not yet renewed from 2010 (i.e. those who pay by cheque) are included the numbers rise to 600 (238 postgraduate). There have 84 updates to the Standing Orders since January. TS noted that prior to the rise in membership fees, in September 2009, the membership stood at 492 (177 postgraduates). PD suggested that we write to people individually to ask them to change their Standing Orders. TS worried that there were problems with confidentiality in terms of hiring someone to do this, but she will pursue it. TS will mention this at the AGM and will follow up with a letter if appropriate. Those who have not fully paid up cannot vote therefore we only need 30 people to be quorate at the BAAS AGM. However, this situation is costing BAAS money and needs to be remedied as soon as possible.
• TS has registered complaints with RBS regarding the lack of service in terms of resolving the account, but these have had no impact. TS will close the RBS Jersey account and put it in the General Deposit Account.
• TS noted that the major business she would raise at the AGM concerns the accounts. The main points to note are as follows: we have had deficit again this year but this is not as high as last year; currently, we are not in surplus (this is not problematic but we need to keep an eye on this); the change of our accountant has clarified some issues regarding the conference account including an increase in resources of £13,000 (due to additional money from the Embassy and money back from the Nottingham conference).

7.  Development Subcommittee (HM reporting on behalf of WK)

HM noted that the Development Chair had received an application from Matthew Hill at De Montfort University for a PG conference on US Foreign Policy. The conference would be open to all PG students, offering them opportunities to present work to peers and develop research skills. The plenary talk will be delivered by Sandra Kaiser (US Embassy). Mick Hawkes from International Politics will talk about publishing opportunities. Dr Hill submitted an application requesting £300. The Exec unanimously agreed to support this conference.

8.  Postgraduate Business (MC reporting)

MC reported that next BAAS PG conference will be at the Rothermere American Institute in Oxford on 13 November 2010. The conference will be organised by Stephen Ross with Dr Reena Sastri. Donald Pease (Dartmouth) will be the plenary speaker and it will cost £20. The organiser will apply for funds to BAAS.

9.  Publications Subcommittee (MH reporting)

BRRAM

• MH noted that there was a good discursive piece on BRRAM in the latest edition of ASIB.

Edinburgh University Press (EUP)

• Kasia Boddy’s book on American Short Story is due out soon.

Journal of American Studies

• MH noted that there is one upcoming vacancy on the Editorial Board as Dr Sabine Broeck is about to finish her term at the end of 2010. JAS would like a European Americanist to fill this position. Colleagues are asked to send names (anonymously) to the new Publications Subcom Chair.
• MH noted that he has given a presentation on BAAS and on JAS during his recent trip to Hyderabad, India, under the auspices of the US Embassy in Dehli.
• MH noted that he would announce the new Editorial team (who will commence their positions on 1 Jan 2011) at the AGM.

American Studies in Britain (ASIB)

• MH noted that Kaleem Ashraf (the Editor elect) has yet to submit his PhD. He anticipates completing by May. AK is happy to continue and see the issue through to completion. HM suggested setting the handover date after the completion of next issue. This was agreed. MH to contact KA and AK for confirmation of submission and handover dates.

US Studies Online

• The Spring issue is soon to appear. It will consist of successful papers from the Northumbria PG conference.

10.  Conference Subcommittee (SM reporting)

• SM reported that plans for UCLAN seem to be all in place. Plenary speakers have been decided. Future confirmed dates and venues are as follows: UCLAN 2011; Manchester 2012 (preparations have already begun); Exeter 2013; and Birmingham 2014.
• SM noted that it might be useful to list the names of all previous conferences online as far back as possible. She added that this might be a way of getting institutions to come on board as conference hosts. SM to send the list of previous conference hosts to CM.

11. Awards Subcommittee (IB reporting)

• IB thanked CM and Louise Cunningham at Keele for their recent assistance with the administration of the Awards.
• IB noted that he had received positive news from New Hampshire regarding the Barringer Fellowship. Things will be in place for next year. IB has already made contact with Professor Eric Sandeen at Wyoming. IB noted that despite numerous efforts Virginia have not replied at all. He will continue his efforts. SM suggested contacting the person currently on the TAship there as a way of establishing an academic contact. HM noted that she had received a message from Professor Simon Newman with a contact address. She suggested that it might be possible to place someone in the fellowship for the coming year if we were move quickly. IB noted that there were four applications in the running for the TAship and suggested convening a small interview panel. IB will phone Virginia to make arrangements; he will contact the four applicants; and contact CM and JF about convening the interview panel and to arrange a date.
• IB noted that this year Eccles gave our £25,900, while BAAS made awards amounting to £13,250.
• Finally, Ian noted that Louise Cunningham would continue to chase the Eccles winners for reports.

12.  Libraries and Resources Committee (DE reporting)

• DE noted that he is continuing to work on a document regarding American Studies library support in the recession. This document will propose strategies for resource sharing and possible collaborations. He hopes to bring this to the next meeting.
• DE was pleased to announce that the BLARs journal will go ahead this year.
• DE noted that BLARs would like to develop links with the new BAAS website (possibly setting up a section on significant acquisitions). He therefore volunteered for training.
• DE noted that the HEA is faced with 30% cuts. It is unclear how those cuts will be distributed but he felt that it was evident that the subject centres will suffer. He added that Area Studies generally has not made use of LLAS grants, especially teaching grants, and this was significant as it may result in such grants being cut. BLARs will make representations about this 30% reduction (although it is unlikely to achieve anything, it is worthwhile to protest it as these cuts may be the thin edge of the wedge). DE urged the Exec to write a letter about these cuts to the HEA. HM noted that this needed careful handling and it might be necessary to wait until after the election (when a new government may be in place). She suggested that we return to this matter at the next meeting.
• DE told the Exec that BLARs will present a session on social networking next year at UCLAN. He added that the LLAS had agreed to support that session and one speaker (Anouk Lang) is already in place.
• The UEA BLARs conference session has been cancelled; one speaker withdrew due to a lack of institutional support. DE suggested making a small contribution to the travel costs of the Libraries panellists who present at the conference. After a lengthy discussion, TS suggested that we monitor this issue for next year and revisit the matter. HM suggested that it might be worthwhile if the Chair of BAAS wrote to the institutions and the libraries of those involved, stressing the importance of these speakers.

13. EAAS (PD reporting)

• PD reported that the recent EAAS Dublin conference was very good and well attended. The American Studies Network Prize was shared by Professor Christopher Bigsby and Professor Peter Messent. Keynotes included Professor Simon Newman and Professor Susan Castillo. The next meeting of the EAAS committee will be in Rome. The next conference will be in Izmir (Turkey) in 2012 and theme is ‘The Health of the Nation’. The 2014 conference will be held in Romania and the 2013 meeting will be in Moscow.
• PD noted that despite the various management problems of EAAS, the saga of registering EAAS as a charity is almost complete.
• PD reported that EAAS has a new Vice President – the Turkish representative Meldan Tanrisal; Hans Jürgen Grabbe and Stephen Matterson remain on the Board. Hans Jürgen Grabbe has redesigned the website. PD noted that the last newsletter did not get published. He added that finances look healthy for the coming year (EAAS made a slight surplus last year), noting the existence of a trust fund which, in time, can be used for subsidies. The EAAS online journal is going very well (41,000 consultations in 2009, three times as many as 2008).
• PD observed that BAAS is the fourth largest organiser and contributor, just behind Spain. Germany and France are the top two. BAAS constitutes 11% of total membership Europe-wide.
• HM followed up on an issue raised at a previous meeting regarding the attendance of British scholars at EAAS. She suggested that this might be linked to the rule regarding speakers not being able to present at two consecutive EAAS conferences. PD noted that he had raised the matter but made no headway.

14. Any Other Business

GL noted that he had received a reply from the provost at King’s College London regarding the misinformation which had circulated regarding King’s. He stressed that jobs will be safe and current AS staff will be housed in the AS Research Centre.
CM noted that Iwan Morgan had attended the Area Studies Advisory Group meeting on BAAS’s behalf. The main issues were as follows:

• The Japanese Studies Association is emulating BAAS in developing a Why Study Japan CD which is close to release.
• There are very pessimistic soundings concerning funding for the Higher Education Academy and its subject centres which are targeted for a 30 percent funding hit over three years.  No one knows quite how the effect will play out – but there are concerns that some centres will be closed or merged.
• There is concern that UK non-Scottish students studying in Scottish universities are not getting a fair deal on study abroad programmes because they do not receive Scottish government support, and this may be the subject of an Area Studies Advisory group missive to various agencies.

15. Date of next meeting

The next Executive Committee meeting will be held at the University of Nottingham on Friday 11 June. Subcoms will commence at 10.30am.

Dr. Catherine Morley

email: catherine.morley@leicester.ac.uk

Office Phone: (0116) 223 1068

BAAS Executive Committee Meeting: 23 April 2010

Minutes of the 261^st Meeting of the Executive Committee, held at the University of Central Lancashire on 23 January 2010 at 1.30pm.

1. Present: H Macpherson, M Halliwell (Vice Chair), C Morley (Secretary) T Saxon (Treasurer), C Bates, I Bell, P Davies, D Ellis, J Fagg, W Kaufman, R Mason, S MacLachlan and I Morgan.

Apologies: S Castillo, M Collins, G Lewis, M Whalan.

2.  Minutes of the Previous Meeting

After some minor amendments, these were accepted as a true record and will now go on the website.

3.  Matters Arising

Action List Review

The Secretary asked the Exec to comment on the status of their Action List duties.

Action List duties will be addressed under the relevant section below.

4.  Chair’s Business (HM reporting)

HM made the following announcements:

(a) Announcements

• Steve Burman in the American Studies department at Sussex has just been awarded a chair.
• Simon Newman has been awarded a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship, which offers research and travel funds, and leave from September 2010 to September 2012.
• Professor Sir David Watson has just been awarded the THE Lord Dearing Lifetime Achievement Award. He was a lecturer in US politics and history at what was Oxford Polytechnic (now Oxford Brookes University) and a founder member of the American Politics Group.
• John Ashworth (Nottingham) has been awarded the Southern Historical Association’s James A. Rawley Book Award for the second volume of Slavery, Capitalism and Politics in the Antebellum Republic entitled The Coming of the Civil War, 1850-1861. This award was established to recognize a book on secession or the sectional crisis and it carries a $1,000 stipend.
• Stephanie Lewthwaite (Nottingham) has been awarded a Bill and Rita Clements Research Fellowship for the Study of Southwestern America from the Clements Center for Southwest Studies, at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. Stephanie will take up the funded one-semester fellowship in Spring 2010 to complete a research project on Hispano Art in New Mexico, 1930-1960.
• David Brauner (Reading) and George Lewis (Leicester) have been asked to serve as external evaluators for a new American Studies programme that is being developed at the University of Ulster (Magee campus).
• Will Kaufman will play at Glastonbury.

(b) Correspondence

• The Academy of Social Sciences bulletin (January) was previously circulated by email.
• HM has liaised with Michael Macy, Cultural Attaché to India regarding a series of conferences which the Embassy are holding throughout India to get a sense of the current state of American studies and where to go from there. Currently, it is clear that while the area hasn’t received much support to date, there is real interest in developing American studies in India. HM was invited to a meeting to plan an all-India American Studies Conference in February in Delhi, but given that she is soon to relinquish her role in BAAS, she passed the Vice Chair’s details onto Michael Macy. MH will provide continuity on the BAAS Executive. MH added that the date may move to 29-30 March and he may be able to attend on BAAS’s behalf.
• HM also noted that Lord Mandelson’s letter to HEFCE indicating cuts across the board to higher education had been widely distributed.

(c) Invitations

• HM attended the Manchester meeting for Area Studies and the REF, which she co-organized with Paul Cammack. Seventeen delegates attended, representing American Studies, Canadian Studies, Development Studies, Korean Studies, European Studies, French Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, and Latin American Studies. American Studies was well represented with 7 delegates (almost half the turnout) and there was a good discussion about the consultation document. HM agreed to act as a reference point for further information for American Studies.
• Iwan Morgan attended the UKCASA meeting on our behalf, which related to the REF.
• HM was invited to Tim Woods’ inaugural lecture on 4^th Nov but was unable to attend.

(d) Consultations and Activities

• HM submitted BAAS’s response to the REF consultation documentation on the 10th of December. She thanked the following for their contributions: Pete Messent, Judie Newman, John Fagg, Martin Halliwell, George Lewis, Ian Bell, Susan Hodgett, Mark Whalan, Iwan Morgan, Philip Davies, Robert Mason, and the following bodies: CCUE, History UK, Academy of Social Sciences, UKCASA. All helped to contribute to the consultation document.
• HM noted that significant progress had been made on the Media contacts database, with thanks going to Mark Whalan. She added that this is an excellent way for us to demonstrate impact in preparation for the REF.
• On behalf of BAAS, HM made a submission to the Academy of Social Sciences’ project, “Making the case for the social sciences”, which will be published on 10 February. She noted the importance of ENDURING AMERICA (www.enduringamerica.com): “The Best Little Website on the World in the World” amongst other projects.

