Blog Posts

The following reviews of interest to followers of The British and Irish Studies Intelligencer were published in August on the Institute of Historical Research’s e-journal Reviews in History.

First, Lynne Walker finds much of interest (no. 786) in Judith Neiswander’s new study of the popular literature of Victorian interior decoration, The Cosmopolitan Interior: Liberalism and the British Home 1870-1914.

Frank Turner then assesses (no. 787) Ruth Windscheffel’s attempt to find a new perspective on Gladstone through an examination of his reading habits, in Reading Gladstone.

We also have Hilda Kean’s critical take (no. 789) on A History of Attitudes and Behaviours toward Animals in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Britain. Anthropocentrism and the Emergence of Animals by Rob Boddice, whose reply can be found here.

Next Ariel Hessayon (no. 798) deals with a work which examines the period of gradual and informal Jewish readmission to England, Eliane Glaser’s Judaism without Jews: Philosemitism and Christian Polemic in Early Modern England. Her response can be read here.

Finally there is an amicable exchange (no. 799 and response) between Gareth Atkins and Richard Blake over the latter’s exploration of the increasing concern for spiritual and moral wellbeing in the British Navy in his Evangelicals in the Royal Navy, 1775–1815: Blue Lights and Psalm-Singers.

As ever, please feel free to send all comments, including suggestions for books you would like to see on Reviews in History to the deputy editor Danny Millum.

2010 NACBS-HUNTINGTON LIBRARY FELLOWSHIP COMPETITION

The NACBS, in collaboration with the Huntington Library, offers annually the NACBS-HUNTINGTON LIBRARY FELLOWSHIP to aid in dissertation research in British Studies using the collections of the library.  The amount of the fellowship is $2000.  A requirement for holding the fellowship is that the time of tenure be spent in residence at the Huntington Library.  The time of residence varies, but may be as brief as one month. Applicants must be U. S. or Canadian citizens or permanent residents and enrolled in a Ph.D. program in a U. S. or Canadian institution.

Nominations and applications for the 2010 award are invited. Please note that the timing of the competition has been moved forward to the fall, with applications due on November 30, 2009.  Applications should consist of a curriculum vitae, two supporting letters (one from the applicant's dissertation advisor), and a description of the dissertation research project. The letter should include a description of the materials to be consulted at the Huntington and the reason that these are essential sources for the dissertation.

A copy of the application package should be sent to each member of the Huntington Library Fellowship Committee listed below. Letters should be placed in sealed envelopes, signed across the flap and given to the applicant for inclusion in the application package. Applications must be postmarked by November 30, 2009. Awards will be announced by January 30, 2010. Send materials to: Professor Gary De Krey, Department of History, St Olaf College, 1520 St. Olaf Avenue, Northfield, MN 55057 (email: dekrey@stolaf.edu), Professor Johann Sommerville, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of History, 3211 Mosse Humanities Bldg, 455 N. Park St., Madison, WI 53706 (email: jsommerv@wisc.edu), and Professor Melissa Harkrider, Department of History, Wheaton College, 501 College Avenue, Wheaton, IL 60187 (email: Melissa.L.Harkrider@wheaton.edu).

Natalie Ceeney
Chief Executive
The National Archives
Ruskin Avenue
Kew, Richmond
Surrey, TW9 4DU

10 September 2009

Dear Ms. Ceeney,

We write as the principal officers of the North American Conference on
British Studies to express our concern regarding the proposed changes to
TNA service prompted by budgetary cuts. While we realise that changes
are necessary given current economic conditions, and that TNA is
answerable to the British government and must implement costs-savings,
we join a considerable number of other interested groups and individuals
in questioning whether the cuts proposed are the wisest measures TNA
could take to reduce its expenditures.

We represent a large group of scholars, based mainly albeit not
exclusively in Canada and the United States, many of whom use the
archives on a regular basis and for whom it is a vital resource for
their scholarship and career advancement. We include in our numbers not
only those who hold academic positions but also independent scholars and
students working towards higher degrees. For all of these
constituencies, reduced access to TNA will, without question, be a
significant blow. Ours is a membership that, for the most part, can
visit London only for limited periods, and the reduction of hours that a
full day closing each week represents will hit them severely.