(e) MISC

• HM distributed various calls for papers and miscellaneous information to the website, and helped junior scholars find out more information on American Studies topics, including queries from the US.
• HM noted that she had been in correspondence with Clare Elliott regarding the management of the BAAS mailbase, which has been problematic due to the fact that she is no longer a student. Clare has found a new person to take over management of the mailbase. Graeme Thompson, a University of Glasgow PG will take over from Clare before the BAAS conference in April.

5.  Secretary’s Business

• CM noted that, as usual, her main role revolved around information flow. She regularly passed information on to Alison Kelly, Clare Elliot and Graham Thompson for ASIB, the mailbase and the website respectively. She helped direct people with research and awards queries to the appropriate sources; she has updated various Awards databases (such as Petersons and The Grants Register) with details of all our awards. CM has also been in touch with overseas postgraduates seeking advice and guidance on PhD opportunities with UK institutions.
• CM noted that she has been liaising with Lauren Welch at the Fulbright Commission with a view to strengthening links between BAAS and Fulbright. Fulbright will have a stand in the Publishers’ Area at the UEA conference.
• CM noted that she is awaiting the newly designed BAAS leaflet. She will circulate it electronically before printing for committee approval. The design has been slow to allow the incorporation of the new web design and new logo.
• CM noted that Clear and Creative are working on the website right now and the new website should be ready by the end of March. She called for volunteers for training, Exec members willing to take responsibility for maintaining the website. She also noted that C&C have offered to host the website for a fee of £100/year (excl. of VAT). The committee unanimously agreed that it was wise to have the web host with the web design company in case of any problems.
• CM noted that she had placed a second advertisement calling for AS experts to talk to Schools in the latest ASIB (the first call got zero replies). A second call for the Expertise List has also gone in the latest issue of ASIB.
• CM reported that she had worked closely with IB in preparing timelines for the various Awards to ensure that they would run smoothly in the future.

6.  Treasurer’s Business (TS reporting)

• The Treasurer noted that the bank accounts (as at 22/01/10) were as follows: General Deposit, £38,505.38; Short Term Awards, £1,882.22; Current, £1,556.54; making a total of £41,944.14. The amount in the RBS Jersey is £15,474.61 (to be resolved and closed shortly) and the US Dollar Account has $10,944.15.
• TS reported that fully paid up members for 2010 currently stand at 210 including 74 postgraduates. This does not compare favourably to the position last year, which was 378 members (with 146 postgraduates). When those who haven’t so far updated their Standing Orders are included, the numbers rise to 414 (131 postgraduate), and with those who have not yet renewed from 2010 (i.e. those who pay by cheque) are included the numbers rise to 559 (214 postgraduate). In September 2009 the membership stood at 492 (177 postgraduates).
• TS attributed this dip in the membership numbers with a problem with renewals and the new membership rates. She noted that many members seem unclear about the difference between a Direct Debit and a Standing Order. Unlike Direct Debits, Standing Orders need to be changed by the account holder. TS may write to the membership regarding the change in membership fees and the need to update their Standing Orders. She hopes this will allow us to recoup the £7 increase in fees (which many of the current Standing Orders missed this year). She noted the necessity of preventing this happening again next year.
• TS noted that she had solicited some quotations on the BAAS accounts. Our current accountants, R. Sutton, charge us £1,800 (plus VAT). Another firm, Nairne Son & Green Chartered Accountants, quoted £1,100 (but will charge us for extra work). HM noted that over the past few years the cost of preparing the accounts has risen year on year and it might be worth changing firms to save £700. The committee agreed and Nairne Son & Green Chartered Accountants will take over management of the BAAS accounts.

7.  Development Subcommittee (WK reporting)

• WK’s first item of business concerned contacting Schools with information about our Awards and to stimulate interest in AS. PD noted that the Eccles Centre pay for their mail-shot to Schools (£800). WK suggested that this might be a worthwhile investment for BAAS. DE suggested this might be used as a one-off in order to capture interest, but ultimately what is required is a joined-up strategy, offering a viable package to attract and induce students to consider American Studies. WK suggested that the way ahead might be to have a working party to discuss this matter. He and CB will convene a meeting of this party at UEA and begin by thinking about ways of highlighting Schools on the new BAAS website. WK thanked CB for all his work thus far on Schools.
• WK noted that he has resigned from LLAS. John Fagg has been proposed and accepted as a replacement.
• WK noted that he had received a list of Marshall Aid scholars from Dianne Flynn at the Marshall Commission. He will make get in touch with some of the contacts on the list to enquire as to their willingness to speak to Schools.
• WK noted he had received funding support applications for a number of events and conferences: Eccles Congress to Campus programme; New Clear Forms: American Poetry and Cold War Culture (University of Glasgow); Before and After 9/11: American Literature and Culture (University of Leicester); William James conference (Rothermere American Institute and University of Leicester); Contemporary Literature in Context (University of Manchester); American Ideas in Context Postgraduate Conference (University of Nottingham); and the SASA annual conference. WK proposed that we support all of these events (in some cases, applicants were to be asked to supply further, detailed information before support could be confirmed). The committee agreed with these recommendations.
• WK returned to the issue regarding the establishment of priorities or caps on the amount of money awarded in this conference support scheme. The committee agreed that the prioritisation of PG attendance should be a factor. DE suggested the development of strict criteria which might make the decision-making process easier. WK agreed to liaise with TS to conduct an audit on the amount of funds awarded at the end of the academic year. TS reminded the committee of the need to prove to the Charities Commission that we provide a public benefit. PD observed that quite often the conference support bids were aimed at general costs rather than the PG subsidies. He agreed with DE on the need to introduce tougher criteria (this will also help us turn some applications down). WK and HM both made suggestions regarding the addition of a line regarding preference toward the support of PG subsidies. WK to liaise with the Development Subcom to establish criteria.
• WK also raised the possibility of increasing our bid to the US Embassy for BAAS Annual Conference support, so that we could offer more subsidies for PG attendance and promote Schools outreach at the conference. In the past, BAAS has covered any surplus (in terms of PG subsidies) not covered by the Embassy. HM suggested that more money from the Embassy could be matched by BAAS (each year £1000 is set aside for PG subsidies). If we request a further £1000, then we ought to offer a matching £1000. WK to write to the Embassy regarding this matter.

8.  Postgraduate Business (MC reporting)

• MC offered congratulations to Helen Mitchell at Northumbria University on a successful BAAS PG conference last November. The event was not as well attended as in previous years (specifically Manchester 2007) but this may reflect the location of the event in the Northeast. However, the organisation, catering and conference programme were excellent, the standard of papers superb and their topics diverse. In particular, the plenary by Professor Sara M. Evans of the University of Minnesota on the history of women Presidential candidates was very well received and stimulated an excellent debate.
• MC noted that he had put out a call for the next BAAS PG conference holder via the mailbase before Christmas MC has also placed a notice calling for a conference organiser in the February edition of ASIB. The deadline for applications is 31 March. HM and PD raised the matter of a full-time member of staff taking on the role of mentor to the PG Conference organiser. It was agreed that this would be an excellent way forward. Once a venue has been established for the coming year, the new BAAS Chair would write to the respective Head of Department encouraging the provision of a mentor figure for the PG organiser.

9.  Publications Subcommittee (MH reporting)

BRRAM (Ken Morgan sent a full and detailed report)

• Microform Academic Publishers (via RV) have advertised in ASIB a special one-year access to all their British Online Archives (BOA) collections, including existing BRRAM titles gathered under the heading British records on the Atlantic world, 1700-1900. There is a charge of between £500-£1,000 to UK universities depending on their JISC band for 12-month access via IP address range. Examples of digital images available in the BOA collections are freely available on www.BritishOnlineArchives.co.uk
• Another batch of manuscripts of USPG (United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel) material from Rhodes House Library, Oxford has been delivered to MAP in Wakefield. These are mainly letters received from the USA, Canada and the Caribbean for the period 1851-1928. They will form the basis of a new BRRAM title, and will complement existing microfilmed selections of USPG material in the series. It will prove difficult to find a special editor with sufficient expertise to write an introduction for the new USPG, so it will probably be released without an introduction but with the usual detailed list of contents.
• Further to interventions by RV and KM, the Digital Licensing manager at the British Library has now proposed a satisfactory resolution to the poor quality of the microfilming undertaken for ‘The Manuscripts of Samuel Martin’ (see KM’s reports for May and September 2009). The BL will now provide digital versions of the illegible images, and will then copy the images to microfilm. RV will inform Dr Natalie Zacek  – the author of the introduction – about this arrangement.
• Ms Gill Furlong (University of London Archives) has now confirmed that material in their collection (which is very strong on Latin American material) can be used for the BRRAM series. KM and RV will follow this up.

Edinburgh University Press (EUP)

Nothing to report since the last meeting

Journal of American Studies

• Following the autumn call for nominations for four new members of Editorial Board to start in 2010, the following members have been elected to the board: Brian Ward (Manchester), Wai Chee Dimock (Yale), Giles Scott Smith (Middelburg, Holland) and Susan Currell (Sussex). MH will check with Martine Walsh and let us know when the next vacancies are.
• MH noted that the Publications Subcom had discussed the applications for the new JAS editorial team. MH noted that he had also spoken to Martine Walsh for her view. The Publications Subcom recommended Scott Lucas (Editor), Celeste-Marie Bernier (Associate Editor – Reviews) and Bevan Sewell (Associate Editor – Media). The committee were happy to support these recommendations. MH will write to all the candidates. The new editors will be announced at the UEA conference. SC will come to end of her term as Editor at the end of 2010.

American Studies in Britain (ASIB)

MH noted that there were two very good applications for new editor of ASIB. Both applications were discussed by the Publications Subcom with the recommendation that we offer the post to Kaleem Ashraf at Sheffield (subject to finishing his PhD). The Committee endorsed this recommendation. The new editor will be announced at the conference. AK will work into the autumn edition cycle if necessary. The committee offered thanks to AK for her judicious and professional editorship of ASIB.

US Studies Online

Nothing to report since the last meeting.

10.  Conference Subcommittee (SM reporting)

• SM noted that all is in place and looking good for UEA. A reminder regarding registration will be sent out via the mailbase. She noted that TRS requires people to chair panels and asked the committee to email him as soon as possible. The conference will host three receptions: a UEA reception on Friday; a UCLAN reception on the Thursday; and a reception sponsored by the 2^nd Airborne Division Memorial Trust (consisting of canapés and a discussion of their work). SM noted the issue of setting aside places at the banquet for Awards winners. The committee settled on a figure of 15 for award winners and dignitaries.
• CM will contact the committee and liaise with TRS regarding accommodation on the evening prior to the conference.
• SM noted that progress is looking good for UCLAN 2011. Hotel accommodation will be situated at the Legacy Hotel and at the Holiday Inn. All the buildings are booked and the meals will be in Harrington. At the moment the costings are being finalised. A poster has been produced and will be included in the UEA conference packs. Discussions regarding plenary speakers are about to commence.
• SM noted that she had recently meet with IS at Manchester and confirmed that preliminary bookings were in place for 2012.

11.  Awards Subcommittee (IB reporting)

• IB reported that he had received one nomination for the BAAS Honorary Fellowship. Professor Michael Heale was unanimously endorsed by the committee for this year’s Award.
• IB reported that he had received 9 applications for BAAS Book Prize (down due to the RAE timetable); 22 applications for the BAAS STAs; and 7 applications for the BAAS Founders’ Award.
• IB noted that he and the Secretary had set up timeline schedules for the various awards. He thanked the Secretary for her support.
• IB reported that the Graduate Teaching Assistantships in New Hampshire and Virginia are proving to be problematic. IB wrote to both institutions on 22 November 2009 regarding the TAships for the coming year but as of yet has had no reply from Virginia. The response he has had from New Hampshire indicated that these were no longer ‘automatic’. A long email correspondence seemed to indicate that the scheme is no longer affordable for New Hampshire. Without a guarantee of the place, IB noted that it was impossible to go ahead with the Award. The Awards subcom suggested that it might be possible to go forward if BAAS were able fund the Teaching Assistantship or meet halfway with the partners. Neither of these options seemed viable. HM noted that these Teaching Assistantships were guaranteed in the past and, this may constitute a renege of the original agreement. DE will look in the BAAS Archives for the original agreement. TS will also make some enquiries as she needs to pay stipends to current students. HM and IB to liaise with Simon Newman regarding the Teaching Assistantships. IB will continue to try to establish contact with Virginia and liaise with New Hampshire.
• IB mentioned the possibility of cutting out our use of posters in advertising the Awards. At approximately £500 it seems expensive. The committee agreed that IB should look into reducing the cost of producing the posters but disagreed that they should be abandoned as part of our advertising strategy as they reach Schools and UGs who may not be on the BAAS mailbase.

12.  Libraries and Resources Committee (DE reporting)

• DE noted that BLARs is putting on a panel on intellectual property at UEA. This will be followed next year by a panel on social networking at UCLAN.
• DE informed that committee that INTUTE has effectively come to an end but will go on in skeletal form.
• Resources in American Studies has moved back to a November printing for inclusion with the spring ASIB.
• DE noted that Anna Girvan has joined from Embassy Resource Office and Theresa Saxon will remain on the BLARs team as the BAAS representative.
• The next meeting of BLARs is on 12 February 2010.

13. EAAS (PD)

• PD noted that the programme for the Dublin EAAS 2010 conference is still not on website but the conference is going ahead as planned. He noted the small numbers of Britons presenting at the conference.
• TS suggested that more Britons might be encouraged to attend EAAS if there was some revision of the rules regarding participation every other year. DE suggested reminding the membership about EAAS and the stipend available.

14. Any Other Business

John Fagg attended the ACSS conference on Impact on 14 January 2010. He noted the following points (detailed report circulated).
JF noted that it might be worth drafting a ‘Making the Case for American Studies’ document in the way that the ESRC is doing for the Social Sciences.

• Influence on public policy was a major issue for the Social Sciences;
• Many academics had raised the same concerns as BAAS regarding the difficulty of clarity, etc;
• There was some discussion regarding the users of research, i.e. how people will build on research in the future;
• There was also an emphasis on short term usage, i.e. how journalists might use academic research (many colleagues discussed this as potentially problematic);
• There was also discussion of ‘rapid response’, how to respond when something one works on becomes a news issue and how to build on this;

15. Date of next meeting

The next Executive Committee meeting will be held at the University of East Anglia on 8 April 2010 at 10.30am.

Subcommittee meetings will not meet.

Dr. Catherine Morley

email: catherine.morley@leicester.ac.uk

Office Phone: (0116) 223 1068

Executive Committee Minutes: 26 September 2009

Minutes of the 260^th Meeting of the Executive Committee, held at the University of Leicester on 26 September 2009 at 12.00pm.

1. Present: H Macpherson, M Halliwell (Vice Chair), C Morley (Secretary) T Saxon (Treasurer), C Bates, I Bell, M Collins, D Ellis, J Fagg, M Halliwell, W Kaufman, G Lewis, R Mason, S MacLachlan, and I Morgan.

Apologies: S Castillo, P Davies, M Whalan.

2.  Minutes of the Previous Meeting

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

3.  Matters Arising

• In response to issues raised in the Minutes of the June meeting, DE clarified that the paper he (and Professor Pete Messent) originally sent to HM and the Heads of American Studies Departments was indeed representative of the views of the Departments mentioned therein. The letter was later published in the Autumn edition of ASIB in substantially revised form.
• DE also responded to the question raised by the Treasurer regarding the action called for by his letter as possibly conflicting with BAAS’s charitable status: having sought legal advice on this matter, he was sure that there was no reason the issues outlined in his letter could not to be raised and addressed by the Executive Committee.
• DE called for a reflective discussion on the issues raised by his letter regarding the RAE. MH responded by noting that the RAE had been discussed at the AS HoDs meeting in June and he pointed out that there have been many opportunities to discuss the RAE.

Action List Review

The Secretary 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.

4.  Chair’s Business (HM reporting)

HM made the following announcements:

(a) Announcements

• Professor Tony Badger has been made chair of the Kennedy Memorial Trust.
• Dr Sam Edwards has received Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Award.
• Dr Lee Sartain (Portsmouth) received a British Academy grant for £4000.
• Dr George Lewis received a British Academy Research Development Award for a project entitled “Un-Americans: Ideological Dissent, Patriotic Subversion and Isolating the ‘Other’ in the USA”. The Award is worth £111,404 over 3 years.
• Dr Jo Gill (Exeter) received an AHRC award for her project “The Poetics of the American Suburbs”, worth £23,543.00.
• Dr Kasia Boddy (UCL) received a Leverhulme Research Fellowship of £45,000 for her project “The Great American Novel”.
• Dr Tim Lynch, Senior Lecturer in US Foreign Policy at the Institute for the Study of the Americas, has been awarded the 2009 Richard E. Neustadt Book Prize for After Bush: The Case for Continuity in American Foreign Policy, which he co-authored with Dr Robert Singh at Birkbeck.
• HM noted that all of these awards and distinctions are evidence of the high esteem in which American Studies colleagues are held, and the prominence of the research the community undertakes.
• HM reported that it had come to her attention that a leading philanthropist who endowed American Studies at the University of Glasgow and became an honorary fellow of the university in 2002, Albert Gordon, died recently at age 107. He was the last of the “Titans of Wall Street” who rebuilt American banking after the Wall Street crash of 1929. Gordon also endowed monies to Winchester.
• HM announced that Wolverhampton has closed its American Studies provision. This decision was based on falling student numbers which have declined over a number of years. The decision to close the unit is not connected to the RAE. HM asked Dr Martin Durham if he wanted BAAS to write to the VC.
• HM reported that Northampton has also decided to close American Studies and has not taken any new students this year. Dr Nick Heffernan has moved to Nottingham. Similarly, Sussex has reversed its decision to keep American Studies as a department but has pledged support to the subject as it becomes part of a larger School—in this way, perhaps getting further support. Professor Robert Cook confirmed that American Studies at Sussex is thriving. Their efforts during the coming year will be directed towards sustaining and strengthening the degree programme by embedding it effectively into the new schools system. Professor Cook noted, “As the university can have no interest in curtailing the programme, there’s every reason to think that this is a battle we can win.” He also noted that with the target of 50 students they ended up with 66 this year on their AS programme.
• HM noted her sadness regarding the closures at Wolverhampton and Northampton but added there had been a recent reopening too with Manchester.
• HM noted that promoting our research along the lines suggested by IM was why we had set up the AS experts panel. She also noted that we needed to be consulted as a nominating body for the RAE. She suggested that we look at European Studies departments (some of which are closing) and learn from their examples of how to maintain a research base. MH noted that ES was not nationally very strong in terms of its visibility and that institutional threats remained for some modern languages.
• WK suggested flexibility in terms of protecting AS in whatever shape and form it takes. MH noted that drafting something along the lines of IM’s suggestion would be certainly worthwhile.
• In terms of the REF more generally, DE suggested it might be worth ascertaining how many American Studies units were going to enter into the subpanels for the next exercise. HM added that she would organise a meeting for AS HoDs on 6 November, in relation to Paul Cammack’s meeting to discuss Area Studies. The aim of the meetings would be to discuss strategy before the end of the consultation. HM would also write and ask HoDs for their intentions.
• HM closed the discussion by noting that while we ought not be complacent, we should also recognize that during the last decade AS programmes have opened and closed and yet American Studies as a subject continues to be of great interest to postgraduates, undergraduates, and researchers at all levels. She reiterated that it would be too hasty to jump to the conclusion that Universities react solely to the American Studies RAE scores.

(b) Correspondence

HM received the AHRC Research leave results (circulated), which she felt were disappointing for American Studies colleagues, with only Dr Jo Gill as a clear AS award winner. Partially as a result, HM wrote to Shearer West in August, and received a reply on the 19 August (circulated).

• HM suggested that we invite Professor West to a conference again – and ensure that we have a good audience for her. HM asked for suggestions on how we could influence AHRC on AS matters. MH noted that he had spoken with Professor West and that she’d been quite positive about AS, even though she admitted that some of the strategic research council schemes were keyed into UK-based economic, social and cultural issues. However, he reiterated that we need a representative on AHRC Panel A and Panel D. It is also worth bearing in mind that the new panel structure meant that the Panels would always be changing, drawing widely on members of the Peer College Review. The restructure away from the standing panels makes it hard to reflect back upon the pattern of the awards. HM noted that it seems that it seems to be very hard to get information from the AHRC. MH noted that Professor Rick Rylance was coming to Leicester and that he would speak to him then. HM noted that he gave a good talk at CUDASH and might possibly be would be a good speaker for the BAAS conference. Efforts would be continued to make American Studies visible to the AHRC.
• HM wrote to Celeste-Marie Bernier thanking her for her hard work on the conference, noting also the refund she managed, with BAAS’s assistance, to secure for the 2009 conference delegates.
• HM received an electronic copy of the Academy of Social Sciences bulletin (previously circulated electronically).

(c) Invitations

• HM was invited to the US Ambassador’s House for 4^th of July barbeque and was able to attend.
• HM was invited to the Academy of Social Sciences CEO meeting (22 September), but had to decline.
• HM attended the Journal of American Studies editorial board meeting on Friday 25 September along with Theresa Saxon, Catherine Morley, Ian Bell and Martin Halliwell.
• HM will be attending the British Academy’s event on the REF and Impact for learned societies on 27 October and will report back at the next meeting.

(d) Consultations and Activities

• HM received an email from ACSS regarding how the Association is a benefit to society (broader society rather than academics). She asked the Executive to send examples of specific things to put forward, for instance Matthew Jones’s work would be a clear example of impact beyond the academy. Colleagues were asked to send information to HM by 15 October.
• The Heads of American Studies meeting took place on 16 June. 20 people attended and 9 sent apologies (some of which came through only a day before the event). Minutes of the meeting were circulated and HM thanked WK for putting them together. There was a very positive response to the meeting, which focused on the upcoming REF and featured an informed discussion led by Paul Cammack. HM chaired most of the meeting, handing over to MH when the discussion moved to the previous RAE.
• HM noted that there were no additional responses to the request for information on RAE submission apart from Reading, who noted that 6 Americanists were returned as follows: English (3); History (2); Film (1). Reading has now been added to the original table.

While the information below on submission is useful it still does not capture the full information regarding American Studies. HM noted that she had asked for information at the BAAS AGM and a call for information also went out through the mailbase. MH noted that Edinburgh was missing, as was Exeter. He suggested that we target Glasgow, Strathclyde, Oxford, Cambridge, MMU, Dundee, St Andrews, Plymouth, Kent and we need to use our contacts to get information.

(e) REF

• HM noted that the consultation document has been circulated and reminded the Committee that there is an opportunity for us to respond by mid-December. HM called for advice and guidance on contacting our membership (other than the mailbase and HoDs email list) for their views. CM suggested a single message mailshot.
• HM noted that there was room for a positive discussion in Q. 14, where we can expand on views on Impact, Environment, Configuration, Timetable and Burden etc.
• HM noted that the document details 2008-1012 as the census time, with plans for larger panels. AS would be placed in Panel D alongside European Studies, English Language and Literature, History, Classics, Art, and Area Studies (AS, Anglophone Area Studies, Middle Eastern Area Studies, etc). HM asked if European Studies would come into Area Studies or go with Languages. HM suggested that we might argue for European Studies to come under Area Studies to strengthen numbers (otherwise AS would be in with the very smallest panels). She also noted the proposed breakdown of Impact (25); Environment (15); and Outputs (60). She suggested that it might be possible to argue for 20 on Impact and certainly, given that Impact is new and experimental, we ought to try to revise that downwards. Certainly, as a committee, we need to draft a consultation document.
• MH suggested that we need to make our mind up on the Impact percentage before they make up their mind on what Impact looks like. He suggested that we argue that it should be equal to research environment in percentage terms. IB reinforced this and wondered about arguing for a sliding scale on Impact (adding that STEM subjects are more susceptible to this). HM agreed but thought uniformity would be favoured. DE thought that this sliding scale model was both useful and possible.
• DE noted that going into the larger panel might be positive but thought it would be good to try to figure out why Area Studies and Languages had been perceived to be so weak in Research. HM added that small panel with few submissions can lead to skewed statistics. She added that Area Studies might be bolstered if it went into a panel with English Literature and Language.
• DE directed the committee’s attention to the 2008 exercise and observed that three out of the ten bottom performing units in RAE2008 were Area Studies. He felt that joining with languages would see that figure rise. He also expressed concern that we are going into an area where research last time was overall rated as weak. He asked why it was that languages and area studies performed relatively weakly in terms of research in the last RAE and asked if there was any way we can we account for it. DE suggested that there must be underlying reasons. SM asked what he thought these were.

DE noted that there seem to be two viable explanations: firstly, it might be that, nationally, research in Languages and Area Studies is weak. He added that he was simply not prepared to accept this as true. Secondly, it might be that during the RAE problems arose in the way that Language and Area Studies work was assessed. DE thought that there might be two important explanations. Firstly, that it proved difficult to assess the sort of interdisciplinary work commonly coming out of subjects like these. The nature of interdisciplinary work is novel and unfamiliar to many academics and stretches the knowledge base; panellists may have found assessing such work difficult and reacted conservatively. Secondly, the subjects of Languages and Area Studies, sui generis, are focused upon a specific area of the world – of whatever size – and this area will possess an established corpus of academic research which has developed in obviously advantageous conditions: native speakers, archives, records, libraries, artefacts, art and media productions, etc. DE noted that it is surely plausible to suggest that when arriving at assessments, panellists may have fallen into a kind of ‘sunflower trap’ (i.e. required to rank with an eye to the global and the world-leading, panellists instead ranked with both their eyes focused upon the work emanating from the specific area). He added that whilst it is arguable that this was the correct focus, this was not necessarily the case. But perhaps panellists needed to see that the sort of research work on the area would necessarily be qualitatively different and focus more on work not emanating from the area under study (the Area Study). Perhaps there remained a need to open up debate about whether factors liker these (and possibly others) had skewed judgements towards severity.