Likewise, the vagueness in TNA’s proposed staffing reductions is
worrying. Many of our younger members in particular benefit considerably
from the expertise of your specialist research staff. Reduction in their
numbers or availability will have a direct and powerful impact on
scholars unfamiliar with your holdings, and even on those already
experienced in using your collections.

All of us count TNA amongst the most valuable of the resources we use to
further our studies and researches in a variety of British studies
disciplines, and we are wholly supportive of the organisation. We write,
as so many others both in and beyond British shores have done, to urge a
wholesale reconsideration of the proposed cuts.

Yours sincerely,

Barbara Harris, President, North American Conference on British Studies;
Professor Emerita, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Philippa Levine, Vice-President and President-Elect, Professor,
University of Southern California

William Lubenow, Immediate Past President, Professor, Richard Stockton
College of New Jersey

Andrew August, Executive Secretary, Professor, Pennsylvania State University

The following reviews of interest to followers of The British and Irish Studies Intelligencer were published in August on the Institute of Historical Research’s e-journal Reviews in History.

Two of these are concerned with Ireland. The first (no. 777) consists of a fascinating exchange between Micheál Ó Siochrú (see his response here) and Jason Peacey regarding the former’s recent publication God’s Executioner: Oliver Cromwell and the Conquest of Ireland. Emmett O’Connor then reviews (no. 784) the recent biography of Jack Lynch (Jack Lynch: a Biography) by Dermot Keogh, challenging what he sees as the book’s attempts to rehabilitate the former Irish Taoiseach’s reputation.

In addition, Kevin Jefferys takes on (no. 780) Parties at War. Political Organisation in Second World War Britain, written by Andrew Thorpe, while Justin Champion reviews (no. 781) The Blasphemies of Thomas Aikenhead. Boundaries of Belief on the Eve of the Enlightenment, with the author Michael Graham responding here.

As ever, please feel free to send all comments, including suggestions for books you would like to see on Reviews in History to the deputy editor Danny Millum.

PCCBS will hold its 2010 conference at Pomona College in Claremont, CA, March 19-21, 2010. More information will be forthcoming. Rooms will be reserved for registrants at the Doubletree Hotel.

For more information, visit the PCCBS website: http://www.pccbs.org/?p=127

The 2009 NACBS election will be held through 6 October 2009. An email with a link to cast your vote was sent to all members with valid email addresses on 25 August 2009. If you prefer to cast your vote manually or the automated link in the email does not work, please contact Darrick Clayton via email at darrick@bigpulse.com or by calling 415.643.3423.

For those members who do not have email addresses on file, paper ballots will be mailed in the first week of September. The deadline for receipt of paper ballots in the Executive Secretary's office is 6 October 2009.

For more information about the 2009 candidates for NACBS offices, click here.

This month Reviews in History focusses on urban history and cities, co-inciding with the IHR's Anglo-American Conference on the same theme.

Three of these reviews are of London-centred studies. There is an assessment by Justin Colson (no. 766, with response) of an attempt to bring together archaeological, documentary and architectural evidence relating to the London Guildhall, namely The London Guildhall: an Archaeological History of a Neighbourhood from Early Medieval to Modern Times by David Bowsher et al.

Then Jacob Field reviews (no. 767) Lost Londons: Change, Crime and Control in the Capital City 1550–1660, Paul Griffiths’ analysis of crime and migrant workers in London during this period. The author’s response can be found here.

Lastly James Gregory (no. 771) takes on Guilty Money: The City of London in Victorian and Edwardian Culture by Ranald Michie (see here for his response), which looks at the way the Square Mile was portrayed in the fiction of this period.

There is also a review (no. 769) by Kate Bradley of Andrew Davies’ book The Gangs of Manchester, the inspiration for the play Angels With Manky Faces which opened last week.

As ever, please feel free to send all comments, including suggestions for books you would like to see on Reviews in History to the deputy editor Danny Millum at danny.millum@sas.ac.uk.

The North American Conference on British Studies/Southern Conference on British Studies has again arranged with The Scholar’s Choice to manage the combined book exhibit for our annual meeting taking place November 6-8 in Louisville, Kentucky. It will be possible for your recently-published books to be included in their display.  Please refer to the guidelines below:

“Any members interested in having their book displayed at the upcoming NACBS/SCBS meeting should contact their publisher as soon as possible.  Please keep in mind that the publishers pay a fee to display with The Scholar’s Choice and may not have the marketing budget necessary to honor all requests, particularly for older titles. Reservations from the publishers will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis so reserving early is highly recommended.  Please note that The Scholar’s Choice displays on behalf of the publishers and ALL requests must come from them, not the author.  The person who handles reservations at The Scholar’s Choice is Debby Pitts. Your publisher may reach her at djpitts@scholarschoice.com or at 585-262-2048 x.108.”

The Southern Conference on British Studies and the North American Conference on British Studies are pleased to announce that registration for the 2009 Meeting is now open.  We hope that you will join us for the Conference at the Hyatt Regency in Louisville, Kentucky, from 6 to 8 November.   Please consult <http://www.nacbs.org/conferences>  for a copy of the Program in .pdf format and for registration, which is managed through RegOnline.  Registration fees for the 2009 meeting are as follows: $135.00 (NACBS members); $55.00 (graduate students); and $155.00 (Non-Members).  On the conference webpage, you will also find hotel information. The Hyatt Regency will hold rooms at its special conference rates ($115.00-165.00) until 14 October. Those wishing to find room shares are advised to make use of the NACBS Facebook Page
(<http://tinyurl.com/ncqczu>) or H-Albion (<http://www.h-net.org/~albion/>).  Information on air and ground transportation will soon be available online.  Those who will travel to Louisville by air should book flights to the Louisville International-Standiford Field Airport (SDF), which is served by many carriers.

We look forward to seeing you in Louisville.

V. Markham Lester, President and Local Arrangements Chair, Southern
Conference on British Studies

Lara Kriegel, Program Chair, North American Conference on British Studies

The following reviews of interest to readers of the British and Irish Studies Intelligencer have been published in the last month on the Institute of Historical Research's e-journal Reviews in History.

Two of these are on Victorian England, with Victoria Le Fevre reviewing Kathleen Callanan Martin's Hard and Unreal Advice: Mothers, Social Science and the Victorian Poverty Experts, and Stuart Jones taking on The Invention of Altruism: Making Moral Meanings in Victorian Britain by Thomas Dixon.

On a different tack Sonja Levsen reviews Thomas Weber’s Our Friend ‘The Enemy’: Elite Education in Britain and Germany Before World War 1, which compares the university cultures of the two countries in these key years.

We also have a review by Ingrid Tague of Johanna Rickman’s study of extra-marital sex in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Love, Lust, and License in Early Modern England: Illicit Sex and the Nobility, as well as Kate O’Malley’s recent publication Ireland, India and Empire: Indo-Irish Radical Connections, 1919–64, which draws out the parallels and connections between the independence struggles in both countries, and is reviewed here by Keith Jeffery.

Finally Andrew Dilley's review article surveys two books taking new historical approaches to Australia and Canada's experiences of empire, namely Australia's Empire edited by Deryck M. Schreuder and Stuart Ward and Canada and the British Empire, edited by P. Buckner.

As ever, please feel free to send all comments, including suggestions for books you would like to see on Reviews in History to the deputy editor Danny Millum at danny.millum@sas.ac.uk.

The North American Conference on British Studies is delighted to announce a new editorial team for the Journal of British Studies, who will take up their positions at the start of the academic year 2009-2010. The new editors will be Brian Cowan and Elizabeth Elbourne of McGill University. The new book review editors will be Amy Froide (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) and Gail Savage (St. Mary's College of Maryland). The officers of the NACBS would like to extend a warm welcome to the new team, and deep gratitude to the outgoing team who have done so much for the journal -- Anna Clark (University of Minnesota), Patrick McDevitt (SUNY Buffalo), and Claire Schen (SUNY Buffalo).

ACLS Humanities E-Book (HEB) is pleased to make individual subscriptions available through standing membership in the North American Conference on British Studies as an added benefit of your membership.

Individual subscriptions are USD $35.00 for a twelve-month, renewable, subscription. $15 of your subscription will come back directly to the North American Conference on British Studies and the balance will help sustain HEB as a resource for the entire scholarly community.

The link below will bring you directly to the online purchase module at ACLS Humanities E-Book. You will need to choose the North American Conference on British Studies from the pull-down menu and provide your membership number.