DE added that another way of driving home the extent of the poor performance of Languages and Area Studies is to consider which of these finished above the median GPA for all RAE units (2.62) (almost all the others falling not only below but well below this median). Only two Language or Area Study sub-units were ranked above this RAE2008 median: namely Middle East and African (2.77) and Celtic Studies (2.65). What makes this interesting, however, is that, arguably, both of these support the ‘sunflower’ hypothesis, since the subject of one (Celtic Studies) is based within the British Isles, and the subject of the other is not frequently of an ‘area’ that is by and large so poor in economic terms it has no established ‘domestic’ research corpus, that is to say much of the research is being done ‘abroad’.

DE concluded that if his propositions have any merit, then they have obvious implications for the REF and are therefore not just of historical interest, but an on-going issue. Michael Worton, Vice Provost of University College London and Fielden Professor of French Language and Literature, has been conducting some investigative research into this matter. HM will write to Professor Worton about his investigation (which does not include Anglophone Area Studies) for further information which might be fed into this discussion.

• HM concurred with colleagues that the cross referral mechanism needs to be much clearer in the next exercise. RE added that comparability between research units and sub-units also needed to be very substantially strengthened. MH observed that the emphasis on critical mass which would affect where people went and affect cross-referral. He reiterated the need to flag up the importance of cross referral and phrase it properly so it doesn’t cause problems.
• Given the amount of time needed to generate a response to the consultation, DE suggested calling an extraordinary meeting of the Exec to discuss this. MH suggested a summary report. GL suggested discussing the matter with other AS HoDs. HM suggested that the best way was the meeting on 6 November regarding the drafting of a response to the REF document. HM will send out a message regarding the 6 November meeting via the mailbase.

(f)  MISC

• HM liaised with BBC4 for experts on a programme on Anne Bradstreet and distributed calls for papers to the listserv and web.
• HM noted email problems over the summer: the officers discovered that emails had not come through from June-September. This resulted in some people’s emails not being responded to in a timely fashion. This has now been addressed, and apologies sent out to all who had corresponded. It was due to a problem with web host upgrading their servers which meant mailboxes needed to be set up again.
• HM noted that the officers have responded to a call to add the BAAS book series to a list of American Studies book series being organized by the ASA and EAAS.
• HM concluded her report by noting that the Schools database has been updated with the assistance of Rachael Walters (DMU). This was a particularly onerous task as we were unable to secure an electronic copy of the list, so we are especially grateful to Ms Walters.

5.  Secretary’s Business

• CM noted that, as usual, her main role revolved around information flow. She regularly passed information on to Alison Kelly, Clare Elliot and Graham Thompson for ASIB, the mailbase and the website respectively. She helped direct people with research and awards queries to the appropriate sources; fielded enquires for expertise from the BBC and from various academics; she has updated the Charities Commission with our records with details of the new committee members. CM has also been contacted by overseas postgraduates seeking advice and guidance on PhD opportunities with UK institutions, to whom she responded.
• CM was invited to two events at the Embassy, one which she declined; and a second which she will attend next week. It is a screening of ‘Moon’ to celebrate the anniversary of the moon landing. She also attended the JAS Editorial Board meeting in London on 25 September 2009.
• CM noted that she is awaiting the newly designed BAAS leaflet any day now. She will circulate it electronically before printing for committee approval. The design has been slow so that the new web design and new logo can be incorporated.
• CM noted that she has been working, alongside the other officers on the website overhaul. Clear and Creative Communications have taken on the job and have come up with a draft of the opening page (stills of the new website face circulated). The web designer noticed that we are looking to appoint a new Webster to an unpaid position that requires a demanding skill-set. C&C have been given the task of overhauling the site visually but Graham Thompson will still need to implement the changes, then hand it all over to the new volunteer. However, it would be possible to entirely rebuild the site using a Content Management System, so that the web editor only needs basic word-processing skills. The RAI uses just such a system and it’s entirely managed by non-technical staff. With a CMS, all that would be required would be a good administrator with a bit of design/marketing flair to keep the site in shape, and anybody on the staff could make basic text changes, upload the latest magazines, etc. Of course, it would cost more to set up (around £2500), but wouldn’t require a technical person to run it. CM has discussed this with GT who is very much in favour of it. She has also asked the advice of the other Officers who are in favour. Copies of materials were circulated and opinions of the committee were called for. Colleagues voted unanimously for the move to CMS. TS asked for a few extras (including training and support to be added into the agreed price for the overall). CM to liaise with Clear and Creative.
• CM noted that she had placed an advertisement calling for AS experts to talk to Schools in the latest ASIB. Also, MW placed a notice calling for details to be added to an Expertise List in the latest issue of ASIB. As of yet she and MW had received few responses.
• CM reported that she had checked the constitution regarding inviting Bella Adams to join the committee in some capacity. BA has been invited to attend the Development subcom. Her involvement with the Centre at LJMU dovetails with many of the issues discussed and addressed by the Development subcom. We are at full capacity in terms of ex-officio members.
• Finally, CM noted that she had updated the Standing Orders regarding the new term of office for the BLARs Chair.

6.  Treasurer’s Business (TS reporting)

• The Treasurer noted that the bank accounts (as at 24/09/2009) were as follows: General Deposit, £26,430.22; Short Term Awards, £2,251.93; Current, £3,166.11; making a total of £31,848.26. The amount in the RBS Jersey is  £15,474.61 and the US Dollar Account has $10,944.15.
• TS reported that fully paid up members for 2010 currently stand at 492 including 177 postgraduates. This does not compare favourably to the position last year, which was 545 members (with 195 postgraduates). When those who haven’t so far updated their Standing Orders are included, the numbers rise to 644 (245 postgraduate) compared to 631 in September 2008. TS acknowledged that membership is lower than she would like and she is about to send out renewal notices.
• TS mentioned the difficulties she has had with the switch over of the RBS account. Several bits of information have had to be sent on to them. TS wants to close the RBS account and bring the money there back into the UK. HM noted that in the past we have always had this account as a measure against being sued (as trustees) and for the conference. The offshore account in Jersey is not protected so cannot serve this purpose. The committee approved the closure of the RBS account.
• TS sought approval from the committee on seeking new quotations for the annual accounts from various accountancy firms. The committee approved this.
• TS drew attention to the fact that BAAS’s status as non-profit organisation can be taken away (as has been the case recently with a number of organisations and institutions) and charities are increasingly coming under spotlight. Indeed, the Charities Commission have recently conducted 12 case studies and found instances where charities have come adrift from their mission statement. As a result, the Charities Commission are introducing more and more measures and checks and BAAS needs to demonstrate recent relevant and real examples of what we do. We also need to be very stringent about our activities. TS will to draft a report on this and circulate it to the committee.
• HM noted that the regularity with which we offer awards outside the membership and our work with schools are examples of public benefit and our non-profit status. TS said that this also crosses over with Impact in the REF, especially the work we do with Schools. Also DE’s CD is a tangible product that can be pointed to. DE agreed to send CM an evaluation report on the success of the CD. HM will also send out a message to the AS HoDs soliciting feedback on the CD.

7.  Development Subcommittee (WK reporting)

• WK reported that Dr Bella Adams had been welcomed as a guest to the subcom. He added that she and CB will have much business to discuss in the coming months
• WK noted that the US Embassy bids have come through and total £12,000. He asked if it might be wise to increase the amount that we bid for? He raised the matter with a specific eye on the BAAS PG conference as sometimes BAAS has had to subsidise PG attendance. CM suggested that we get figures to back up the increase in requests. WK to liaise with TS on this matter and report back to the next Committee meeting.
• WK thanked HM and Ms Rachael Walters for merging the lists received from David Foster and Bella Adams. He is in the middle of sending out a large mailing which coordinates a number of items including a leaflet regarding the free Schools membership, the ‘Why American Studies’ CD, a letter offering the names of people willing to speak in Schools, and a poster regarding the Schools essay prize. He noted that he now has an enormous list of contacts and wondered whether he might possibly explore PD at the Eccles Centre a way of accommodating a mail out on BAAS’s behalf? HM encouraged WK to discuss the matter with PD, but it might be worth sending out quite a few of these mail packs and monitor responses to ascertain where to send future mailings.
• WK received the last of his blurbs from high-profile AS graduates. WK noted a disappointing rate of return. The last message came from Razia Iqbal. IM suggested that these statements (along with photographs) might be integrated in the diorama on the new website. CM to liaise with the website design team.
• WK reported two requests for conference support: the first request was for £300 to support for a conference on postwar American poetry and painting at the University of Kent; the second request was for £300 to support the annual conference of the American Politics Group. Both requests were unanimously approved by the committee.
• WK thanked CB for all his work thus far as Schools Liaison. CB had prepared an extensive list of priorities and ways of developing Schools through outreach activities. The mailshot will be the first step in contacting Schools. Also there will be a clear and direct Schools button on the revamped website and CB will be involved in developing content for this.
• CB also raised the idea of creating a ‘University Hub’ which would centralise outreach from universities in specific areas of the country in an attempt to draw students into specific events. He noted that this would inevitably be good for Schools and that it might be relevant to issues of Impact and Public Benefit. CB to liaise with WK and the Development subcom on this.
• WK raised the possibility of setting up a group of PGs to be at the ready to go to Schools and talk on AS topics. He added that Professor Douglas Tallack used to run a forum in which each year’s Marshall Scholars went into universities to talk to students about American topics. WK suggested that we use them to talk to sixth form schools. WK to contact the Marshall Commission to make enquiries about this.
• WK discussed the upcoming BAAS conference at UEA and the possibility of holding a more prominent Teachers’ Day. WK will discuss this matter with CB and TRS. He noted that such an event might possibly inform his application to the Embassy for additional funds.
• WK concluded his report by noting a recent message from Dr John Canning at the LLAS. Dr Canning was seeking information regarding focused projects which the LLAS might be able to undertake/fund. DE added that the LLAS wanted wide generic issues, such as assessment, sustainability, social networking, intercultural awareness, rather than subject specific suggestions. The Committee were asked to forward suggestions to WK. DE noted that BAAS need a representative on the LLAS so that we have at least two AS voices. HM suggested asking AS colleagues at Sussex, Nottingham and UEA. HM to write to Heads of these units for suggestions of possible representatives.

8.  Postgraduate Business (MC reporting)

• MC noted that IB had checked constitutionality of the decision to allow Irish PGs to apply for the BAAS Awards. This is unproblematic and will therefore go ahead.
• MC noted minor problems with the syllabus UK-US NYU Summer School. These are being ironed out internally and this successful venture will run again next year.
• MC added that the BAAS PG Conference at Northumbria conference had attracted 20 proposals and registration has been opened. Soon MC will send out a call for interested hosts for next year’s PG conference.

9.  Publications Subcommittee (MH reporting)

BRRAM

• Dr Tony McCulloch has now completed his introduction for ‘The Canadian Papers of the 4^th Earl of Minto.’ This has been approved, with just minor changes required. This title will now be released to standing order customers.
• The problem over the quality of microfilming by the British Library for ‘The Manuscripts of Samuel Martin…’ is still unresolved. MAP paid the BL to do this work but received microfilm where between 20% and 40% of the images are illegible. Therefore this title cannot yet be released even though Dr Natalie Zacek has completed her introduction. KM will take up this matter as soon as convenient with the Licensing Manager at the BL, and will also seek help from Professor Philip Davies at the Eccles Centre.
• RV will send details of MAP’s ‘British Online Archives’ for Dr Alison Kelly to publish in the January issue of ASIB. To date, eight Atlantic world-related collections largely digitised from earlier BRRAM have been released (including the American material in the USPG series A, B and C; the SPG journal and annual sermons from 1701-1870; the Liverpool RO slave trade records, the Davenport papers, the Jamaica material in the Goulburn and Slebech papers), with the ninth collection (Liverpool directories) due for completion in October. Committee members can contact RV about trial access.
• RV has still to hear from the archivist at Bangor University about a projected BRRAM title on the Penrhyn Castle MSS.
• There are additional Americas-related volumes among the USPG’s copies of letters received and sent series which have yet to, and could, be published either selectively or in toto.

Edinburgh University Press (EUP)

• MH suggested using Nicola Ramsey for info on the BAAS series in the first instance as he received good sales figures direct from EUP. The Committee agreed that this was acceptable.
• He also raised the matter of the EUP BAAS Paperbacks Editor vote on Publications subcom matter, wondering if SN and CS had one vote each or a vote between them. The Secretary clarified that SN and CS have one vote between them. HM suggested that MH liaise with SN and CS to ask if it might be possible for one of them to attend one meeting a year for voting purposes (the January meeting would be best for this as January is a busy month for JAS business).

Journal of American Studies

• MH reported that he was preparing an advertisement for a new Editor and two Associate Editors. The second Associate Editor will be a two-year position, renewable for one term. The other posts remain at 4-year terms. Both posts begin in January 2011. He added that as BAAS will want to announce the names of the new editors at the conference they will need to be ratified in January. The deadline for applications for all the posts was agreed as 1 January 2010.  The Secretary will provide MH with previous adverts and job specifications.
• MH noted that a number of JAS board members’ terms are coming to an end. Therefore we will be looking to ratify new members in January. The areas where the board will seek to appoint are as follows: 20^th-century political history; Asian American culture; music; gender and sexuality. The board would like to see at least one appointment of an individual from outside the UK (possibly Asia and or/Europe). Nominations should be sent to MH by 1 November. Nomination should be confidential and should not be discussed with the prospective nominee. MH will finalise a shortlist to bring to the Committee in January.

American Studies in Britain (ASIB)

• MH noted that RAS had been delayed and will be included with the February ASIB.
• MH reported that AK wishes to step down after February 2010. He will, therefore, prepare a mailshot calling for a new Editor for a recommended term of three years. The deadline for applications is 1 November (extended until 16 November). MH will invite applications from the unsuccessful candidates for the US Studies Online editorship.

US Studies Online

• The proposed special issue on art has been postponed indefinitely.
• FD is unsure if she can go to Northumbria for the BAAS PG Conference. MH to advise FD to liaise with MC about attending the conference. 

10.  Conference Subcommittee (SM reporting)

• SM thanked CMB for her hard work in securing the Nottingham refund. She noted that CMB is still finalising the conference accounts.
• SM reported that all seems to be in order for the UEA conference. It has been advertised extensively. The deadline for proposals is 16 October. Posters should come through to the Committee in the next week. TRS will send out a single-item conference mailshot in the coming week.
• The plenary speakers are in place: Wai Chee Dimock, Bruce Mitchelson, and David Reynolds.
• The booking form is finished and about to go online. The conference will cost £330 for a full member.
• The accommodation arrangements remain unchanged since the last minutes. On-campus accommodation is in a conference centre and of comparable standard with the hotel accommodation. All breakfasts will be served is on campus. There will be two late bars on campus for two nights.
• The publishers will be housed in the tea-break area.
• The civic reception will take place in the Norwich Forum (and BAAS will be addressed by the Mayor).
• The UEA programme committee is now in place and outreach activities will be happening.
• HM reiterated the need to have spaces reserved at the banquet for BAAS Awards winners.
• Preliminary arrangements have been set up for BAAS UCLAN 2011 (14-17 April). TS has approached two hotels for costings and is negotiating deals. All the venues are in place and the team are about to start thinking about plenary speakers. The banquet will take place in the Preston North End Football Club, which will provide the venue without charge if we can ensure a minimum of 170 covers.
• SM will begin discussions with Manchester about the 2012 conference after the UEA conference.
• HM noted that she had already written to the UCLAN organiser’s HoD.

11.  Awards Subcommittee (IB reporting)

IB noted that he was unable to source an established list of deadlines for Awards activities (i.e. in terms of posters, advertising, etc.). He is to establish this list with the assistance of the Secretary. SM noted that the conference organiser would need information regarding the Awards winners at least a month in advance in order to organise the banquet.
IB noted that he had received an email from PD identifying a series of problems with past administration of the Eccles Awards and with suggestions of how to promote the Awards. PD’s email outlined the following points which were addressed by the committee:

• The timing of the announcements and deadlines for applications have in the past been set by BAAS colleagues. The original suggestions about timings came from BAAS, and were entirely acceptable to PD. Later recommendations from PD that the timings be adjusted to give applicants more time to consider their options have thus far not been acted on. IB suggested a 29 February deadline in place of the current 29 January. This would maximise the time for applications. This was agreed by the Committee.
• PD’s email to IB noted that the grant by the Eccles Centre to BAAS has always included an element for administration. When this was discussed initially the agreement between BAAS and the Eccles Centre was that BAAS administration of the awards would include: publicising and promoting the awards; organising and servicing the selection committee; communicating the results to the applicants, organising the awards ceremony/certificates; delivering the grants and ensuring the financial probity of the awards; obtaining reports from the applicants. PD noted that some problems have been identified and IB and PD have started to address them. However, the Committee agreed that this is a good opportunity to examine the process.
• In terms of the publicity for and promotion of the Eccles Awards, PD expressed the opinion that BAAS colleagues may on occasion have restricted this to making an announcement through the BAAS elist and putting a short announcement on the BAAS website. He noted that promotion for these awards (and for at least some other BAAS awards) needs to go well beyond the BAAS elist. There needs to be close co-operation and exchange of information with BACS, who are a partner in this project.  But also the promotion needs to go to the elists (or equivalent) of organisations such as EAAS, BrANCH, BISA, HOTCUS, APG, TSA, and others. PD has always circulated the announcement to Eccles Centre contacts who may not be reached by a BAAS circulation. The Committee agreed unanimously with the necessary implementation of this suggestion.
• IB also noted that the following suggestions from PD’s message would be incorporated into the administration of the Awards: (i) ensure that the BAAS/BACS link is close and clear; (ii) create a list of outlets through which BAAS will promote and publicise the awards; (iii) review and expand this list over time; (iv) build promotion/publicity into the annual schedule.
• PD also suggested that the Awards move to electronic application only. This idea was discussed and rejected by the Committee on the basis of maintaining financial probity.
• Other issues raised and discussed by the Committee included the maintenance and review of the financial reporting system BAAS has now put into place; setting a date (dates) in the annual schedule for an audit of whether the expected reports have been received, so that BAAS can take appropriate action. And, finally, copying to relevant committee members all narrative reports received to ensure sure that these reports are published in ASIB, and, where relevant, in the BACS Newsletter.

IB reported that he had prepared an application form for the BAAS fellowship, which was now available on the website. The deadline for BAAS Fellowship applications is 1 December. Recommendations will come to the January meeting.

12.  Libraries and Resources Committee (DE reporting)

• DE noted that BLARs had decided to revisit the issue of possible collaboration between University libraries; the increased reliance on electronic resources means this might be worth exploring. Dr Kevin Halliwell will prepare a draft paper for the Committee. He has already begun liaising with AS librarians across the country.
• The INTUTE tutorial for UG students on how to evaluate websites is now running on the INTUTE website.
• DE noted that BLARs had recently received its grant from the Embassy for the production of RAS. This had been the cause of the delay to publication. BLARs were very happy with the proposal to move to a permanent February distribution of RAS.
• BLARs will run a session on intellectual property at the UEA conference. And at UCLAN 2011 there would be a session on social networking and its role in the delivery of UG and PG courses.
• TS is to continue serving on the BLARs committee.
• DE thanked the British Library and the Eccles Centre for their continued support.

13. EAAS (WK reporting on behalf of PD)

• PD sent a written report noting that there have been no EAAS meetings recently.
• The deadline for paper proposals for next year’s EAAS conference in Dublin is 15 October 2009.  Proposals should be sent to Workshop chairs.
• Details are available in the latest EAAS newsletter, at http://www.eaas.eu/newsletter/ASE62small.pdf

14. Any Other Business

None

15. Date of next meeting

The next Executive Committee meeting will be held at the University of Central Lancashire on 23 January 2010.

Subcommittee meetings will commence at 10.30am.

Dr. Catherine Morley

email: catherine.morley@leicester.ac.uk

Office Phone: (0116) 223 1068

BAAS 2009 AGM

Minutes of the BAAS AGM, held at University of Nottingham on Friday 17 April  at 3:15pm.

Elections:

TreasurerTheresa Saxon(to 2012)
CommitteeJohn Fagg(to 2012)
Martin Halliwell(to 2012)*
Iwan Morgan(to 2012)

*Not eligible for re-election to this position.

The Treasurer circulated copies of the Trustees’ Report and the draft audited accounts, which she asked the AGM to approve. She informed the AGM that the Trustees’ Report now contains a paragraph outlining firm concepts of how BAAS activities provide public benefit. This is a new aspect of the report which has recently been introduced by the Charities Commission. TS noted that as yet there is no template for phrasing our Public Benefit but we should have clearer guidelines next year. She added that in this first year she has stressed the provision of resources on the BAAS website and conference subsidies to PGs.

In terms of the accounts, TS drew the membership’s attention to the increase in the cost of journals and publications this year. The figure is double that of last year, which is linked to the Discover American Studies Project. TS also noted that subscriptions are down on last year, which means that our income from subscriptions has dropped £3000 this year (see p. 10, point 4, of BAAS Accounts 2008). She noted that there have been a few cancelled Standing Orders. BAAS will need to monitor this issue as it may be a continuing trend; undoubtedly, the current financial crisis has had an impact. Overall she noted a healthy deficit of £14,000 in 2008. This is a positive position (as we should not make a surplus) and certainly no cause for concern.

The Treasurer noted that the bank accounts (as at 15 April 2009) were as follows: General Deposit, £17,214.69; Short Term Awards, £1701.44; Current, £21,349.73; Conference, £969.96; making a total of £41,235.82. The amount in the RBS Jersey is £15,474.61 and the US Dollar Account has $9,460.90.

Judie Newman (Nottingham) proposed that the accounts be approved; Carol Smith (Winchester) seconded the motion, and it was carried unanimously.

TS reported on progress made on Gift Aid, which has been an ongoing issue over the last few years. Since 2000, membership subscriptions and donations have been eligible for Gift Aid, and BAAS can claim back 22/78th for those who have signed legitimate Gift Aid declarations. TS has recently put in a claim to the Inland Revenue for approximately £1600. However, there are currently only 120 Gift Aid mandates on file (which accounts for just quarter of the membership). TS urged the membership to collect, complete and return the circulated Gift Aid forms.

TS also reported on membership figures; there are currently 462 fully paid up members (160 of which are Postgraduates), which compares to 523 (including 190 Postgraduates) at this time last year. When those who have not updated their Standing Orders are included, this number rises to 525 in total (with 179 Postgraduates).

On behalf of the Executive Committee TS proposed an increase in the BAAS subscription, to be introduced in 2010. She noted that BAAS and JAS have been linked since 2005 (with an optional subscription to the journal tied to membership). CUP have proposed to increase the number of volumes from three to four issues per year. Inevitably, this will incur an additional cost of £5.00 per annum. As BAAS has not increased membership fees since 2002, the Executive Committee have proposed an increase of £2.00 per annum on full membership and £1.00 per annum on Postgraduate and Retired membership costs. This rise is necessary to build the community, to build on the work of the association, and to invest in the updating and maintenance of the BAAS website. Thus, with the new JAS rate and the BAAS membership increase, the overall proposed subscription increases are as follows:
•Individual membership with JAS: rise from £41 to £48
•PG membership with JAS: rise from £28 to £34
•PG membership without JAS: rise from £13 to £14
•Retired membership with JAS: rise from £28 to £34
•Retired membership without JAS: rise from £13 to £14.

Phil Davies (Eccles Centre) proposed that the increase be approved, with effect from January 2010; Carol Smith seconded the motion, and it was carried unanimously.

The Chair offered a comprehensive verbal report in which she discussed BAAS’s commitment to supporting American Studies programmes and members who are in Departments of History, Politics, Film and Media, Humanities, Social Sciences and English as well as single subject American Studies Departments or Schools.

The Chair noted that one of her duties was to write to Vice Chancellors about American Studies programme closures and offer BAAS’s support, sometimes with success, though often decisions are made and communicated to staff before BAAS is able to offer its voice. She noted with regret that Plymouth and Lancaster have both confirmed the closing of their American Studies provision this year. However, other programmes continue to thrive and twenty-five programmes are listed in the 2009 Good University Guide League Table for American Studies, which is a higher number than in some previous years. The Chair also announced that Sussex has retained is status as an American Studies department, which is good news and welcome in the current climate. She also noted a 22% rise in American Studies applications nationally – which could in part be attributed to the Discover American Studies CD ROM. In addition, the University of Leicester has seen a marked increase in applications to its American Studies courses, as announced in the Times Higher and Manchester announced buoyant application numbers for its undergraduate programme as well.

The Chair informed the membership that BAAS arranged and sponsored a Heads of American Studies lunch at the ISA, London, in June 2008, to discuss recruitment, links with schools and colleges, and research post-RAE. A follow up meeting is scheduled for June 2009. Professor Paul Cammack (MMU), chair of the RAE subpanel and member of the REF Advisory Group, has been invited to discuss the new proposals regarding the REF.

The Chair discussed the 2008 RAE exercise, noting that eight institutions were submitted to the RAE Unit of Assessment 47, American Studies and Anglophone Area Studies. Although the number of staff submitted to the Unit fell from 114 in 2001 to 92 in 2008, there was also, according to the subject overview report, ‘significant evidence of staff renewal, with just over half of Category A staff submitted in RAE 2008 appointed to their institutions since 2001.’ There was also a significant increase in the number of postgraduate students. There was a healthy number of cross-referrals to the panel, though BAAS’s concerted effort to persuade institutions to cross-refer work that was submitted to other panels to Unit 47—a campaign led by Carol Smith as the former Vice Chair—was not as successful as had been hoped. The Chair conjectured that Heads of Research may have misunderstood the cross-referral mechanism, which allowed for expert advice to be offered as a source of information, to subpanels, which were free to use the advice as they wished. The Chair noted that the RAE2008 UOA 47 subject overview report states ‘that the quality of research activity assessed exceeds that of 2001. …In 2008, three of the eight institutions submitted had 50 per cent or more of their activity recognised as world-leading or internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour…, and in all over 80 per cent of research (comprising research outputs, environment and esteem), weighted according to the number of staff in each submission, achieved international and world-leading quality levels of 2*, 3* and 4*.’ She acknowledged that while this is an achievement to be proud of, BAAS has consistently noted in media interviews, to colleagues, and to Vice Chancellors, that American Studies’ research is found in a variety of other units of assessment as well, and American Studies research has a far wider base than represented in the RAE results. She requested that the membership inform BAAS where their research was submitted.