To initiate a subscription, please visit:
https://www.humanitiesebook.org/subscription_purchase.html

Information and Terms
The subscription offers unlimited access to its collection of cross-searchable, full-text titles across the humanities and related social sciences (https://www.humanitiesebook.org/titlelist.html).

Titles have been selected and peer reviewed by ACLS constituent learned societies for their continued value in teaching and researching, and approximately 500 are being added each year.

The collection includes both in- and out-of-print titles ranging from the 1880s to the current year. Titles link to publishers’ websites and to online reviews in JSTOR, Project MUSE, and other sites.

Individual subscriptions are ideal for those whose school might not yet have an institutional subscription to HEB or for individual members of a learned society who might not be affiliated with a subscribing institution.

For inquiries email: subscriptions@hebook.org

The North American Conference on British Studies now hosts a page on
delicious.com that focuses on accommodation and travel tips for research in
the UK and Ireland:

<http://delicious.com/kelly_nacbs>

While all members can see our bookmarks, if you sign up, you can join the
NACBS network and help us edit and expand our resources.

For those of you unfamiliar with delicious.com, here is some more
information:

"Delicious is a social bookmarking service that allows users to tag, save,
manage and share web pages from a centralized source.

Bookmark any site on the Internet, and get to it from anywhere Instead of
having different bookmarks on every computer, Delicious makes it easy to
have a single set of bookmarks kept in sync between all of your computers.
Even if you're not on a computer you own, you can still get to your
bookmarks on the Delicious website.

Share your bookmarks, and get bookmarks in return If your friends use
Delicious, you can send them interesting bookmarks that they can check out
the next time they log in. Of course, they can do the same for you. As you
explore the site and find interesting users, you can use our Subscriptions
and Network features to keep track of the Delicious tags and users you find
most interesting.

Discover the most useful and interesting bookmarks on the web See what's hot
with Delicious users by checking out our popular tags. By looking at popular
bookmarks for a tag, you'll be able to discover the most interesting
bookmarks on the topics you're most interested in. Browse bookmarks on just
about anything from the best programming tips to the most popular travel
sites, all in an easy to read format."

For those of you who have not done so already, please join the NACBS
Facebook group at

<http://tinyurl.com/nacbs-fb>

Registration is now open for 'Cities', the 78th Anglo-American
Conference of Historians, to be held at the Institute of Historical
Research, London, 2-3 July 2009.

We are delighted to announce that our keynote speakers will be Wim
Blockmans, Swati Chattopadhyay, Derek Keene, and Lynn Hollen Lees.
Altogether, more than 80 speakers will be presenting papers on a wide
range of themes, covering the development of cities across the world
from the ancient world to the present day.

The conference includes a publishers' fair, exhibition, and a
reception, to be hosted at London's historic Guildhall by the City of
London Corporation.

Full details of the programme, delegate rates and online booking
information are available at http://www.history.ac.uk/aac2009.

Matthew Davies

--
Dr Matthew Davies
Chair, 'Cities' Programme Committee
Centre for Metropolitan History
Institute of Historical Research
Senate House
Malet Street
London WC1E 7HU

Dear H-Albion List Members,

Many thanks to everyone who has submitted panel and paper proposals for the
2009 NACBS Meeting in Louisville.  I'm delighted to see a range of high
quality submissions across themes and chronologies from scholars at all
levels in their careers.  I know that a number of you are working diligently
to complete panel proposals; others have recently begun their semesters.  To
facilitate submission at this busy time, I'd like to extend the due date for
panel and paper proposals to FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, while still encouraging
you to get your proposals in as soon as possible.  Full panels are
encouraged, but individual papers will be considered, too.

Thanks, too, for your patience with the new online system.  The system is
working, but it does not give you a receipt confirmation.  If you wish to
allay concerns about receipt or to make corrections, please write to me
after submission, and I will reply as soon as I can.

For those who are still looking to complete panels, I understand that
H-Albion and the new NACBS facebook page have worked wonders for many.
Please also send any remaining questions about panel formation my way.