Congratulations were extended to the following BAAS members in relation to awards, grant success, promotion and honours:

•Jacqueline Fear-Segal (UEA) won the American Studies Network book prize for her book White Man’s Club (2007); Rebecca Ferguson (University of Wales, Lampeter) gained a Recognition Award from the Toni Morrison Society in America for her book Rewriting Black Identities: Transition and Exchange in the Novels of Toni Morrison (2007); Gareth Davies (St. Anne’s, Oxford) was awarded the Richard Neustadt Prize of the American Politics Group of the Political Studies Association for his book See Government Grow (2007) on Federal education policy;
•Paul Grainge (Nottingham) made a successful bid to host and organise an AHRC research workshop on its ‘Beyond Text’ scheme; Sharon Montieth (Nottingham) was successful in her application to the AHRC Research Leave Scheme to complete her book on Civil Rights in the Melodramatic Imagination;
•Will Kaufman has been made Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Central Lancashire; Craig Phelan has been offered a Chair in History at Kingston; Jude Davies has been made Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Winchester;
•Philip Davies, Emeritus Professor at De Montfort University and Director of the Eccles Centre, has been elected as a Rothermere American Institute Fellow, in recognition of his ‘exceptional contribution to the intellectual life of the RAI’ and his ‘distinction in academic, professional or public life’; Professor Davies has also become co-editor of the Academy of Social Sciences journal 21st Century Society;
•Douglas Tallack has been appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Arts, Humanities and Law at the University of Leicester; and Richard Carwardine is to become the next Warden of Corpus Christi;
•An American Studies PhD Student at Sheffield, Kaleem Ashraf, has had his poetry read by Julia Wright (writer, activist and daughter of Richard Wright) at the National Unveiling of the Richard Wright Stamp at the Chicago Post Office in April, as part of the centennial celebrations of Wright’s life and work;
•Professor Matthew Jones (Nottingham) has been appointed by the Prime Minister as a Cabinet Office official historian, and commissioned to write the history of the Chevaline programme;
•And, finally, the Institute for the Study of the Americas formally launched its new United States Presidency Centre (USPC) on October 24, 2008. The centre is being set up to promote and facilitate research and scholarship on the US presidency, from both a contemporary perspective and in terms of its historical and cultural significance.

The Chair informed the membership that BAAS had lost some long standing supporters of American Studies in Britain this year, including Vivien Hart, former Professor of American Studies at Sussex, and Charlotte Erickson, a former BAAS Secretary and Chair who remained closely connected with BAAS throughout her lifetime.

In terms of BAAS awards, the Chair noted that this year BAAS will award 29 prizes worth approximately £70,000. This figure does not include the support and funding offered to conference organizers. The Chair went on to gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the US Embassy and also of individual BAAS members who regularly contribute to BAAS Short Term Travel Award funds or who donate anonymously in other ways. For the first time this year, BAAS will announce a new award of BAAS Fellow in recognition of services to BAAS and the American Studies Community.

The Chair noted that the officers and members of the Executive Committee continue to work extremely hard to enhance and protect American Studies in the UK, spending an ever-increasing amount of time attending meetings, responding to consultation documents, and ensuring that the voice of American Studies is heard as funding bodies and universities make their decisions. Over the past year, BAAS Committee members have undertaken the following work on behalf of BAAS. They have:

•responded to a US patents consultation run by the British Library;
•remained engaged with the European Reference Index for the Humanities project;
•worked tirelessly to ensure that the Journal of American Studies achieved an A rating on the recently published journal rankings list;
•written several letters to the AHRC regarding not only their Block Grant Proposal Scheme, but also their creation of four new prioritization panels;
•made a commitment to being involved—as appropriate—with a new body called the Arts and Humanities Users’ Group—a pressure group set up to respond to the AHRC, HEFCE, and other bodies about research initiatives;
•engaged with the media, both in print form and through other media outlets;
•issued a press release about our awards winners;
•attended inaugural lectures and social events in order to represent the American Studies subject community;
•and initiated plans to raise the profile of the Association—and American Studies—over the next year.

The Chair concluded by acknowledging the hard work of all the members of the Executive Committee. She thanked the BAAS Officers Martin Halliwell (Vice Chair), Theresa Saxon (Treasurer), Catherine Morley (Secretary), and Ian Bell, Paul Blackburn, Susan Castillo, Dick Ellis, Michael Collins, Will Kaufman, Andrew Lawson, George Lewis, Sarah MacLachan, Robert Mason, Ian Scott, and Mark Whalan. Final thanks were extended to Celeste-Marie Bernier and her colleagues at Nottingham, for organizing such an excellent conference.

Conferences:

Sarah MacLachlan began her report by acknowledging what a huge success the Nottingham conference had been so far, and offered public congratulations to Celeste-Marie Bernier and her team of Postgraduates for the hard work they had put in before and during the conference. SM noted that this year she had visited the 2010 conference site at UEA with Thomas Ruys-Smith, the 2010 Conference Organizer. The conference will be based at the University of East Anglia (8-11 April 1010) and preparations are already well underway. She noted that the call for papers was available in conference packs and members were asked to consider submitting proposals early to allow for planning.

The 2011 conference will be held at the University of Central Lancashire, organised by Theresa Saxon, SM reported that the University of Manchester was confirmed for the 2012 conference, with the University of Exeter hosting the conference in 2013, and the University of Birmingham taking on the conference in 2014. Finally, SM invited suggestions for future conferences.

Publications:

Martin Halliwell began his verbal report by reminding the AGM that minutes of all meetings are published on the website, so that individuals may keep updated about current activities. He then reported on some of the highlights of the year in relation to the Publications Subcommittee. In relation to BRRAM (British Records Relating To America In Microform), Ken Morgan (Brunel) continues to be active in developing the catalogue. A new BRRAM microform, ‘The American Correspondence of Arthur C. Murray with Franklin D. Roosevelt’, was released in late 2008; ‘The Manuscripts of Samuel Martin, a sugar planer in C18th Antigua’ is ready for release; and the William Davenport Papers (relating to a Liverpool slave merchant) have been added to the online resources on the slave trade. Ken Morgan is looking to expand the number of large American research libraries that have a standing order to take all the BRRAM titles, and would welcome any suggestions of new papers for the collection.

In relation to the BAAS EUP series, the Series Editors, Simon Newman (Glasgow) and Carol Smith and EUP Commissioning Editor, Nicola Ramsey, have been busy in 2008 exploring possible new subjects and authors for the BAAS series. A new addition to the series is Celeste-Marie Bernier’s African American Visual Arts, co-published with University of North Carolina Press. Books on The American Short Story since 1950 and North American Theatre are due out in 2009-10.

MH noted that the Editor of JAS, Susan Castillo, Associate Editor, Scott Lucas, and CUP representative Martine Walsh have been working very hard in 2009, streamlining and improving the JAS editorial processes. In 2008-09 Janet Beer (Oxford Brookes) and Shelley Fisher Fishkin (Stanford) had their terms of office on the JAS Editorial Board extended for another three years. MH welcomed the following as new Board members: Richard Crockatt (UEA), Jane Dailey (Chicago) and Marjorie Spruill (South Carolina). At a meeting on 13 March in London, CUP, JAS and BAAS representatives discussed the proposal to move from three to four issues per year from 2010. The extra issue would cost an additional £5, making the rate £20 for BAAS members to receive JAS. The page length of future issues will be 240 pp. MH also noted that CUP are keen to develop First View for JAS which will mean that fully-citable articles will appear online before they appear in print form. It was also proposed to add the Associate Editor of JAS to the BAAS Executive as a co-opted member. Carol Smith proposed the motion be approved; Judie Newman seconded the motion, and it was carried unanimously.

In relation to other publications, the latest issue of ASIB was produced earlier in the spring, with the deadline for the autumn issue being 31 July. MH noted that the typesetting for ASIB remains at Oxford Brookes University and, on behalf of BAAS, thanked Alison Kelly (RAI) for her work as Editor.

Felicity Donohoe (University of Glasgow) took over from Elizabeth Boyle (Sheffield) as Editor of US Studies Online in autumn 2008. Issue 13 was published in November 2008 and Issue 14 will include a number of papers first aired at the 2008 Exeter BAAS PG Conference. MH noted that flyers for US Studies Online were included in conference packs and the Editor is keen for the journal to be publicized to all American Studies graduate students.

MH thanked colleagues on the Publications subcommittee for the work they have did in 2008-09.

Development:

Will Kaufman began his report with by noting a series of positive developments, including the introduction of the BAAS Honorary Fellowship Award (developed in conjunction with the Ian Scott and Ian Bell on the Awards subcommittee) and the marked increase in the number of applications for conference support. He noted the Development subcommittee’s concerns about the liaison between schools and the American Studies community, and added that he hoped to meet with teachers, establish contacts, listen to grievances and receive teachers’ suggestions about BAAS-schools liaison. He stressed the value of initiatives such as the BAAS Schools Essay Prize, but added the need to do more, on both sides of the school-HE equation. The Development subcommittee has discussed, for instance, the possibility of recruiting a second Schools Liaison member from the teaching sector, either to accompany or alternate with the current Schools Liaison representative – perhaps from a southern region to complement the existing northern representation. BAAS welcomed the news that Dr Bella Adams (LJMU) has taken over the directorship of the American Studies Resource Centre, which continues to host the important 6th Form Conference. WK also offered congratulations to Dr Adams’s predecessor, Ian Ralston, who was recently offered a State Department Tribute for his services to American Studies.

WK noted that HE recruitment was a constant issue of discussion for the Development subcommittee, adding that in the coming year BAAS hopes to have some concrete statistics regarding the impact of the Discover American Studies CD-Rom project fronted by Dr Sara Wood and Professor Dick Ellis in collaboration with the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies – and generously funded by the US Embassy. One of the forthcoming tasks of the Development subcommittee will be to gather national feedback about the use of this recruitment package. The membership were asked to contact WK with details of recruitment and their use of the CD.

In terms of US Embassy grants, WK offered thanks to the US Embassy, who kindly agreed to provide the requested funds for this year’s BAAS conference, the STAs and the Ambassador’s Awards. He noted that the Embassy had kindly provided a sum of £12,880, which broke down exactly into the requested amounts for each bid. Particular thanks were extended to Sarah-Jane Mayhew and Sue Wedlake.

WK noted an increase in the number of BAAS Conference Funding requests. Since the last AGM BAAS has been able to offer funding worth approximately £4,980 for conference organisation. The recipients were as follows: Trevor Burnard (Warwick) and Tim Lockley (Warwick) were awarded £300 for a conference on Early American and Atlantic History; Philip Davies (Eccles Centre) was awarded £300 for the 2008 Congress to Campus 6th Form conference; Michael Collins (Nottingham) and Mark Storey (Nottingham) were awarded £300 for a Nineteenth Century Literature Postgraduate conference; Lewis Ward (Exeter) was awarded £300 for the 2008 BAAS Postgraduate Conference; Kathryn Gray (Plymouth) was awarded £300 for the South West American Studies Forum; Alan Rice (UCLAN) and Fionnghuala Sweeney (Liverpool) were awarded £300 for the Liberating Sojourn 2; Karen Heath (Oxford) was awarded £300 for the Nixon Era Conference; Matthew Ward (Dundee) was awarded £300 for the 10th annual SASA conference; Iwan Morgan (ISA) was awarded £300 for the Seeking a New Majority conference; Ruth Hawthorn (Glasgow) was awarded £300 for the New Clear Forms conference; Richard Martin (London) was awarded £300 for a David Lynch conference; Helen Mitchell (Northumbria) was awarded £300 for the 2009 Annual BAAS Postgraduate Conference; Dick Ellis (Birmingham) was awarded £300 for the Engaging the New American Studies conference; Phil Davies (Eccles Centre) awarded £300 for the 2009 Eccles Congress to Campus conference; Bella Adams (LJMU) was awarded £200 for ASRC Schools Conference; and applications for support funding have also been received for a Toni Morrison symposium (£280 requested) and the forthcoming HOTCUS conference (£300 requested).

WK extended thanks to Michael Collins for his ongoing work as Postgraduate Representative. He commended the organisers of the very successful BAAS Postgraduate Conference at Exeter in 2008; and noted that the forthcoming Postgraduate Conference will be held at Northumbria University on 14 November 2009.

WK concluded his report by thanking those who had replied to his email call for information regarding high-profile American Studies graduates, especially Pete Messent, Chris Gair, Phil Davies and Richard Crockatt. With their assistance BAAS has had responses from Richard Lister of the BBC, the novelist Jill Dawson, and the crime-writer John Harvey. WK reported that he had also had a response from the Personal Assistant to the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, which noted that ‘[Mr Salmond’s] dissertation on the 1860 election gave him a great admiration for Abraham Lincoln that has continued to influence him throughout his career in politics’.

All the members of the Development subcommittee were thanked for their contributions during the year.

Awards:
Ian Scott began his report by thanking the anonymous judges who contributed to the successful business of the Awards subcommittee. He noted that the success of the Awards had meant that this work had grown exponentially in the past few years and the Executive Committee will continue to encourage members to volunteer their services in the adjudication of BAAS Awards. He noted that BAAS will award 29 prizes in 2009 worth a total of nearly £70,000.

IS also reported that the Teaching Assistantship at Wyoming had been very successful again and that this would continue through another cycle for a further two years at least. He also noted that the Eccles Fellowship Award was still open and he encouraged colleagues to apply for the various EU and domestic awards. IS mentioned the inauguration of the new BAAS Honorary Fellowship Award, and asked the membership to consider proposing individuals for the Fellowship. Finally, IS thanked the US Embassy for their support, as well as the individual members of BAAS who donate funds to support the Short Term Travel Awards.

Libraries and Resources:

Dick Ellis reported that the subcommittee had dealt with three main items over the past year. The first was the Discover American Studies CD, which was kindly funded by the US Embassy and purchased by BAAS. He reported that already American Studies applications have risen by 22%. DE noted that the CD was still available and interested individuals should email him for copies. The second major item of business for the subcommittee was the BLARs journal, which continues through the financial support of the US Embassy and the work of Matthew Shaw. The next issue will appear in August 2009. Those with suggestions for articles should email the Editor, Dr Matthew Shaw at the British Library. He also noted that BLARs had run a very successful session, entitled Dirty Filthy Copyright, at the conference on Thursday 16 April. Next year’s Dirty Sexy Copyright 2 is already in the planning stages. DE reported that the final item of major business was the development of an American Studies resources website (to be developed with INTUTE). This online tutorial provision will help teach students how to evaluate and criticise materials on the web. He added that he will contact the membership shortly, requesting assistance with the second phase of the programme.

Thanks were extended to all members of the subcommittee, especially Jane Kelly (Secretary), Phil Davies and colleagues at the British Library.

EAAS:

Phil Davies reported that his main business concerned the EAAS biannual conference in Dublin. He noted that the 24 workshops and lectures had recently been finalised, but there would be opportunities to propose papers for the workshops. This would be advertised in the newsletter on www.eaas.eu. Details would also be circulated via the BAAS e-list. He reminded the AGM that the extended deadline for the EAAS Rob Kroes Book prize would close at the end of July and urged the membership to send along their manuscripts. He also reminded the membership of EJAS as a valuable publishing outlet. He concluded by noting that EAAS 2012 would be held in Turkey.

AOB:

Jenel Virden (Hull) asked why all institutions with raised application figures were not reported in the Chair’s Report. The Chair replied that she had reported the figures of all those institutions which had responded to her call for information.

The AGM concluded at 4.30pm.

BAAS Executive Committee Meeting:  4 June 2009

1. Present: H Macpherson, M Halliwell (Vice Chair), C Morley (Secretary) T Saxon (Treasurer), C Bates, I Bell, S Castillo, M Collins, J Fagg, M Halliwell, W Kaufman, G Lewis, R Mason, I Morgan and M Whalan.

Apologies: P Davies, D Ellis, S MacLachlan

2.  Minutes of the Previous Meeting

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

3.  Matters Arising

None

Action List Review

The Secretary asked the Exec to comment on the status of their Action List duties.

• HM reported that she had received an update from the Secretary regarding the status of the American Studies Research Portal.
• WK noted that he had liaised with Bella Adams regarding the Teachers’ List. He has received a copy of it and is in the process of updating it.
• WK noted that he had written to Michael Macy on 22 April regarding the issue of BAAS links with India. Michael Macy has written to say that he will be in touch regarding this matter.
• Other Action Points will come up under the relevant sections below or will be carried forward to the next meeting.

4.  Chair’s Business (HM reporting)

(a) Announcements

• David Brauner has been made Reader at the University of Reading.
• Jacqueline Fear-Segal has been promoted to Reader in American Studies at UEA.
• Nick Selby will become Head of the School at UEA in August.
• In April Alan Rice received a £4,000 grant from the Centre for Inquiry-based Learning in the Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sheffield for his project Dramatising Slavery & Emancipating Students: Learning Beyond the Classroom, which he will use to develop his Dramatic Tableau of the slave trade for wider usage.
• Jenel Virden’s latest book, Americans and the Wars of the Twentieth Century, has become a Choice Magazine outstanding academic book of 2008.
• Christopher Bigsby’s biography of Arthur Miller was shortlisted for the Sheridan Morley Prize and the James Tait Memorial Prize, and he has also recently delivered the Esmond Harmsworth Lecture at the Rothermere American Institute, Oxford.

(b) Correspondence

• HM received the Fulbright Spring newsletter (previously circulated by email).
• HM has written to the VC and HoD of UCLAN regarding the 2011 conference and received a reply (circulated).

(c) REF

• HM reminded the committee that Paul Cammack would be in attendance at the Heads of American Studies meeting to discuss the REF.  She asked colleagues if there were issues that they wished to take forward. 
• IB noted that discussions at Keele seemed to indicate that even with the introduction of bibliometrics and the emphasis on impact there would not be too much difference between the RAE and the REF. 
• MW noted that peer review has to stay at the heart of the exercise, as it is such an innate feature of our research. 
• GL suggested that it might be worthwhile raising the matter of the submission of research, possibly building into the REF a quantifiable paper trail so that it was easier to find out where outputs had been send. This might also reassure universities about the process of cross-referral.
• SC asked if it might be possible to ascertain the distribution of weightings for the various assessment criteria, i.e. would output, environment and impact be distributed at a ratio of 60 : 20 : 20?
• HM noted that she would bring all of these views to the consultation meeting. The final results of the consultation will be published in the autumn.

(d) Invitations

• HM was invited to attend the AHRC subject association meeting on 28 May. She was unable to attend and IM attended on behalf of BAAS. IM noted that it was a reasonably interesting event but felt it was less a consultation than a meeting in which the AHRC spoke to subject associations. Feedback from the meeting will be on the website. IM noted that the main thing to take away from the meeting is that the allocation of funding will be much tighter from 2011 onwards. He also noted that there would be certain key themes which the AHRC will favour and which will get 25% of funding. He felt that literature and culture specialists might find it easier to fit into some of these key themes than those working in history and politics. Certainly ‘impact’ was the buzzword which came out of the meeting. However while it was clear what ‘impact’ meant for the performing arts, it was less obvious for more traditional disciplines. It seems that they hope to forge a link between the academy and the community. There was also discussion about media impact and IM suggested that this is something the BAAS membership will need to think about with funding applications. IB noted that the AHRC seem to be following the ESRC model for funding distribution so it might be worth looking at how they measure impact. MH mentioned that Shearer West came to Leicester to talk about this matter and she admitted that it was easier to tie into strategic themes if you were working on UK- related subjects rather than other area studies. What is evident is that colleagues may have to reshape our research to fit the strategic areas.
• HM was invited to the CEO meeting of the Academy of Social Sciences on 9 June but could not attend.
• HM was invited to the UKCASA AGM on 10 June but unable to attend. MH is attending on behalf of BAAS.

(e) Consultations and Activities

• HM noted that the AHRC Future Directions Consultation paper was submitted on behalf of BAAS 6 May. She thanked all who contributed to this.
• HM responded to the Research Councils UK Knowledge Transfer Consultation (submitted 7 May).
• HM responded to RIN consultation on the use of blogs, wikis and Web 2.0.

5.  Secretary’s Business

• CM noted that, as usual, her main role revolved around information flow. She regularly passed information on to Alison Kelly, Clare Elliot and Graham Thompson for ASIB, the mailbase and the website respectively. She helped direct people with research and grant queries to the appropriate sources; fielded enquires for fellowship opportunities and course information from many academics and students (both postgraduate and undergraduate); and is awaiting materials from the Charities Commission so she can update our records with details of the new committee members. CM has also been contacted by overseas postgraduates seeking advice and guidance on employment and publication opportunities, which she responded to.
• CM wrote to the Embassy with an update of the new committee members and structure and wrote to welcome all the new committee members (with details of their Trustee status).
• After the conference CM made some enquiries regarding the American Studies Research Portal. She has been informed by Karen Perkins at the SAS that the site’s web-hosting company sold the domain name (www.asrp.info) without telling the SAS, so it is no longer available. The SAS are in the process of trying to find a new domain name, so that they can restore the information on the ASRP. They will certainly pass on details of it to BAAS as soon as a new web address is available.
• CM attended the Reagan’s America event at the Rothermere American Institute on 2 June.
• CM noted that she is in the process of updating the BAAS leaflet with new committee details. She asked it the committee would support spending a little money on the new leaflet to make it more professional looking. This was agreed. She is working on the production of a new slide for BAAS.
• MW raised the issue of media inquiries. The Executive Committee agreed that as the plans for the REF take shape, it is apparent that measuring the impact of our research beyond the academic community will be an increasingly important criterion in the assessment of research activity. One way of improving ‘impact’ is through our work with the media. MW suggested formalising the process with the creation of a new role for an existing committee member – an Impact Officer. MH agreed that this was a good direction for BAAS and suggested that it might be useful to consider Impact as a regular agenda item at the meeting of the Development subcommittee. IM noted that he receives many requests for media consultation, many of which he is unable to fulfil. He agreed that it would be useful to have a mechanism in place for passing these requests on to others. HM agreed that the creation of an Experts Lists (along the line of the External Examiner’s List) would be useful. MW and CM will work on a notice calling for details to be added to an Expertise List. The notice will be placed in the next edition of ASIB.

6.  Treasurer’s Business (TS reporting)

• The Treasurer noted that the bank accounts (as at 15 April 2009) were as follows: General Deposit, £7,824.69; Short Term Awards, £1871.44; Current, £7,225.00; Conference, £969.96; making a total of £17,890.82. The amount in the RBS Jersey is  £15,474.61 and the US Dollar Account has  $9,460.90.
• TS reported that fully paid up members for 2010 currently stand at 475 including 166 postgraduates. This does not compare favourably to the position last year, which was 535 members (with 193 postgraduates). When those who haven’t so far updated their Standing Orders are included, the numbers rise to 538 (185 postgraduate) compared to 631 (with 254 postgraduates) in April 2008. TS noted that while we have not lost any members since April there has not been an increase. She added that there are 800 names on her membership database, which indicates that a substantial number have fallen out of the renewal loop. She suggested that we may want to think about ways of attracting new members and maintaining existing members.
• TS noted that we are slightly low on accounts but this is due to a recent payment on the Eccles Awards.
• TS brought the Committee’s attention to the Conference account which is dormant (i.e. no activity for three years and it is not interest bearing). TS asked if it would be possible to amalgamate the Conference account with our General Deposit account as there seems no point in having a dedicated conference bank account when university conference offices handle this. The Executive Committee agreed that this was a good idea.
• HM asked if TS had made any progress on accessing the offshore account. TS noted that the issue was ongoing.

7.  Development Subcommittee (WK reporting)

• WK opened his report by extending a warm welcome to Chris Bates, the new Schools liaison member.
• On behalf of the Development subcom WK recommended that the following small conferences be supported: Dr David Stirrup (Kent) and Dr Gillian Roberts (Nottingham) have applied for £300 to fund a conference on ‘Culture and the Canada-US Border’, to be held at the University of Kent at Canterbury. Dr Jill Terry (Worcester) has applied for £300 for a conference entitled ‘Transatlantic Routes of American Roots Music.’ Both applications were approved by the Executive Committee, subject to confirmation of disbursement of awards to postgraduate students.
• WK confirmed that he had written to Michael Macy regarding links with the India. He is awaiting further correspondence with Mr Macy.
• WK noted that he has received some more endorsements/quotations from AS graduates quotations, which he will forward to the Secretary and the other officers.
• WK reported that there had been a good deal of schools business since the conference, and he had frequently liaised with Dr Bella Adams of the American Studies Resources Centre at LJMU. WK requested that Dr Adams be invited regularly to meetings (in her capacity as Chair of the ASRC). He added that the Secretary had already discussed the possibility with Dr Adams who seems very willing. The Secretary is to check the Constitution to confirm if it is possible to formally invite Dr Adams on to the Executive Committee.
• WK reported the receipt of an American Studies contacts list from David Forster of the American Studies Resource Centre, which is to be merged with a list in the Secretary’s possession for compilation of a master copy. HM will take charge of compiling this database. HM noted that it might be worthwhile writing to Schools to inform them of their free BAAS membership, to ask what they would like to see on the new BAAS website, remind them of the BAAS Awards for Schools, and inform them of how links with BAAS might be of benefit.
• A long discussion followed on how BAAS might be instrumental in getting American Studies personnel into Schools to talk about aspects of the disciplines. TS noted that it would be worthwhile getting some postgraduate students on board as it would be a good opportunity to get experience of speaking to groups. CM will prepare a notice calling for Schools Speakers, along the lines of the notice calling for the Media Contacts Database.  The notice will be to be placed in the next edition of ASIB. CM will coordinate the list of those willing to speak to Schools.
• WK reported that at the meeting of the Development subcommittee it was agreed that those with specific roles should send a written report in advance in the event of their non-attendance.
• WK noted the need to monitor the amount of monies awarded in BAAS Conference Organisation Support. PD had asked at the previous meeting to consider whether we need to cap the funds awarded. HM noted that we do not fund all requests that come through and some events do not happen. TS will send WK some figures from previous years so that the issue can discussed in depth at the next meeting.