Sincerely yours,
Lara Kriegel
lara.kriegel@fiu.edu
NACBS Program Chair, 2009-2011
Associate Professor of History
Florida International University
Miami, FL 33199

Now that the holiday season has passed and we've started a new year--one I
like to think of as a year of miracles, beginning with the rescue of
the passengers from the plane that landed in the Hudson--I'd like to remind
you that it is time to renew your membership in the NACBS for 2009. The
miracle I'd like to see is a 100% renewal in the first quarter of the year.

Your officers and executive committee are doing everything they can to make
your membership ever more valuable to you. In addition to receiving the
Journal of British Studies, we have made it easier for you to have access to
the Institute of Historical Research in London if your institution doesn't
belong and are pursuing arrangements with presses to give you discounts all
year round. And in addition there is all the support we give to graduate
students and prizes for the superb work you produce year after year.

Have a wonderful 2009. I look forward to seeing you in Louisville in
November.

Barbara Harris, President, NACBS

ANNUAL MEETING, LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
NOVEMBER 6-8, 2009

The NACBS and its Southern affiliate, the SCBS, seek participation by scholars in all areas of British Studies for the 2009 meeting. We solicit proposals for panels on England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the British Empire broadly defined. Our interests range from the medieval to the modern, and we welcome participation by historians, literary critics, economists, political scientists, sociologists, art historians, and scholars in other allied disciplines

All submissions must be received by Friday, January 30, 2009.
For details, directions, and online submission, see http://nacbsproposal.fiu.edu/form.php

CALL FOR PAPERS
Midwest Conference on British Studies 55th Annual Meeting
October 9-11, 2009, Pittsburgh

The Midwest Conference on British Studies is proud to announce that its
fifty-fifth annual meeting will be hosted by the University of Pittsburgh at
the Holiday Inn, Pittsburgh University Center.

The MWCBS seeks papers from scholars in all fields of British Studies,
broadly defined to include those who study England, Scotland, Wales,
Ireland, and Britain's empire. We welcome scholars from the broad spectrum
of disciplines, including but not limited to history, literature, political
science, gender studies and art history. Proposals for complete sessions are
preferred, although proposals for individual papers will be considered.
Especially welcome are roundtables and panels that:

·offer cross-disciplinary perspectives on topics in British Studies

·discuss collaborative or innovative learning techniques in the British
Studies classroom

·situate the arts, letters, and sciences in a British cultural context

·examine representations of British (and non-British) national identities

·consider Anglo-American relations, past and present

·examine new trends in British Studies

·assess a major work or body of work by a scholar

·reflect on the status of colonial and postcolonial studies 30 years after
Said’s Orientalism.

The MWCBS also invites submissions for a special panel engaging Seymour
Drescher’s work on the transatlantic slave trade and the abolitionist
movement.  Professor Drescher will serve as respondent for this session.

The MWCBS welcomes papers presented by advanced graduate students and will
award The Walter L. Arnstein Prize at its plenary luncheon for the best
graduate student paper given at the conference.

Proposals should include a 200-word abstract for each paper and a brief,
1-page c.v. for each participant, including chairs and commentators. For
full panels, please include a brief 200 word preview of the panel as a
whole. In addition, please place the panel proposal, and its accompanying
paper proposals and vitas in one file. Please make certain that all contact
information, particularly email addresses are correct and current. All
proposals should be submitted online by April 15, 2009, to the Program
Committee Chair, Rick Incorvati, at rincorvati@wittenberg.edu.

MWCBS Program Committee:  Rick Incorvati, Chair, Wittenberg University;
Phyllis L. Soybel, College of Lake County; Eric Tenbus, University of
Central Missouri; Amy Whipple, Xavier University; Michele White, University
of Tennessee at Chattanooga

PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS AND THE NORTH AMERICAN CONFERENCE ON BRITISH STUDIES

Oxford University Press and the North American Conference on British studies are pleased to announce the launching of our partnership web-store, which can be found by accessing the “Membership” section of the NACBS website.

In this partnership, Oxford will offer the members of the NACBS a year-round discount on our current and older titles centering on British and European Studies which will be update regularly. Through a link that that can be found on the NACBS website, members will be directed to the NACBS / Oxford partnership web store where they will be able to browse and purchase Oxford titles with no confusion at check-out.

Please enjoy the vast array of titles available to you just for being a NACBS member!

For any questions or concerns regarding the site, please feel free to contact Natanya Mitchell at natanya.mitchell@oup.com.