8.  Postgraduate Business (MC reporting)

• MC noted that it had been brought to his attention that Irish members (those registered at HEIs in the Republic of Ireland) cannot apply for our BAAS essay prizes. He asked if it would be possible to institute a reciprocal relationship with the IASA (as BAAS members registered at British HEIs can apply for IASA awards). The Executive Committee agreed that this be ratified as long as it does not contravene our regulations. IB to check the Awards regulations. CM noted that a reciprocal relationship would keep this agreement limited to Ireland. CM asked about the situation with STAs and whether these would also be opened to colleagues at Irish HEIs. MC recommended that the arrangement be restricted to the essay prizes as we cannot win their STAs. This was agreed by the Executive Committee.
• MC reported that he has been involved in preliminary discussions with his German counterpart regarding a European-based postgraduate forum. He will report back to the Committee when he has further news on this.
• MC reported that the US Embassy Small Grants programme has been discontinued. As this was a source of funding for the BAAS Postgraduate Conference, MC asked if BAAS should aim to provide a disbursement of £200 for catering, in addition to the £300 already offered (which is ring-fenced for registration subsidies). HM affirmed the value of postgraduates continuing to apply for the £300, and an additional £200 to cover other costs on top of that, to encourage bidding experience. Colleagues felt that asking the Postgraduate Organiser to submit two separate applications seemed rather onerous. This was agreed by the Executive Committee that the £300 would be granted to the organiser (upon his/her making contact with the Secretary and the Treasurer regarding the Postgraduate Conference float). A formal application would have to be submitted for the additional £200. It was also agreed that an honorarium of £50 (one payment to a single named organiser) would be given to the BAAS Postgraduate Conference organiser as an incentive.
• MC reported that twelve UK postgraduates would be participating in the New York Summer Institute.

9.  Publications Subcommittee (MH reporting)

BRRAM

• KM sent an extensive written report noting that his short article on the BRRAM series has now been published in the Spring 2009 issue of ASIB.
• He also reported that the problem with the quality of the microfilm images supplied by the British Library for “The Manuscripts of Samuel Martin…” (for which Dr Natalie Zacek has already supplied an introduction) remains unresolved. The British Library’s Imaging Services had offered to provide better quality reproductions for the text of a number of images in this publication but, despite some positive signals in the early spring, silence has fallen once more. This title appears on the MAP website with a note alerting potential customers to the defect, but it has not yet been supplied to BRRAM standing order customers pending a remedy from the BL.
• Further to KM’s meeting with Ms Gill Furlong at the University of London Archives, he is awaiting a decision about whether it will be possible to use material in their collections for the BRRAM series.
• KM was happy to report that “The Canadian Papers of the 4^th Earl of Minto…” has been filmed and released; however Dr Tony McCulloch has not yet completed his introduction. KM will contact Dr McCulloch to suggest a firm final deadline for the introduction.
• KM also reported that Dr Roderic Vassie intends to visit Bangor University in late June 2009 to discuss the microfilm and/or online publication of the Penrhyn Castle MSS, which deals with Jamaican slavery.
• The material from Rhodes House’s USPG Canadian Papers has now been released in microfilm. KM was unable to find a specialist editor for this publication.
• KM reported that Microform Academic Publishers has now launched its online gateway, British Online Archives, which includes various existing BRRAM titles (www.britishonlinearchives.co.uk). In particular, this resource includes a selection of BRRAM titles under the series title “British Records on the Atlantic World, 1700-1850.” MAP has subscription details for this online material. KM will also send details of this to Dr Alison Kelly for publication in ASIB.
• Finally, KM noted his intentions to publicise the BRRAM series as part of his role on the Advisory Board of the Atlantic History section of “Oxford Bibliographies Online,” a series currently being prepared for Oxford University Press’s New York branch.

Edinburgh University Press (EUP)

• Nothing to report.

Journal of American Studies

• MH reported that the proposal to add an additional Associate Editor to the JAS team was discussed at the London meeting in March. This proposed role would possibly called the ‘Media Editor’ or ‘Online Editor’, with a shorter 2-year term (to begin in January 2011), which would be renewable for up to one term. The January 2011 start date would coincide with that of the new Editor and Associate Editor. He added that for the purposes of succession it was crucial that all three roles were in sync. The new AE would represent JAS at BAAS (alongside the other editors) and be given charge of more extensive reviews. CM raised the issue of advertising the post and the need to have a clear job description. MH will work on this with SL and SC and send out a mailbase call in the autumn for names to come to BAAS by January or April 2010. It was thought prudent to advertise for all three JAS positions at the same time so that all three candidates could be ratified together next year. SC added that it was exciting that the journal was going through various changes but noted that these changes needed to be adequately resourced by CUP. The Executive Committee were in favour of this proposal. SC will take this news back to CUP for further discussion and planning.
• MH reported that JAS had recently gone live on JSTOR.
• MH noted that developments with First View were still in the pipeline.

American Studies in Britain (ASIB)

• The deadline for the next issue is 31 July. AK expects to distribute ASIB to the membership in mid-September.
• AK has been in discussion with the Editor of RAS, who will send copies of the journal to her in sufficient time to enable simultaneous distribution.  
• AK has a new email address: alisonjkelly@btinternet.com

 US Studies Online

• The new Editor, Felicity Donohoe, sent a written report outlining her plans to redesign the journal as an e-zine.
• Flyers marketing the journal were distributed at the BAAS conference.
• The latest edition, with papers from the BAAS Postgraduate Conference, has gone live.

BAAS Website

• In light of discussions in April regarding a professional redesign of the website and the possibility of linking it to a Learning and Teaching exercise at Liverpool John Moores University, Dr Bella Adams was invited to join the meeting of the Publications subcommittee. After discussions with BA, MH noted that the subcommittee cannot see advantages of embedding the website at LJMU. Such a move raises questions regarding the speed of delivery and update, the permanency of the move, and the efficacy of tying it to student-based issues. Also, BA had confirmed that she did not have the technical skills to overhaul the website and would require additional skills and training to maintain it. Thus, the Executive Committee agreed to set the issue aside and return to the possibility of a professional overhaul. MH asked the Committee to think again about a stipend for a Webster and possibly asking some of the postgraduate candidates who had applied for the US Online Editorship if they would be interested in taking over the role once the site had been revised. CM noted that she had contacted two web design companies and was awaiting quotations. The general consensus on the matter was to move forward with the redesign of the website after comparing quotations and afterwards discuss the issue of replacing GT.

MISC

• MH reported that the Publications subcommittee had discussed the possibility of linking BAAS with American Studies Today. WK suggested the possibility of BAAS sponsoring AST to promote links with schools. The Executive Committee agreed that this was not possible at the moment, given involvement with ASIB, US Studies Online, JAS and RAS. However, the Committee welcomed suggestions on other possible ways forward. BA to discuss with WK, Ian Ralston and Chris Bates.

10.  Conference Subcommittee (GL reporting on behalf of SM)

1. GL reported that Dr Celeste-Marie Bernier had sent a letter of complaint to the Nottingham University conference and was awaiting a response. TS noted the need to confirm when letter was sent and schedule a date for a follow-up letter in the event of a non-reply.
2. Official thanks were extended to CMB. HM to write formally to CMB.
3. GL noted that CMB’s honorarium will not be processed until the conference account is closed.
4. The preparations for the 2010 BAAS Conference at UEA are well underway. Dr Thomas Ruys-Smith has a team in place at UEA.
5. The 2010 Conference poster will soon be sent out to the Executive Committee and TRS has been in touch with GT regarding placing the poster on website. The Abstracts Online process is underway.
6. GL noted that there were some minor issues regarding the conference accommodation but they are all in hand (i.e. some delegates would be accommodated on campus and some in a local Travel Lodge). To harmonise costings and the booking procedure TRS and his team had decided to present one cost for the conference but delegates would be allowed to specify their accommodation preference. TRS will also investigate the possibility of shared accommodation in the Travel Lodge.
7. The conference outline thus far was set as follows:

Thursday: Reception hosted by UCLAN followed by dinner at Sainsbury Centre for Fine Arts.

Friday: Civic reception in Norwich, followed by plenary lecture.

Delegates would make their own arrangements for dinner.

Saturday: Dinner at Sainsbury Centre for Fine Arts.

All delegates would breakfast on campus. And there would be a regular 24-hour bus between the campus and the Travel Lodge.

1. There would be a publishers’ space at UEA, separate to the tea & coffee serving area.
2. Other learned associations had already been invited.
3. TRS will be in touch with WK and CB regarding the organisation of Teachers events.
4. The list of plenary speakers was in process. UEA will decide their own speaker. This year there would be a literature lecture for JAS and a history lecture for the Eccles Centre.
5. HM noted that it would be useful if the Awards Chair could prepare a list of the winners for the officers and the conference organiser as early as possible so that prize-winners would be informed and advised to attend the Awards Ceremony.

GL reported that AVS was proving to be hugely expensive and difficult for TRS to organise.

Laptops would not be provided and PowerPoint would not be available. Those wishing to use internet facilities would need to bring their own laptop. HM stressed that this needs to be reiterated in the booking confirmation letter to the delegates.

UCLAN dates were confirmed for 15-18 April 2011.

11.  Awards Subcommittee (IB reporting)

1. IB reported that discussions had been ongoing with the University of Louisiana State but had stalled recently due to financial issues.
2. IB noted that he had received details of the Eccles winners. IB to send list of winners to the Secretary.
3. IB noted that an official form needed to be developed for the BAAS Fellowships. IB will draft a paper for the September meeting asking proposers to include details such as the name of candidate; name of proposer; reasons for nomination including major publications and service to the community (word limit – 750). A deadline would need to be agreed so that the Executive Committee can confirm the winners at the January meeting. It was agreed that there would be no more than two BAAS Fellows in a given year. GL suggested that winner be formally invited to the conference banquet, with BAAS covering the cost of their travel and the meal. This was agreed by the Committee.
4. Finally, IB discussed the relatively low number of applications for some the Eccles Awards and noted that the later timing on the Ambassador’s Awards brought in significantly increased number of applications. He wondered if timing was possibly a factor and if so suggested that we push back the deadline. HM noted that all awards had to be processed at the same time so we could announce the winners’ names at the banquet. However, the matter will be discussed in consultation with PD at the next meeting.

12.  Libraries and Resources Committee

No report received.

13. EAAS (CM reporting on behalf of PD)

PD sent a written report noting that there was no new EAAS news since April.  He is still waiting for the EAAS Newsletter to go live with the call for papers.  As soon as it does he will circulate the call through the BAAS e-list.

14. Any Other Business

1. HM raised the issue of duration of terms of office. Elected members of the Executive Committee serve a three year term, with the exception of the Postgraduate Representative and the EAAS Representative who serve two and five years respectively. The Executive Committee can also co-opt members, such as the Teachers’ Representative and the Associate Editor of JAS. All co-opted terms must be reviewed annually by the officers and there can be no more than three co-opted members at a time. For ex-officio members of the Committee, the duration of their term is linked with the term of office (for instance, the Editor of JAS). However, there is an anomaly with the Chair of BLARs, with currently no parameters on the term; the two former incumbents remained in the role until retirement from their institutions. HM suggested that this term is regulated to three years with the opportunity for one renewal of term (thus bringing it into line with the other members of the Committee). This was unanimously agreed by the Committee. The term of the current incumbent of this post is now set as commencing in April 2009 running until April 2012, with the opportunity for one renewal. CM will update the Standing Orders and the files accordingly.
2. IB noted that he had received a request from a colleague regarding research into the success of American Studies AHRC bids. HM noted we’ve reported success rate for panels and minuted individual successes. She added that it was difficult to gather information on the numbers who have made applications. MH noted that he would like to push the AHRC regarding the appointment of an Americanist on Panel A and/or Panel D. He added that the AHRC seem unwilling to volunteer information on this. HM will make appropriate enquiries.

15. Date of next meeting

The next Executive Committee meeting will be held at 26 September 2009 at the University of Leicester.

Subcommittee meetings will commence at 10.30am.

Dr. Catherine Morley

email: catherine.morley@leicester.ac.uk

Office Phone: (0116) 223 1068

U.S. Studies Online: The BAAS Postgraduate Journal

Issue 16, Spring 2010

Contents

Continuities and Changes: A Report on the British Association for American Studies Postgraduate Conference, Northumbria University 2009

HELEN MITCHELL, NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY

The Knickerbocker Atlantic: Ritual and Federalism in Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.

MICHAEL COLLINS, UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM

‘Anti-scriptural, anti-domestic, and revolutionary’: Female Preachers and Gender in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, 1864-1888

GEORGE SCRATCHERD, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

‘Hail to the King, baby’: Bruce Campbell and the Representation of US Masculine Heroism

MICHAEL GOODRUM, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX

Life in the Woods: The Influence of Hunting on Frontier Leadership in Revolutionary Kentucky

BLAIR M. SMITH, UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE